Little victories you hardly notice

Share your experience and tell us how using positive reinforcement training methods has changed yours and your dogs' lives.

Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost

Post Reply
User avatar
Noobs
Posts: 2536
Joined: Fri May 23, 2008 3:43 pm
Location: New York, NY
Contact:

Little victories you hardly notice

Post by Noobs »

I think owners of fearful dogs or dogs with general problems should celebrate every victory or sign of progress, no matter how small. I've posted about Murphy's progress with his reactions to cats, etc., but there are so many tiny victories that your "average" dog owners probably wouldn't notice, or would even take for granted. If you have a "small" victory, it deserves big celebration.

For example:

Murphy's been in my home nearly two years. And only 2-3 months ago did he start pushing his nose through doors to get through. He spent over 1 1/2 years sitting and looking at me any time I encouraged him to walk through a door that was only a couple of inches open. Nowadays, when we go outside for a quick potty, we come back in and our apartment door will be nearly closed. He will wait for me at the top of the stairs, and when I give him the ok to go inside, he can push his nose through the door without my having to open it for him. To me this is a huge step because he came to us so timid.

He was afraid of anything over top of his head, including our hands. He wouldn't walk under those half-phone booths, heck, he wouldn't walk under awnings even though they were easily 12 feet above his head. Now he'll walk under anything, and sometimes he'll even crawl under our kitchen chairs. And he also weaves through my legs as a trick. He will still back away if a stranger tries to pet him over his head, BUT I never let any greeting go that far anyway, so it's a non-issue.

If he plays with a toy near our bed, sometimes it will roll under our bed. We have a pretty low platform bed, and he used to sit and whine next to the bed if there was something under it he wanted. Sometimes he would just give up and walk away and leave the toy "ah, I didn't want it anyway". Last night I saw him sticking his whole head all the way to his shoulders under our bed to get a piece of kibble that had rolled underneath. He'd never done that before.

He was petrified of wind, and as if he weren't already skittish enough, and any resulting noise (leaves rustling, loose grocery bags flying) would spook him and make him jump, and I couldn't walk him in those circumstances because he was so tense. Last night the winds were going 25-40 mph and as we walked the 1/2 mile to pick L up from the subway at midnight, he was completely unphased, walking with his nose to the ground looking for scraps of food (my neighborhood is full of slobs who drop pizza crusts and the like on the ground, ew), the little bastard. :lol: He will still get startled if a big gust causes a trash can top to go flying, but he's 95% unaffected otherwise.

So two years and a million baby steps later, I have a dog that is relaxed for a great majority of our walks, isn't afraid to stick his nose through a door that's nearly shut, and will put his head in places he never would before, getting more and more confident each day.

I encourage anyone to post their little victories here. It always feels good to celebrate the little things, because without them we wouldn't be able to achieve the big things.
meggit
Posts: 288
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:48 pm

Re: Little victories you hardly notice

Post by meggit »

you are so right noobs every tiny little step foreward is fantastic and you have both come so far and you have done wonders with and for murphy, im still in the early stages with buddy hes only 4 months old but i look at what he can do and how far i have come (ive had dogs before but both lived with the I am the boss attitude from me and OH) and i find myself telling any one that will listen what he can do now or his latest trick or how hes managed to walk past my dog hatting cat twice today without trying to "play" with him. So im with you noobs celebrate every tiny litte victory because all these small ones lead in the end to a happy dog and a proud owner.
User avatar
Noobs
Posts: 2536
Joined: Fri May 23, 2008 3:43 pm
Location: New York, NY
Contact:

Re: Little victories you hardly notice

Post by Noobs »

"Normal" people don't get it. Much like people who don't have babies don't realize how fascinating it is to talk about poopy diapers. :lol:
jacksdad
Posts: 4887
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:48 pm

Re: Little victories you hardly notice

Post by jacksdad »

Sounds like you have come a long way with Murphy and you work is starting to pay off. nicely done.

Your right about the little victories. In all the other things I am working on with Jack, him choosing to go to another room by him self, or to play with his toy by him self, and him taking him self to bed are all huge and recent developments for him. But easily lost in the ups and downs of his on leash other dog issues.
User avatar
Mattie
Posts: 5872
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:21 am

Re: Little victories you hardly notice

Post by Mattie »

It is the little steps that gets us there much quicker than the big strides, when we aim for big strides we rearly get them because the dog doesn't understand. My taking little steps, we are teaching our dogs what we want and move to the next step when they understand.

Noobs you really have come a long way since you first joined, not only with your work with Murphy but your understanding of how a dog's mind works.
[url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/PIXIE.jpg][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/th_PIXIE.jpg[/img][/url]
Post Reply