At first we would just put the harness on and give Kody hot dogs. He showed the classic behavior of freezing on the spot that dogs exhibit when humans attempt to put costumes or other clothing on them.

At first, he just got hot dogs places where he could reach them. The next step was throwing hot dog bits a few feet away. After just a couple of days of this, Kody was excited for "the harness game" as we call it, a phrase he now recognizes.

His excitement did not extend to wearing the harness right away, just to the game and treats part. He quickly knew I was trying to lure him to get his feet to the place they belong so that I can gently lift up and buckle the harness. (These step-in harnesses are awesome.) At first he would try to refuse to even get near that position. Now he will usually leave one leg out awkwardly, but he gets more comfortable with it every day.

At this point after we buckle the harness, we walk slowly around the apartment with Kody on my right side giving him treats as often as it takes to keep him in roughly the correct position. The idea is to get him used to staying by my right leg facing forward as we walk.

Like potty training, it's intensive, which is why we do one short walk, of about 20-30 feet around the apartment and that's it for the day. Any more and he and I would get bored. But once he's good and reliable at that off leash, we'll attach the leash and do the same thing. After that we'll start just going out the door and back in and eventually we'll get loose leash walking, I hope.

The idea is that when the harness is on, being next to me will just feel like the right place to be.

Kody teaches me so much about patience, I really enjoy this, but I can see how it's not for everyone. Luckily most dogs are a lot easier to train than Kody, my wonderful Asperger's dog! I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.

Later I tried some other things such as flexible mesh harnesses, but nothing ever felt right. The leash attachments were either in the wrong place, they were hard to adjust, they pulled in uncomfortable places, and they just didn't makes sense.

It's just not in Kody's personality to walk on a leash without pulling. When I started clicker training with him and started really paying attention to him, I realized that. He's a dog that loves to smell, has high energy, and isn't afraid to keep trying if at first he doesn't succeed. This means if he thinks he can pull on the leash and wants to, he'll continually try regardless of the consequences.

I've tried no-pull harnesses with a front attachment and I realized that this is just torture for Kody. He'll get the message that if he pulls on the leash, he gets pulled sideways, but instead of just not pulling he'll get frustrated and depressed and shut down. That doesn't make me feel like a good dad, so we gave up on that pretty quickly.

We haven't been doing a lot of walking lately because Kody can go potty without a leash. But the last time I went to the vet I realized that looking at harnesses again would be a good idea.

The first thing I did was buy a flexible measuring tape so I could measure Kody's chest (19" – 20") and neck (13" – 14") and know for sure what size would work for him. I always seem to buy things that are too small.

I went to the big name pet store today just expecting to look, but they had apparently changed their whole perspective on harnesses. Almost every harness they had was of a type I hadn't seen before, the "easy step-in comfort harness".

This was a harness that actually made sense to me, and for the first time I could see Kody liking it and me using it. It had a correctly placed leash attachment and straps that would pull gently and evenly.

It's easy to put on, just lay the harness down, have your dog step into the right places, then pull the harness up around your dog and click. This is not a harness you have to fight with your dog about. Until Kody learns where to step I just lifted him gently to the right place. He's wary of the harness for now, but it was still so easy.

Today we just pretty much gave him treats while the harness was on for about 5 minutes then removed it. Once he sees the harness as a fun thing, we'll also train him to step in the right places himself. Eventually, he'll start looking forward to wearing the harness and then we'll attach the leash.

Then we begin the very slow and forgiving training to get Kody to be manageable on leash. I'll keep you updated.

For Kody, this training is going to have to be slow because there's so much accidental punishment in it. If you attach a leash and just start walking down the block, he would not like it. He wants to sniff and smell, and lets face it, he's a dachshund with attitude and I love him for it.

I thought this was interesting because it took me a long time to figure out that my dachshund did not like going on long walks, and certainly wouldn’t enjoy a jog. It’s a good thing to remember that some dogs aren’t made for high activity.

One good piece of advice is that a tail that’s not wagging means your dog is probably not enjoying a run. Kody does more than not wag his tail, he actively tries to go back inside!

Running With Your Dog

It’s always a good reminder to take responsibility for your dog, even for us owners of small dogs. Believe me, I know it’s hard, I live in an apartment and have no backyard to let my dog loose in, so we have to go out together a few times a day for Kody to potty.

From the article:

We have a Dachshund and he stays either in the house or in the back yard. If he ever does get loose, you can bet that I am immediately chasing him around the neighborhood until he is captured. Now, mind you, he is a pretty harmless dog, but it is a matter of principles.

If he sees another dog, he’s fascinated, but quiet… unless the other dog moves. It doesn’t matter if it’s away from him or toward him. He’s not mad at the other dog or scared, it’s his excitement bark. He wants so badly to interact, but he has no idea how. But the fact that we can be relatively near another dog with some bit of calm is great progress.

Along with the calm I’ve already described, his is a little more calm about toys and treats as well. He still likes them, but unless it’s something really special, he doesn’t get too excited.

This has been a bit of a tough week as I’ve been sick. It’s made me realize that my stress level is way way too high. So I’ve been thinking of things to drop from my life and it feels great.

One of the things I’ve decided to drop is any and all frustration with regard to Kody. I now know that the vast majority of my readers will luckily never know what its like to own a dog like Kody. They will never need to know and understand complex training methods just to make it through breakfast. I was taking Kody on a walk last night and without warning he barked loudly in alarm. Not at anything in particular, just his usual barking at nothing. In my bliss of feeling better for the moment I realized that it’s just not that big of a deal compared to constant stabbing pain in my neck. In fact, it’s comparatively pleasant.

Kody is who he is. He’s a crazy dog that was badly bred who is afraid of everything except giving me kisses… and food. We can and have worked on many issues successfully but there’s one issue I can’t fix: Kody is crazy.

At this point I can, at the very least, gracefully handle any worst case scenario we get ourselves into. And the truth is those just don’t happen very often anymore. But if a nice stranger tries to talk to me, Kody will sometimes let them know who’s boss despite the fact that he should know by now that strangers mean treats. He is the approver! If some is doing something he hasn’t approved he will let them know. In turn, they will often run, which I’m sure is just what Kody wanted.

There’s no point in trying to explain or apologize or lamenting the loss of pleasant conversation. The best thing to do is to quickly get us to a place where both of us can enjoy our day. Just let it go, because that’s life with Kody.

Since the walk he’s been a wild dog wanting to go outside to collect pine cones (a game we play) and sprinting all over the house with wild abandon. He’s even getting excited about getting his teeth brushed which right now is just me touching his back teeth with my finger and then giving him a treat. We’ll add the toothbrush later.

One of the parents hissed at him and drove him behind a parked car where I couldn’t see what happened, but all of a sudden I heard him shriek. Next thing I saw he was walking home very quickly and just glancing back to make sure I was following. I knew he needed to be home and safe.

Kody is fine, but now we’re working through the PTSD. He was fine going outside for about a day, but then what happened seemed to set in and now he’s afraid. He will go out to potty, but wants to come right back in. He also holds it much longer than he normally would. I know from all our previous experiences to just let him decide when it’s best to go out and try to make going outside very fun and rewarding, and not to pressure him. In the past he has never chosen to go potty inside, so I’m not worried about that at all.

I’m sure that must have been a pretty scary experience for him.

Kody loved being outside, it was like a calming drug for him. He would just lay in the grass and get so relaxed and mellow. Sometimes if he got too hot, he’d move into the shade for a little while. He was so happy.

I got the barbecue cleaned and the propane tank hooked back up and decided I may as well barbecue while I was at it. So I threw a couple of bratwursts on the grill. It was a beautiful day, Kody was happy on the grass, the grill was letting out the great aromas and sizzling sounds, the pool was to my right glistening in the sun, and the lake was right in front of me and its fountain was gushing.

I had this great moment of happiness and comfort. I feel so lucky to have found this apartment, I’ve never seen another quite like it.

The complex I live is built around a system of connected ponds and streams and there’s a path that crisscrosses the water running right through the middle. Basically almost every apartment is on a stream, pond, or lake. The water is obviously not a real lake, but I live on the largest lake and the effect is real enough to give the same emotional effect. The smaller ponds and streams have a sort of bayou feeling.

A few days ago a mother duck was in the lake with over 10 ducklings that were so small they must have just freshly hatched. By the way, Kody gets along fine with ducks, which is interesting to me. Later that same day I was walking on the path and there was a Great Blue Heron standing in one of the streams about 6 feet away from me. It just looked at me.

Today was great, too. Kody saw another dog and only barked twice and then pulled me to try to get a better view of it. We played “look at that” giving Kody a training treat each time he looked toward the dog. Then he was still so calm, and he led me on a long walk around the complex. He’s really making progress. It used to be that just seeing a dog would “ruin his day” but now he’s ready for an adventure afterward. Amazing.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone, especially my own Mom.

So today, before I let the guest in I got a little rawhide swizzle and called him to his mat. He definitely went to his mat for that. I gave it to him and asked the guest to come in (I knew who it was) and Kody just stayed on his mat and chewed his toy. It was perfect. We’ll get it down.

I just thought it may be that he doesn’t like to be laying on the floor when people are walking around him. I’ll move his mat more out of that way and see if he likes that better.

But a similar thing happened tonight. He went to show me he needed to go out, and then when I acknowledged and got the leash, he ran to the couch. He didn’t run when I approached and was happy to get his leash on to go outside. So he seems to prefer getting his leash on when he’s on the couch.

He seems in general not to want to sit around by the front door. I don’t know exactly why that is, but it’s not really a big deal. Things are going pretty well.

Kody barked and the neighbors asked if Kody wanted to meet their dogs, I said, “No!” They laughed. We went back inside to get some hot dog bits and went to a controllable distance to do some “look at that” work with Kody. We were probably about 30 feet away and just clicked when Kody looked at the other dogs and treated. We were able to move about 5-10 feet closer as Kody calmed down. I went through the hot dog bits and we went back inside. It was a good experience for Kody.

I went back out to meet the dogs, one of which was an 11 week old puppy and say hi. The people complimented me on being patience, which was just about the nicest thing anyone could have said to me. Working with Kody is such a challenge that to have people notice sort of justifies all the work I do, and quite honestly makes me feel a little more sane. Working with a crazy dog can get to you sometimes.

There’s a drawback though, now I notice all the things people do wrong and it’s very painful for me. I try to give fun easy advice to get people on the positive training track, but I’m sure I sound like a know it all.

I see these “easy” dogs and I think of what I could do in just minutes with an easy dog like that. As for the puppy, I thought of what a great dog I could make out of a puppy knowing all that I know now. I encouraged the owner to get that first set of shots and then safely introduce the puppy to as many new experiences as possible.

I was describing it to a friend that Kody is like the princess and the pea. He’s so sensitive to anything and then anything else he sees he barks at angrily, which is no fun for me.

We just went for a walk with the long line and I had to work like crazy to get Kody over the behaviors and barking he adopted in just a short time with the flexi leash. But by the time we were done with the walk, he was pretty happy again. He loved the long line before and I can see he’s going to love it again once he disassociates it from the flexi leash experiences again.

The connector on the long line is too big and heavy, it’s practically heavier than the line itself. It doesn’t bug Kody that much, but I would like something just like my regular leash only 30 feet long. I’ll have to do an intensive search for such a thing.

Kody and I are trying out a long (23 foot) flexi leash. It’s not so much a regular leash replacement but it’s a way to give Kody an off-leash experience while still obeying the rules of my neighborhood.

When he’s on the flexi leash, I treat him as if he’s off leash and don’t let him run to the end of the leash (or at least I’m learning to prevent that). But he can still sniff where he wants and has the freedom that he absolutely can’t get on a six foot leash. At this point in his life Kody wants to stay mostly near me well within range of the leash anyway so it’s not too tough.

Today the sun is shining so that Kody really loves laying in it. In the new place, it shines on the couch so Kody can have the best of both worlds.

At one point, I needed to sort of lay on the couch so the sun wouldn’t shine in my eyes. Kody came and laid by my chest and looked up at me. I looked down at him, and we just looked at each other for a few seconds. Then I just started laughing. He reached up to give me kisses and started playing. He was still warm from laying in the sun and it was a perfect moment where I could just feel my happiness spilling over.

I’m not thrilled at the wait, but to tell you the truth, Kody seems to be mostly okay. I’m glad to be meeting with the dentist tomorrow because if Kody’s situation is really bad, I’m sure he would probably bump him up.

But it leads me to question, do dogs feel less pain in their teeth? I know that when humans breaks their tooth off down to the root it’s very painful and the doctors bump them up. But for having the pulp exposed, Kody seems to be basically fine. He is on the mild pain medication, Rimadyl, but it’s just doggy ibuprofen, it’s an NSAID.

I’m on human ibuprofen, because along with everything else that’s going on I’m pretty sure I have an ear infection. I have this intermittent sharp ear pain, but the ibuprofen mostly takes care of it. If it doesn’t go away in a few days, though, I’m going to have to see a doctor, too.

This morning I realized I was going to have to step way back and remove as much stress from my life as possible. There was a moment where I realized I was seriously on the verge of a breakdown. Since then, things have been pretty mellow.

Today was a beautiful spring day and Kody and I went for a nice long walk. It was lovely.

Today Kody and I started out on the best walk we’ve had in a long time. I have been working hard to pay attention to Kody’s needs when walking and today he decided all on his own that he wanted to go on a longer walk. I was so happy, and as I suspected, dogs that aren’t afraid are far less likely to pull on the leash. It was just comfortable wonderful walk.

Then, a sort of worst case scenario happened. Kody went poop in some bushes and that was great. But what I know about Kody is that the ten seconds after he poops are the most important ten seconds. He seems to feel most vulnerable at that time. I have to make sure he’s feeling good, so I usually click and treat a couple of times, which works out great.

We were just about the point where he would be fine, when a little dog in a car on one side of us barked. This, by itself would not be that bad, but it put Kody on alert. Right after that, some people in an apartment on the other side of us just clicked their blinds, like they were looking out the window or something. This was the point of no return. Kody felt surrounded on all sides and let me know in no uncertain terms that he wanted to go straight home and was really scared.

This all happened so fast, it took me a while to catch up. I tried clicking just to see if Kody was even capable of calming down, he wasn’t. I still had to pick up the poop and since Kody had gone in some bushes today it was going to be a little more difficult that usual. Oddly, Kody seemed to understand this. I was in a sort of panic, though, because I knew if I didn’t handle this situation correctly, it could cause a lot of trouble for us in the future. Kody needed to get home and fast and know that I would take care of his needs when he had them so he would trust me in the future.

I got the poop picked up, and we walked straight home and Kody didn’t stop pulling on the leash until we got to the front door. It was a bad day for Kody, and while I felt good that I had responded fairly well, I still had some negative feelings because I was so disappointed that a situation that started out so positive ended up so, well, weird.

Looking back, I think I made the right decisions though. I think whatever Kody’s fears were, he wasn’t afraid that I would put him in danger, and that’s hopefully going to help us in the future.

I’m so happy that I can understand when Kody’s afraid now, because it explains a lot of our past challenges. When he’s not afraid, things are so much better. With my learning to be patient, Kody now finally has the ability to learn to be more comfortable and courageous in our world. He can trust that when things get bad for him, I won’t make them worse.

I never thought a dog would be this naturally fearful. Throughout this process I’ve blamed myself, blamed Kody, and blamed just about everything and everyone else, but this is just who Kody is. It explains why my dog experiences are so vastly different and more difficult that other people’s. Now that I have some perspective and realize it, though, we have begun to make real change.

Now I watch for any sign of fear, and that happens quite often, and when I see it, I don’t question or criticize it, I accept it and make a plan to quickly make Kody feel better. I don’t think dogs learn much while they are afraid except to be afraid so it’s good to get them out of that mode.

With an understanding of this I can understand how to go about certain challenges. I decided to switch Kody from a collar to a harness, and I knew it was going to be some work. He was excited about the harness, but he also rolled over with a little fear when it got too close to him. I expected this, and I already had chopped hot dogs. As soon as Kody got close to the harness, he got a hot dog. We did this a few times, then I started feeding him hot dogs though the neck opening of the harness, at first making sure he didn’t have to get to close, and then gently placing the hot dog in more challenging places as Kody got comfortable with it. We progressed to the point where Kody was practically getting the harness over his head to get the treats. But I had no intention of putting it on. Kody will put it on when he’s ready by sticking his head all the way through the neck hole to get a treat. No rush. The harness now means the most fun game is about to happen, and nothing else matters. After one game of this, Kody later found his harness and indicated that it was fun and he wanted to play that game again. So we did. Success! I’ll let you know if we ever get it on.

Part of the reason Kody has trepidation about the harness is that we tried them out when he was younger when I didn’t realize he was so afraid and I did many things wrong. Obviously not so much that a few treats can’t quickly change it. At the time, I believed Cesar Millan when he told me to purposely put my dog in situations he feared (the technical dog training term for this is “flooding”). Poor Kody!

Now everything’s fun and positive for both of us. I have had to learn a lot of patience with Kody, but it has really changed the way I view the world, myself, and challenges. Sometimes we’re just not ready to do that scary thing, and that’s okay. Just take baby steps and make it fun.

Aside from Kody’s fear, one of the reasons I started this blog is because I started to realize dachshunds are just not like other dogs. You can’t expect them to behave like a lab because their nature is to behave completely differently. They can be trained very well, and training can change what they want at certain times or in certain situations. But you can’t change what they naturally want, which is to be one with their nose and go wherever and however fast it takes them regardless of a leash. I can positively entice Kody to walk on a loose leash, but I can’t make that be his natural instinct. I’m sure over time, he will start to want that more, but there’s no need to rush it. After all, life should be fun, right?

After a fairly calm short walk he pulled me intensely, to the point of choking on the leash, for about 20-30 feet. Instead of trying some method to get him to stop, I just let him pull and kept walking to see if I could figure out why he was pulling. When we reached the front door he seemed to calm down a bit and was ready to pay attention to me.

Here are my observations:

• The leash pulling started suddenly.
• The leash pulling was intense.
• He has pulled at this time and place before.
• There was no indication, at least that I could see, of an event that started the pulling although clearly Kody had a change of heart before he started pulling.
• Once we reached the front door, Kody was calm.

I don’t really know what happened. One theory is that Kody just doesn’t like the cold and once we get closer to the door he remembers how much he’d rather be inside.

Since Kody’s leash pulling is so intense here, and looking at my past experiences, it’s one of those cases where I feel I need to just let him do his thing. If I knew the cause, maybe I would have a different plan, but for now, I don’t think doing anything would be wise because Kody clearly feels he needs to do it. What I would like to be able to do, and for Kody to learn is that when he’s ready to go back inside he can trust me to notice his needs and comply. Maybe if I do that, he won’t feel the need to pull on the leash so intently. Also, I’ll continue to observe to see if I can tell what’s going on.

One thing I like about this new attitude is it’s frustration free, which feels better to me. I admit I don’t know what’s going on exactly and just go with the flow. I’m sure that’s more pleasant for Kody, too.

Our walks have been really good today, too. Ever since I got Kody two years ago, I have been trying to figure this out. I am gaining more and more tools, which is helpful, but the other half is figuring out what what exactly we are supposed to be doing. When I walk Kody my goal is for him to get what he wants out of a walk. Since the walks are for him, obviously I want the walks to be comfortable and fun for him. But there is also the requirement that the walks not be painful for me. I’m working so that both Kody and I can have our needs met.

I’m reaching a bit of a breakthrough in this area, that has really paid off today. I’m trying to look at who Kody really is, what he’s telling me he wants. I’m trying to forget about what I think my relationship with a dog should be. The problem is, my idea of what Kody should want or need or what our relationship should be is sometimes way off from the truth. This is what causes all the trouble. Here are some examples:

• I thought Kody wanted to walk long distances, he actually doesn’t.
• I thought a good dog should walk by my side, anything less shows a bad dog or a bad owner or both, that’s just not true.
• I thought what Kody most liked about our walks was the walking. I was wrong, he likes the sniffing the best, and tells me that quite clearly at all times.
• I thought the clicker and treats were to be used to teach Kody to walk quickly and by my side. This isn’t true, they are to remind Kody that when he’s not busy sniffing, when he’s able to pay attention, that being near or next to me is better than running to the end of the leash to get to the next spot. We’ll get there soon enough.

I’ve also learned to use failure as a warning flag. For instance, when Kody stops responding to the clicker, I know that means I’m not understanding what’s really going on at the moment. It usually means he’s either afraid, which means he needs to feel safe, or he’s totally engrossed in something, which means he needs to be left to his own devices for a little while. Any tools I have are to make walks easy for me as well. The tools I have are not to change his mind about what he enjoys, I’ve learned that just doesn’t work.

What I’m finding is that when I’m aware of what Kody’s needs and wants are, he behaves. Kody barks for two reasons: when he’s afraid of something and when he’s frustrated because I’m not letting him spend time on what he’s interested in.

In certain cases, dogs need to be helped to see that what they think they want is not what they really want. Usually these cases are pretty obvious, and this where I need be a good teacher. For instance, you’re never going to catch that squirrel, even if I let you loose, so it’s ok to relax a little when you see them, I’ll help you learn to do that. The mail man is not a bad guy, I’ll gently show you, and then you will be comfortable not barking at him. When people come to the front door, that’s fun, and the fastest way to get to play with them is to be quiet.

But you can’t and shouldn’t try to teach your dog that sniffing is not fun. It is good clean natural fun, let them have it in a way that works for you too.

I’ve been thinking a lot about training. One way to look at training is to think of it as a method of brain washing your dog to want what you would like him to want. That really disturbs me, I don’t want to do that. It’s also really difficult to do. I think the right way to look at training is to think of it as finding out how to give your dog what he needs and wants while making it pleasant for you as well. That’s a manageable task.

He also asks to go outside a lot less often. It is getting colder, and before that it was raining a lot, which I’m sure plays into it. Like the calmer demeanor, it kind of throws me off. In addition he goes on little patrols around the door area and other areas of the house. Because these are not directly in my line of site sometimes, it used to throw me off. But if I go near him with a leash he just looks at me or walks away. If he does need to go outside, he makes it adequately clear, so now I’m learning to wait for him to do that. I’m definitely the one being trained here!

I guess these are both signs that he’s growing up. We used to go out all the time, and I thought that would be kind of the way life would be. I mean, this is a good thing, it’s just different and takes some getting used to.