Wednesday, October 16, 2013

kennel stress

Up until the last three weeks I have still been taking Indi to work with me. We have kennels for boarding dogs in the back that she stays in. We don't have that many kennels and we try to keep noisy dogs on one side and quiet dogs on the other. I do keep her on the quiet side even though she is at times a barker.
She has over time developed some anxiety about other dogs walking past her kennel. You would think she was going to kill the dog on the other side the way she reacts!
For a long time now I have been taking half of her breakfast to work with me (kibble) and tossing it into her kennel every time I walk a dog past her. I finally decided that was not working. She would bark like mad as the other dog went past and THEN turn around and eat her food.
So thanks to Patricia McConnell's blog from a few weeks ago about noise levels in kennels I have a new system!
The sheet! Why didn't I think of it myself?


It helps a lot! I also still throw kibble over the door each time I walk a dog past. She does bark occasionally but not nearly like she was doing before. She does not bark just to hear herself talk like some dogs, only as a reaction to another dog. At home she barks at the neighbor dogs but hey, they started it!


And of course she gets to go outside with me on my breaks and play ball or play with approved doggy group playmates.
Chester the Pointer is definitely approved!












She is growing up and does not always want to play with other dogs like she used to. She mostly wants me to throw her ball.
The almighty ball...

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