So it’s been a couple of weeks since the last update. So sorry. Spring is an incredibly busy time of the year for me.
Lucy is doing great and making a lot of progress. She is goofier with us everyday. 🙂 I am now able to trust her to be in the backyard with the other large dogs without a need to supervise too much. (Of course I don’t leave her out there with them for more than enough time to potty.) I have not heard her growl at other dogs from inside her crate in at least a week, but she will still growl at strangers if they stand too close while she is in there. The other day, my daughter brought a few of her friends over, and Lucy was allowed to meet them. She was wonderful with that (much better than when she met me). I am also still working on her calmness of mind when it comes to filing her nails. She is getting better pretty quickly, but she definitely isn’t able to completely relax during the process yet.
Now for the progress with Raina…. (Drum roll, please!) I have been giving Lucy more exposure to Raina under very structured and supervised conditions – off leash. She is doing a great job at avoiding Raina altogether. You can see how this is being done in today’s video. There is even a clip towards the end where Raina walks up to her and just won’t walk away. Lucy kept her head turned away and waited for her to walk away. She will be getting more and more practice sitting in her place with Raina walking around the house.
In the next week or two, I would like to start taking this exercise outside. I plan to begin with Lucy in the down command allowing Raina to walk around. After she can prove that she can just exist with Raina, she can graduate to walking around freely in the yard too.
One of the big things that has been taken away from Lucy that is making a huge difference is her ability to boss the other dogs around. When the larger dogs are playing or arguing over a toy, Lucy has a tendency to want to get involved and steer the situation. Between this type of thing, her pushiness when it comes to being pet or getting attention, and the growling she used to practice from her crate, I can see her trying to be a controlling leader with the other dogs. I have taken this from her completely, and it is bringing a huge change in her attitude.