Mad Dog

This photo captures the Jekyll & Hyde that is Cabana. She looks so sweet and serene, yet laying under her chin is a destuffed, thrashed, mutilated caterpillar toy--a hint of Cabana's dark side.


Within the walls of our home, Cabana is the nicest, most well-mannered dog in the world. After almost 2 weeks, Cabana still leaves all our Christmas ornaments and wrapped packages alone. She never bothers her spay surgery incision and has been perfect about only getting on the couch when the blanket is put out for her and she's invited.

But outside the house, on walks, Cabana can be a stinker. Cabana was much better before her surgery, when she could happily run alongside me, the leash between us forming a perfect J. But now, not only can she not run, but I also hurt my back a few days ago. I've been hobbling around like a little old lady for the past few days, unable to stand completely straight up. So my husband has been walking Cabana, but today, I thought I could manage it--IF we walked slowly and IF Cabana didn't pull too much.

Slow walks just don't cut the mustard for Cabana, although I tried to compensate by letting Cabana sniff the grass along the sidewalk almost the whole time. This kept her from pulling, and she was happy doing her doggy thing. But at the end of our 2-mile walk, after we passed a couple of neighbors who gave Cabana a short pat, Cabana got riled up and had one of her episodes. She leapt and flailed, trying to mouth my hands, running around me in circles.

All of this was rather painful on my back, but I managed to reach down, grabbed Cabana under her chin by her head collar, told her to sit, and held her in place for a minute until she calmed down.

Today's episode was probably a build-up of Cabana not being able to release enough energy during this past week since her surgery. And although her episodes aren't daily or even weekly, they do happen fairly regularly. I think they are always triggered by Cabana being frustrated. She often gets mad at me if we stop to talk to another person with a dog. If the other dog hangs back and doesn't want to sniff or play with Cabana while the other person and I are chatting, then Cabana takes out her frustration on me, by flailing and trying to bite my hand. (I know she isn't really trying to hurt me, as in removing a portion of my flesh; it's more like a toddler pounding on his dad's chest, like, "Ooooh, I'm so mad and I've just got to do something!")

Do your dogs ever get mad at you? Is this still a puppyish thing that Cabana will potentially outgrow? And is there something I should be doing that I'm not when Cabana has these episodes? :(

Read more...

My New Default

Cabana and I stopped at a pumpkin patch this morning for a photo op. It's supposed to start raining this afternoon, so I thought I'd better do this before the ground got mushy (weather forecast calls for "torrential" rain tomorrow). Cabana wasn't too excited about posing, but she humored me. Good doggy!


I had a VERY rough weekend with Cabana. She just about broke my puppy raising heart! She started having her "episodes" again, which she had when she was about 6 months old but had stopped doing for such a long time. Over the past couple months, Cabana's dog distraction has worsened, which I kept attributing to her being close to going into season--but which I now think was not the reason at all. Her episodes are always triggered by passing dogs, like she's so frustrated at not being able to play with them.

My husband offered to walk Cabana all this next week, but I felt like I needed to "get back on that horse". After having a good cry yesterday, I got some ideas for working on this problem, and after this morning's walk, I think they worked. Cabana always seems "penitent", i.e. very well-behaved, after she's had an episode. But I think my interpreting her as being penitent may be too humanizing. One thing I know for certain is that MY attitude and behavior after she's had an episode are very different from my usual "default" demeanor with her. So, I think I need to ACT from the outset as though she's just had an episode--i.e., I'll tolerate no nonsense, no crap, no episodes.

This morning, armed with my NEW default demeanor, Cabana was much better about passing dogs without going into hysterics. She even sat calmly while a huge jackrabbit bounded across our path! Yay, Cabana! We're still rooting for you! And hopefully still rooting for me, too--after all, I think I'm the one that still has a lot to learn.


One other positive thing is that my hand/arm stopped hurting! I believe the culprit was Cabana's new green head collar. Our old tan-colored one was fraying, so a couple months ago, I asked our puppy group leader for a new one. I selected this green one because the webbing was thicker, and I thought it would hold up better and be a bit more comfortable for Cabana. Well, it might have been SO comfortable that she didn't mind pulling pretty hard with it on. When I think back (and look at my old blog posts), I started having arm problems at just about the time we switched to the green one. For the past week or two, I went back to using the tan one, and voila--no arm pain!!

Read more...