The Hachi Chronicle

Hachi had a mostly good week, with only a couple of small incidents. On his revised medicine schedule, we notice his arousal and intensity rising around dinner time, prior to our evening walk. This is despite the fact that he should be well-covered by meds at that point because we give doses in the late afternoon to head off this intensity.

His intensity blows me away. We've been working very hard on his recalls, playing games where one of us is the distraction and the other calls him. He has learned to bolt to us when called very fast. This is what the start of a recall looks like. That sure is intensity!

His focus and intensity mean that he can learn new things very fast. He rockets to a high level of proficiency in the blink of an eye.

The downside is that, when his intensity ratchets upward, he becomes more likely to show signs of aggression toward the Duo. For example, when he's too intense, he will resource guard a mushroom in the forest from R, even though it doesn't appear to me that Hachi likes to eat mushrooms. That's what happened this evening. It was just a short snarl - no harm done to R.

He had another harmless incident when we were preparing Snuffle Mats, loaded with kibble, for the three dogs. R walked into the room, and Hachi barked aggressively at him from inside his ex pen. It wasn't a big deal but it does make me think that we need another medicine adjustment.

I've noticed that Shyla can read Hachi really well. She seems to know when it's okay to approach him, greet him, or join him in sniffing something. She sometimes appears to try to soothe him when he's over threshold in his ex pen, and she lies right next to it (perfectly safe due to the ex pen). It's interesting to see our fearful girl playing this role.

Despite those two incidents, I'd say that it was a pretty good week. Hachi was mostly happy and relaxed.