Positive Training: Play and Recalls Away from Temptations

Before I continue with our desert series, I want to join the Positive Training blog hop. I have a lot to report about my work with Shyla.

My biggest focus has been on keeping the joy in our training. I realized that my entire life attitude took a nosedive when the terrible spine pain started. Consequently, I was less enthusiastic with Shyla during training and more prone to negativity.

I think we're back on track. The look on her face at sunrise this morning, as she confidently made warm eye contact with me, made me so happy.

Her confidence was despite the wild wind that was sending her ears into funny positions (wind can still scare her). Through our training and life experience, Shyla has learned that I'm a safe haven.

A big part of "injecting joy into our training" has been resuming playing. For a long time after the start of my spine flare-up, I didn't even realize that I wasn't playing with Shyla as much anymore. I was in "survival mode", which didn't include even thinking about playing.

I've changed that. I've figured out games that I can play with her that are not hindered by my pain. Not only has it made Shyla more confident again, it's helped my frame of mind too.

Resuming playing is the simple part of our progress. However, we do still have a big training challenge that has frustrated me endlessly. In the past, Shyla hasn't responded to recalls when she finds a dead animal. It is the only situation where I feel that I become completely irrelevant to Shyla.

It scares me tremendously when she is out of sight and doubtless at the site of a carcass because a mountain lion might be there or even a human hunter. Shyla could be killed by either one.

It has become clear to me that scolding and yelling will not get Shyla to come to me when she's found a carcass. After a lot of thought and reading, I realized that I needed to actually train near carcasses so that I could address this specific issue using positive training. I have trained multiple dogs not to chase live animals by training in the vicinity of wildlife, specifically choosing places that have tons of deer, elk, or coyote scent. Training near carcasses mimics that approach.

I live in a wild place where there are usually a few known elk or deer carcasses, originally killed by mountain lions, but now abandoned. In fact, a lion killed an elk on one of our riding routes while we were in Utah, and the remaining carcass seemed like a perfect place to start our new training.

I could tell that my scolding about going near carcasses had badly affected Shyla based on her body language and facial expression when I took her near the elk remains. Her ears pinned back and she looked scared. I felt terrible that my scolding had NOT worked to keep Shyla from running away to visit carcasses but it had made her scared of me near carcasses. Here's one look at her facial expression when we first went near a carcass together. It broke my heart. I promised her that I wouldn't yell or scold again. In my defense, it was fear for Shyla's safety that made me scold but I should have been smarter about it.

The sun disappeared behind clouds when we got closer to the carcass so the photo quality isn't good but I think that you can see that Shyla was scared to even stand near the elk carcass in my presence.

So, we played a game where I'd have her stand or sit near the carcass and then I'd call her to me. We'd have a huge party when she left the carcass and came to me. I gave her treats and then we played with her Wubba toy.

Gradually, we've reached a point where Shyla is relaxed enough to really start learning that it's okay to be near a carcass *with me* and that she'll get the biggest party ever if she leaves the carcass to run to me.

In this controlled situation, she will now happily recall away from a carcass.

We end each session with a wild game of Wubba near the carcass. The goal of our game is that Shyla is realizing that *I* can be more fun than the silly carcass. While we are playing, Shyla is off-leash, and she is continually choosing to be with *me* instead of with the carcass.

Best of all, I am no longer scaring my sensitive best friend. My "scolding" about her carcass habit had only served to poison our relationship. This new approach is definitely strengthening our relationship. As I snowbiked away from the carcass today after our training, Shyla was "butt-tucking" and sprinting in circles around me. That's her way of leaping for joy! And, I smiled all the way home.

Unique Desert Views

First, a quick update on the acute spine pain that I've been battling for quite a while now. I still have pain, although some of it has been replaced by pins and needles. That's actually a promising development, as my spine doctor says that pins and needles sometimes accompany nerve healing. It's hard to be patient but I'm trying because there's a chance my body is healing on its own. I'll find out about surgical options (or necessities) later this week. However, if the docs are comfortable with it, I hope to stick with conservative treatment for a bit longer, in hopes of avoiding yet another spine surgery.

Onto more upbeat topics... During our trip, I was awed, again and again, by the gorgeous silhouettes that the wind had carved from the sandstone that dominates the area. This was the view across the canyon from one of our campsites around sunset.

As dusk fell, this was the view up the canyon. I kept seeing "abstract art" as I looked at the sky colors and shapes around me.

Before we left that campsite, I did some mountain biking on my own. My attitude toward pain is that it's just pain and is nothing to be afraid of. As long as I don't make myself worse or put myself in danger by riding my bike and hiking, I'm going to do it. Based on my long experience with spinal pain (it started in my teen years), I know that I am far happier if I do things that I love despite it. It's an attitude that has worked for me - letting me be pretty happy despite chronic pain.

Anyway, I had fun riding along a rim that overlooked both desert and snowy mountains.

The juxtaposition of red rock desert and the high mountains always catches my fancy. Those are the mountains that we sometimes visit during late spring Utah trips when the desert gets too hot for us.

The "destination" of my ride was a butte with slickrock all around it. Its size is truly awe-inspiring. My bike looked tiny propped against its base. It's a popular destination for motorized off road travel in the spring but, aside from cawing ravens, it was completely deserted on this trip. Yipee!

After I played on the slickrock, I headed back toward camp, with another of those crazy views of the combination of sand, red rock, and snowy mountains.

When I got back to camp, it was time to pack up camp and move on. We headed for a place we call "K's Rock". It is far from civilization and quiet even on holidays. With Thanksgiving coming up fast, we moved there.

It's a place that our whole pack knows and loves.

Thus, it was the perfect place to celebrate Thanksgiving and our sweet chocolate girl's 4th birthday a few days later.

Black Dog Sunday

I'm taking a break from desert stories today to focus on our black dog! I've been out with Duo around sunset many days recently. At this time of year, I love playing in the filtered sunlight inside the pine forest. Although R is now 8 years old, he still has the zany spirit of a puppy.

I've been glad that the moose haven't been right nearby recently so I can play with the dogs off-leash in the afternoons.

For brief periods, he can be contemplative.

And he is always very alert when we're in the forest. He seems to know that a person or animal is coming way before I do!

When we get home from our sunset hike, the two dogs play like crazy for about 20 minutes, chasing each other all over the house while making ferocious noises. Then, as fast as the play session started, the two dogs fall asleep together.

Dogs really know how to live the good life!

A Desert Moonrise and Sunset

While we were camped in the land of canyons, we did "sunset" hikes each day to walk up higher where the sun still shined after our campsite was in the shade.

On our last evening at that campsite, we got to see the almost-full moon rise to the east over the red rock desert from our sunset lookout point.

And we could see an incredible sunset to the west from the same spot. There has been a dearth of great sunsets at home for a while so that made me appreciate it even more! The colors started mostly orange.

And then a reddish hue started to creep in.

At the peak of the sunset, the Runner found a great spot for a canine silhouette.

And our canine bowed down in thanks for Nature's beauty.

We decided to return to camp via a canyon that gave us a western view so we could see the transition to night.

Indeed, an inky darkness gradually took over the sky.

After a cold day here, that desert sunset seems magical as I relive it in my mind.

Desert Sunsets

In the red rock desert, the high canyon walls determine how long you have sunlight at your campsite each day.

At our first campsite, the sun set behind the western canyon wall about about 3:30PM. After we figured out how early our campsite became chilly, we started doing a hike up to a higher point after our campsite's sunset.

That high point is beautiful. It has a gorgeous red rock wall that reflects the setting sun.

It has rays of warm sunshine all the way until the published sunset time (which was around 5PM).

So, of course, the Duo had their photos taken in the soft sunlight by the pupperazzi.

R discovered that another dog replied a second later to every sound he made. Of course, R had to answer that other dog. And, on and on it went as R talked with himself - the delights of canyon walls that echo!

After the sun had set, we could view the colorful clouds from that high spot. The first evening had a nice one!

And we watched as it faded toward dusk.

We had to walk back to camp in the dark, using headlamps to lead the way. The sunset hikes were a great way to make the most of each day's light. As you'll see in a future post, we had a spectacular hike up there on our last night at our campsite!

Short Days in the Desert

On the first day of our trip, we drove most of the day and arrived in our campsite late at night. Before we went to sleep, I admired the wide open sky, the bright moonlight, and the stars. I quickly set up my tripod and camera, programmed the camera to take photos for the next several hours, and went to sleep.

For such a fast set-up, I was very happy with the outcome! This is a series of exposures spanning 3 hours. It's easy to see how people who lived a long time ago didn't know whether the universe was spinning around the Earth or vice versa.

We woke up the next morning to see that we had the area to ourselves. We were beyond thrilled. We've been visiting this spot for many years but it's been "discovered" recently. It seems like the cold short days of autumn are the quietest ones there!

It was about 17°F when we woke up so we stayed snuggled in the sleeping bags for a long time until the sun warmed our campsite a little. This was our view as the sun rose.

When we finally got moving, it was time to break out the dog boots. That is not Shyla's favorite part of the desert. I might try, yet again, to find a kind that she likes better.

When she got moving, she tended to forget about her boots and have fun!

We knew that the area had received a decent amount of rain over the year. Yet, I was still very surprised to find desert "pot holes" filled with water deeply enough that Shyla could swim in them! Actually, if I'd been on my toes, I would've stopped her. These pot holes have delicate organisms in them that lie dormant for long periods of time waiting for water so that they can live. It's bad to mess with the pot hole water because it hurts those organisms - and, thus, I usually keep Shyla out of it.

This time, before I was aware of what was happening, Shyla actually broke a thin layer of ice to go for a swim in a pot hole. It was her one and only swim during our trip. I was on my toes after that!

She shook and then ran to me, her "desert swimming" fun over.

As we descended toward camp, I looked up behind us. The butte where we'd been playing had cool wavy clouds above it.

Alas, we didn't plan that first day very well. It was almost time for sunset by the time we'd biked and then had lunch. There were still stars to be watched...

...but we learned to make better use of the short daylight hours for the rest of the trip.

Wordless Wednesday - A Red Rock Edition

Our first camp was by these huge red walls

Shyla stood on the slickrock a mile above our camp

The desert puts things in perspective

Shyla - The Moose Alerter

You are used to seeing photos of Shyla galloping through the forest, looking like a perpetual motion machine.

On the day that we left for the desert, she and I were on the trails. She was a little ahead of me. I looked up, and she had planted herself in the middle of the trail in a "sit". Her ears were perked up, and she looked intently at something ahead of her. This behavior was completely novel for her.

So, I followed her gaze, and I saw a trio of moose at least 40 yards ahead of us. I quickly turned around, and Shyla and I backtracked.

I think that she'd been badly scared by two recent incidents, one of which I wrote about here. I didn't write about what happened on the very next day. I'd decided that Shyla needed to stay very close to me until the moose situation had calmed down so I had her in a "heel", which means that she was directly behind my bike on a singletrack path.

As we descended the very same route as we'd just climbed, our local mother moose barreled out of an aspen forest directly at Shyla. Shyla easily evaded her but looked terrified. I was very lucky that the mother moose didn't take out her anger on me because I couldn't have evaded her so easily. That happened the day after Shyla and I were seriously charged by the same mother moose.

I'm guessing that those two events combined to make Shyla extremely wary of moose. I would love if her "default behavior" when she senses moose in the future is to sit stationary. Only time will tell if she repeats that stellar warning system for me.

I was reminded of that event because I checked a trail camera the other day that showed the trio of moose actually fleeing! Mother moose was first.

This year's calf was not far behind.

And last year's calf, a single-antlered bull, was last in the trio.

Here's a better look at last year's calf.

I was left wondering what on Earth would cause moose to flee! They certainly don't flee when faced with me and the Duo. I wonder if they flee if they sense people before the people see them. Given the time of day in the photos above, it might have been a hiker who startled them. I am sorry to report that my trail camera gave me no insight into the cause of their flight - no one else passed it all day long.

Here's to Shyla learning to "tell" me when moose are around!

I had my test today, and I don't know the results yet. The results should help guide the next decisions. Thanks for all the great thoughts and comments. My sincerest hope is that this will somehow resolve by itself. However, after 2 months, that's starting to seem like a pipe dream. And, I must admit that it's a level of pain that I can't tolerate while remaining happy.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy our winter wonderland. I'm hoping my winter adaptation kicks in soon. I've been so cold since we arrived home that I've barely been able to enjoy the sights but they've been beautiful.