introduction

So here's my first blog entry! I hope to update this regularly or at least occasionally concerning my work with my adopted dog, Maralynn, who came home with me on December 5th, 2009. My name is julie, I'm 25 years old and I live with Maralynn and my life-partner-type-person Bryon in Brooklyn, New York. (I am pretty much Maralynn's sole trainer, a dynamic that I'll explore in future blogs.)

Maralynn is approximately 3 years old, and is a mutt--the general descriptive term we use is "Jack Russell/chihuahua mix" because basically, she looks like a JR with gigantic radar ears. We think she might have some beagle in there too, but who knows. She is a ridiculously awesome dog, but because of her mysterious origins (all the rescue can tell me is that she was found stray on a city bus), she has some behaviors I am working to decrease in order to improve her quality of life.

-stranger fear/aggression. While M does not approach strangers aggressively, she becomes anxious in their presence and has been known to snap if they get too close. My experience with her is mostly that she objects to the 'sneakiness' a lot of people display with a new/strange dog--if you stick your hand out and try to creep it towards her, she will snap at it. (I can't blame her, because this irritates me too, but I also understand that it's much easier to work on her behavior than it is to change the behavior of every single person who might possibly interact with her.) She's kind of catlike in this respect--if you chase after her, she gets irritated; if you ignore her, eventually she comes to you.

-barking at other dogs. I have seen M play with other dogs at her foster mom's, but if she encounters another dog on the street, she will bark and bark until they go away. She is LOUD, too, and it's a little embarrassing. I haven't seen her display aggression towards other dogs, and she generally ignores cats, but oh man, the barking. My goal is to reduce the barking--I don't necessarily care that she acknowledges another dog's presence, and honestly, I think she enjoys barking, haha.

-general anxiety. M is very high-strung, and thus if something happens she didn't anticipate (ex. a flag flaps in the wind near her, my neighbor decides to stomp around upstairs at 2am) she will startle and bark for anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. Sometimes this is hilarious, just because random things annoy her (ex. I have a neighbor who likes to go for a walk every night and sing while he does it; she doesn't mind if he sings Motown but she hates it when he sings Christmas carols) but I can see that it upsets her.

-she is smart and thus constantly testing the boundaries somewhat. This is not necessarily a 'bad' thing but it means I need to pay attention, haha. In addition, she needs a fair amount of exercise for a small dog. She takes what she can get, especially right now when it's bloody freezing in New York, but she's happiest on at least a couple miles of walking a day. (and so am I, for that matter!)

To end on a positive note, here are the fantastic things about my dog:

-she is incredibly smart. No seriously. I 'taught' her how to high-five after she saw another dog (specifically, Presidential Dog Bo Obama) do it on TV and then imitated it by running up to me and offering a high-five.

-she is ridiculously housebroken. The only time she's ever had an accident was when she was extremely anxious because I had gone away and asked someone else to come over and care for her for a short period.

-once she bonds with a stranger, a process that typically consists of them ignoring her for an hour or so, she is essentially the cutest thing you've ever seen--sweet and affectionate and happy. She absolutely adores the people she's bonded with.

-she's really good around the house. she'll sleep anywhere you put her, she doesn't destroy things, she leaves people food alone 99% of the time, and she's totally happy in a crate.

so basically, I love my dog and she is a rockstar, but by reducing her overall anxiety level, I hope to reduce or eliminate her couple of problematic behaviors so that everyone wins.