Murphy saw two cats without freaking out!

[Noobs]

I feel as though I've been CRAWLING in progress on this issue. Two weeks ago Murphy saw a cat under some bushes before I did; it was still dark, I can't see them ALL the time! I have gotten used to the routine though, and I know exactly what his body will do and how long he'll stiffen up before the lunge (usually no more than 2 seconds and he's off!). Well I saw his body stiffen up this time and while I didn't see the cat myself I knew it was there by the way he reacted, and started to walk the other direction but was too late as he'd started to lunge as I was turning. It's just an awful thing to see and hear when he's like that and I usually am able to recover and be calm the rest of the walk but get home feeling defeated.

Up until this point he had become comfortable enough to see a cat across the street without reacting. Well, he does react by stopping in his tracks and staring, but he doesn't react violently. When it's closer than that, though, all bets are off. Until this week, it would seem.

A couple of nights ago after our walk, we were sitting on the porch which he loves to do, watching the world go by. I usually spend this time giving him massages, talking to him, giving him treats every time a person walks by with extra jackpots for men. The outdoor cat that belongs to our next door neighbor came from across the street and walked slowwwwwly as cats do toward our neighbor's house. It stopped on the sidewalk at the edge of our house, most certainly half the distance of Murphy's usual threshold. He saw the cat before I did and his eyes got a little bigger but not whale-eyed necessarily and he looked at it. Within a second or two I started to praise him profusely and give him treats. He accepted all the treats and was able to turn his focus from me to the cat and back to me again. After maybe 15 seconds (an ETERNITY) the cat went up the neighbor's driveway and out of our sight.

Then last night, during our walk, we went down a street we don't normally walk through. Again it was dark and Murphy stopped short near an alley. I looked around and saw a cat, about to cross our path but stopped when it saw Murphy. It was again about half the distance of Murphy's threshold. I praised him for looking at the cat and started giving him treats. This broke his focus and he was able to look at the cat, then me, etc. I used my babyfood jar filled with peanut butter to get his focus away from the cat and toward me so we could walk away from the area and get the cat out of our sight.

I am so thrilled. When things like this happen I get visions of him ignoring cats altogether like he does with most people these days. That's still a long way off, but at least I know baby steps eventually lead to toddler-sized progress. Thanks again everyone for your continued support and for indulging me by reading this.

[emmabeth]

Thats fantastic stuff, well done to the both of you!

I think having him flick between what hes seen and you is a really good thing here, I would be willing to bet htat in the day time you will one day have a dog who barely twitches when he sees a cat, but at night does 'tell' you 'Mom... theres something there'... and that can never be a bad thing (as long ats it is 'Mom.... theres something there' and not say. 'O. M. G O. M. G IM GONNA KILL IT CAT CAT CAT CAT WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!'...)

Also... isnt it awesome when you are walking along and you can read your dog, you know what hes seen, roughly what hes thinking (sometimes explicitly what hes thinking!) and theres a totally unspoken conversation between you..

I see some people walking their dogs and their dog is saying all sorts of things and the human on the end of the lead hasnt a CLUE, not the foggiest idea, and that does make me quite sad for those dogs!

[Fundog]

Good job, Noobs. I have yet to achieve that with my two-- of course, I haven't really tried, either-- Annie gets a certain decadent pleasure out of purposely *hunting* for the cats on our street. And though she would absolutely LOVE for me to release her for the chase when she sees one (she would think her ship had just come in), fortunately, she is still fairly manageable, and I can keep her going with minimal effort. Plus, I don't really want the stray cats coming into our yard, so it is nice to be able to tell Annie, "Go out and check for kitties." If there are any lurking around/sitting on the wall, she will tell them where to go.

But every household is different, so I don't fault you in the least for wanting to cat-proof Murphy-- WAY TO GO!!

[Mattie]

Well done Noobs and Murphy, your hard work is working.

Sometimes it does seem that we are not making any progress, I thought I would never get Gracie right with other dogs, there never seems to be any improvement until one day we were just starting to walk round a bend when a dog appeared in front of us, Gracie ignored the dog. I was over the moon. Little steps do get us there

[Nettle]

YAAAAY NOOBS AND MURPHY big bunch of flowers!

[Noobs]

Thanks everyone. It has been an encouraging week indeed. I also finally got the fleece lined harness in the mail that Mattie suggested and Murphy while it's a touch too big, Murphy is very comfortable in it and actually carries his head a little higher now while wearing it...except when his nose is to the ground of course. So now I can do the "emergency yank" without feeling like he's going to choke himself.

Fundog, it's one thing for him to tell cats where to go, as you say Annie would, and how she gets pleasure from chasing cats. But Murphy reacts VIOLENTLY to them. The second he saw one he would bark and lunge and snarl and it sounded like bloody murder, he wanted to KILLLLLLLL. If he saw a squirrel, he would pay very close attention to it, sometimes I would let him chase one up a tree, and he would be very focused on it. But cats? No, you don't want Annie reacting to cats if she did what Murphy did/does. Yikes.

Emmabeth, I know what you mean - I see lots of owners whose dogs are speaking volumes and they're not paying attention or on their cell phones or talking to their friends. BTW one of my biggest pet peeves is someone walking a dog while talking on a cell phone, especially a reactive dog. One time at the park Murphy and I were walking along and this woman was with a group of people and had her pom on a leash. The pom looked at Murphy and stiffened up and stared at him. As we came closer I was tempted to say "Excuse me, you should reel your dog in; it's about to rush at us." Instead I just moved Murphy to my other side and walked further away from them and didn't say anything because people do not like being told about their dogs. But sure enough, it came rushing toward us barking like crazy. All she said was "No, no no no no" and pulled it toward her. That's all I ever see people do - say "No no no no no" and pull their dogs toward them, lean over them and talk to them like they're children having a tantrum. *sigh*

[jacksdad]

Noobs, this is awesome. Good work. Someday I hope to be able to say this about Jack. With him it's not cats, it's dogs. And though he doesn't want to kill them, he completely loses him self in a barking/lunging frenzy.

[Mattie]

Jacksdad, if I could turn Gracie round I am sure you can turn Jack, it just needs plenty of consistant work which you are doing to get there. For a long time I thought I wasn't getting anywhere then one day it seems to all fall into place and I had a different dog.

[Noobs]

Jacksdad, you've read Scaredy Dog! and have the tools to do this with Jack. Everyone here believes you can get there.

[Noobs]

Another update! This morning on our walk, we passed an alley and Murphy stopped and growled at something, I think it was a plastic bag that he mistook for a cat, but still, it was just a soft grumble, and I led him away saying "Okay, we'll go then!" and that was it! He went right back to normal and didn't continually look back behind him or puff-puff-puff with his breath like he normally does after an "incident". Woo!

Also, when we were almost home we passed this woman - the only woman he's ever lunged at (the rest have been men, and thankfully never children). She limps and wears big, billowy skirts all the time, I never see her in pants, so she probably looked scary to him. 18 months ago he would see her and charge at her, barking and lunging, it was awful. I worked really hard to desensitize him to her with the babyfood, with real meat, whatever it took to get his focus off her when she went by, because she lives around the corner from us and we ran into her nearly every morning. Bless her, whenever she walked by, she could see I was working with him, had him in a sit, watch me, etc., feeding him from the babyfood jar, and she would still say "Good morning" even though he had lunged at her on a few occasions. Well I hadn't seen her in months but this morning there she was. I had my hand near the treat bag, ready just in case. Murphy saw her and kept the leash loose, and when she got to within a few feet from us, I called him by his nickname softly, and he looked at me, then her, then came to me, almost to heel position, even though I didn't have any treats ready yet. Double-woo!

Also, I am now at over 1000 posts. Whoa.

[Mattie]

Noobs, this made me feel a bit weepy, you and Murphy have come such a long way since you first came on here, WELL DONE both of you.

[Noobs]

Thanks, Mattie. Sometimes I look at him and get a little weepy myself over how far he's come.

[emmabeth]

Me too on the weepy front.... I am so soppy! I am so glad we got this 'success stories' forum area too... its really great being about to read up on everyones progress and not having it lost in the general advice threads or even in the general chat area.

Someone the other day told me that 'people on the internet arent real' (and thus the advice I give is not appreciated or useful, grr!)... but if people say things like that to me, all I have to do is come here and read peoples progress and successes and I can say 'knickers to you!'

So... YAY for you and Murphy!!!!

[Mattie]

If people on the internet are not real, who types the posts?

[Noobs]

I love this section of the forum too. It's a huge confidence boost for me and anyone else, really, who are struggling with dogs that have issues. "If they can do it, so can I," etc., and when people post their successes, all the support that comes with it really help motivate you (me) to keep it up and that we're going in the right direction.