The Dreaded Flip Flop

Dear Ryker is the sweetest dog.  He is so quiet and spends hours simply observing.  The weather here has been balmy and today I donned flip flops.  Flip.  Flop.  Flip.  Flop.  It triggered something in Ryker that I had not seen. 

First, you have to get the sound of his bark in you mind.  He sounds like Dino from the Flintstones cartoon.  Funny at first, but long bouts of it could make your ears bleed.  Ryker was emotional upset.  He barked and barked a loud, shrill warning.  Chance, my other collie, was frantically looking inside and outside the house attempting to discern what Ryker's alarm was all about.

It took me a while to narrow the problem down the sound of my flip flops.  He doesn't like it, he cannot tolerate it.  So in my mind I figure whoever bothered to feed the poor Tomball Collies might have worn flip flops.  It is warm a great deal down there in Texas and flip flops would be appropriate. 

The question becomes two fold:  will I ever figure out how to desensitize Ryker to the sound of my flip flops and/or am I really going to have to change my summer shoe style in order to have a peaceful household?  Meanwhile, I am opting for hot feet.

The Magic of the Thundershirt

Ryker has given me the best Holiday Surprise of all; he now uses the dog door.   We put the patio dog door back in over the Holidays.  It's a little easier to use than the dog door in the wall.  Add in a Thundershirt, taping up the flap and then some cold weather.  Suddenly Ryker uses the dog door.  A week later I had forgotten to tape up the flap and he used it with the flap down, a significant event for a dog who is nervous about being touched even if it is by a flap.

The dog door is his new toy.  While the constant  sound of his going in, then out, in, then out can be annoying, it has eliminated potty accidents altogether.  It is amazing to watch him grow and make choices, opportunities his old life never provided.

I started doing Yoga over the holidays which the dogs find very entertaining.  Chance serenades me with barking during the entire activity.  When I'm lying on my back on the floor looking a lot like an overturned turtle, Ryker circles me continuously tail wagging furiously and occasionally dropping a stuffed animal on me or playing with my hands.  I wasn't sure this dog would ever reach a place and be truly happy yet me on the floor trying to exercise seems to do the trick.  Go figure.

Ryker jumped on the couch to be with me last night.  He's never done that.  I left him there when I went to bed and he was still up there in the morning.  Although it isn't a behavior I want to encourage as the volume of dog hair alone is remarkable, I've never had to correct him at all for anything and have no idea how this is going to work. 

The Thundershirt gives him the boost of confidence he needs to try new things.  It's now on my list of "must haves" for rescue dogs.  Next project: getting Ryker to stop hating the sound of the leash and running from it.