Cooper Lee in Philly: Training Day

So as I've already mentioned in a previous post, Cooper is a nightmare at the dog park. Well this Wednesday, Cooper pushed me over the edge. The trip started out well with him happily playing with other dogs. Then, a 3-legged dog walked in... I don't know if it was because the dog was hopping and Cooper thought it was playing, or because my puppy is just a huge bully, but he barked and barked at the poor dog. I mean, he would go off for 10 minutes with me and multiple other people chasing him. As soon as we would get him, he would go in time out for 5 minutes, and then continue the bark session when he was released. Now I know I should have probably left the park, but Cooper would never get any exercise if we left every time he went into one of these barking fits. I really needed to fix this. I know you may be thinking, what is wrong with a dog barking? It's natural behavior. Well, if you were in the dog park for more then 2 minutes with Cooper you would realize that this is not normal barking. It is a failed attempt at initiation of play. (kind of like kids who go, "mom, mom, mom, mom, etc until they are attended too) Sadly for him, the dogs never except this annoying invitation (because who wants to play with such a loud mouth?) and Cooper just tries harder. So anyway, at this point I had tried calling Cooper over whenever he started barking and giving him a treat for coming. However, this only works if I can catch Cooper right before he starts (which is like 10% of the time). Once he starts, its hopeless. So out of frustration I began yelling. Well that's a bad idea, it just gets dogs more excited. On this particular Wednesday, I got so mad at one point, I threw one of my cotton mittens in Cooper's face. This was enough to startle him and for me to grab him and leash him up and get him out of there. When I got home, I was going to consult the expert.

Now I know that Cesar Millan's techniques are often considered controversial, but animals listen to him, so I'd give it a try. I don't really believe in the whole dominance thing, and pack leader thing. I am more of, you take care of me and protect me, and I'll do the same. (aka just be my best friend!) However, Cooper is still a puppy and needs someone to teach him what is ok and what isn't. (I try to tell him that I do this for him because the better he is, the more places and fun things he can do!- he doesn't get it) Sadly, he isn't learning from the dogs at the park who ignore his barking. So I needed a way to show him that scaring the bejesus out of dogs, and annoying their parents is not good doggy manners. Also, Cesar stressed that a pack leader (or in my case, a friend a dog will listen to) is calm and collected- opposite of the way I am when I'm screaming at him. So after reading a Cesar article I modified some of his directions and went out and bought a little spray bottle. This bottle was to be my version of a spraying bark collar. When Cooper barked, he was going to get misted with water by mommy.

Cooper happily playing with another puppy

So the next day I couldn't wait to try it out. We get to the dog park on Thursday afternoon, and Cooper, still hyped up from the previous day's activities, commenced barking as soon as he got in the gates. I happily pranced over and gave the sap a chance to come over when called. Cooper gave me that fresh look like "yeh ok, when I'm done with what I'm doing". I happily took the bottle out of my pocket and sprayed Cooper in the face. He was stunned! He looked at me confused, and a little hurt. He tried to go back to barking, and I sprayed him again. Defeated, he walked away. I was thrilled. It worked. Well this continued throughout the trip. Cooper would start barking, but there I was, spray bottle in hand. Gosh, I was starting to get joy out of my success. I started giggling and saying things like "You don't like that do you" and "that shut you up!". Everyone was staring at me like look at that weirdo. But I didn't care. I was winning. Soon, as people caught on they were giving me admirable looks. I had conquered the beast (at least for now). I felt like tebowing, or flexing my muscles, but I realized that was a bit excessive, and people at the park already knew me as "the girl who always makes a scene". It didn't take long for me to just say "Cooper" in an authoritative way and to take out the bottle for him to stop. No spraying required. I do worry that Cooper will soon get used to the spray. I am hoping not, but I do have some back up plans. First, is to add a little bit of cayenne to the water since dogs don't like the smell. If that fails, then I will do the whole rocks or coins in a can trick. The problem with that is it will also startle every dog in the park, and since Cooper doesn't bark at home I can't start that training there.

Anyway, for now, the spray bottle is working. We were at the park for 2 hours Friday, and for the first time, Cooper was the puppy that every owner wanted their dog to play with. I'm not sure if he noticed the difference in amount of playmates he had, but I did (plus a lot more people talked to me too). He was so good that we even stopped and got him some dog treats from DoggieStyle on the way home.


Cooper playing with his new friend Perdi, who only came up to him after I stopped his barking (they played for about 20 minutes!)

On a side note. Another funny event that happened this week was Tangerine's defense of her dad. Cooper and Dylan were playing, and I guess Tangerine thought Cooper was hurting her human. She is terrified of Cooper, but sure enough, she puffed up and risked her life (in her mind) to run over and scratch the crap out of Cooper. The poor dog didn't know what hit him. I can't tell you how proud I am of her. Mostly because now Cooper doesn't mess with her, but also because now I feel safer if someone tries to hurt me or Dylan and Cooper is too dumb to understand it (Blue is too busy sleeping to notice).