Silly me for assuming it’d be right. Silly me for not looking more closely at it this whole time it sat in my drawer waiting to be needed. Silly, silly me.

I dropped it off at Walgreens, with plans to pick it up a couple days later while racing across town on errands. The staff at the pharmacy realized that the prescription called for .75 mg of xanax (alprazolam). The med isn’t available at that dose.

So, I think, Oh … Lilly has been on 1.0 mg. They say they’ll call the vet hospital and get it all straightened out. Fine.

Fine.

BUT, when I got back to pick it up, instead of getting 120 pills, which should last us 2 months, I get 12. Yes. 12.

I don’t realize the problem until I get home because I flew through the pharmacy drive-thru and ran home.

So, I call the pharmacist when I get home and ask (nicer than this), “What the @#$@#?”

We talk through it, and it turns out that Lilly had been taking .50 mg, not 1.0 mg. My mistake there, but the vet hospital did NOT correct it. And, they indeed had written down 12 pills, not 120.

Beyond OY!

So, when we took Ginko back for his post-op appointment, I asked our veterinarian to rewrite the prescription, and I specifically wrote out a note that said, we need 120 pills (with refills) at the dosage of .50 mg.

I took the new prescription back to the pharmacy and days later picked up the bottle … only to find that I indeed had 120 pills, but they were 1.0 mg, not .50 mg.

At this point, I figure, @#$@# it!!!!

I’ll just cut the pills in half, which means I just got 4 months of Lilly meds instead of 2. Right?

Well, maybe.

You see, and I know people who have learned this lesson the hard way, a half of a whole isn’t necessarily the .5 you need.

After a few days of missing this med because of the mix-up and a few days of 1/2 pills, Lilly’s behavior showed it:

• She was hiding.
• She was upset.
• She was flipping out over simple things.

I literally could NOT bring myself to go through another BIG hassle over the prescription. I honestly considered just NOT giving her the medicine anymore because it’s become such a @#$@ mess.

BUT, over time, Lilly seems to have adjusted to 1/2 pills sort of being about the right dose she needs. It isn’t perfect, but we can make it work.

Maybe this is a welcome boon to my budget since 120 1.0 mg pills is about the same cost as 120 .50 mg pills, but they last longer.

I’m trying to think that, at least, because getting these behavior medications Lilly needs has been nothing but a tour of customer service failings since day one.

Dosage Drama is a post from: Champion of My Heart

[The Never Shock a Puppy Mindset]

Simply put. It all begins with Lilly, and I cannot imagine using pain to interrupt or “punish” her behaviors … even the ones that drive me batty.

Roxanne & Lilly Hawn from Champion of My Heart, a dog blog, team up with a coalition of pet bloggers to raise awareness of humane alternatives to shock collars and other painful dog training tools and methods via the Never Shock a Puppy campaign.

Yes, I Know … Dogs are Not People!

I understand that, and I know things can get complicated when those of us who adore our dogs beyond all measure cross over and anthropomorphize our canine friends and our relationships with them.

HOWEVER, why is it that using a shock collar on a child is prosecuted as abuse but doing so on a dog is not?

Oh, I understand that often in these child abuse cases (yes, there is more than one) feature prolonged use of the shock collars, but how is punishing a child this way or “teaching a lesson” all that different from how some people use shock collars to teach their dogs appropriate behaviors … or, as is most often the case, the punish them for inappropriate behaviors.

The Fearful Dog Bias

Indeed, the vast majority of my dog training skill and knowledge has come in the last 6 years with Lilly, who is clinically fearful (not just shy). I joke that I’ve earned my PhD in dog behavior from the University of Dogs With Issues, so I completely own that what I know about dogs and dog training and how I handle any given situation is DIRECTLY related to the fact that I have a VERY sensitive dog:

• Lilly interprets even an exasperated sigh from me as a harsh reprimand.
• Lilly will have high anxiety and even hide (for hours) if anything startles her.
• Lilly takes days to process stress hormones and recover from a fear-inducing incident, making her more reactive even to small incidents.

The 10% Rule

Dog behavior experts suggest that about 10% of dogs are naturally fearful, probably with some genetic basis. Lilly is in that 10% for sure, and certainly her deprived puppyhood (we adopted her at 6 months old, after she’d been in 2 shelters and a foster home) and early illnesses (parvo and so much more), did NOT help.

This idea makes me wonder. Is there perhaps a 10% at the top of scale? Is that where we find so called “bomb proof dogs” that would keep wagging no matter what they encounter?

If so, then we have 10% of dogs like Lilly that could easily be ruined by a shock collar (or other pain-based or intimidation-style training). And, we might also have 10% that wouldn’t be phased at all. That leaves  … 80% that *might* suffer some ill effects, if someone uses a shock collar on them.

Relationships First

Because I believe that dog training is more about building a relationship than it is about instituting “control,” I just cannot imagine causing Lilly PAIN to accomplish any dog training goal.

It has taken me quite some time to build trust with Lilly, and I believe with all my heart that using a shock collar would ruin all that.

Personally, I would NOT stay in any relationship where someone physically harmed me — even just once on a while.

And, if I wouldn’t, then I don’t expect Lilly to do so either.

We’re in this together.

How You Can Help

This is just the beginning. I hope each Wednesday, during Never Shock a Puppy, you will not only visit the main site but also the blog hop hosted there. That’s where you’ll see all the other pet bloggers who are working on this campaign. Each of us brings a unique view to the issues and tasks we plan to cover in the 8-week campaign.

And, if you support our work, then I hope you will consider a donation to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley (where we adopted Lilly). During Never Shock a Puppy, we’re going to raise at least $2,500 to support their upcoming No-Choke Challenge, which will launch in November 2010 and will include all kinds of media outreach as well as events where they will give away humane dog training tools to people who turn in their choke/pinch/shock collars in Boulder, Colorado.

If for some reason you cannot see or use the donation widget below, please visit the Never Shock a Puppy Donation Site instead.

Day 1: Never Shock a Puppy is a post from: Champion of My Heart

Clearly, she had it on when we walked in the morning, but just after lunch, she boasted an entirely naked neck.

I’d been inside working. Lilly had been outside poking around by herself and goading Tom into throwing the stick, while he worked in the garage.

I’ve walked the fence line looking for spots she might have gotten hung up. I’ve checked around the deck and the shed, thinking maybe she had shirked it while starting at bunnies. I’ve even walked the pastures, hoping for a glimpse of something shiny.

Nothing.

So, I guess I’m VERY lucky that, as The Thundering Herd warned in comments that day recently when we talked about collars, Lilly didn’t get so hung up that she choked herself.

Our ONLY guess is that she might have lost it in a mud-sucking hole because Tom did see her come up from the creek bed, literally covered in mud from her chest forward — both legs, entire head, etc.

Alas, the grasses are tall. The mud is real, and the snakes are OUT, so I’m not too keen on slogging the length of the creek, looking for new holes (from hunting mice).

It sounds silly, I know, but I loved that collar. Loved it. Loved it.

The story goes that her foster family bought it for her. I liked it, so I’ve kept it all these years. In fact, I hoped it would be Lilly’s one and only collar in her whole life.

Weird? Maybe.

But, I try NOT to just buy her things for the sake of buying her things. I recommitted to this frugal idea even more after blowing a huge amount on a fancy collar and leash for her first (and so far only) on-camera media interview in May 2008 (which went exactly nowhere … thanks for asking).

For the life of me, I cannot find the post where I wrote about the fancy, fancy dog collar and leash. So, this photo will have to do. Yes, it’s pink leather, and there is a matching leash. I’d already had a simple tag with her name and phone number made for it, but it’s sat in a drawer for 2+ years.

The collar is pretty. I’d actually planned on giving it away, but now we need it for a backup until:

• We find her old collar.
• I find another collar I like.

This one is OK, but Lilly is NOT a sissified city girl. She is a rough-and-tumble mountain girl. And, her old collar said all that and more.

For some odd reason that collar meant a lot to me, so I’m just crushed that it disappeared.

KB’s dog K (another hearty mountain girl) used to have one just like it (different colors), so I suppose I could buy another one, but it wouldn’t be the same.

So, if there is a patron saint of missing collars, I could use some help.

P.S. And, yes, we tried asking Lilly where she lost it and to “use her nose” to find it, with no luck.

Vanishing Collars is a post from: Champion of My Heart

Things aren't looking good. Mom looks busy. Maybe if I act really pathetic she'll change her mind.

Sigh. It sure is a nice day out. I wonder if Mom has noticed.

Wait? What do you mean ... Wait? You're moving too slow, woman! I want to walk. I am Lilly. Hear me roar ... or at least yawn in total frustration.

Now, this is my happy face. We squeezed in a short walk with Jo, that new puppy next door, before Mom & Dad had to race off.

To Walk or Not to Walk is a post from: Champion of My Heart

His OMG-a-dog! response is very dog-like, for an equine friend, so I figured it might be a chance to at least play with BAT.

After working on a little BAT with our dog trainer (Gigi Moss) a few weeks ago, it helped a TON to see this BAT/calming signal video from Irith Bloom (The Sophisticated Dog) that Edie Jarolim at Will My Dog Hate Me posted last week.

Because my biggest question about BAT, as it applies to Lilly, is what exactly am I waiting to see from her before I give her the “functional reward” of moving away from what she sees/reacts to?

1-2-3 — Bat Girl

I only tried it a few times, but when the horse first ran up to us, Lilly did her usual 3-steps, then “do something” routine. So, I waited her out, and when she looked away from the horse, I said YES! and we walked away from the horse.

The second time, she turned her head MUCH faster, and again we walked away.

The third time, Lilly not only looked away, but she licked her lips (which is a nice calming signal).

I didn’t want to overdo it, so we went ahead on the rest of our walk, but it was nice to practice even a few BAT situations.

Weekly Dog Training Update: Aug 27 is a post from: Champion of My Heart

Last week, I hauled my sorry self into a skirt and down the mountain to a launch party for Karen Quinn’s new book (Testing for Kindergarten).

(I recently linked to videos from her blog, where dogs help kids prepare for kindergarten. Just this week she posted a new first-day-of-school video. It tells the story of a dog who is shy at puppy class.)

This is Karen’s FIFTH book (if I’m counting correctly), and I always find the stories behind how she does what she does fascinating.

So, today, I want to share one insight about Karen’s success …

Even when she has no idea how to do what she wants to do, she just figures it out as she goes along and does it anyway.

For example, when she decided to write a best-selling novel, she just sat down and did it.

It might be important to note, for those who believe in setting intentions, that Karen didn’t just say, “I want to write a novel.” She told herself (and everyone else because you never know who can help you), “I want to write a best-selling novel.”

When Karen wanted to create an actual board game for kids to go along with her new book, she had NO idea how you make a board game from scratch, but she figured it out. And, voila … the game is here.

Displaced Bravery

This advice made me think about fearful dogs and our hopes and dreams for them. I’ve always said that it’s MUCH easier to be brave for someone else than it is to be brave for yourself. I can easily muster enthusiasm, some tangible support, and even shameless promotion for YOU.

And, here is why.

Just like with our fearful dogs, we can lead. We can train. We can cheer. We can hope because we aren’t the ones feeling the anxiety moment to moment. We aren’t the ones trying to make forward progress, despite it.

But, when you’re the one facing some sort of reinvention or even the next step in your current iteration, that hum that comes from fearing failure gets quite loud.

hummmmm.

Hummmmm.

HUMMMMM.

Perhaps someone will invent a ThunderShirt, of sorts, for us. It might provide the necessary comfort as we just figure it out on the task-paved path to what’s next.

Reinvention and Bravery is a post from: Champion of My Heart

Alas, I cannot (yet) announce the publication of our canine memoir, but I can tell you that an anthology publisher selected an essay I wrote about our first-ever dog training class for this new book: My Dog is My Hero (set for release Sept 18, 2010).

More than TWO years ago, I wrote the piece on a bit of a lark since the payment isn’t even enough to make a blip on my income ledger. But, as so often happens in my life, good things come when I simply give something a shot … without overthinking it.

I figured getting any essay about Lilly published somewhere was a good start toward our own book goal.

I have not seen the book yet, so I don’t know if they kept the title or how much the essay got edited.

Because clearly they (and I) want you to buy the book, I cannot publish the whole essay here, but I can offer these opening paragraphs to give you just a taste of its narrative style:

Gibraltar Awash in a Sea of Class Clowns

by Roxanne Hawn

When Lilly and I arrived at our first obedience class, she refused to get out of the car. I cajoled. I tugged. I begged, until she poured to the ground like overcooked linguini. Once there, she flung herself flat as if a powerful magnet held her in place. I cheered each movement while she snaked toward the door, belly flush to asphalt, refusing my attempts to coax her inside.

When Lilly landed over the threshold after one particularly vigorous flail, I pulled the door closed in victory. That’s when I realized everyone was staring. Everyone — people, dogs, the trainer I had not met — watched in silence, goldfish faces gaping. Through giant windows, they’d seen our entire tableau.

Pink-cheeked, I looked for an empty spot, but Lilly found a gap first and flew toward it, dragging me behind her. Oh, she finally wanted to move but only to hide under a chair. There she cowered, breathing labored, baring her teeth at anything that moved.

Yep, we were going to be popular …

The publisher encourages the many contributors to promo its release, to autograph copies, to arrange readings at local bookstores and such. You know, in my spare time, I’ll need to figure that out. I may even try to sell or give away copies from the blog, so stay tuned.

My Dog is My Hero: Lilly Featured in New Book is a post from: Champion of My Heart

It is, in fact, the one upon which gambling casinos operate. Slot machines, in particular, are all about variable reinforcement.

Not kidding.

Still Feeding After All These Years

Some SIX years into our odyssey into healing, training away, or at least mitigating Lilly’s fears, I continue to reinforce EVERY correct behavior in many, many scenarios.

Seeing or hearing other dogs or having them in close proximity is a good example, where pretty much any and every time that happens, Lilly is getting food and lots of it.

The Occasional Freak Out

Lilly is doing WAY better in many potentially scary situations than she was when things went from shy-puppy-worries to reactivity-a-go-go when she reached social maturity (around 2 1/2 years old).

These days, she better measures out her fear responses, especially if a snark is required. Smaller, less frequent snarks = normal.

The No Visiting Rule

The No Visiting Rule helped this process along … a lot. It simply means that I neither ask (nor allow) Lilly to engage with dogs we see in public. None.

Seriously. None.

Our behaviorist from Colorado State University prescribed this solution so that Lilly NEVER has to worry about meeting or having to interact with another dog. She never has to guess. She never has to wonder. She never has to believe that this time might be the one time.

Now, I cannot control loose dogs or other crappy situations, but in your average hey-we-both-have-dogs situations, we politely refuse to “say hi.”

I highly recommend using whatever version of NO VISITING works for your dog’s particular fears … at least until you have a solid foundation of behavior modification work done.

Always + Never = Success

So, if Lilly ALWAYS gets rewarded for offering the right behavior in the face of “scary” things, and she NEVER is forced to interact with dogs she’d really rather not know, then you end up in this place of coping pretty darn successfully in the world, generally speaking.

Variable Fear Scenarios

My question today is this: If variable reward schedules reap big rewards, then is it also true that variable fear scenarios — one BIG scare every once in a while — does an equal amount of damage?

I ask because a friend’s fearful dog had a rotten experience this last weekend. (Again, it isn’t my story to tell.)

I’m thinking mostly about known, specific triggers.

I’ve read some dog-fear info that talks about how quickly they can take seed and how long-lasting they can become, but I don’t think I’ve read anything about how a variable scare-inforcement schedule might work (or in this case, work against you).

Have you?

***

P.S. While looking online for a description of variable reinforcement schedules, I came across a blog by some psuedo-sauve expert who talked about using variable reinforcement on women. Ok. Seriously? Ick!

Gambling and the Fearful Dog is a post from: Champion of My Heart

Dog walking = good deed

For example, a couple of years ago, when I researched this piece for Reader’s Digest on how dogs make a WAY better workout partner than a person ever could, one of my sources told me that if someone feels self-conscious while out walking for exercise, the mere addition of a dog to that walk changes everything in public perception … instead of seeing a person who “needs” exercise, most of us see the dog and a person doing a good deed for that dog instead.

And, if  … say … you pass someone while walking, they are MUCH more likely to speak to you or try to engage you in some way if you have a dog along. Thanks to this attribution error, dogs make us more approachable.

Apply some exponentially increasing mathematical formula to this attribution error if said dog is a service puppy in training (like our pal Ruby). Seriously, I’ve interviewed puppy raisers over the years, and a pup in a training vest is the greatest of all gravitational pulls.

Dog + Magic = makes you invisible

Early in our agility training, I suffered horrible nerves (still do, actually) and worried about looking like a goof. Several more experienced handlers told me, “No one is looking at you anyway. They’re watching your dog.”

So, let’s see if we can sort this out.

1) People assume we’re nicer because we have dogs.

2) People are mostly looking at our dogs anyway.

Indeed, it seems like dogs make us both MORE visible and less visible at the same time. Maybe they diffuse our presence, or put a nice  fuzzy filter on us that makes us seem nicer, more successful, more attractive.

Kind Girl With Dog

Well, according to one of our new blogger / dog training friends (Dino Dogan, who is single) all this does (or should) play into bride selection … or at least the search for one.

Dino and I are doing a little blog experiment with Edie Jarolim over at Will My Dog Hate Me. It’s a good match since not long ago Edie blogged about Sex & The Single Dog Blogger (and that post’s aftermath).

Dino drafted his dog-kindness wife philosophy as an essay / guest post for Edie: Why Girls Who Own Dogs Make Better Wives.

BUT, he also recorded a “performance” of it. So, you also have the option of listening to it: Podcast: Why Girls Who Own Dogs Make Better Wives.

(Click on the podcast link, then click the link that comes up on a new page, and it should launch the audio file. It isn’t fancy, but it should work.)

Marriage Related Book Trailer

So, all this brings us to a video book trailer my writer/blogger/author friend Alisa Bowman recently released in advance of her book — Project Happily Ever After: Saving your marriage when the fairy tale falters.

The book will release right around the holidays, just in time for New Year’s resolutions. (You can pre-order it!)

Here is what you need to know about Alisa:

1) She owns a dog. A big doberman, actually, who recently had a little adventure, but that’s her story to tell.

2) She used to imagine planning her husband’s funeral.

Yep, nice girl wishing her hubby dead.

And, yet, her book chronicles how they came back from the marital abyss.

You know how I joke on our “Why Champion of My Heart?” page that:

“Ultimately, I hope to deliver a bigger story of redemption, of a literal underdog who makes good, but only time (and hard work) will tell.”

Well, Alisa has done just that. She has done the hard work. And, boy … does she have a story to tell.

So, please enjoy Alisa book trailer, macabre and provocative as it is because here is the thing. Looking past that dog and into the person is only the start of where our human relationships can take us.

Dogs, Marriage, MultiMedia Experiment is a post from: Champion of My Heart

If you need to catch up, read this post about our search for just the right dog seatbelt.

First a Word About Our Benefactor

HUGE thanks to Lindsey Wolko from CanineCommuter for sending me FREE samples of the top two contenders (Ruff Rider Roadie and the Solvit) so that we could try them out.

When I emailed her to say/ask:

• We’d chosen the Roadie.
• How much did I owe her for the Roadie?
• I’d ship back the Solvit.

Lindsey said I could keep the Roadie, no payment needed, and that I could donate or give away the the Solvit. So, thank you.

I’m telling you all this for FTC disclosures, but also because I’m so, so grateful. It seems Ruff Rider is having some manufacturing and distribution issues, so it’s actually quite hard to find these harnesses in stores or online (right now) … and Lilly wants to RIDE< RIDE< RIDE right away.

Our Test Drive

Before we made our final decision, Tom took Lilly for a quick trip up the road and back earlier this week. He even tried stomping on the brakes to be sure she stayed on the seat.

Remember, pretty much NO ONE recommends that dogs ride in the front seat, but in a truck there isn’t anywhere else for her to be, so Tom turns OFF the airbag on the passenger side and clips the seatbelt through the loop closest to her back.

You can tell by the fact that her ears are NOWHERE to be seen that she isn’t yet too thrilled with the idea of being clipped in. (When she rides in my car, she is in a crate).

Still, the blur in the lower left corner shows her tail wagging. If Lilly is completely freaked out, then she clamps her tail to her tummy.

Perhaps this video shows a little better her state of mind after her test ride.

First Real Outing

A couple of days later Tom needed to run up to Boulder to pick up some bicycle parts, so I joked about him taking Lilly with him. And, he took me up on it.

I wish I could get him to write a guest post, but my second-hand report will have to do:

• Lilly stood the entire ride down the canyon, but she finally figured out how to sit in the harness for the ride up to Boulder.
• They had the windows down and were having a grand time. So much so, that he got her to howl at a few stoplights, which apparently amused other drivers and some nearby pedestrians.
• Lilly figured out how to lay down in the harness and slept (with her nose against him) the entire ride back down the highway.
• Then, she sat up and smiled all the way up our canyon (about 10 miles, 20 minutes).
• The harness both kept her in place and prevented her from getting close enough to have a kissing fit. He can reach over and pet her, and she can kind of poke with her nose, but she cannot climb into his lap or anything dangerous like that.

Next Step

It’ll be interesting to see if she gets excited or sheepish next time I put the harness on her. I hope she now has a good experience to associate with it. After all, she doesn’t get all that much alone time with Daddy out in public.

And, for his part, Tom thought it was a hoot having Lilly along.

Remaining Struggles

Lilly still walks kind of funny and acts a bit put out when she has the harness on, and I still have a devil of a time getting it off of her when we’re done, but I hope both of those things will improve with time.

***

It’s hard to do a giveaway with a product that is so size specific, so … I’m taking nominations (sort of) here, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

If you know someone who could use the Solvit harness with a dog about Lilly’s size (or maybe a little smaller) — around 35 pounds, about 25 inches in the chest — let me know. We’ll figure out some lovely person who could use the harness and ship it off. (Maybe a new adopter or someone on a super tight budget.)

Product Review: Ruff Rider Roadie is a post from: Champion of My Heart