First steps

Kelley gave us three homework assignments at her first visit. They each involve desensitizing Marlo to our behaviors that typically indicate that we're leaving the apartment.

1. Condition a "happy-time" phrase when Marlo is going to be 100% successful in a leaving situation.

We decided to use the phrase that our dog walker Alice says each time she leaves him: "OK, let's go to your bed!" This phrase is posted on our living room window.

For example, Mike will practice leaving on a "normal" morning when Marlo has historically done fine on his own.
  
Mike will say, "OK, let's go to your bed!"
Then he will gather his keys, phone and wallet and go out the door.
He then needs to come back in 5 minutes or less.

I get to do this when I leave for work each morning, because Mike and Marlo sleep sweetly together until I'm gone. So, despite the fact that Marlo is already IN bed, I still call out, "OK, let's go to your bed!" before picking up my bag and accouterments and walking to school.

2. Practice random-acts of absurdity with "trigger" items

We need to use 5 "trigger" items in strange ways as often as we can. We are supposed to space these out throughout each day and NOT look at Marlo or make a big deal of these random acts. This means performing such oddities as brushing our teeth with our jackets on or putting on our shoes in the middle of dinner.

Mike's items:
- shoes
- keys
- work bag
- jacket
- kong

Rebecca's items:
- shoes
- keys
- various bags
- brown vest
- kong

As I type this, I have my purse slung across my shoulder and have picked up and jangled my keys several times (all while still in my flannel pajamas and slippers).

3. Condition a,"nothing to worry about" phrase that gets Marlo comfortable with us walking toward the front door together.

This one is the most fun, and suggests a sort of wrinkle in the space-time continuum.

For this practice, our phrase is, "Alright dog, we're out of here!" (also posted on our living room window).

When we three are settled in watching tv or cooking or working, and there is no danger of us leaving, one of us looks at the other with arched eyebrows and a knowing nod and says, "Alright dog, we're out of here!" At this point, both of us stand up and walk halfway down the hallway toward the door. We then turn around and come right back to what we were doing as if nothing ever happened.

We are supposed to practice this 4-5 times a day, but not more than once within a 20 minute period.

We're going to take notes over the next 2 weeks, and email Kelley our observations about how Marlo is responding to these activities (and what Marlo was doing before and after).

After 5 days, there's not much to report. Marlo still responds to all of our wackiness with an eager curiosity, rather than the hoped-for calm apathy. We're sticking with it, though. The goal is for us to be consistent and frequent enough that eventually, when we demonstrate "leaving behaviors" he simply ignores us and continues to sleep.