A little glimmer of training hope

tizerbelle

Apologies in advance all as I'm going to post and run (got to get back to work) but wanted to share / brag that:

After 16 months (yes that's right, 16 months) of training, Little Girl Dog, aged 9.5 years, who is variously described as dense, vague, senile, daft and downright thick appears to have finally twigged that if she sees another dog, to look at me and ignore the dog and then get a treat instead of threatening to rip it's throat out! :j:j:j

She managed it 3 times on 2 walks yesterday and again on our lunch time walk today - I don't know for certain that it really has sunk in and it wasn't a case of coincidentally timed random begging for treats but there's a glimmer of hope there now that we're making progress whereas before I was beginning to think she'd never get it.

Wellyboots6

There is hope for my LS yet then

Well done Little Girl Dog!!!

tizerbelle

katy721 - that's it, don't give up hope - have giggled with you at some of LS' antics in fact have shared the experience - we use some BAT techniques and in the past all people have seen of us is our tail ends as we disappear through bushes etc to get away from others but things can improve.

Okay its a bit easier for me as my two probably don't weigh half of what LS does but trying to train two fear-reactive dogs at the same time is tough. Little Boy Dog (LBD) however is too intelligent and has fantastic eyesight so he took priority in training as he could see all these scary strange dogs from miles away whereas LGD has poor eyesight so its as we've gotten closer to dogs with improvements in LBDs behaviour that suddenly LGD can see the threat now and when one off them kicks off/reacts, the other one joins in as back up!

dibuzz

We mastered this one a few months ago, doesn't it feel good when another dog growls and snaps and yours just sits there asking for a treat?

tizerbelle

dibuzz, I wouldn't dare say we've mastered it yet! LBD can sometimes suffer selective memory about what he should do.

Have just got back from a wet and muddy walk on the field and LBD has had me and another dog owner in stitches.

LBD loves all JRTs on sight and wants to greet them however he hates all big dogs on sight and wants to keep them away from him so he had a dilemma today - an owner with a big black lab and a little brown and white JRT.

He did not know what to do with himself. Squeaking and wagging tail/body at the JRT and then looking at the lab and body language changes, under breath grumbling starts, then looks at the JRT and starts squeaking and wagging again - and rinse and repeat!

LGD didn't even twig there were other dogs on the field !

meritaten

That made me laugh! I bet your dog was thoroughly confuzzled! good! What did you do though? Distract? encourage contact?

CFC

Woo hoo well done!

Wellyboots6

Did you get LBD and LGD at the same time? Did they both start out as fear reactive?

I'm asking as I have been considering getting a second pain in the bum for LS to play with. He gets most disgruntled when I won't let him shove a rope in my mouth to tug with! Thinking maybe canine company might be good for him.

My thoughts are to get an elderly female staffy rescue. One that is good with other dogs. That way there shouldn't be too much angst between the pair of them, and also he may learn a thing or two.

My worry would be with a younger dog however that his bad manners would rub off on them.

Also not sure how easy it will be to get a dog that fits my criteria! Decided on a staffy as they do seem quite stable and steady dogs, and also less likely to get bowled over by accident when LS chases round!

tizerbelle

katy, yes I got them both together - they were about 8yo when I got them and had been owned by the same owner for many years before he passed away.

Both of them were fear reactive from the start and I suspect the prior owner was elderly and they didn't go out walking much but were just allowed to potter in a garden.

It is hard work dealing with two who have issues - you can almost guarantee that while you're trying to keep one on track and behaving, the other one is about to kick off at something different that you haven't even seen yet.

It's a tough call working out whether a companion dog would be a positive or negative - I don't envy you that decision.

tizerbelle

meritaten wrote: »

That made me laugh! I bet your dog was thoroughly confuzzled! good! What did you do though? Distract? encourage contact?

We stayed at a distance from them, it wasn't worth the risk getting closer than we were (all the dogs were off lead) and I just watched him while he tried to decide what to do - which was stay where he was.

The indecision was resolved when I was getting bored and I called him back to me so we could get home otherwise we could have been stood there all day while his wants and fears waged battle with each other.

The other owner had yelled across the distance that her lab could be a bit funny with other dogs at times so we both decided it was better to just let them look rather than allow them to approach.

meritaten

yes - wise decision considering what the other owner said! baby steps are best anyway I think.