silvercons

Just wanted to update you all and let you know that Bella is doing better and better each week since joining a new obedience class, they are fantastic there. The volunteer trainers are invaluable in telling us what EXACTLY needs to be done, down to the steps to do round about turns. My OH has stepped in the meantime to train Bella during classes since she still has the occasional tendency to still (play) lunge at the other dogs in the class (she's 1/2 my weight already!), but we are happy to say she is getting things such as heeling and she is a gem at staying. Bella is now super excited when she sees us open the car door since it means she gets to see her new doggie friends, but she doesn't get to go in unless she stays and then we praise "good" and release her with "okay!" hehehe. I must commend Steve from K9 Force on his invaluable article on the Triangle of Temptation (TOT). I have been doing it before her dinner and her bone/treats ;) I'm so proud of her, she knows how to interact with the little dogs; bows down to smell and greet them and with the dogs more her size; she gets to wrestle with them during the break

Thanks for the reference to Royal NSW Canine Council. I definitely want Bella out there socialising with other dogs but I thought it would be best to learn how to do that with some guidance from a professional one on one trainer before she is is surrounded by too many distractions. I would love to take her out when I can feel comfortable that she is focused at least 60% of the time on me and the task I set out for her. It just seemed like that particular instructor's (at the school) solution for everything was popping leads (hard) and jerking knees on dog's chest when they were misbehaving...I don't want Bella thinking that she has to be afraid of me cuz I am constantly jerking her lead, I really want to address the problem of her excitable nature. She really is lovely but at time she just seems like she has had too many glasses of red cordial

I'm in the Fairfield area and I would love to meet some DOLers who have happy and willing dogs to help socialise Bella especially if the training club I first went to doesn't agree to let me to train Bella on the outer rim with a one on one trainer She just hardly ever gets to see other dogs that she gets so darn excited!

Oops I probably should have said that I had called her to explain the situation and then she came over to do a free 15 minute assessment of Bella.

Hi again Just wanted to let you all know how Bella and I did at the obedience class on Tuesday night. What can I say except that Bella did what I 'tried' to instruct her to do about 5% of the time, the other 95% of the time she was waaaayy too focused on the other dogs. My arms and shoulders were definitely given a work out big time. I didn't have a great time with the trainer either, I think his methods are too old school for me. I saw him demonstrate the knee jerk when what looked like a 6 month old lab jumped him. He then proceeded to do the knee jerk to Bella 4 times! I have to say I wasn't impressed. In the 1.5 weeks since I have been in Sydney I have got Bella to stop jumping on me by merely turning my back to ignore her, a great feat I think for a 6 month old pup who has probably jumped on my mum and dad a thousand times. Also when I removed Bella 5ish metres away from the group so I could refocus her, the trainer asked me to rejoin the class! I did, but thinking back I think I should have just said that she needed some time out to refocus her attention on me. Anyway... I have got in touch with a one on one trainer who is more in line with how I think dogs should be trained. She believes in a gentle approach that addresses the cause of Bella's excitment and not her symptoms. She thinks that in a 2 hour session we should be able to get a 50% improvement, and I should be able to work on the other 50% with perhaps 1 other follow up session with her in a couple of weeks and she believes we can achieve all this on a flat collar as she doesn't believe in check chains.... She suggested we either bring in the next door neighbour's dog (the excitable Lucky) or we go back to the training club and ask them if we could train on the same grounds but away from the group. There are about 5 groups training in that park, they are grouped by their level, but I wonder if the old school trainer (assigned to the beginners class) would take it as a slap in the face if I brought my own trainer in???

thanks for all the advice so far. Bella and I have been working on basic commands and she is starting to learn how to fetch I have called the obedience club and went on for about 5 mins about Bella and her encounters with other walking dogs. The trainer said that the club has leather & chain check collars and head haltis available and I should bring Bella 30min before the class so I can discuss with the trainer which might be best for her. She seemed confident that I should take Bella to the class on Tuesday night so she can learn how to interact with the other dogs. Fingers crossed! I hope I don't have to drag Bella back to the car in tears after she lunges at a 5 month old silky terrier! I will keep you all posted on her first day at school

OH NO!!! I took Bella for a walk today, everything was going fine, and she was not tugging on the lead as much. Then a dog came up to Bella, they had a bit of a sniff of each other and then Bella jumped on the other dog, she put her paws on top of the other dog's head/shoulder. She didn't growl or bite so I thought "okay maybe she will calm down" but after they both started jumping on each other, I decided this could get out of hand and PULLED Bella off the other dog after about 3 seconds. Then on the way back home she saw another dog being walked and again she lunged. I didn't give her the opportunity to get on top of this other dog, I was concerned that something bad might happen to Bella or the other dog. I had to drag her for 10 metres until she calmed down and we went straight back home! It was embarrassing to say the least! I am now more concerned than ever about taking Bella to the obedience class next Tuesday night. I have written Steve from K9 force an email... I really hope we can correct her problem.

Hi all I'm new to this forum, I've been going through a few threads and you guys seem pretty generous with your time and advice! My dad adopted a 13 week Mastiff X girl, Bella, from the RSPCA around Xmas last year whist I was living in Melbourne. I came down to Sydney for 2 weeks during the Xmas break and my OH and I took her out for daily 20-30mins walks, took her to a few parks, on a few car rides, basically trying to expose her to as much as we could. But since then she hasn't really had too much training (she does sit when we present her bowl) and my dad has been pretty ignorant about exposing to much more than the backyard and daily 15 mins walks... *sigh* I am now back in Sydney. I really want to ensure I have a well adjusted and respectful dog so I had just enrolled her in a beginners obedience class to start on 6 March. I have been teaching Bella sit, come, down and stand and only beginning heel (she is still tugging on the lead but it is getting a tiny bit better) and stay since the 5 days I have been in Sydney. Bella hasn't been socialised with other dogs (other than those she may have encountered at the RSPCA) so I am a little afraid of how she will react when she sees a class of them. We have seen a couple of dogs this week at the park and she was super keen (her stance was rigid and she was making a bit of noise) to approach them, I didn't allow her to since the other owners didn't seem to want us near their dog ;) Bella is now 6 months old and 20 odd kilos and I'm about 48 kilos...She currently only uses a flat leather collar and I was wondering if I should invest in a metal slip collar so I have better control of her. Are there any brands or types (if there is such a thing) I should be considering? Its a long post I know but I wanted to give you all as much info as I could Thanks in advance!