B-Q

is it okay to come as a spectator?

RIP beautiful boy

I love that dog, made me fall in love with Pyrenean Shepherds. Check out the womans site, look at the agility photo's, see how fast she must be moving http://www.silvia.trkman.net/

yes to both, we've now brought his leash skills under control and we're working on his on lead DA. It's just SO NICE to takehim for a walk for fun, not have it be such a chore.

okay, thought I might cross post it just incase. Glad to hear all is fine here

a mix of sit, come, his name and "drop it" I still remember sititng there with his toy and teaching him "drop it" because it was still easy to pull out of his mouth

Just a heads up http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread...948#post1043948

0 well none in formal training or looking at competing anytime soon. Mac was doing flyball for a while but it's too hard to get up to noosa when we can't drive and mum generally doesn't get home till after 5. So that'll have to wait till I get a car. Would liek to have atleast 1, maybe 2 within a few years though lol

Thanks. He did meet a fair few people when he was younger, and he's always just ignored them completley. Since this incident we've been going out more and more and he's passed a few people showing very minimal interest. I will contact my behaviorist and let her know, it was weird. Because he was looking at this woman as we were approaching, and I only turned around because I told him to come back to my side and he didn't. And it was after we started walkign the other way (but she was walking the same way behind us) that he started getting agitated. The behaviourist is coming back in a couple of weeks to see how things are going, she's given us a lot of notes to look over and adjust things till then, which I've been reading every couple of days to remind myself of what to do.

What a great many years to be in love. A beautiful girl. RIP Bronwyn.

We had the behaviourist here thismorning to discuss Harry, we talked about Buster's DA aswell. She's given me some direction so I was out practicing again with Buster this afternoon. Now over the last 4-5 weeks we've been working on his leash skills. I've been avoiding dogs, so going at times people arn't really around. So he hasn't reallyhad any exposure to people since we moved. I took him out again today, we were walking towards a woman coming our way. He's always been fine with people, not even giving them a second glance. We were about 5 metres away from her and he skipped ahead a bit so I asked him to heel, he didn't so I turned quickly and went the other way. And he started getting all agitated, looking back at her and stuff. By the time we got back to the front yard all his bristles were up and he let out half a growl before I scolded him and pulled him sideways and into a sit. I'm thinking its probably lack of exposure to people over the last little while then turning away from her that might've triggered it? That said, he's been showing increasing "interest" in people over the last year or so, which I'm not much of a fan of. We went out again and I made a point of getting really excited when he was being good (I always forget to act like a walk is a happy thing, because it rarely is, so its a habit) and he relaxed. When we were coming home we passed a couple of guys on bikes and he didn't show a heap of interest. Should I just get him out more when people are likley to be walking past and concentrate on myself being relaxed and cheerful, or should I be more worried? Kinda feels like one of those "2 steps forward, 10 steps back" days.

I've been vegetarian for almost 3 years. While I feel strongly about it myself, I won't risk Buster's health for my beliefs. He's a dog, he's evolved to have a high percentage of his diet be meat (but I think he prefers tofu ) yes a dog will survive on a vegetarian diet, but I wouldn't do it. Good chance the dog will end up malnourished, my guess is she's probably vegan due to moral reasons and IMO feeding a dog on mainly vegies or grain is immoral. It would be hypocritical. When I can I'll be sourcing as much humane meat as I can for his diet. But he will always be eating meat. I must look like I terrible vegetarian sometimes, in the kitchen daily, chopping up chicken carcasses and the like. lol

I chanegd buster over to it a couple of months ago, its the one of the only dry foods thats he actually gets excited about./

Such good news! Keep it up its obvisouly paying off. The World. Shout it from the mountain tops! People who don't have a dog with these sorts of issues often can't completely realise and empathise how great a mile-stone that has been achieved with each improvement along the way in rehabilitation. Some people who do have a dog with these sorts of issues will gain hope from the successes, be they small or large, these stories provide. It is a story of hope. Too right, my mother said to me the other day "I didn't relise how hard it must be having a dog that wants to fight everything I understand now"... as we were leaving the vets with Harry in a muzzle. Maybe she'll stop trying to make me bring him to flyball comps etc now. And you have given me more hope, sometimes I feel like we'll never get any further. Yes I need help, and I think I've founf someone that is coming to help Harry through his issues, if all goes well I might ask her to come back to see Buster when I have the money.

Gotta brag. I'm so proud of my boy. He's always been a puller, not that bad but always wanted to be out in front and have tension on the lead. I spent months stopping and waiting for him to come back to heal, he got a bit better but it can make a 20 metre walk so frustrating. Then he went right backwards almost to the start. I got a halti for christmas, first time he saw a dog behind a fence with it on he completley flipped out. Now he isn't good with dogs, but can usually pass dogs behind fences pretty well. Not this time. I did buy a harness a while after, mainly for the car but I decided to walk him in it. After 5 years of being walked on a collar, I think he was pretty desensitized to the feeling of it on his neck so the harness was a way to start over. So when we moved, thats just what we did. I started looking at a few different things I could do, and a few weeks ago I started with the clicker, just 2 steps, then C&T in the backyard. We practiced for a couple of days then started stepping out the gate, maybe 3 mtres out of the gate so the new sights and sounds didn't overwhlem him and he failed. Then we got out to the footpath and back for a few days. Then just slowly up in front of our house, C&Ting all the way along. Skip forwar about 4 weeks, the change has amazed me. I've been mainly practicing at night and still just in front of the house as the further away he gets the more he stresses and starts walking ahead, but we're getting things mroe concrete into place and I can see him trying so hard. I can go from a flat out run and slow down to a slow walk and he adjusts himself next to me, something I never would have thought I would see. A quick "ah ah" makes him snap back and he adjusts. So tomorow... I think we might try to go on our first proper walk, I'll take treats to use along the way as he still hasn't seen a lot of the area around here. The other thing I love is that I've got really strict on his behaviour pre-walk. He's got from a skitzing jumping lunatic to be very calm as I put his harness on, walk him to the door. Tell him to wait as I walk through then invite him. The change is amazing... i am starting to feel like I have a normal dog. It's not much, but its huge. It's a start.

RIP little guy

Buster also can't stand cats outsid ethe yard, Elliot he is fine with, but everyhting else is fair game. As is everything except birds and people outside the yard I genrally just try to be aware of my surroundings and soldier on aswell. ETA With a lot of work, this could probably be controlled, maybe a well trained "focus" and heel will overcome the reactions (but not the problem) but it just nto as high on my list of "Things to fix with Buster" as things like his DA

I play with Buster a lot, I tend to growl away, so does he. Mostly wrestling typw things, usually I'll throw in a drop or a sit, or I say "enough" and the game immediatley stops dead and we go back to what we were doing lol

I definetley agree clicker training is worth having a go at. I love doing it with Buster, I might give him a random object and start freeshaping, I can see everything ticking through his mind as he thinks things through trying to work out what I want, works a treat. (in one 5 minute training session I had him repeatedly putting his head on his paws, I didn't say a word and I didn't make a move except to hand him the treats yet I was able to communicate slowly, exactly what I was asking him to do)

Whn you look at it, if your working 10 hours a day, and sleeping 8 hours a day. thats 6 hours a day left, say you want 2 hours to wash/cook/eat etc than its four hours a day. Thats not a hell of a lot of time. But than we all go through those stages, so a dog walked may not be a bad idea, something for them to do during the day, maybe look into kongs?

Honestly, they need more stimulation, imagine being in your house/yard all day, all very good to run around a play but if you can't acually get out you woudl get incedibly bored. With the toys, try cycling them, having all their toys out at once will mean they get bored of them. So change them around every few days so there is always something different. I can't stress enough how important getting them out and about is, today we got a little "please take me for a walk" letter from Mac, a hole in the yard, Harry barks if he goes a few days without walks, Sophie gets too boistrous and Buster starts getting over excited. Maybe have a read up on clicker training aswell, once you get going and the dog starts offeriung behaviours, you can really work them out mentally if you can't them out for a walk. Buster hasn't got as much need for excercise, but I have to make sure I do some training with him the everyday thats goign to work his head, today its a mix of agility, heel training and clicker training

How does it work? I love groomign stuff (Buster has organic shampoo and conditioner )

Other - Orijen

Thankyou Dianne, you made the world a better place and obvisouly touched a lot of lives. RIP and Rejoice when you meet up with all your canine friends.

Maybe everytime she starts her stalking thing just turn around and walk in the other direction. If it is because she's learned thats how she gets to play with other dogs it might snap her out of it?