raineth

Hello and welcome! Is that Phoenix in your avatar? He looks gorgeous! It's great that you have been able to get onto a behaviourist so quickly :) I look forward to hearing more about his progress :) that's wonderful! You must be so proud of her and yourself Yay! Another fabulous update from you guys he's doing so well! I think the calming signals is an incredibly huge milestone; you're doing so good Hankdog and Jake! :cool: nice work Luka! That's so good teekay! I imagine so many positive repetitions of that desired behaviour must be doing wonders for him :)

I completely agree with this.

Sounds like he was very lucky that he found you and you him then :) When looking into a new puppy don't forget to do your research on the kinds of illnesses that the pup's parents should be tested for and other conditions that can affect the breed and make sure the breeder is doing the relevant tests :)

fingers crossed she keeps improving :) The vet has possibly mentioned it, but make sure you keep your other dogs away from other dogs, and off the street, and away from parks etc. as I believe they can shed the virus in their droppings even if they don't look unwell themselves. You may have to set up a bit of a quarantine at your place. Anyway, your vet should be able to advise how long you need to do this for. Best of luck, I really hope she makes it home soon :)

Maybe I'm mistaken as I don't know a whole lot about poodles, but I would think it would be possible to source a well-bred poodle puppy by February?

When I was in one of these pet shops looking for a something for my puppy, there was a 6 month old GSD pup in one of the boxes. There was a middle-aged man in there enquiring about it. He wanted to get his 80 year old mother a pup to keep her company as she had been unwell...and this was the pup he was thinking of! Seriously. He didn't ask too many questions except how long could they keep it before they could return it if it didn't work out. I was appalled and left the shop, so I don't know if he went ahead with buying it or not.

Yeah when I first adopted Digby I used D&CC very effectively on some of the fears he had :) Del has a thing for horses too. They bring out crazy amounts of prey drive in her! I've got her going ok with horses in paddocks, but we still have a loooong way to go if we're surprised by one when out walking (doesn't happen very often thankfully) :)

If only I could remember how exactly I trained it!? Your trainer sounds really good :) Can I ask if you did BAT-like training or counter-conditioning training with Weez? Yes I think I'll be crying with happiness too if I get a similar result with Del (with dogs) :) Del is actually good with bikes, skateboards etc (she actually tries to ride skateboards), and whenever we've had a difficult time and she's had a reaction to a dog, I say to myself 'at least she's good with bikes' it makes me feel a bit better :laugh:

Yes, in my limited experience, rescue dogs who haven't had great socialisation seem to lack the resilience of a dog that has. So that when something bad does happen, it seems to affect them a lot more.

Hey LBD, I hope you don't mind me quoting you :) I like how you have an idea of exactly how Weez responds in those situations and what you can do to reach him. I might try that with Del. I have somehow managed to teach Del a really solid sit, that somehow often overrides her reactivity. So in situations where we do get approached (off lead dogs *Sigh*) nine times out of ten she will sit, which is incompatible with lunging, so helpful in that sense. But once in this sit you can't really get her out of it until the dog is gone (and therefore her arousal is reduced) there is no reaching her. On the topic of stuffed dogs... I might try that. I had Del up the main street a while ago where there is a sculpture of a person with their dog. It's a sculpture, but its kind of almost 2d, yet it still fooled Del. She froze, then slowly approached it and poked it with her nose :laugh:

I pretty much do this. Although I do wash every week. I don't always use calendula tea. Sometimes I grab some lavender or mint from the garden and use that.

Hankdog, that kind of reminds me of something LBD said in the recall thread: Maybe sometimes touch can get through to a dog in a situation of high arousal where an audio stimuli wouldn't even be processed.

I feel like I'm putting on a very bad German accent when I say Rott-vy-ler :laugh:

It's interesting though, because as far as I know its acceptable among Mastiff folk to say English Mastiff (when referring to a Mastiff, as opposed to a French Mastiff or a Bullmastiff) even though they are just 'Mastiff'. One of the first things I learnt on Dol was that it's just not ok to refer to and SBT as an English Staffy :) But it was good because it was very enlightening, I didn't even know there was such a breed as an AST!

very helpful :)

wow that's really interesting LBD; certainly not something I'd have thought of and really makes sense in terms of reinforcing the owner's behaviour too. She sounds like a sweety, is she one of those dogs who can also calm down a not-so-friendly approach from another dog? (just the picture I'm getting) She's awesome :p Honestly I think we could train her with punishment, or just about any method, and she would still learn - she's just so clued into reading and communicating with humans. But no, the flipside of that is that she is just not good with other dogs. She would rather they didn't exist, just ignores them until they are up in her space then will tell them to p*ss off with growling and, if they really push it, air snaps. She's never played with another dog, despite all Weez's attempts. The boy is the opposite - he does calm down dogs and diffuse situations, but struggles with the people-world. They both sound lovely :) She sounds so devoted to you and Weez sounds adorable :) woohoo Jakey! Way to go! You are a good boy!

Wow! Great work Snook and Justice aww that's no good that it makes you feel that way Hankdog. It must be very hard getting that balance right. You need a 13 mg tablet or something. :) I think it's wonderful though that you've found that vet! :) :) :)

dogmatic, a reward doesn't have to be praise or a treat or a pat. Sometimes the best rewards are functional. To most reactive dogs increased distance is a big reward, it is why they display their reactivity. So by her skittling those dogs and having them run from her, I would say that worked as a reward :) I'm not a behaviourist, just the owner of a reactive dog.

Sounds brilliant Melzawelza, I especially love the bunking with a pit bull bit :D

Sounds great, but it's in New York though? Or have I got that wrong? Oh yes they're in New York, I spent a week with them in May. I'm not saying the OP could adopt from them but just showing her that Bull Breeds can excel at this work (a lot of people don't believe it to be true! :laugh: ). Plus, they've got some great international resources there that might be helpful for her. Oh right :) haha I don't know why I didn't realise that :laugh: Wow that must have been a fantastic experience to spend a week with them! I'm very jealous! :)

Sounds great, but it's in New York though? Or have I got that wrong?

Briard? I believe they are strong and intelligent, they are also meant to be long lived. They are very hairy though, not sure how you feel about that.

Although because the dog has been successful before when resorting to aggression, you might have to endure more than one bite, while he learns that aggression no longer is reinforced, right?

I have to say that what Blackjaq is saying echoes my brother's experience with his Weim. He and his wife put tonnes and tonnes of effort into him and he did turn out to be a wonderful dog, incredibly reliable and obedient. They are both athletes running many kilometres a week with him, taking him to training and outings every evening. They still had difficulties with separation anxiety when they were at work, and he literally ate through two doors when he was only around four months old. He was a wonderful dog, but always resorted to destruction if left inside, even when he was very old. He passed away on a hot day at the beginning of this year aged 15.

Oh poor Nova. I had a tiny little foster puppy here once (she was about 5 weeks old) who got a grass seed in her ear. It turned bad so very quickly and the smell was unbelievable! She also had to be sedated to get it out (it was quite deep) but once out she was well again very quickly. They are nasty things to have in your ear that's for sure.