Brennan's Mum

SLLH- I think you look like you did well. Another suggestion for the camera steadiness would be to look at investing in a tripod. Either way was a lovely day by the looks of it, and congrats on the pass . Bedazzledx2- Thanks for your advice about managing training so that only need one NRM (if needed at all). It's been really helpful in allowing me to clearly see what behaviour is understood and what still needs to be learned. I have a training question from our walk today-- have a few ideas where I may have gone wrong, just wanted to get more ideas. I've copied and pasted from my post in the GSD breed thread; At this stage my thoughts are that I could accidentally have 'psyched her up' to be 'on guard' with the way I was keeping an eye on the dogs. We have only recently jut changed our route so the last stretch has a whole new set of dogs to pass. I don't tense up as much when passing homes with dogs although I do know which homes have dogs and prepare myself mentally to be 'calm and in control' when passing these homes. Could it be that this is still transferring down to Brennan hence the reason she is 'looking' for these dogs as we near their homes. Should I try and pretend that there are no dogs in any homes we pass whilst remaining calm if they do bark? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Well written

Wow, I just watched the video--- absolutely incredible . Was amazing just to watch it on a computer screen, once again- Well Done

Congratulations Vickie :cheer: :cheer:

Just spent some time in the backyard practising some manners. We worked on 'Leave it' ( as it applies to toys), 'Release' ( letting go of toy from mouth), 'Wait', 'Here' and 'Stay'. Still working at under threshold. I did make 'Wait' and 'Here' that tiny bit harder by dropping her ball ( which she loves) and/ or a Wubba in between me and her. We had a success rate of 50% ( of her coming to me and ignoring the toy). A few times she grabbed the toy but dropped it once I gave her a NRM. Have only just started working on this. What word do you guys use for getting the dog to release an object ie Tug? Brennan is not super tug motivated ( prefers balls) but every now and then (like today) she will show some good drive for Tug. Am considering doing K9 Pro's TID after I have done his Loose Leash Walking DLP ( which haven't started yet).

Well done! that's a great job you've done. The next pass will be easier as you know you can do it now We got a lovely pass in CD today in horrible windy conditions. 195, ended up high in trial! Thanks for the lovely trophies Sunbury, I needed a new vase :D. Congrats on the new vase ( and the pass too)

Congratulations-- that's excellent

Brennan is walked on a head collar, however in the next few months I am looking at switching her to a Prong ( will be doing K9 Pro's Loose Leash Walking DLP). Our walk is for fun and exercise. Brennan walk at my left side, neither in front or behind me. I like a loose leash. When I stop moving I like her to sit. She does not have 'free permission' to sniff trees/ grass etc-- instead I use sniffing her environment as a reward for good walking.

Natsu chan-- she's adorable .

RV- That's fantastic . One of my long term goals is to complete a CCD trial with Brennan-- it will just go to show how far we have come. Well we had another fantastic walk today. I am on a health kick so as a result we are doing longer walks. Today we went for one 50 minute walk rather then splitting it into 2 shorter walks. We passed 2 dogs in their yards at 8 feet away. The first dog was barking, and Brennan just was not interested. In fact, it wasn't until we had passed the house and were 11 feet away that she decided to look back at the dog. The second dog, she saw, didn't bark but she did go to pull on her lead, I gave her a correction which she responded too ( she ceased pulling/ hackles went back down) so I praised her lots. We did a sit and some focus work for a minute and she was really good. We hopefully start Obedience at Para Districts Obedience Club in early/ mid October which will be good. I decided to start her up at the end of the year thinking that at least we can introduce ourselves to the club, and it will give us at least 5-6 lessons which we can use to a) practise over summer, and b) 5-6 practises around other dogs.

Another thing they can do which will not require the dog moving about much is playing the 'Shell game'- pretty easy just need 3 paper/plastic cups and a tasty treat.

Thanks...will try to post more than

Hi, I feel like such a numpty posting here-- you got people with titles and then you have me . Today I had a great 2 walks with Brennan. On both walks she was loose lead, gave me some focus without even being prompted. Her sits when I stop moving are becoming more reliable, although she is still sitting anywhere from just behind me to a little bit out from my left leg. I am sure that when we return to Obedience classes in October that we can work on this some more. Our second walk we passed a dog in its yard barking at her. We actually walked a bit closer ( only fifteen feet away), I got her to sit just before hit the next property and asked her to focus and also to drop. She managed to sit/drop and focus a mere fifteen feet from a dog barking at her. A few times she went to look at the dog but I did some body blocking. We spent no more then a minute doing this then carried on walking with a HUGE spring in our step and LOTS of praise :D . My friend who has Brennan's ''best friends'' ( 2 Belgian Tervurens) is interested in going to Obedience class too and had been looking to go to the same Obedience club in Salisbury that I want to go to. It works out well for me, I was going to ask her to drive me to Obedience ( give her petrol money) and had felt bad about asking given that class is on Sunday mornings and she works, but given that she wants to go too I can just worry about making her take my petrol money .

Kikopup- http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup http://www.youtube.com/kikopupextras PamelaMarxsen- http://www.youtube.com/user/pamelamarxsen?blend=1&ob=5 MultiAnimalCrackers- http://www.youtube.com/user/MultiAnimalcrackers zSianz http://www.youtube.com/user/zsianz1 ETA: links Tricks are fun. I do a lot of shaping for tricks-- I was able to teach Brennan to open/shut doors via shaping. The possibilities are endless, I don't see the need for a dog to do the trick 'perfectly', to me it's all about fun and spending time with the dog. There are a LOT of trick dog video's on You Tube, lots of channels. I hope your friends have fun trying them out. Some tricks can be learnt quicker then others, it took me a year for Brennan to be able to do the 'Sit Pretty' trick, although I didn't work on it as often as I could have.

I actually find it quite fascinating what draws people to certain breeds. I know with myself, I have only ever loved the German Shepherd. There are other breeds I like, but end of the day, they don't quite steal my heart the way a GSD does. So a forum like DOL is great for me. I like to lurk in other breed threads to see photo's and try and see what it is that makes that particular breed so endearing to their owners/ breeders/ enthusiasts. It's a nice way to learn about other breeds.

Aww thanks for the update. Sounds like you have a nice little walk system in place, one that suits both Charlie and Emmy

Voted No. Always had a soft spot for Rotties, gorgeous dogs.

Oops my bad. I really should turn on the speakers when I watch a linky to ACA but I just cant bring myself to do that. I'd much rather see why it took her 18 months to sell her house The heart-warming music ( ripped straight out of a lovable cartoon trilogy) is what sets ACA apart from Today Tonight sheesh- give ACA some credit--they are after all 'serious journalists'

Oh come on- it was totally 'warm fuzzy' didn't you listen to the background song which conjures up images of 'a woman and her dog being friends for life'

I watched it, and being on a disability pension all it did was make me grateful I have pet insurance . Although I guess it did count as the warm fuzzy dog story to counter act the not so warm fuzzy dog stories we have been hearing lately.

Another vote for Jane Harper . She is wonderful.

I'd hire a behaviourist and start working on it under their guidance/ advice. My girl is fear reactive around dogs. I recently hired a wonderful behaviourist and have been following the steps she set out for us and slowly but surely am seeing great results. What part of Victoria are you in? there are a few good trainer/ behaviourists from Victoria on DOL; Cosmolo, Erny and Nehkbet to name a few. I am sure that others could suggest some other names. Underdog Training InLine k9 Pro K9 ETA links

How very scary for the woman

Maybe the local council cracked down on them for allowing dogs so close to an eatery?

I think the intention was good, just a few things that perhaps needed to be changed such as making sure to have permission to use the content, and also the fighting pictures.