hankdog

Does Dee have a color preference?I wish I could workout Jake, I used to think it was light dogs but it doesn't seem so. He does seem better at training if the dog we are working with is also reactive, I think because then they both pointedly ignore each other.

Norty Jake and I often walk through a park that has a hall and a fenced off area sometimes used by a group of adults who have various disabilities. Today as I was filling my water bottle at the tap a man came over and tried to pat Jake through the cyclone wire fence. I felt a bit bad and tried to explain to him that Jake doesn't really like pats and was about to move off when he hung his arms over the fence and tried to reach Jake. Normally Jakes' reaction to peoples pat attempts varies from indifference to wary but today he climbed those big clumsy paws up the cyclone wire and reached his head up and allowed the man to give his head a thorough thunking. If that's the last picture I have in my mind when I die I will be a happy person.

Aww Stussy, you have a beautiful dog LG. You deserve her.

RPX-yes we have a few of those, I do think its the impulse owner buyer that creates the R. Interesting that your evil hound also worked out the be norty- calm down =reward. Jake has that sequence down pat.

I would definitely muzzle if I could. Unfortunately bulldog muzzles are like aquanaut helmets and then I couldn't lavish so much peanut butter on him. I was rushing a walk on the weekend and not focussed and he lunged out and my waistbelt nearly snapped my spine. I then had to get home and finish catering the party for 45 footballers. I love my dog but he owes me, very lucky he's so cute and if I lie on my stomach he lies on my back and makes a great heat pack.

Mrs RB that post should be pinned. Brilliant advice.

Welcome over to the reactive dogs thread in obedience and training. We all have reactive dogs of varying degrees. My boy is a bulldog cross and will never be dog friendly, he has no prey drive and can tolerate ducks, chickens and a feral cockatiel running around but never any dogs. Although he is clearly a bulldog I do get flamed when out in public about my "dangerous pitbull" so be ready for that. Also if you're out maybe a leash and harness, my harness is strapped to a waist belt so he can't get free. Possibly a muzzle, at the very least it will warn people away. Definitely a behaviourist, I work weekly with mine because that's the help I need. Don't go to just any trainer, you need someone with aggression experience who isn't negative about working with a pit bull. Good luck, it's not an easy road.

I had that with Hank who looked a lot like Gruf. He was a bit over a year when I got him and had been in the RSPCA for 11 months. I did the basics of sit, down and stay. The kids did a few fun tricks like shake, spin and rollover but somehow he just knew what he was supposed to do. I think dog language is so subtle that most dogs are hardwired to pick up subtle clues and some are just masters at it and have an innate desire to please. Sigh....Jakes neither of those.

SG I couldnt have said it better, Jake has no judgement of me, he just needs me, all the time and forever. How do you not prioritise that? I'm working out what I'm going to study next year based on whats available online but that's the way it is. Once he's gone I'd like to get out and work out of the house but until then I'm all his.

All my animals have worked for an "on ya" but Jake didn't have the knowledge of being patted. Strange dog, he would just sitt here like a table when you patted or praised him so he had to be food rewarded. My little chicken Lola will jump for mealworms too, and she begged like crazy when she was inside for a month after her dog attack. If she's out when I'm in the garden she will come over and make enquiries as to what food is available. I reckon you could train her to do amazing things.

As a kid all our plates got pre rinsed by the dogs. I was never able to understand why we then had to go through the whole wash and dry thing. Although Jake always has to do a trick to get something he has never just offered a trick to get something. I've been mindful to not use the bark in command for food but all he does is stare at you, I'm just such a soft touch.

He looks very relaxed and happy. Good on you for juggling so many things.

Do you have to show your dog empty hands when you finish eating so they stop looking mournful. I feel really bad and often end up giving something that I didn't intend to because I imagine how helpless Jake must feel not being in control of what he gets to eat whilst I wander around having whatever I choose. What else do your dogs guilt you into?

Sometimes I tether Jake if I'm in certain parts of the garden that you see the street from. Really bad idea, once he saw a dog on the street and pulled me off my feet whilst I had a hose in my hand, he managed to drag me a few feet and we were one sorry, soggy mess. Another time he fell off the bridge, luckily he slipped out of the harness and landed in the creek after a short dangle...let's face it he's just one pooch that needs speshul supervision.

I think if it's part of an excercise then I would but I'd just never leave any reactive dog unsupervised. Nothing left to chance is the best way to deal with a reactive dog. Intent is about the emotional response that the dog feels, Jake will always want to go fight. My previous attitude to training was to hope he might make the right choice and reward him for that. This has got some results but it's highly variable, on one day he might be able to disengage and in another he might lunge at every step, initially he would always be lunging at every step. I have known for a long time that he's broken and can't be fixed but somehow having it put that way just sort of clicked something in my brain. So really the way to train him is to offer him no choice, he must always listen to my choice. It's very hard for me to correct him, at heart I'm a positive only trainer. Mentally I know that won't work but it doesn't make it easier that he's such a gentle sook and now I have to be hard with him.