hankdog

Thanks for the paper reference Corvus, it's going to take me a few days to get my brain around but looks good so far.

The perfect dog storm does happen unfortunately. In emergencies I just try my best to stop any movement until the other dogs go away. Pushing him up against a fence helps or just crouching down and becoming a human Thundershirt also helps. I have picked him up and slung him over my shoulder when a really insistent CKCS just had to be friends. Strangely if I body block and yell at an approaching dog with a deep voice Jake will stay behind me. Outward calm is the main thing, I've tried jumping up and down squeaking.....not recommended.

Oh Frodos mum you bred more cute adorable creatures!!! They are so cute, I look forward to seeing how a little patchy grows into a big patchy.

Sorry everybody, computer gremlins invaded the black box and have now been removed so I'll post 2 to catch up. Training photo, if you like your bulldog in a box. Whilst this is technically a blooper I liked it because it says a lot about Jake, he has behavioral and vision issues. Here I am making him literally jump through hoops although normally it's metaphorical hoops,and the poor dog is unable to see or think clearly. and now no matter how I resize the photo it will not be smaller.....sorry!

Well done Justice, that must make you so happy seeing him relaxed and enjoying himself.

Well I might swap him for Stan....?

Mmm well on the right day I might swap him for fresh air ( he is a bulldog with the associated flatulence) or any dog with manners. On another day wouldn't part with him for a gold mine!!

Sad for both dogs. Just yesterday we were walking down the footpath and I was scanning ahead and completely missed a large maremma sleeping right next to his gate. It woke up with a fright and launched itself at the gate, it's probably a fine dog that got a fright and I've seen many non aggresive dogs that will fence run and snap at a fence if a nose is poked through. A very sad situation for all involved.

Happy Birthday Stanley, don't get too tired blowing out your candles. Hope the fridge locks are off today!!!

Haha Corvus looks like Erik is getting on top if his trainer...er training. We had another good session today. We managed to encourage Jake to walk away from Bolt his "helper " dog a few times and finally he managed to turn and walk quite confidently away by himself, he was loose leash for most of the session and even when he is barking there really isn't much heat in the bark. He just seems to be gaining confidence generally as well. We've been working on some jumping skills, at home agility involving hoops and couches and boxes. I put his peanut butter jar on the picnic table at the park this morning and without any effort he jumped onto the bench and table. Probably naughty but it's good to see him trying stuff and using initiative. I've also included his mat training into his afternoon clicker session and he's got lying down head on paws so next week we will be taking that outside and then out in the road. I'm such a clicker convert its amazing how you can capture the subtle behaviors so quickly, I could have lured a down on the mat but unlikely I could have got the instant response of "mat out lay down, head on paws". 6 months ago I would have laughed if you suggested clicker training for me or Jake.

Well it's a good thing my boys reactive or one of those frenchies could well come live here!! Seriously though they are the clowns of the dog world and love people and kids. And if you get one you have to put pictures on the Frenchie thread.

I have the feeling that dog is going to go far! Well done!

Thanks for the book recommendation, Corvus. Definitely something that will be useful to us, so now I will be the crazy bulldog owner who is throwing down a magic carpet for the nutty dog to sleep on, hopefully. We had a very good session on Thursday, and then on Friday morning he was feral. Got to the top of the drive and he threw a wobbly, waited until that was over but rinse and repeat for about 5 minutes and we had walked about 40m so I went home. Put him inside without a word and went off to do some gardening. Took him out about and hour later and he was very well behaved. I'm such an optimist I label all crazy behavior an extinction burst, but maybe after the day before he just needed to let the crazies out. Basically Teekay if I get between 2 dogs or in any situation where things are going south I just try get out of there. I have little hiding places on most of my walks that I can duck behind a bush or fence and often use parked cars to shield Jake from seeing stuff he won't cope with. Does your trainer have a dog you can practice setups with? That's probably the easiest way to learn the subtleties. As Corvus said she could read Erik and the other dog but for me as a novice just dealing with Jake was enough, I didn't have the bandwidth to cope with what the other dog was doing.

Yay, Ziggy you're a legend. Well done Staffyluv, you must be so proud. Teekay I think the BAT setups are very good, they weren't successful yet for us but we are still using the same principles. I think the value is in having a controlled interdog situation that will allow you to analyse what's happening and what your dog's showing you and it did give me a lot more confidence in handling a meltdown. It's quite a different perspective not having to worry about what the other dog is going to do.

I don't like it when people have two dogs and call them something like " gin and tonic" or "salt and pepper", it seems to make them things rather than dogs.

I am no means qualified but at present what we are doing with my nutcase is letting him do his thing and not giving him the result he wants, and it's starting to work. So I'd say there's hope. I would also make sure that if you get home and you can hear or see her going off maybe don't go in. If she's sitting quietly or sleeping when you go in then she's getting what she wants when she's doing the correct behavior. I used to go to bed early on Christmas Eve to make Christmas come more quickly so maybe she'll learn to go to sleep to make you come home quicker.

Harvey looks like he's been washed in "Cuggly" here.

Sorry to hear you're not well. Looking forward to the pics, Easter is a moving target and ridiculously early this year anyway.

Many happy returns Zig. Hope you're being a good boy for mum!

That's a bit exciting, you'll have to post pics when she turns up. Good luck!

Nope Jake farts with gay abandon, awake or asleep he doesn't bat an eyelid. If he's cold he snores louder. He has a lovely waking routine, Wakes up stretches, gets his front legs up and over the side of the cushion, back legs don't always make it to awake on the first attempt so you'll come out the shower to find him back asleep, front half has left the bed, back half still nicely cuddled up.

All I'm seeing is beautifully manicured toes, beautiful colour. It's funny Jake doesn't have a crate but he's made a cave under my sons desk. He goes and hangs out under the desk in the back corner when I throw him out the shower. It's actually made me think I should organize a soft kennel for him in case I do have to leave him one day. Some days you just want to shake them and say "BE normal, you're a dog" don't you" Haha Just remembered standing on the street yelling at him one day, screeched "stop doing this, it's not fun for mummy!"

Thanks Corvus, that's a good description of Jake will definitely get it. PA can Jake have another gold star please, ran past an off-leash barking SWF. No barking back or hesitation, I think the SWF is going to have an ego problem from now on, thinking he chased an evil bulldog.

Reminds me she has a relaxation protocol, pretty sure you've probably already done this. Has been very good for Jake and I took it out walking. Yes I'm the crazy lady walking around the bulldog clapping and singing on the side of the road! Wish I could think of a way to help.

My boy is on Prozac, within a week his sep Anx had quietened enough I could go to the bathroom by myself and he was okay to stay with my son if I went out. I dropped him a quarter of a tablet a few weeks ago and he's back to crying if I go out even though he sits with my son. His reactivity is improving despite the drop in dosage.