Kavik

double post

Shaar that is awesome!

I am sure if I tied her up near other dogs and left (which I would NEVER do) that she would react. I never said she was cured. I never allow her to meet other dogs - not worth the stress. I will not put her in a situation that I don't think she can handle - I am teaching her to trust me and that I will not let her down, so that she can look at me instead of worrying about the other dog. She doesn't like other dogs - I've accepted that. All I want is to be able to walk her past other dogs without reacting. We are doing well considering I only started this method when she was 8 years old with a whole lifetime history of aggression towards other dogs. I have tried other methos and nothing else has worked as well or given me the same confidence in handling her as well as keeping her happy and keen to work with me around other dogs.

Had a very successful walk :D Walked Zoe my dog aggro dog, coming the opposite direction on same side of road were two dogs walked by one person who went off heir head at us. Zoe was a good girl :D and didn't react, I was able to reinforce several times (she looked at the dogs and back at me for click/treat). It DOES work! Though she is getting on in age now she is still sprightly and keen and fast in response, so the change is not her slowing down.

Yes I have also heard that black dogs are difficult to home. I however love black dogs - every dog I have owned so far has been black

Yep as others have said ears should be bigger - GSDs have big ears :D

At the beginning Zoe would react to the dogs across the street. When she stopped reacting and looked back at me (which she would do eventually) I would click/treat. I know that sounds counter intuitive, but it is laid out in the book. Good timing is important, any period of non reactivity is rewarded ( the book from memory also suggests rewarding less intensity too). The periods of reactivity grew shorter and less intense, and I started to have a larger window for reinforcement.

Have you done any training to teach her to focus on you? I use the principles outlined in the book Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog. It works just as well with reactivity (which is what your girl is showing). I start with clicking for showing attention to me when there are no distractions around, and when this response is automatic (she will do it on her own, no prompting from me, no luring etc) I take it on the road with the distraction at a distance (I started with other dogs across the road, so that there was no way the other dog could possibly meet my dog, and I could focus on my dog's response instead of worrying about what might happen). Even though my dog still reacted at first, I clicked/treated when she voluntarily gave me her attention after looking at the other dog. Eventually she would look at the other dog, then look back at me without reacting to the other dog. I then closed the distance, doing this with dogs on the same side of the road but giving as much distance as possible (going into driveways if necessary). Etc.

Amazing pics! I would have been out of there though not a big fan of spideys!

He sounds like he is not comfortable with the large breeds playing with him - not all dogs like to roughhouse and some of the Jap Spitzes I have met do prefer their space when it comes to interacting with other dogs. Are you going to training classes at all? This would be a good way to interact with other dogs in a controlled environment. I would avoid the overly boisterous large breeds that are scaring him at the moment (which may mean walking him in a different place if the area you go to is offlead) and work on interacting only with calmer dogs for a while to get his confidence up. My Kelpie doesn't like to roughhouse with large boisterous dogs either, but is fine with dogs which don't try to incite rough play.

What behaviour is the dog exhibiting? In what way are you using classical conditioning to try to help?

6 months is just a baby! They do start to get a bit more challenging at this age. And don't worry, you CAN improve his behaviour. I only started using the principles from Click to Calm on my aggressive girl when she was 8 years old (she is now 11) and it has made a huge difference, if I had started at 6 months I probably could have fixed the problem altogether! I also agree with huski - you are asking for too much too soon in terms of distractions, especially with such a young and exciteable dog. It is hard but the best thing would be to go somewhere that you can be around people from a distance or somewhere with people that are not likely to want to interact with your dog so he can get used to being around people and lose the expectation that everbody wants to have a visit.

Thinking of you! Hope all is OK now

I can't help with the ecollar as I don't use one, but with the clicker it sounds like you are trying to use it to get his attention when he is already very distracted. With my dog aggro girl I first worked on look at me = click/treat with no distractions, then worked on this with a dog across the road (using methods from Click to Calm), and progressed slowly til she would automatically give me her attention when she sees another dog while we are walking (though still works best if we are stopped). You have to progress slowly with a lot of distance between yourself and the stimulus at first for this to work (in your case people). I know you said that no amount of food gets his attention, but I found that you build the value through the training. I use the same treats as I used before trying Click to Calm, and I used to be able to shove them in her face when another dog came and still not get control, whereas now she will give me her attention on her own with the treat in hand or bag, it is about how she has been conditioned. I would not let people come up and pat him on the street if he is going to get overly excited and you are working on it - I would just explain to people, most are understanding if you tell them you are training.

I would also avoid going to off leash parks until you get the problem sorted out.

Cool - was hoping all is OK with him

Obedience - 1 - Q 3507 MRS L CARTER LONDONDERRY NSW 2753 NORDENSTAMM PRIX(AI) (4100173509) Yay this is our PAX!

I haven't seen Steve around the forum lately - does he still pop in here?

Very nice looking Mal! Certainly decent sized ears

Any changes of behaviour since he has been going? Towards people or other dogs or objects?

I did combined channel, slanted pole and 3 pole (Vickie taught me that too ) - and the 3 pole really made a difference to Kaos's understanding and entries. I may give 2x2 a go next time, I have the DVD and now that I understand it better it looks really interesting. Certainly I have incorporated bits such as proofing entries from the DVD into our practice already.

Oy! Kelpies are missing too!

I use Malaseb with my allergy dog.

My mum has barefoot shoes for running (she does some marathons) - they are becoming very popular as I have seen a few people wearing them.

Sporting Register is open to specific alternate organisations which keep track of pedigrees - mostly working line herding breeds. If your Koolie has its pedigree registered with the Koolie Club then yes it can be registered on the Sporting REgister. The Sporting Register registers the dog with its full registered name (including breeder's prefix) and allows the dog to compete entire if desired, and the dog's breed and full registered name is shown on competition catalogues.