fainty_girl

Yep I do tell people to ignore the dogs if they are coming into the house. With Tilly since early on i've tried to reinforce the idea that you get a pat when you sit. First thing every morning when she sees me, she will sit down for a pat. If a tradesman/salesman we've never met is coming inside the house and we know in advance, we put the dogs out in the yard temporarily and ask the person if they are comfortable with dogs.

When Tilly is being completely OTT I have tried picking her up and putting her in the nearest bedroom. Nope I don't have any crates here. With strangers coming to the door it is not always people who will be coming in the house too...eg. grocery delivery person, parcel delivery, real estate salesman, etc. I also don't let the dogs go up to delivery people/salesmen, etc because not everybody likes dogs.

How do you keep your dog calm when strangers come to your door? Both of my dogs are very overprotective when strangers come to the door...Tilly is by far the worst though, lots of crazy barking and jumping/launching at the door, then she wants to shove through the door. I think they definitely play off each other too, because if one barks the other has to join in. Jessie is very vocal normally. Any tips on how to calm them both down?

becandcharch, that is such a cute photo! I took this one as well...they were both playing fetch at the time, so Rusty had a slobber moustache .

Post pictures of your dog/s with their friends I took these ones of Tilly today with her favourite doggy friend. She absolutely adores him and gets so overexcited if he visits!

How cute! I think I was the one who mentioned etsy in your collar thread, so you can blame me . Best site ever! Consider yourself blamed then I love it. Which seller did you get the collars from?

I got a second puppet for teaching today... a T-Rex Tilly was more cautious with T-Rex, and when I moved the mouth and made some chomping sounds joking around with my brother, she got a bit scared and it was like she was trying to bark, but she didn't.

How cute! I think I was the one who mentioned etsy in your collar thread, so you can blame me . Best site ever!

Wild and crazy looks are Tilly's specialty

I bought a dog puppet to use for teaching and it was pretty funny seeing Tilly "meet" the puppet for the first time , so thought i'd post pictures here:

I suppose you need to think about the chance of an off-leash small dog approaching Blueygirl's leashed dog. I think you are doing the right thing Blueygirl - you are being a responsible dog owner and preventing your dog from causing any harm to other dogs.

Could you use two toys at once, like a previous poster suggested? Does he know a command to drop his ball/toy? When he's retrieved the first toy and is reluctant to come back to you, bring out the other toy, and if he comes running straight back to you, tell him to drop the toy that he has in his mouth, then throw the toy you are holding for him if he drops his own toy. I've also found that the more Tilly likes the toy, the more reluctant she can be to drop it (eg. she is more reluctant to drop her favourite dog soccer ball, than she is to drop a tennis ball). Tilly also won't drop a ball near another off-lead dog (even Jessie ) because she thinks they'll take it because dogs used to steal her favourite squeaky ball all the time. Your kelpie will probably happily play fetch 24/7 once he gets the hang of it!

Gosh Mags, that's awful! Lucky your dogs were there to scare the creep away! ----- It is interesting reading how your dogs and others responded in these sorts of situations. Just yesterday when I was at a park playing fetch with Tilly, this man stood there on the street behind my car (i'd say about 30 meters away) and was staring at me. He was carrying two of those "green" shopping bags and just stood there really still staring at me for about a minute or two. Tilly ran straight in his direction and I called her back and she just ran in a loop around a big garden bed that was near the man, and came straight back to me. She didn't charge at him and there was no aggression, but she doesn't normally pay anywhere near that much attention to a stranger when she is playing off the lead, so it was out of character for her. Something about the man did give me the creeps though, or maybe I just watch too much of the crime channel on cable. He didn't stand there for any longer after Tilly ran past him though!

True, at least in my experience of owning Jessie this has been the case...she is cautious of strangers, very protective of her favourite family member and is very vocal. But then I don't think we know enough about your situation to say if you'd be up to the challenge of owning a cattle dog.

This is about a purebred Kelpie that my brother is temporarily looking after on the weekends and in the evenings throughout the week...he is full-on but is obedient when he's told to settle down (eg. if he's told "no ball" or "lay down" in a firm voice then he will stop playing and will lay down). He thrives on being busy and kept occupied, he is happy to sit in and protect his owner's ute and he likes going to work with his owner. This particular dog isn't the type that can be left in a yard all day, because he will jump the fence and go and find his own fun!

Does your dog's level of excitement vary depending on the visitor? What does she do if the visitor completely ignores her? Tilly gets very excited when people come to the door, but she also gets quite revved up because Jessie barks heaps at anybody who comes to the door. Tilly's behaviour varies depending on the person...she settles a lot quicker if the person she is meeting is calm, a dog lover (well this is a bonus ) and if they ignore her until she calms down. If both of my dogs are being way OTT when somebody comes to the door, I show them a water spray bottle and then they keep their distance. I don't even need to spray them with it. I'm also consistent with Tilly in that if she hasn't seen me for a while and gets excited, I reinforce that she doesn't get a pat until she is sitting and calm. So when I came home from work today, before I had even emptied my hands of my bags, she was sitting waiting for a pat.

I buy Jessie's glucosamine from Aldi...it is about $8 for a tub, so very affordable. I grind one capsule using a pestle each night and mix it into her dinner. I can check the strength and number of tablets in a tub if anybody wants to know more. Jessie has a bit of arthritis in her back leg, but she hasn't limped since we started her on glucosamine a while back, so it has really worked well for her. I also keep a close eye on her weight to avoid any unnecessary strain on her leg.

If it's crying with excitement, then i'd love to know how to stop that too! Tilly drives me nuts with constant crying in the car due to being excited about going out.

rustyredbc, I have some similar issues with my Kelpie X Tilly being distractable...i've found that when she is getting distracted I really have to make sure that I stay positive (ie. use a positive tone of voice), even if she's frustrating me, to try and get her attention. It's not always easy, but I try. In the past Tilly has nipped at dogs a few times...but this was something she did when first getting to the park if she was particularly overexcited, and the other dog was very excited waiting for their ball to be thrown. It wasn't something she did to every dog, and 99% of the time she'd just run along with any dog with no issues, keeping her own ball in her mouth the whole time. For this reason and others I started taking her elsewhere for a run, somewhere less exciting and she hasn't given any dogs herding type nips since. She will still join in for the odd game of fetch if there is a dog playing where I take her, but she just runs with the other dog - she gives them space and never seems to bother the dog. Just recently I have tried taking her to a very quiet dog park, but only after she's had a good run elsewhere and is already tired (think not retrieving her ball anymore and resting in a garden bed). When Tilly is out of the house she's not very interested in dog treats, but if I remember I try and take a banana with me when I go out because that is one of her favourite foods, and it does get her attention much more than a dog treat. Walking away in the opposite direction or towards the car/home also helps with Tilly if she's not listening, but not when she's running and playing with another dog. I suppose you've got to try and find your dog's "currency"...could you use something particularly tasty for a treat (eg.some chicken or meat scraps from a roast lamb or something like that?

Do you think she's scared or does she just like her space? I grew up with a dog who didn't like to be cuddled and that's just the way she was. Both of my dogs are very cuddly and affectionate, I guess it just depends on what they feel comfortable with.

;) I always wanted a cuddly dog when my kelpie X Tammy was pretty aloof...now I have two lap dogs. ;) My stumpy tail cattle dog sounds just like your kelpie - she is very in your face and loves cuddles all of the time. Tilly is also really affectionate...she loves lying on her back and being held in your lap for a cuddle, or she will snuggle into me, which is very sweet.

It is such a beautiful drawing of Zero . I'm really excited about Altheau possibly drawing Tilly...it will be going on my wall in a frame for sure .

There is just something so lovable about kelpies...I grew up with a Kelpie X, we got her from the pound when she was about 1 and she was 15 when she got sick and had to be PTS . She was very clever and intuitive, but not a cuddly type of dog. Her idea of being affectionate was sitting on your feet or leaning against me during a car-ride to school. She was very obedient, as long as she wanted to do what you were asking. I still miss her .

I think your dedication to Tilly has always been very clear. She seems like a great dog. I agree... you are doing a great job with Tilly, and the fact she is getting better shows that. One day the penny will drop with her and she will understand that all you ask from her is to listen to you. She will settle down, she is just young and loves life. Thanks kelpiesrule and rhapsodical78 . The penny has definitely dropped when it comes to Tilly listening at home, but outside the home she is different again...in some ways she even listens at home more than Jessie at times. When I get their dinner ready in the evening, I've started to get Tilly and Jessie to sit and wait for their dinner at a distance from me, rather than them being right near me and overexcited. Tilly is the one who sits there beautifully waiting for her dinner, while Jessie creeps closer to me crying.