thebear

Thanks everyone. We have Sit, Drop Stay coming on Saturday and they reckon that they should be able to help us overcome her problems. Leah, once we get over this first hurdle will definetly be coming to Knox Obedience, it's nice and close for us as we are in Belgrave and will be the extra socialisation she needs. Will let you know how she goes and if the trainer is any good. Regards K

Thanks for the advice. I have arranged for a trainer who has alot of experience with working dogs to come out for a 1 on 1 with her on Saturday. Here's hoping

Hello We have adopted a 7 month old Blue Heeler x female who has has a shaky start to life. She has a sweet nature, but is extremely shy around people. She is very good with other dogs, our 2 dogs are her life support that give her confidence. She needs to have a lot of socialisation in a controlled environment to help her overcome her fears. We took her to a local dog training on Saturday but I don't feel it's the type of training she needs. Can anybody recommend a good dog training school preferably in the Belgrave area or surrounding suburbs that we can take her to? She has a very sweet nature but no confidence. Regards Kerry

thanks for the info, will give them a buzz

Hello, Can anybody recommend a good dog training group in SE Suburbs of Melbourne?? I live in Belgrave Sth so close\ish to there would be great as she gets car sick :-( I'm thinking we need somewhere that specialises more in socialistion, but am open to advice. We have a 10 month old Red Heeler\Border Collie bitch, desexed. She has done a intermediate training class when we first got her as a pup which she did really well at. The issue we are having is she is SO timid. When we first got her she was petrified of cars, we've got her over that and she doesn't freak out whenever a car goes past anymore. Now it's just people. With us she's just the happiest little camper, her whole body wags when she wags her tail. She loves her toys, plays ball etc. She adores our other 2 dogs and is good with the neighbours dog who comes to visit. But as soon as a stranger comes into the house the tail goes between the legs. She will eventually come up and have a sniff if left alone, and eventually allows a pat. She's also terrified of young children. When she's away from the house she's very uneasy too. Any strangers we pass when walking she will cower away from and hide behind our legs. We socialise her in a positive way as much as we can, give her treats and get people she's scared of to give her treats but feel she needs some external help. We take her to the local cafe for a cuppa and feed her treats while we're there (but only when she's relaxed and not being scaredy) to make being outside good fun too If we walk her by herself she's a dream, but if we have our other dogs with us she's a pain in the butt pulling and surging to get to the other dogs as she just wants to walk with them. We've had the halti collar, check chain but she is fixated on being with them. It's just my hubby & I, and our other 2 dogs at home. Any ideas would be appreciated.

We had the same problem with our rotti when we first got her. She was an 18 month old pound rescue. Not aggressive, just wanted to visit all the neighbours while we were at work. We tried everything and eventually rang the rescue centre to see if they had advice. They did, and it worked!!! and it was cheap :-) Firstly make sure there is nothing against the fence she can use to help her over, ie kennel, wheelbarrows etc etc. Next, and hopefully you have a timber fence you need to get some lengths of wood approx 1ft (30cm) long. Doesn't have to be heavy duty timber, garden stakes will do the job. Next get some wire, shade cloth, hessian etc. What you then do is attach the pieces of wood to the top of the fence pointing in towards the garden at an angle, a bit higher than horizontal. Then get the wire, whatever you have found and attach it across the wire. The effect you end up with is like a small ledge at the top of the fence. When she tries to jump she won't be able to get over as she can't go backwards to go up and around the covering. Does that make sense, hope I've explained it properly. You're basically putting a block to her being able to go straight up and over the fence cos she wont' be able to get around the ledge. It fixed the problem for us and she never got out again. Good luck

Thanks for your reply Persephone. We got the pup as a playmate for the heeler, as he is always trying to get the rotti to run an play but she can't. She also can't do the long walks anymore, but he can. But he won't go for walks without the Rotti. Our vet also said to us this was a good time to get another dog so that our heeler had a ready established relationship should anything happen to the rotti. Whenever we've had friends over who bring their dogs he runs and plays chasey happily with them. In hindsight maybe we should have got a mature dog, around 2 years + but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I have been watching them today and the puppy is wanting to be with the others and has been happily laying with the rotti. The 3 of them slept together with no problems for over an hour the puppy seeming to respect "their space" sleeping about a metre away. She's not an overly hyper puppy wanting to play non stop which was one of the reasons we chose her. We are giving treats to the other 2 when the puppy is around to make the puppy a good thing, and I've been doing some training with her tonight, just sit and come and then getting the other 2 to do a trick so they also get a treat. We're making sure not to exclude the older dogs when introducing the puppy to anybody and make it clear to everyone that they have to give our other 2 just as much attention as the puppy. I'm hopeful we can overcome this hurdle as we're not the type to get a dog and if it doesn't work out to give up.

Hello, We have a 10 yo female Rotti & 8 yo Male Blue Heeler Kelpie X, both desexed. The rotti now has arthritis and can't run and play with the heeler so we decided to get him a new playmate. Both dogs have always been fine with other dogs, our neighbour has a maltese terrier that is always coming over to play with no problems. I took the heeler to the shop to meet the new puppy but he was more interested in getting home. He is a nervous nature in strange surroundings, and my husband an our rotti are his 2 life supports. We have bought a 10 week old female red heeler x puppy. The rotti doesn't care about her, but the heeler isn't too impressed. He's not trying to go at her unprovoked, but he's snarly if she comes to him an he's given her a couple of warning snaps. We know that the pack now has to be establishe and we are not ignoring the other dogs for the puppy. We give them treats all together and feed them together. He is getting praise when he either ignores her or gives her a sniff, but we also let him know that snapping at her is not allowed. Is there any other advise anybody can offer?? At the moment I don't trust him to be left alone with her. Any advice would be appreciated. Kerry