persephone Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 look at those two :) :) Mr Joostice !!! yayyy !! Great job everyone . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpette Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 OMG how friggen awesome is it to see Justice and Gruf together having a brilliant time. I am so very very thrilled for both of you Ladies. Sorry that you are having a few troubles Thistle. It is so hard when things don't quite go to plan. I have to agree with Ish about giving Thistle too many opportunities to sort things herself, but it could be that it works for you and Thistle. I know that with Dee and I, leadership was the problem. I needed to step up and control things to keep her safe so that she did not react and that she trusted me not to put her in any positions where she would get hurt, and that if there was trouble that I would sort it. If that little dog had come up to her, like it did to Thistle, it would have been killed. So I am extremely vigilant when it comes to other dogs getting in her face. Thistle did such a brilliant job showing restraint in her reaction. You are obviously doing a great job. I know that Dee will never be able to freely interact with strange dogs, especially smaller ones. Don't loose heart. I have been able to get Dee to a stage where she can trial around other dogs, but at a distance and under calm conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottsmum Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 (edited) AMAZING! You've both come so far. Nothing wrong with the right medication when needed. We wouldn't think twice about giving a dog insulin if his pancreas wasn't functioning properly, but can get kind of stuck when it's the brain. (Says the person who approached them with trepidation as I have seen the good and bad of them ). Felt / feel the same way. Such an emotional struggle. Just glad it made such a positive change to our lives. As for Justice & Gruff - I've oohed & Ahhed - but really - I'm so stupidly happy for everyone - what a lovely update - its so nice to be able to see J being super happy. Edited July 4, 2016 by Scottsmum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Kisses Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Yeah, it'd be nice if we could say "hey matey, do you feel better on this medication or do you feel worse or out of sorts?" and get a legitimate response. Instead we watch and wait and advocate on their behalf. Malcolm's Trazedone dose was cut in half on Friday and he's already doing better, though still worse than before it was added in. It may just be that he's still just coming down from being on a too-high dose, so we'll see and make changes if need be. I'm very excited about starting Nosework next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Best Dogs! Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 (edited) I need more Justice and Gruf videos. They really are such a lovely matched pair! (A LOT more videos and photos!) Here is the video I mentioned Snook, had trouble getting the damn thing to upload What I got from this (and I be interested to see what other people see happening): Thistle thinks the plumber (in the front yard doing his thing) is going to come into the backyard. I scattered some kibble around in the grass (that I need to mow, I know) to give her something to distract her with while I dealt with the broken pipe flooding my front yard. I also figured it would help encourage calming sniffing and give her something to do. She only barked upon his arrival and quietened when I went to the door, then went to loitering skittishly (she only heard him, never saw him). You can see how bad she’s shaking and how twitchy she is at the end. I’m not sure if she’s getting better or worse, leaning to better because: She’s barking less, not peeing the ground and not cowering as much/slinking around like a caterpillar. But she’s also shaking more. But she has less jerky movement, the tail’s not completely disappeared and she’s capable of some wags at me. She's not frozen or 'stuck'. So I'd be interested to see where fear-shakes fall on the fear-scale... I realised after a couple of throws the food was startling her so waited until her head was up for the last lot of scattered kibble. I called her name at the end and aborted on touching her to get attention because didn't want to scare her... So overall, I think this is progress with strangers on the property. Especially a big, old white man with a loud voice - her biggest person-stranger fear. She's moving, she's eating the kibble on the ground, couple of wags. Eventually she went to standing at the fence listening (cannot see) with some whining, then went and hid in her kennel. This is home-specific behaviour I should clarify, she is not like this in the street/stores/park/market where we could walk past this guy without comment and she might even sniff on a good day. In part we progress so slow with guests because I rarely have them. Baby steps :/ and the pipe was just old :p rusted clean through and disintegrated when we touched it. Copper pipe replacing it. Edited July 4, 2016 by Thistle the dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pjrt Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Here you go..I used Gruf for a hand stripping demo yesterday. I love that I can completely transform him with nothing other than my fingers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Best Dogs! Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 I'm impressed at how little ruff is on the Gruf's ears? Deceptively smooth? Do you know what's in him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pjrt Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 I'm impressed at how little ruff is on the Gruf's ears? Deceptively smooth? Do you know what's in him? His ears grow quite a bit of stringy hair on them, they're just nice and smooth after stripping him. The thing I love most about Gruf is that even after 30 yrs working with dogs, I can look at him every day and go, umm, a brown dog. If I had to pick a breed based on his body shape then cattle dog. The coat throws people and assume some sort of terrier, but smooth/short coat crossed with curly coat often produces wire coat so he could just as well be a lab poodle mix or a collie cattle dog mix or what someone I know calls 'six of the best'. A true mutt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Best Dogs! Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 'Six of the best' :laugh: That's a new one, adding it to the list. Some of my favourite terms for the unknowns have been mystery mutt, bitsa, heinz variety, a dog, canardly (can-hardly tell) and pure bred mixed breed :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 LOVE these two - and what gorgeous photos !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpette Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpette Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 PK absolutely thrilled that Malcolm coped whilst you were away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taliecat Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Dozer's being his unpredictable little self and has recently gone back to hating his crate.. So the crate fairy has been visiting with kibble to make his crate awesome again, and it's just the cutest thing to watch him prance through the house checking his crate every few minutes. Dozer has also been getting better with random loud and new noises (better than me, I'm a wreck with weird noises home alone), and is recovering quickly even when I'm jumping at every sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Kisses Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 PK absolutely thrilled that Malcolm coped whilst you were away. Thank you! :D Dozer's being his unpredictable little self and has recently gone back to hating his crate.. So the crate fairy has been visiting with kibble to make his crate awesome again, and it's just the cutest thing to watch him prance through the house checking his crate every few minutes. Dozer has also been getting better with random loud and new noises (better than me, I'm a wreck with weird noises home alone), and is recovering quickly even when I'm jumping at every sound. Cheering for Dozer's improvement with noises and faster recoveries and LOVE the image of him prancing around hoping for a crate fairy visit. Too cute. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Best Dogs! Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 Sorry that you are having a few troubles Thistle. It is so hard when things don't quite go to plan. I have to agree with Ish about giving Thistle too many opportunities to sort things herself, but it could be that it works for you and Thistle. I know that with Dee and I, leadership was the problem. I needed to step up and control things to keep her safe so that she did not react and that she trusted me not to put her in any positions where she would get hurt, and that if there was trouble that I would sort it. If that little dog had come up to her, like it did to Thistle, it would have been killed. So I am extremely vigilant when it comes to other dogs getting in her face. Thistle did such a brilliant job showing restraint in her reaction. You are obviously doing a great job. I know that Dee will never be able to freely interact with strange dogs, especially smaller ones. Don't loose heart. I have been able to get Dee to a stage where she can trial around other dogs, but at a distance and under calm conditions. Sorry Grumpette, had not meant to ignore you! I keep getting distracted by the magic of Justice and Gruf whenever I peek into this thread... :laugh: If only everything went to plan! Leadership and helping her to trust me that the dog is just hovering and being rude is harder than I think when something happens! I think, like for Thistle, baby steps for me. Like we will turn around and walk away (it's so hard to do that initial movement!) or *I* should move so that I am between Thistle and the incoming strange dog. So even if we're not able to walk off I can obscure their view of each other a bit? Granted...I do need to see it coming. But then, acting like a radar and looking around anxiously all the time is not good for my mental health either! There is a balance I am sure. I wasn't able to do it last week, but I'm trying to position us more to the middle of the field in classes. Technically surrounded by more dogs, but they're all leashed for classes (and many are "thistle approved) so any offleaders need to go through the whole class to bother us... Ahhh Dozer is so lucky, a crate fairy! I'm glad he is jumping less, hopefully some of his calm can transfer to you :) I find soft tv or music helps me to calm down on those twitchy nights. Sounds like rain etc...(you've prob already thought of this though ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluehealer Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 Hi all, I'm new although I've been lurking a while. I have a quite fearful stumpy tail cattle dog called Colby that I am working with. He's reactive to other dogs on leash if they get too close so we've pretty much always avoided other dogs on walks. He's about 7 years old now and I've had him for 6 years (he was a foster failure - rescued from a rural pound). We are having a lot of success with clicker training and have just started weekly group classes with a local behaviourist. Last Sunday was our first one and I'm pleased to say he focussed on me the entire time and completely ignored the other dogs, even when one barked and lunged at him. As his confidence grows, so does mine and I am enjoying him much more now that I have tools to combat our anxiety! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Best Dogs! Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 Blue healer that is amazing! On your first class in a new situation too! I am glad your relationship is ever growing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Kisses Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 Welcome Bluehealer! Wow, you really are opening up a whole new world for Colby! That's amazing progress! I hope you realise we now need a picture of your clever boy. :D I love your name, too. You are a blue heeler healer. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluehealer Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 (edited) Here's Colby after his walk yesterday. It's been very wet here! Edited July 7, 2016 by Bluehealer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taliecat Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 He's lovely, Bluehealer! I get the impression he's a bit of a softie with his people, but that could just be from his beautiful warm eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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