hankdog Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Oh Megan I wish you had a DVD that must have been hilarious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankdog Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Here's one for unpredictable. Walking up the hill and a little foxie appears, emergency u-turn and there's his bigger mate behind me. I head across the street hoping to get up against the fence but they come in quickly and I'm kicking them off in the middle of the street. Jake is staying behind me and barking, I hear him yelp at one point he may have got bitten. It feels forever but I finally kick the the bigger dog hard enough that he retreats. Jake takes off in a manic run. I stop once we are away , can't find any punctures so give him lots of cuddles and a drink. I'm really annoyed as his training now is to give him the choice to run away or do LAT when he sees a dog, any barking and I freeze and ignore him until he is quiet. Since this isn't very practical to do when not in a set up I work hard to avoid dogs he can't deal with. He loathes two terriers that live on the steepest hill around but I realize I'm going to have to go home that way . Lately he has been doing run away past their house but then stopping and going back to do some LAT. It's Jake so I just go with it. Today he doesn't start running at the beginning of the block and as we get parallel with their gate he very calmly sits and starts doing LAT, his eyes are not glued on them and his body is completely relaxed. The owner is in the garden and she shushes the dogs and we have a little chat. Jake has a drink, eats a bunch of treats and then calmly moves on under his own steam. I pick my jaw up and tiptoe home behind him. Just when I think I'm getting to know him he does something so weird. Njce but no closer to unlocking the puzzle that is Jake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 (edited) I hear you Hankdog... I don't think I will ever figure out Stella either. 'Unlocking the puzzle', I can't even find the bloody key HD :laugh: There are moments I think, Oh here we go, she is going to completely flip out here & brace myself for the worst, she's as good as gold. The next thing she is going off her tree & I can't see nor hear anything Predicable she certainly is not, which makes it all the more difficult to manage. She did amazing LAT today for me on our leash free, perfect. Also had a Vet visit, after some assistance into the vet's room as she wouldn't get out of the car, again perfect. Not totally comfortable but she didn't bite or even growl like last time. How's your jaw after retrieving it :laugh: Jake did really, really well Our reactive sweethearts are such suprise packets at times. Edited March 22, 2013 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I can never tell which dogs mine will react to. There are certain breeds that they have issues with but that isn't always a given. Poppy HATES GR for some reason, she finds them very offensive. Last week she happily walked past 3 of them that were being quite bouncy and even wanted to say hi to them. There is a Cav that has major issues, goes totally nuts when it sees a dog and they both ignore it. I feel really sorry for its owner. Even barking dogs behind fences - some they react to, some they totally ignore. Then there is the large GSD that went nuts once, both dogs choose to veer across the road just before his house! Since I've been walking them every day Poppy is getting heaps better. The only dog she reacted to at school yesterday was Amber! That has to be a first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teekay Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Actually managed to walk past another dog today (I know tomorrow may be different, I agree our furry friends are very unpredictable like that :) ) We were walking down our usual path this morning, when a oodle of some description came round the corner with it's owner. Took us rather by surprise but as I always have my handful of treats at the ready I just started giving them to Luka and he managed to not really react to the dog at all. He was a bit tense and I know he was probably over his threshold but for a surprise encounter I thought it went pretty well. It wasn't all that long ago that he would have totally refused to eat at all because he would have been so focussed on the other dog. I need to celebrate the good moments because it's so easy to feel like it's such an uphill stuggle and you aren't getting anywhere a lot of the time. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddogdodge Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 (edited) Hello everyone, you might have seen me around the forum a bit... but i really only post in the Australian shepherd section... occasionally the Kelpie section.. :p I just discovered this thread so i thought i'd join in! I've had trouble with my Aussie, Koda since he was 11 months old (he is now almost 3 years old) It started when he slowly become reactive towards visitors at home. I tried so many techniques but nothing really helped that much. Soon after this Koda started to develop aggression towards medium-large dogs, he lashed out at quite a few dogs, and it really scared me out of taking him out places with me... so since then i've just walked him around our farm where i know i wont encounter any off leash dogs. I did try a Thundershirt on him and i noticed a significant difference in his anxiousness, but it still wasn't a permanent fix for the problem. Its always saddened me that my dream dog, who i got to do agility with, is aggressive, so I had a behaviourist come and give me some training advice the other week. Koda is responding incredibly well to the training, its really only been a week since i started the training and he's gone from going completely nuts barking and growling at people and completely ignoring me with treats to roughly 80% of the time he is focused on me, 20% he's barking at the person. I havent had the chance to do training around other dogs yet, i think that will be much more of a battle than the surprising results i've had with visitors! but still, these things take time! :) Its nice to read stories from others who are in the same boat as me, just so i know i'm not alone :laugh: and there's so much helpful info here too! Edited March 25, 2013 by maddogdodge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I can never tell which dogs mine will react to. That's why you use something like LAT that gives you a consistent rule structure. The dogs generalise on their own and start offering it in response to environmental stimuli that bother them. It took about a month before Erik offered his first uncued LAT, and from then on life got much easier. He has surprised me plenty of times suddenly starting a game of LAT out of the blue. It's like a neon sign saying "I noticed something scary over there." for us humans that notice sameness rather than difference. It's always awesome when he's ranging ahead of me off leash and suddenly races back to me and starts LAT without a word or even eye contact from me. The record used to be him running back from 10m ahead, when he once wandered into the dog park to find half a dozen games of fetch in progress, but one morning he topped that. He was out of sight about 20m ahead of me when I realised someone had arrived on the field with a soccer ball. It was quiet and Erik had been busy exploring, so it was perfect conditions for a SEC reaction. I had only got as far as looking around to locate Erik when he bounded back through some trees and started LAT from my side. Awww, what a superstar. And learn to see the stare that means they are thinking about what they should do about something they've noticed. Leslie McDevitt's advice is to make it the dog's job to notice stuff and tell you with a quiet look at the bothersome thing. It was such a crucial piece of advice for me. Once I started looking for that stare and rewarding it things moved very fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankdog Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I need to celebrate the good moments because it's so easy to feel like it's such an uphill stuggle and you aren't getting anywhere a lot of the time. Exactly Teekay! Every moment that they do the right thing you frame. Welcome maddogdodge, Jake managed to get over his people problems quite quickly. he is very good at sitting to greet at the door and he will demand a treat for quietly walking past on the street. Corvus, what is an SEC reaction please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Oops. SEC= Sudden Environmental Contrast. Refers to the way dogs can tend to over-react to sudden changes in their environment. For example, they are walking along a street with nothing much around and they round a corner and a dog is there too close for comfort. Erik had a brilliant one today. He was clicker training like a crazy thing when a lady wandered by with a small poodle. E had been so absorbed and was quite aroused he just didn't notice them coming and when he did he got a bit of a shock and raced off barking at them. Luckily his recall is very good. Normally he'd just have a look and carry on, but he got surprised and it seemed to him like the dog and lady appeared there all of a sudden. Always celebrate a win. :) I celebrate wins for Kivi, too, and he's like the easiest dog in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankdog Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Ok all my reactive dog friends, party's on Jake tonight!! First ever calm, non-barking, non/ lunging run past a dog today. We had a good walk, Saturday morning so quite a few run always that pushed us off course and as we came up over the last hill to home there was a golden retriever sitting on the corner of the cross street. We ran away and then stopped and had a serious discussion. I explained to him that changing direction was going to add 15 minutes to the walk and that would be all up hill and we decided to go for it. We started running came over the hill and he looked for the dog and just calmly came with, he had a couple of looks at it and once we were about 10 m past slowed to walk and checked it out, got a few treats and then walked on. This will probably not happen next time, he was tired, the dog was a placid golden retriever and we had a chance for a preview so he knew what to expect. All the planets were aligned but if it can happen once then it can happen again!!! You are the best dog Jake???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teekay Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Way to go Jake As Corvus said, always celebrate a win. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megan_ Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Well done Jake! Best Easter present ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 (edited) Well done Jake. "Celebrate", party at Jake's tonight LOL Hankdog . Isn't it the best feeling though. Maybe he may like to party on with my Stella who is on her 6th day in a row on being on her best behaviour. I am so proud of her. You can see she is trying so very hard to be good too. The only time she almost had an breakdown was when a Great Dane came charging up at us today but even then she was much improved. I'm celebrating :) Edited March 30, 2013 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankdog Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Well 6 days of good behavior would be huge. Pretty sure charging Great Danes don't count, in fact not reacting would have been unusual. Are you back home yet or still away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Attack Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Good kids Jake and Stella! :D Gold stars to both of you and your mummies xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Well Easter Sunday at lunch time during the rain was good for walking! Not one other person out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 (edited) Have been back home for 10 days now Hankdog.Thanks for asking. It is good to be back & OH is on the mend slowly. He is still hobbling around. Is having his first go at wearing a shoe for a short time today. Has to rebuild his calf & leg now as it has withered away pretty much. Slow & steady. He is going back to work in a month or so hopefully I am so pleased with Stella's progress. I am doing a few things differently. I have tweaked with her meds, which I think I have pretty right atm.Also I have been much firmer with her. And am really using my voice more. I am a very soft spoken person. A dog experienced friend pointed out to me that I maybe should lower my voice (not yell or anything) but lower it when Stella was misbehaving. Boy, the look on her face when I first did this was funny. She looked at me like, I was so unaware that I was just 'asking' Stella, don't do that. Like I would ask a person, politely Now when I correct Stella, in my new much deeper, almost growly voice. She isn't scared of me or anything but she pays a lot more attention to me & doesn't just keep acting up like she would of before. It has really surprised me. The power of the tone of your voice. Hopefully we will continue on our positive roll. I understand Stella will never NOT be a reactive girl. She will always be a work in progress but as long as I can manage her & help her be the best girl she can be in social situations. So she can live a happy, fairly relaxed life I will be more than happy :) Panzer Attack, thank you for the gold stars :) Edited March 31, 2013 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 New book out some thread participants may be interested in:Fired up, Frantic and Freaked Out Kudos to all who have been having successes recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankdog Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 (edited) + 1, thanks Corvus & it's also a great description of the 'old' Stella, ( extremely wishful thinking) :laugh: & will be buying it as soon as I can. Well done Jake Edited April 2, 2013 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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