Boy, did I ever not want to get up early and drive Dottie to the other side of town. My band had a show last night and I was up late. We went anyhow (nothing like a super-expensive class to motivate you). Dottie did really well, I was really proud of her. Yesterday we were all of a sudden right next to a dog behind a fence that was going crazy and Dottie didn't make a peep, just looked up at me for treats as we walked away. I can't say the same for Gustav, but he did pretty good. These facts make me think that Dottie is all done with dog classes and that they'll be more useful for Gustav at this point. I'd like Gustav to be in another reactive rover class, and I'm also planning on scheduling a one-on-one appointment as a sort of behavioral check-up, to take stock and fine tune the training plan. I should probably think about stepping up planned training activities, like having my dad come over or other people, rather than just the band once a week. And start running door training now that it's not super freezing outside.
What I'd really like to do is form a training club, where people with like-minded training goals can get together and run controlled trials with our dogs. I'd also love to find Gustav a dog buddy who will play with him and not get into fights. Like maybe a high-energy submissive male dog who likes to wrestle, or a high-energy dominant female dog who likes to wrestle. Anyone know anyone? Hmmm.
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Hey, Cynthia! I would be up to join a training group - Olive could use some help not going ballistic every time someone enters our house - not agressive but excited. Although I can't say we've tried to hard at this point, but it would be nice to control that energy for walks and going to pet stores and things.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is lots of fun to read, interesting how dog training and people training are so intertwined!
Awesome! How is she on walks, can she see other dogs without barking/etc? We could definitely run some "visitor at the house" practices. My dogs could use some practice for this one, for sure. It would be great to meet outside a dog park and walk past one another at a predetermined distance over and over again.
ReplyDeleteThanks, writing this blog really helps me deal with the bad days. I never wanted to have a project dog, but that's what I ended up with . . . I would say training for me has been half training my dogs and half training myself, that's for sure.
So, Sonny applied to law school at UW Madison. If he gets in, we're moving up there and I'm 100% in. Finley would be great with Gustav and is very submissive with dominant dogs, loves to wrestle and play. And yes,, I'd VERY much like to be in your training club....if only I didn't live so far away :( Good luck and maybe we'll be joining you this summer!
ReplyDeleteHow exciting! Shane would be absolutely thrilled, as would I. I hope it works out, good luck to Sonny. Sounds like Gustav and Finley might make a good match. That would make me happy, Gustav loves to play but is unreliable with a wide range of dogs. And Dottie is so over it.
ReplyDeleteShe is ok on walks....seems to depend on the dog or person, but that would be a good thing to work on with her as well. She is REALLY food motivated so walking by at a distance with some good food on hand shouldn't be a problem. Definitely should meet up at a dogpark sometime. The next few weeks are kinda crazy for my schedule, but drop me an email or something on facebook and we can figure something out!
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