huski

Thanks everyone. Daisy says 'wooo woooo wooo' back I know ;) hard to believe isn't it??

And finally, pretty beagle: Happy birthday my lovely little Daisy dog

As Underdog: MMmm, toilet roll: Ugly mouth beagle: Rapper-beagle: Thoughtful beagle: Upside down beagle: Crazy beagle: Cat and beagle:

I think she was around 4 months old in this pic: Cuddles: With Cherry in their matching jumpers

Today is Daisy's third birthday Those of you who have been around for a while will remember when we bought Daisy home and what a naughty and challenging pup she was. I am so proud of the dog she has turned into and I look forward to competing with her in obedience in the (hopefully) not to distance future. I have learned so much from owning her and after struggling to bond with her I think we now have a pretty strong doggy/owner relationship. Now for the obligatory 'before and after' pics At five weeks of age: On the day we bought her home: When she was still far smaller than Micha

I don't take food from my dogs as a way of teaching them not to resource guard, but that doesn't mean I can't take food away if I need to. I'd probably practice something similar to this along with TOT if I had a dog who was a resource guarder. Have you posted in the TOT thread in the training forum, Miss B? I'd guess that for some dogs, TOT on it's own will not always stop a dog from resource guarding but it can be part of the solution. I'm sure K9 would help you figure something out if you post in the thread.

I've fed raw pig trotters and my dogs love them. The growling is a training issue and something that needs to be addressed now before it escalates. I don't subscribe to the method of taking the dog's bone away constantly once you've given it to him, that's teasing him and can make resource guarders worse. All that is teaching the dog is that whenever a person comes near him, the chances are that they are going to take away his food and tease him with it. There are lots of things you can do to improve resource guarding, TOT is a good place to start: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=64101

Even if raw diets did give them more energy, why is that a bad thing? Daisy always has the best training sessions when she is full of beans

Reposting :p

So very sorry to hear this Run free Bindi

Have you tried walking her away from the distraction, to break the fixation and trying to get her focus on you then? 'Fighting' with her for her focus when she's so fixated is setting you both up to lose, not to win.

With Daisy being a scent hound I totally know what you mean by the zoning out thing, it's the way their brain switches gears and all they can think about is what they are focusing on. It is really a gradual thing, I introduce distractions slowly and only when the dog is working well in the current environment. What do you do when she zones in on distractions? Clicker training can be useful (I use vocal markers myself) but you still need to build her focus gradually, as well as her desire for the reward (there's not point using the clicker if she has no desire for the treat!). Do you practice anything like the Triangle of Temptation or NILIF (nothing in life is free) with her at home?

That's great - it means she has the potential there to work with. What does she get most excited about at home? Food, toys, chasing toys or playing tug? I know exactly what you mean Don't worry - it's normal!

What is she like with no distractions (i.e. at home)?

It's pretty normal to find it hard to get her interested when distractions are around - what is she like when you are in a low distraction environment at home? What is she like if you give her something really really high value like steak?

No worries - when you do, she will definitely be able to help you find what motivates your pup the most and how to develop. What kind of treats do you use? She could have a decent food drive but you probably just need to develop it - training her around distractions can lower her drive. I would look for what switches her 'on' in low distraction environments. ETA: TBH at this age, considering how easily distracted she is, I would keep training sessions even shorter than 10 minutes. I often keep Daisy's training sessions to five minutes and under. I always leave her wanting more, as it will build her frustration and desire for the reward.

Does she show interest in food or toys at all? Daisy has a high food drive but she has a higher scent drive. Despite her obsession with food I could shove food under nose when she was scenting and she wouldn't notice it. To over come this we've done a lot of work on developing her food drive, it is a gradual process but she is going really well training with distractions lately. We had her at the local farmers markets on the weekend and it was packed full of people, kids, other dogs - loads of distractions - and she was focusing on me and working really well. It's definitely possible, you just need to know how to do it. Are you still going to go and see Jane? This is the sort of thing she can help you with.

For these two, I would use TOT http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=64101

Prey drive isn't aggression. Playing tug with them and 'chasing them around and being more active' won't make a world of difference to your leadership if you are still doing the right things and your dog knows that the prey item (tug) is something you control.

Micha won't tug with me, despite having a high prey drive. I've tried, and tried and tried and tried, but he just won't take anything from me. I have had two very very brief (a few seconds) of tug with him but it doesn't last and he goes back to waiting for me to throw whatever I have so he can chase it. Luckily he's also very food driven, but I've also found that I can use his favourite toy (the cuz ball) and bounce it for him which gets him excited and increases his drive. He does great heel work when we play games like that.

What do you do when you try to give him the tug? Do you just hold it out for him, or do you wave it around and encourage him to chase/grab it?

GayleK, I would be so proud of my dogs if they got an ET title, it's definitely worth bragging about!! When I finally trial with Daisy and hopefully get her first obedience title I will be telling just about anyone who will listen it will be a culmination of several years of work and time and effort.

At least when she's jumping up at you for treats you know you've got her attention and she's interested :D

What do you class as a dangerous situation, though? How do you know your dog would follow through with its "protectiveness"?

Don't feel embarrassed Kitty. It's very common problem and one many dog owners just put up with and many end up with dogs who never get walked - you should be proud that you want to nip it in the bud now! Have PM'd you. Sometimes it really is just a case of being shown how to do it in a way that works, and having someone experienced watch you handling her so they can show you where you are going wrong.