hankdog

If I remember the second dog was a foster that you ended up keeping because of his behaviour difficulties. I know it's emotional but you have tried and with a baby as well I think you may need to make this decision. I can't imagine having the time and energy that a baby takes and also having the patience to deal with training a reactive dog. I've looked the decision to PTS squarely in the face a few times, it's not the worst thing in the world. I think for our dogs its an option that we need to consider In the same way as any if our training tools. I've told myself once I've had enough then I have that option and for you this may be enough. Be kind to yourself.

Poor Jake, I sold him to Santa and he's has been slaving away making all the presents!

He's beautiful, can't think it'll take much to find him a home.

It's interesting to me that she might have the one-trial superstitious learning style that Jake has. Might be quite common in reactive type dogs.As you say she has no reason to be fearful she just is. Since you can't get the man to back off maybe he could be useful if you separated him from his context. Get him to meet you somewhere completely different. Either at your home although you always worry about the home becoming"tainted" or somewhere she's familiar with and has a good time at but not in anyway associated with your visits to your parents. Spray the man with different cologne and see if you can dress him differently. Maybe if she doesn't have all the other cues as to who is and linking him to whatever happened then she'll re-educate herself. Just a thought based on the fact I don't recognize people out of context, every likelihood she's smarter than me though????.

Haha teekay, I have particularly nice cheese in my great bag at the moment. Never any left when I get home either! Thanks BC he has the beginning of arthritis I'm afraid, I really enjoy our long walks but looks like we might need to split it into two short walks. ????

Sorry folks, today's title of best dog in the world goes to Jake. Worked right next to a Bernese and Dane both with me and with the trainer. He was very responsive to the trainer and was even leaning into her for reassurance. He was ok with me patting the dogs and ok when I threw treats for them to get some fun happening. Plus he's starting to make calming signals, more like "Im crazy so please don't eat " me signals all roly eyes and downcast body but.......Woohoo????????

Happy Birthday beautiful Miah! Such a pretty party your mummy should be an event planner.

You choose to own an animal then it's your responsibility to contain it for its own safety and the safety of Australian wildlife. I was once jogging with Hank and a cat lept off a wall onto his head. It was just lucky he didn't snap. He would have been in trouble and who would have believed the cat attacked him. Could be the case here.

Send a pic????bouncy pugs sound such fun!

Oh double wow!!!Im green with envy. You must have been walking on a cloud, well done. ????????

Yea I think I can feel a pug in my future. I never thought I'd go small dog but I also don't think I could meet the exercise needs of a large dog again.

Yep, I work from home so the dog park was my social for the day. I have met a few people through just saying hi over fences though. How the puppies SammieS?

Well if you kind of squint and look at the right angle pugs are like little Rotties with reverse coloring. Those babies are adorable, love the little frog legs.

That's teasing Zeebie, need more photos,he is gorgeous!!!

Mmmm training the dig to find keys or wallet. Now that is finally something useful! Do you know rough price?

I can volunteer Jake if you're desperate. He's in the 52 weeks for dogs thread. He pretty much meets none of your criteria and is DA to boot but if you're desperate he'd do.

When life gives you a beanbag, make like a bean1

Ouchie, I hurt thinking about it!

That's adorable. somebody give that maggie his own peg.

My. rescue bulldog has been on it for about a year. He was separated in the pound from his mate and has separation anxiety and is highly dog reactive. He started on 30mg but I found he was too sleepy on that. He manages well on 20mg. I work from home and probably leave him only once or twice a week for a few hours with someone else at home. He's gone from being inconsolable, pacing, howling and scratching to being mildly concerned, he will sit on his beanbag looking out the window for most of the time but will also now seek out someone else for a bit of company. This last week I had to leave him alone twice for a few hours because of a family emergency and he has been slightly more clingy but not unmanageable (doesn't have to come into the bathroom with me and will chew his bone at some distance whilst I'm in the garden). When I've tried to drop the dose to 17mg the first time the Sep Anx came back badly and the last time the reactivity increased. He does get more playful and lively on a lower dose but not worth the downside. I get his bloods checked every 6 months and no issues so far. He will probably be on it forever although I will lower the dose periodically to check if its still necessary. Although initially the Prozac was too target his reactivity it's probably had more of an effect on his sep Anx, the only negative is that he is more dopey but having discussed it with the vet she believes it's the best for him.

Love the helicopter ears!

Your Pom sounds very like my bulldog, just better looking. The distraction that worked for him is a jar of peanut butter, you just have a centimeter smeared around the inside, just before he sees something you basically shove it right in front of his face. Initially I came home with some mangled jars, he once popped the bottom out of a jar he bit down so hard. He then took to licking it like an addict almost as if it was his security. Treats were too hard with him, he would just bark them out but the peanut butter works on so many levels, not least of which is it glues their tongue up. You're right in staying away from a "type" of trainer, I've done the rounds and its quite sad to have your dog condemned repeatedly. At the moment I'm following the logic of obedience training that we are gradually doing closer to dogs and testing dogs as another distraction. If she's good at learning tricks then she can hopefully learn to ignore distractions just as she learns all her tricks. Good luck, I'm sure Nekh will give you some excellent tips. Feel free to join the reactive dogs thread. On bad days its nice to have people who've been there abc understand.

That's one heck of a recall!

Could you do some easier excercises to help he build up strength. Roll over is fun and uses abs. Maybe those egg ball things as well.

Who knows what goes on in Jakes mind. At training we were walking past the dog paddock and realized he was getting stuck at a certain point so decided to train there. Doing ok when he decided to run out and the leash started slipping through my fingers...ouch! Anyway stopped it at about 4m away from me about 8m from the fence. He butt plonked and started barking, slow regular barks. I waited 30 seconds and then quietly said his name. He turned and looked, thought about it and went back to barking. Zoe said "Jake , uh-huh" with huge relief he turned and ran to her and sat at heel. No leash pressure just somehow needed that firmness and seemed thankful for it. I gave her the leash and walked over to the fence and treated the dogs and that didn't seem to bother him at all. Anyway Zoe worked him heeling, sits, downs in a 5 m distance from the dog fence and finally walked him over to me and we stood about a meter from the fence with two big confident dogs having a lively play on the other side. Very interesting because he didn't look at them but was completely terrified, turned his back and ears out to the side but he was completely obedient. Think I'm going to have to tape Zoe's voice because all she does is say "huh-uh" but obviously she has the right tone.