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Exercising Reactive Dogs Thread


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Well done Corvus, no dog should have problem with people cleaning.

Jaje has been improving quite rapidly but I think today we finally crossed a line. We were walking along and he suddenly pulled and wanted to run. I hadn't noticed but a little terrier was off leash and coming down his drive to us. I offered Jake the peanut butter but he just wanted to run. We jogged away and the terrier followed us for about two houses. Jake was looking over his shoulder and finally slowed down and stopped about three houses away from the now stationary terrier. He sat down and started looking at me and nudging my leg. Thankyou I'll take that peanut butter now!!

I'm so excited, he made all the correct decisions all by himself. He was able to take himself away and when he felt safe was able to ask for his reward. Maybe one day we will get to that obedience class.

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Congratulations on your successes Corvus and Teekay :thumbsup:

We are just having little improvements here which are going along with me being much more nuanced with the clicker.

One thing that has changed is that sometimes she is wanting a treat reward rather than an increased distance reward and I'm just going with it. So we are kind of doing more of a combination of Grisha's method and more traditional click to calm sort of stuff.

We are doing protocol for relaxation but I've lapsed in the last few days with the demands of uni returning.

Edit for autocorrect!

That's the problem isn't it, Raineth. Sometimes I wish I could just 'go for a walk' with Luka and not have to treat every outing as a training session. It's having to be constantly on the ball that is exhausting, especially when you have other stuff going on in your life.

We definitely did a combination of BAT And counter conditioning, depending on the circumstances.

Yeah I completely agree! Sometimes you just want to go out there and just have a relaxing walk but it doesn't really work like that.

That's not to say I don't get anything out of it, and I don't enjoy because I still do, but ideally I would want walks with my dog to be my down time; and its not really that. But maybe when it is I'll appreciate it even more.

Well done Corvus, no dog should have problem with people cleaning.

Jaje has been improving quite rapidly but I think today we finally crossed a line. We were walking along and he suddenly pulled and wanted to run. I hadn't noticed but a little terrier was off leash and coming down his drive to us. I offered Jake the peanut butter but he just wanted to run. We jogged away and the terrier followed us for about two houses. Jake was looking over his shoulder and finally slowed down and stopped about three houses away from the now stationary terrier. He sat down and started looking at me and nudging my leg. Thankyou I'll take that peanut butter now!!

I'm so excited, he made all the correct decisions all by himself. He was able to take himself away and when he felt safe was able to ask for his reward. Maybe one day we will get to that obedience class.

Wow Hankdog! That is so awesome I am so happy for you and Jake :cheer::champagne: There needs to be a peanut butter emoticon, but as there's not I went with the champagne one :)

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Hankdog, Jake is doing so well & it is not just a 'one off' he is routinely offering this positive behaviour which is great work :thumbsup: Another Champagne for you & I'll join you :cheers: :laugh:

Stella does that nudge thing with her nose against my leg a lot. Especially if she knows she has done well she will nudge me & sit looking at me, where's my treat?

Or if we are walking along & approaching a intersection where there are 2 ways we have taken previously & she isn't sure which one we will take today she will nudge me & look up like, which way now? Funny girl.

We just came back from 2 hour bush walk & my girl didn't put a foot wrong again :happydance2: I am taking her out on her own for half an hour this arvo just trying to get her more confident about being on her own.

Not really doing very much with her, just having a look about & a few simple exercises in obedience with distractions.Mostly just practising remaining calm & relaxed. This seems to be helping her with her stress levels &

reactivity. I also feel this time together without Sonny is helping me gain confidence handling her as well. I can see she relishes the 'one on one' attention too.

Hopefully she will go as well as she did this morning :crossfingers:

Corvus Good on you with that great progress with both your boys. Great work :thumbsup:

Edited by BC Crazy
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Yay it's great to read of another success! Well done BCcrazy and Stella :thumbsup:

I'm not walking Del today. I took Digby out before and we came across 4 loose dogs. 3 of them belonging to the same people and being 'walked' off leash around the suburb :eek: it's not worth the risk with Del so we're just not going out.

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Raineth, it is pretty annoying for you not to be able to walk your dog with all those loose dogs about. Shame the owner isn't responsible enough to keep them under effective control.

Thanks for your well wishes regarding Miss Stella.

She is blowing me away atm with her behavourial improvement. She makes me all warm & fuzzy with pride as silly as that sounds.

Edited by BC Crazy
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Sad that Del must miss out because of others carelessness. I've now been attacked by the same set of oodle crosses three times, they're getting a note in their mailbox this afternoon and next time I'm reporting them. Little turd nearly big jake on his stitched leg this morning.

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Geez hankdog :( It is hard enough walking a reactive dog let alone dealing with off leash aggressive ones as well. Nothing makes me more frustrated/mad than careless dog owners. They can really make your life a nightmare when you are trying to do whats best for your own dog & you have to also contend with the likes of this.

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Geez hankdog :( It is hard enough walking a reactive dog let alone dealing with off leash aggressive ones as well. Nothing makes me more frustrated/mad than careless dog owners. They can really make your life a nightmare when you are trying to do whats best for your own dog & you have to also contend with the likes of this.

Amen to that. I am so sick of encountering off leash dogs with their owners who have absolutely no control over them at all. Drives me complete nuts :banghead: I wish we were able to hand out on the spot fines for all of them .I would have a field day :laugh:

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My OH said I should call council and offer to revenue raise for them if they deputise me!

haha! This makes me laugh so much Hankdog as over the past few weeks I've seriously been thinking that I would make the most awesome ranger!

After having experienced the damage loose dogs do, and the nightmare they are for people doing the right thing I would love nothing better than to fine the owners of all those loose dogs.

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Yep $550 is the fine for a dog rushing at someone, I get one of those at least every second week. $220 for dog off leash so that would be three a week, so about $4000 a month I could raise for council. I'd deduct a finders fee and maybe the rest could be used to patch the potholes in my street. after that maybe section off the dog park for little and big dogs. So many good ways to spend that money.

Edited by hankdog
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This is probably a good time to ask my (probably stupid) question of the year - I don't post in here a lot (okay, very little) because Duke and I have been in 'therapy' for 5/6 years now,where most of you are still at the start. Sorry if that disheartens anyone - its just that Duke needs to keep going to maintain his ability to cope with other dogs.

Anyhow, two weeks ago, guy down at park (we were waiting for the start of the reactive rover class)has his 20month male Cane Corso off leash - absolutely no voice control - and it decides it needs to dominate Duke. (He's an Irish terrier, another pretty dominant breed, and Duke,while he is now over having to dominate every dog he meets, will not allow another dog to lord it over him.) Duke was fantastic in that while I kept my wits about me, he let me deal with the dog while giving off the body language of 'not interested'. Problem - when I saw the cane corso ramping up in excitement, I panicked. (Trust me, this dog was not interested in backing off at all) Once I started panicking, that's when Duke decided that he needed to deal with the dog.... fortunately that's when clueless the owner managed to grab his dog's collar.

So the question of the year is, how do I stop panicking in these sorts of situations? It sets off my asthma, and not being able to breathe does not help the situation of Duke jumping in with everything he's got if he thinks I'm in trouble.

Do I think I was justified in worrying about this dog? Yup, 20minutes after this, this dog tried to get to Duke while we were both sitting in the car.... I've never had that before!

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Wow, just having a catch up read and there has been loads of progress from so many.. (I only read back a few pages).

Sounds like Jake is enjoying the peanut butter HD.. Zigs food of preference is plain old homebrand devon in the roll (man that stuff is awful but he loves and will do anything for it)..

We are back to training this Sunday (last Sunday was washed out, so postponed)..

This time around I am taking the new foster girl to obedience (she starts beginners) and the Z man moves up to advanced - to say I am terrified is an understatement.. But also very excited to see how we go.

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Wow time has flown with Zig, seems like yesterday he was the intrepid beginner. Whose the new foster, does Zig love having a playmate? I'm sure you'll ace it SL.

Christine I just faked the confidence initially. The one good thing is Jake is quite good once I step in front of him and get the big girl panties on he stays behind me and I've sort of perfected just moving him around behind me and keeping myself directly facing the oncoming dog. I have a rehearsed action plan, I talk to myself out loud "here we go , shoulders up and eye on the dog, I can hold it together". I've actually surprised myself by how I can keep calm inside by just making the outside appear calm. I talk the whole way through but don't shout because I think it adds energy to the scene, I ignore the dogs owner if they start shouting. Also I won't leave the scene until we are both calm and in control and have had a good sit and focused look at each other. We have the street sorted and we leave when I say so which is basically when I get my legs working without falling over but it's been a very good mental habit for both of us.

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Her name is Zipp, she is about 7.5 months old and she was surrendered as a staffy cross but I don't see any staffy in her at all. To me she is very boxerish.. Even her play style and mannerisms remind me of a boxer..

He loves having a buddy here to play with.

That is one of the things I love most about my boy, his total lack of aggressiveness. He just loves all other dogs modifies his play to suit and they are off and running..

Ziggy and Zipp

9239526328_969d5d387f.jpg

Zig and Zipp by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr

One more

9235300565_136505eb83.jpg

Zig and Zipp cuddles by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr

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Zipp and Zig, seems like destiny. She's beautiful and Zig looks very happy cuddled up to her. I admire you for taking in a foster. It'll be interesting training two dogs at the same time, maybe Zig will whisper in her ear and tell her how to be a star.

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Aww, such cute Z-doggies. :flower:

It's so great to hear of everyone's progress. I can't believe how far you have come with Jake in such a short period, hankdog. And everyone else is clearly making headway.

I'm lucky both my dogs are very well socialised. Other dogs running up to us hardly ever causes us any trouble. One time a small dog charged us roaring, crossing about 30m of ground at full speed and direct to get to us. Kivi and Erik were incredible. They turned as one and just stood there, facing down this dog quietly and calmly. The dog pulled up about 2m short of us, growled, sized the boys up, then turned and left. It was only when it left that the boys showed how tense they had been. Kivi shook himself off and looked at me like "Phew! That was intense!" and Erik barked once and shook himself off as well. They are better at reading other dogs than I am, so generally I let them tell me when I should be worried, but I think they didn't know what that dog was going to do any better than I did. And when they tell me they really are scared of an oncoming dog there's not much I can do but brace and get ready to haul the dogs out of the way if it comes to that. Last time it was a brown bully mix of some sort. The owner literally crash tackled it before it reached us, which scared me more than the dog itself did!

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