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For all of those who attended the Toronto seminar. I was just wondering how everything is going?? We have passed the one week mark with one more to go WITHOUT talking to our dogs. I have been reading ALOT of success stories and that is great. But I was wondering if any of you are still catching yourselves talking or doing other things that were are not to be doing?

I had a bad habit of walking AROUND our dogs and still have on the odd occasion caught myself doing it. It sounds easy to walk threw them but I find if they are laying down I still will walk around and find that I have to correct myself for doing so. Heck I'm starting to walk threw the cats too. Talking I have to admit it was tough at first. I really didn't realize how many one sided conversations I actually had with these guys LOL.

So I was just wondering how everyone was doing

well, baby steps would describe my progress.

we're supposed to walk through the dog if they're lying down as well? maybe THAT'S part of my problem, i've been walking around her if she's lying and sleeping nice and peacefully in the middle of the hallway. huh, i'm not sure i could do that without feeling like a bully, that's definitely one i'll have to get over.

talking, i've decreased that quite a bit.

walks have increased although outside the house i still have a LOT of work to do, i'm hoping that improves when the sidewalks and paths are not all covered in snow so i can actually pivot faster than my dog (right now she's flown past me before i am able to think about turning around)

and i've posted some flyers in my neighbourhood to try and find her some 4-legged friends so she can socialize a bit more. i'm hoping interest in those also picks up once the weather turns nicer although she does have her first "date" tomorrow night

march 1st i think a bunch of us are getting together in brampton to go for a training walk and then let the dogs run free at the park there.

i think this is a great post and would also love to hear how people are coming along

Hi there,

Jake was the Shepherd/Husky mix that Brad worked with.

We are doing pretty well with the no talking/touching...it is very hard, but we have only slipped up a few times. We have been teaching Jake with hand signals, and he seems to be picking up on most of them pretty quickly (sit, stay, pointing to go get his food, or go in his crate)...except I am having some trouble with the come command. Generally Jake is calmer and quieter than he was.

When on umbillical inside the house he follows me around fine, the first few times he would whine at me, but that has stopped. I have noticed however that as soon as I take the umbillical off, he won't continue to follow me as I have heard some people report. I too have caught myself slightly walking around him, I don't mean to, I just think it is such a habit, I can't help but try to avoid a big lump in the middle of the floor, I have to work more on this.

We have been doing a lot of outdoor umbillical with jake and his walking/pulling is improving. He needs a bit of a warm up, but once we have done a few exercises/obstacles he gets into the swing of it. It is very hard with all this snow around though, theres no grip anywhere!!

His main issue is dog aggression, that still needs work. Problem is we need to socialize him and no one wants to give him a chance. We asked a few people in our neighbourhood if we can come up and meet their dog, but most are not comfortable with it at all

The other night when we started out on our walk we came across the neighbourhood Bouvier (sp?) a dog Jake hates!! He started getting all wound up so I pulled on his leash to interupt him. I then yelled at him to "leave it alone" I also gave him a snap across the nose...all the while he kept going nuts at this dog. She stopped about 20 feet away from us and didn't know what to do (I think we were in her path home) her dog started going nuts also, so she just left and took another route. I was quite dissapointed in my ability to take control of the situation. At the Seminar Brad had Jake's attention right away. I felt like I was asserting myself, but even though I snapped him once under the chin, and then on top of the nose, he paid no attention to me. I don't want to do it too much hard as I don't want to hurt him or have people think I am beating my dog.

Anyway, thats my progress report...We will persevere, Brad showed me it is possible to chance Jakes behaviour, we just have to keep working at it. Would love to hear how others have been doing!

just an FYI: for all GTA area ppl. There is a WONDERFUL dog park in Mississauga. It's fully fenced in: big dog and small dog areas are separated.

It's called Totoredaca Park (Toto for short). Google it for info...
It's basically right off of Mississauga Road at the 401.

Also, I'm in Ajax, and Greenwood Conservation Area is the BEST off leash park!! So if anyone is interested in the drive east, just message me or start a thread. There's a huge dog area, and you can go walking through the trails off leash to a creek area where in the summer the dogs go to cool off!

Melissa

Aside from having a bit of a meltdown the other day, I think things are going fairly well. I'm still having a bit of trouble with the no talking, but I'm working on it. The biggest issue I'm having is Shiloh won't come back when she's called. She's "escaped" twice in the last couple of days, and I had to chase her through the neighbourhood. I'm sure the neighbours think I'm nuts.

I guess we're still a work in progress. When I get frustrated, I try to remember how far we have come in the last year. At first, I couldn't walk her, she was nipping everyone, jumping all over people, messing in the house...I was ready to take her back to the shelter. But I knew/know she has great potential--I just have to perservere. We'll get there!

Bayley was barking in the backyard a little while ago and I just yelled "NO NOISE"!!! then it was quiet and she came running in to the house.

I'm glad to get some feed back.

We have also celebrated some small successes here as well. It may sound crazy but I was so excited when the dogs were allowing me out or in the door first or even allowing me up and down the stairs. How sad is that? I now have had Bailey out in the front yard first just dragging her leash and then the other day while I was out shovelling (yet AGAIN) I must have left our back gate open and she came out. I normally would have put back in the back yard. But I thought lets give this a try. Keep in mind we live on a side street. She stayed with me and within our front yard boundries. YAY I seen someone coming and again had her go into a sit/stay She would usually bark but she just sat there and watched the person go by. My next mission is to get her to do this if another dog walks by. She did a sit/stay on our first attempt while a cat went by. Mya is usally pretty good at staying in the yard. Where as Bailey she was gone.

Talking.... I'm learning to bite my tongue. I find that I'll clap my hands if she is out of sight then open my arms and she will come to me. Well the walking thing we still need improvment there. K8brit my husband and I talked to you and your husband at the begining of the seminar. I think my husband mentioned that our sheperd acts out the same way. While walking the two if Mya starts it will usually get Bailey going too. So then I have double the trouble. So keep up the good work!

Play dates. I would really like to get something set up but alot of you live either the TO area or the London area. So I need to find someone willing to set something up in my area. I think having two large dogs to that some just want to stay away

Once again thanks for the feedback guys. And keep up the great job you are all doing. Remeber this isn't going to happen over night (that's what my husband keeps telling me anyways LOL)

melg1969 wrote:

QUOTE:
The biggest issue I'm having is Shiloh won't come back when she's called. She's "escaped" twice in the last couple of days, and I had to chase her through the neighbourhood. :)

escaped from being leashed on a walk? or escaped from the yard?

Either way, you can build Shiloh's recall using hand targeting or toys.

Hand targeting. Start at home by holding your palm out (you can be sitting on the couch, in a chair..)...when Shiloh reaches to nose touch..mark behaviour (YES!) Then work up to being a bit further away...hold out hand (practice both sides)...when Shiloh nose touches..YES!

work it up to having him/her in a sit where you are on the other side of the living room/backyard. Hold that hand out...see if Shiloh moves to nose touch...

start to incorporate movement..as you walk away from him/her pop out that hand for a nose touch. Once Shiloh has caught on, name the cue "touch" or "target" or whatever is easy for you to remember.

That way, if Shiloh gets away, you call "Shiloh...Touch!" pop out that hand to get him/her to run back to you. (sometimes helps moving in opposite direction...if you chase the dog..they think you are playing..so they don't run to you..but away...you in turn get more frustrated...they in turn usually don't come back to frantic/angry voice commands)
----
You can use a fav toy as a motivator as well. For agility, Simba has a little tug toy he gets when learning a new apparatus...if he goes though the tunnel...TUG! over a jump...TUG! We practice fetch with it too. Same idea. ...practice at home.. Shiloh, come or SHiloh, here, when she does..PRAISE baby, then a little game of tug!

GOOD LUCK!!!

Melissa

ManchesterMomma wrote:

QUOTE:
just an FYI: for all GTA area ppl. There is a WONDERFUL dog park in Mississauga. It's fully fenced in: big dog and small dog areas are separated.

It's called Totoredaca Park (Toto for short). Google it for info...
It's basically right off of Mississauga Road at the 401.

Also, I'm in Ajax, and Greenwood Conservation Area is the BEST off leash park!! So if anyone is interested in the drive east, just message me or start a thread. There's a huge dog area, and you can go walking through the trails off leash to a creek area where in the summer the dogs go to cool off!

Melissa

This is my favourite park. I can take Sushi there and because he is a small dog, we use the small dog area. He doesn't get along with most of the bigger dogs, unless he's known them since a pup. He has his usual gang of pals come in for a little bit too, which is nice.

Bonnie & Sushi

QUOTE:

Patty wrote:

Play dates. I would really like to get something set up but alot of you live either the TO area or the London area. So I need to find someone willing to set something up in my area. I think having two large dogs to that some just want to stay away


Patty, I would be all over the play dates in a second, 2 big dogs actually sounds more enticing to me because my yellow lab has enough energy for 4 big dogs

like you there isn't really anyone in my area (orangeville) so i'm going into brampton to hook up with a bunch of people to do a training walk. there's no dog park in my town so i've gone as far as posting flyers to try and find friends for sadie (sad but true).

and your husband sounds like mine except his favourite saying is "remember, rome wasn't built in a year"

keep up the good work everyone - spring/summer should be here sometime soon which will hopefully make things easier for everyone