[Lonewolfblue]

Well, just to update everyone, last Monday was Betty's 3rd class in Dog Socialization. The following quotes come from other sites where I posted about each class, that way I won't have to retype it all.

Originally Posted by Lonewolfblue

She did pretty well for the first day. Because she seems to have had some obedience training in the past, we were able to go directly to having another dog around on the first day. They usually don't do that, but because they felt her training was further along than expected, it's a good thing.

She still tries to go after the other dogs, but it's not aggression they say. They showed me her posture when she did it, and they tell me it's due to fear. Even with another dog at a distance, she still has the fear. So that is what we are working on. She said it's pretty easy to correct the problem, just takes some time. I thought it was going to be expensive at 30.00/hr, what I didn't realize is that the class is only 1 hour long. And she said even if we are there longer, it's still just 1 hour. Next Monday is our next class, and I have a few things to work on with her over the week.

After we work on this problem, and start getting things under control, I'm going to see what is needed in maybe getting her in on some agility training for competition. The gal seemed to think Betty's a good candidate for possible future competition. She said she can start on some training in the near future, but as for the jumping, doesn't recommend it until she's 1.5-2 yrs old. She said she's still too young to jump train, as her joints are not fully developed yet, and if started too early, she will have arthritis problems much sooner than most dogs. But the running and obsticle coarse are ok, as they don't have any jumping, just tube running, running around cones, etc.

The other option we have is when we get her comfortable with other dogs, can start the advanced obedience and competition obedience. Not sure what direction to take, any ideas?

As for the trainer, she's been doing this for well over 30 years, and holds several championships, and also has 2 new dogs she uses for training, and one already holds one Obedience Title. That's the Sheltie. Her border collie is a bit younger, but she hopes to start the competition training in the near future. But both dogs are excellent training dogs. They do very well with other dogs, and are awsome. I had a blast at todays class.

Originally Posted by Lonewolfblue

Class #2 was good. She's learning alot, but still is quite fearful of other dogs. The trainer said it's going to take a little while, but she will get over it. I hope so.Told her if possible, I'd like to get a 2nd dog. Wanted to see what her reaction was. She said there'll be absolutely no problems with getting another dog. I thought I'd get a lecture that I shouldn't, lol. When she asked, I told her I was looking at getting an Australian Shephard if I did get another dog, and have 2 dogs that could possibly be competition dogs. She said it's doable.

Here's a pic....

Well, this last Monday, Class #3, she did very well. We were to the point where both dogs were within about 2 feet of each other, and Betty was fine. But this was only with both dogs not in motion. As soon as the other dog started to walk, Betty went into this fearful moment that was hard to control. But this is a lot better than the previous weeks. And at the end of class, the trainer told me we were beginning to make progress, and that Betty had made a huge step forward compared to the previous weeks. So she's doing pretty well.

Now for her activities outside of school, we go on out normal morning walks, but because it's dark when I get home from work, we no longer go on the long evening walks. But this will change when we have to change our clocks again on Sunday morning. We should have sunlight when I get home, and should be able to go out for at least an hour or so.

When on the morning walks, we walk by this house that has 4 white poodles in their yard inside the fence. Betty is extremely fearful of going past that house, even more so than the house we pass that usually has a male shepherd. But when we go by the shepherd, she's already worked up from the previous spot. But now, since starting the school, instead of being fearful when going onto that block, she now tenses up at a further distance, and as of this morning, as soon as we hit the sidewalk in front of my house, she's already in fear of going past that house. And we live 2.5 blocks away. It just seems like as we progress in her class, she get's worse outside the class. She's also gone to the point where when a friend came up to shake my hand, she got his arm. This was just out of the blue, she's never done anything like it before, and she knew the person, as they play all the time. So, I'm not really sure where things are going. But I'm taking it all up with the trainer to get advice on what I should work on for the next week.

So, any comments or advice would be helpful. Or even questions, if there's something you would like me to further explain. She still seems to do great with kids, but is becoming more protective, to the point where my friend can't go near his kids when I'm there with Betty. I have to be there, as I'm the only one she even allows near the kids, then I take her away on the leash. And the kids that walk by going to school, she loves the visit each morning.

[fredalina]

Good for you! It definitely sounds like you're making progress. And your puppy is so pretty!

Unfortunately the clock change will make it darker earlier in the evening instead of later. You'll have more light in the mornings for a little while, though.

[Lonewolfblue]

Originally Posted by fredalina

Good for you! It definitely sounds like you're making progress. And your puppy is so pretty!

Unfortunately the clock change will make it darker earlier in the evening instead of later. You'll have more light in the mornings for a little while, though.

Ouch, lol. Thought I was going to get more light, LOL

[terryjeanne]

Regarding the houses she hates to pass; do you walk on the sidewalk beside the house or on the sidewalk across the street?

One house near us has a small yappy dog that my sheltie hates. She focuses on that house when we are about 4 houses away. I find she's a bit better if I cross the street and we aren't so close. She's on my left so I'm between her and the house. I'll call her name, make her sit, heel, treat her if she's looking at me, all the while I'm walking past the horrible house.

Keep up the good work. It will take some time, and you are seeing some progess.

[Lonewolfblue]

As for the house with the 4 white poodles, we are on the same side of the street, but their fence is set about 30 yards back off the sidewalk. So there is a distance between us and them. And it doesn't matter what side of the street I'm on, she does the same thing.

As for the shepherd, we are also on the same side of the sidewalk, but that fence is right at the sidewalk, and the shepherd does the same as her, wants to get into it, but she handles it better, not as bad as with the poodles. Sometimes we can get by the shepherd with almost no problems, but she constantly keeps her eyes on him as we pass. There's so many dogs around here that no matter where we go, it's going to be one dog or another. And she does it whether the dog is out or not.

Also, I usually do the same as you with the treats, but on some mornings, if I don't have much time to do a little training, sometimes we'll jog by, when I'm jogging, she tends to look at me more, adjusting her speed with me. But for me with a healing sprained ankle, it hurts, lol.

One last thing, for what the trainer has told me, she said that it's all fear, and with Betty, it's set in really deep. So it's going to take some time. Wish there was an easier way to correct this problem, as I would eventually like to get another dog. Next spring I will be putting up the 6ft fence in the back yard, along with an outdoor kennel with dog houses. Planning on a 2 stall kennel, if I do decide on 2 dogs. Currently she doesn't go in the back yard because it's only a 3ft fence along an open lot. She mainly is either inside or in the front yard, which is surrounded by a 4ft fence.

[terryjeanne]

One thing I found I was doing wrong,,, I would tense up and tighten my grip on the leash when we were coming upon another dog (or something that would upset her). I was hardly aware of doing this.

Well, of course the dog feels it and she gets upset and worried.

Now I have to remember to loosen my grip,(or even change hands), smile and I talk to her in a super happy voice. We were walking by a baseball game (all the kids and running could set her off), So I told her """oohhh, look at the kids having fun playing." in a happy voice with a smile.

She looked at me like I was stupid, but she looked at me She's getting better at walking by other dogs-we just stay on the other side of the street.

[Lonewolfblue]

I actually don't tense up like that. Since watching Cesar's videos, that's one thing that I've got from the videos, and I never tense up. Hopefully she will get better soon. This is getting old with her being tensed up over 2 blocks away.

[Lonewolfblue]

Class #4:
Today was Betty's next class. She's progressing pretty well. In fact, the trainer was able to bring her dog on the same side of the fence as Betty, and we walked both dogs within 3 feet of each other. She got to where she was pretty comfortable with it. Then we changed it a bit where instead of going the same direction, we would go in opposite directions. She did get pretty stressed as her dog approached. Wasn't too bad when we were in the middle, but the other direction when the dogs were in the middle, that's where she was the most stressed, and was hard to control. But overall, she was much better than previous weeks, and the trainer had a lot of good things to say about it.

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, Betty does have her ups and downs, but I think we've made the turning point. She's beginning to feel more confident in herself on our walks. This is helping with her fear aggression problem. Hopefully instead of increasing, it will now start to decrease, and hopefully decrease to zero, as I would love to have her in competitions.

Todays walk started on a more anxious note, she really wanted to get out there, lol. And she was hard to control, as she was pulling. But I started on the Stop and Go drills, where whenever she started to move ahead, I would Stop. She didn't like that, lol. She wanted to Go, lol. But after a short while, she still would pull some, but was more managable.

Then we got down to the trail, and there were a lot of dogs there, lol. More than I expected, lol. But that was a good thing, as I was able to try and work with her fear aggression problem. Then we got to the area that has a lot of trees. I began working on her handling, circling trees, etc. I kept moving and turning, forcing her to keep her eyes on me, and if she didn't, she would get a pinch from her prong collar. We worked on that at a walk for about 20 minutes, then upped it to a faster walk for another 30 minutes, then a jog for 15-20 minutes when I was ready to fall over myself, lol. She did very well, and is now beginning to watch me more, rather than her wanting to lead.

Then the walk home was awsome. She heeled perfectly for 30 minutes. She walked about 1 step behind me, and when I stopped, she sat at my heel. She's never done this before. She did try to pull in front of me a couple times along the way, but I gave a small snap of the leash to get her attention. It wasn't enough for the prong collar to pinch her, just enough that the sound of the chain links tightening slowed her back down. But overall, it was near perfect.

Well, tomorrow is Betty's next class. Will give you an update on how that goes. Hopefully it's even better than last week, even though last week she did Awsome. Will keep you posted.....

[natureloverchris]

I am really impressed. It sounds like you are doing a lot of work and she is making progress. One thing I learned I did wrong with my last dog, Coal, was I would reassure him when he was fearful. It actually reinforced that there is something to be afraid of.

On the houses with the dogs, I would try to do as much training and distraction as you can so you can keep her focused on that instead of her fear. (I hope that made sense).

[Lonewolfblue]

Yup, makes sense.....

[Renoman]

Good news. Sounds like things are progressing well.

[Lonewolfblue]

Yup, she's doing pretty good. I think we wore each other out today, as after we got back and came in the house, she plopped down and slept for at least an hour, maybe a little longer. The whole walk was over 3 hours, lol. 3 hours of not only walking, but forcing her as much as possible to stay alert, as I would change directions often, lol. A 3 hour concentration drill, lol.

[Lonewolfblue]

Class #5
Well, Betty's class went pretty good today. The trainer wanted to give her dog a break today, so we worked more on commands, and left her dog inside today. She did very well.

I also got some information from her on AKC Rally as well. We are going to begin some of her training now, as we work on her socialization. On days of bad weather, we will work in her garage on the Rally training, and on good days, dog socialization outside. She's pretty confident we can beat this fear aggression, and she feels Betty will be Outstanding at Rally, and even Obedience. Then, once this is done, she feels we could even go on to Agility, and maybe Utility. Will see what the future holds.

[ghosthunterbecki]

You must be really proud of her! Beating fear aggression is *really* hard work, especially when you don't know a dog's history and what they've been through. It sounds like you're both doing really great work!

[Lonewolfblue]

Yup, things are progressing pretty good. Just wish the fear part would go faster like the command training is, lol.

[ghosthunterbecki]

Dealing with fear is like "reprogramming" the animal from the inside out. I know how tough it is. We never really completed the task with the dog I had that had a strong fear response (she hated men with white hair and the color blue -- and I didn't think they could see color, but that's beside the point). I don't know how she's doing now, because my ex and I broke up a year after we started her behavior training.

I'm sure Betty will come around though... She's got a dedicated owner to take care of her and look after making sure that she gets what she needs. That's what's *really* important for her right now!

[Lonewolfblue]

As for Betty, another thing I noticed is she goes after White, lol. I took her to work, and the only persons feet that she went after, and would go after them viciously, is a guy that has a lot of white on his tennis shoes. And he's the one that plays around with her the most as well, but when he moves, she goes after those shoes again, lol.

As for the miniature poodles 2 blocks away, they are also white. And they are the ones she's most fearful of, compared to any other dog we walk by. That's interesting when you mentioned about color. Would like to see if it's white that really triggers her, wouldn't mind seeing how she'd react to a white German Shepherd, like the one in Cesars dog center. Maybe it's not size, but white. I always thought that she was more afraid of smaller dogs, as the rest of the dogs we go by are bigger, but maybe it's the white.

[ghosthunterbecki]

In watching the dog, we determined that she'd been owned by a white-haired man who wore a lot of blue. She also didn't like walking sticks, and we began to believe that she'd been beaten with one. She would literally bite the hand that fed her if the hand later carried a walking stick.

I believe that they remember specifics about the things that happened to them, at least to a certain extent. Dog memory is something that we often don't think about, or take the time to really analyze, but if you really consider what might have happened to her before she came to you, things might begin to fall into place.

I'm sure she'll be fine in the long run. It's just a matter of training her mind to react differently to the things that she fears.

[Lonewolfblue]

Class #6 (Last Monday):

Well, Betty's officially started her Rally-O training. It's going to be a lot of work, but a lot of fun as well. We got 3 things to work on this week, but with Thanksgiving, it won't be a lot of training, lol. But that's ok, that's what Holidays do, right? lol.

Here's the first items we are working on....
Heel Back - This is where the dog is sitting in front of you, and when you give the command, you step back with your left leg, bringing your dog around your left side, then stepping back forward with your left leg, with your dog at your left side, then Sit.

Get Around - This is where the dog is in front of you again, but this time you step back with your right foot, bringing the dog around your right leg, passing the leash from your right hand to the left behind your back, then stepping back forward with the right leg, bringing the dog up to your left side, and Sit.

Right Turn - This is where your dog is sitting at your left side, and you turn your body 90 degrees to the right, and your dog get's up, get's back to your left side, then Sit.

Heel and Sit - This is where your dog walks at your left side, and when you stop, the dog stops and Sit's. When you step forward, the dog walks with you and as soon as you stop again, the dog Sit's at your side again.

Lot's of fun, lol. Her hardest thing is Heel and Sit, lol. She keeps wanting to walk forward when I stop. Will need to break her of this, LOL.