Feeling positive :D

belongtojazz

Well thought I'd just start a random thread on feeling positive about our pets

Jazz and I are just home from our agilty class and she was FAB! we had a great class, her focus was incredible and we throughly enjoyed ourselves. She's been a bit off form for the past few weeks and it was wonderful to see her happy bubbly personality back

I'm sure loads of other posters have positive stories to share????

Zapperzy

Just had 2 good walks today and yesterday. Little fella was very good on the lead even went for a wee jog and he jogged along nicely beside me with no pulling. And with a lot of bribery (liver cake ) I got him to focus more on me rather than the noisy trailer we passed this evening and the lorry that passed yesterday evening.

And in keeping this positive I won't dwell on the cat we passed at the end of our walk yesterday evening. Needless to say no amount of liver cake was getting his focus off the cat. :rolleyes:

scarlet_mandy

Juno also had a good walking day a lot less of the 3 steps forward, 2 steps back routine! It's progress and my shoulder is not as sore as usual, win! Currently she is passed out on my lap he he

piperh

My boy has learnt to use the crossing, i was on the phone during our walk tonight when i got to the lights he jumped up and pressed the button for me and then sat down and waited for them to change :D

belongtojazz

More positive agility news with Jazz... We had our first competition today and she got a clear round and a 2nd place!! Go Jazzy

tk123

I realized yesterday that mixing a drop of marmite into my baba's water would make him drink!! He hasn't gotten sick since yesterday morning, did a semi-normal poo earlier and had a short walk and play. The vet was going to admit him today to give him fluids if he didn't improve so very relieved!

LucyBliss

My dog Jack is one of those dogs who never saw anything that he didn't feel like barking at, be it noise outside or someone passing by the window. Because I want to be a responsible owner, I correct that behaviour by using treats or toys as a distraction and I try to reinforce our recall by cheering him when he returns. It ain't easy; when you're sitting on the couch all cosy and he decides that the bird he saw on the tree outside is clearly trying to invade our house and must be scared off by him running upstairs to bark out the landing window, well let's just say it's tempting to yell "get back here, you little b**tard or I'll brain ya!" However, that would get us nowhere.

Recently, I've been doing the "find the toy" command, indicating the toy box he has but he hasn't really been interested.
Today, he started to bark, I gave the "find the toy" command and he went right over to the box, knocked it over and found the toy he wanted. Excuse me while I wipe away a tear of happiness. *sniffle*
This may be a fluke, he mightn't do again for six months but if he can do it once, he CAN do it again so I'm going to continue guiding him along the path to better behaviour. Just goes to show, no matter what age they are (Jack is three), we can't ever give up on them because they will get it at some point.

The Sweeper

Rockstar day at agility on Sunday. Discovered the secret to making him focus on me and the course instead of on tearing around like a muppet and bouncing on other dogs! Jangly morningstar ball it is. (We have this heavy rubber ball covered in rubber spikes like a morningstar, and it has a bell inside it.)

He did the tunnel. You have no idea - Gus HATES enclosed spaces. It took two classes of people wrestling him to try and get him to do the tunnel at all. But not only did he do it once, then he was all OMG THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!! and you couldn't keep him out of the feckin thing.

ohmfg

Daisy - our lovely rescue CKC - allowed me to put gel tears (she has dry eye) in her eye this morning without first fleeing back to the safety of her crate.

She stood like a brave little pup and allowed me clean her eye and put the gel in, before commencing jumping and leaping around with the big boys waiting for her morning chew.

Well done Daisy Duke:D.

LucyBliss

I've posted in the past about how one of my dogs, Jack, had a tendency to default to barking whenever he saw something that didn't take his fancy or whenever he got impatient or whenever the wind blew a certain way. And as for getting out of the car, he'd nearly bark the place down in his hurry to be the first one out of the car. He was all right most of the time but the past month, it just escalated and he would be up to ninety and one day I just thought, enough is enough. I will not be that owner with the a**hole dog and as he's three now, there was no way I could justify it as "ah, he's only a pup!"

So I got him a Thundershirt and it has calmed him down a lot. So much so that when I use treats to distract him from the worst of his barking behaviour, he actually pays heed to it now. Before I could have been hopping lumps of steak off his forehead and he wouldn't have cared! Now, instead of barking all the way out the door, he will whine a bit but he sits as I close the door behind us and waits for his treat.
When we meet other dogs, he pays heed to my commands now to behave himself and not to start barking. I can walk him so well now, either with the other dogs or on his own. I insist that I get out of the car first and he has to wait. I make him wait outside the sitting room sometimes when I go in to get something and he does it. I've decided that I no longer give a crap what other people might be thinking and if I need to hunker beside him and tell him "No!" in a loud firm voice in public, then I do it.

The other two are a lot more mellow than he is so I've never had the same issues with them. He seems to be enjoying the challenges I'm giving him too because while we were buddies before, he's decided that we are Super BFF's now. I always had a bond with Meg and she's always following me around and curling up close to me on the couch. Now Jack is regarding me with that same intensity, for want of a better word, and I end up with two of them stuck to me on the couch or they take turns sitting on my lap.

It's really bringing home to me how much some dogs (all dogs?) need strong direction (as opposed to dominance. I don't do that. I'm all about positive reinforcement. There are more dog treats in the house than there are human treats right now!) and how they thrive on it. Other people are now starting to see past the barking quirks which delights me because you couldn't ask for a better companion.
Jack is becoming the dog I always knew he could be and I'm delighted for him.

JustAThought

What's a thunderstick!!!?

I brought mine to a bagpipe festival today ( by accident!) and she was great!!! Was a bit worried with the mad noise and all those men with rabbitskins dangling from their sporrans but she had a ball ( not literally!) & no pouncing!! HappyDays!!!

LucyBliss

Hee, no it's a Thundershirt.

JustAThought

LucyBliss wrote: »

Hee, no it's a Thundershirt.

Haha thanks!!! Thunderstick!!!!

merengueca

No stories of skill or exceptional intelligence - I just have the most huggable dog in the world, and he just loves cuddles!

tatabubbly

My pup Rusty won two 3rds at the pet show yesterday in Inishowen, delighted with her. The only thing was she decided to try and square up to two Huskys, a firm word and telling her to sit down stopped that

LOL Cue the people around me thinking I was crazy telling her off cos she's so cute.. I don't want her to be big and bad!

planetX

I sent Lucky the kitten to a good home today....miss the little guy.
One less mouth to feed:D:D

mosi

Over the last couple of days, I have had some fairly good walks with my dog aggressive boy. I'll say now that I must give thanks to DBB as I have been trying to follow some advice that she posted in response to another poster with dog aggression issues.
I had been attempting to give him treats from a safe distance when other dogs would approach but had never managed to get it right. Yesterday we were walking along the canal where there isn't a whole lot of space to move to when a dog approaches. I moved to the side as far as I could when we saw dogs approaching and managed to keep his attention by turning my hand into a human Kong where he had to work for the treat. Each time he was aware of a dog being close by - he turned his head and spotted them passing - but was more interested in the treat and didn't try to have a go. This was great, as it can be so hard to get his attention!
Today in the park, we met a couple of dogs that he has met before and hasn't been too aggressive towards. He was getting a bit hyped up seeing them running around but calmed down a bit with treats. We decided to edge a bit closer and he was being ok - a bit vocal but showing good body language. Luckily, the owners are lovely doggy people and suggested we let him off as he was showing positive body language. We did, and he had a great run around with these two.
With others that we met after this runaround when he was back on the lead, I tried the Kong hand trick again and it worked. Later on we came across some yappy chis on a bench. I took a wide route around, only to be met by a poodle ahead of us, yet my boy was really good and didn't try to cause any trouble!
There is still a way to go with meeting other dogs, and we did have some lapses. It has been particularly difficult when people let their dogs run over and make no attempt to call them back. It's this type of owner that I think made him aggressive. He used to be great with all dogs but has been humped by out of control dogs which can't have been good for him.
However, I still feel great after these signs of progress. It's so great to meet understanding owners (his other doggy friends are because of such owners). I've met too many people who either discard him as vicious or us as idiot owners who aren't bothered to socialise our dog (although our little girl is perfect with other dogs).
Anyway, we'll hopefully get past all of that. I'll always love him regardless, but it's just so brilliant to have some relatively incident free walks. I may well be posting again about his issues but, for now, here's to many more nice, positive walks