hoku's mum

Hoku is exactly the same as Sammie, plush toys last about 2 nanoseconds and it's a flurry of stuffing But he has never destroyed a pillow, cushion, or anything else 'soft', and he has the run of the house while we are gone (and has since about 9 months of age). We get him the big knotted rope toys so he can tear something apart, and they last about 1-2 weeks... he LOVES them

Yep, exactly! I do not know how to let him go up to greet a new dog on leash, and not be tense myself, since he has a history of being a snarly grouch on leash. I really think my tension just runs down the leash to him and he picks up my un-ease, which just ramps up his fear. I've read to always keep the leash loose, but that is so hard when I just don't know what he is going to do. When he is off leash, the problem is (almost) gone. We are going to meet with our agility trainer this weekend (who knows him really well) and work with her bomb-proof dog on leash manners, so we'll see how that goes.

Oh, Happy Happy belated birthday to Ouzo! I love that first pic of him in the snow... And now we see the reason for his box destructions, it was a traumatic puppy experience, all. boxes. must. die!

Yeah!!! That's great news! So glad your working through it... this forum is the best, I came here after our first nightmare class, got great advise, and now we are having a blast with agility. Keep us posted with Toby's progress, he sounds like the best!

I've been thinking about this stress issue a lot lately, as Hoku seems fine, fine, fine, over the edge and snarling. I've worked through a lot of it at agility by leaving the area between turns at first and doing tricks and focus exercises, and now he is much more comfortable and relaxed in that environment. But when we go into any new situation, such as this weekend when we took the dogs to my sweetie's parent's house, he seems to start at square one again (well maybe square 3.... ) I'm realizing that I just have to watch him so closely, and I need to get better at recognizing his stress signs. Here is an interesting article about dog stress thresholds and the signs. I have found that the clicker is a great tool when he is stressing (if he has not gone to far to the dark side...) I'll try and get him to a quiet spot and just run through his solid and favorite tricks, and it seems to refocus him. This weekend we walked off leash in the East Bay Hills where there are just tons of off leash dogs. His meet and greet skills are not the greatest (we live out in the sticks and he does not get that much dog interaction) and I was a bit nervous, but had to 'detonate' him somehow so he could be calm back at the in-laws house. I watched him closely at the start of the walk and would let him do a quick meet and greet, then call him, click when his attention went from the dog to me, he would come over, praise, praise, praise, and then send him off again. It worked great, as he did not get much of a chance to build stress over the greeting, and then everyone was one their way. Very soon he was just greeting and moving on all on his own, so I stopped using the clicker. But I did notice that by the end of the walk (4.5 miles and probably 50 dogs later) he was winding up and starting to get a touch snarly in his greetings, and I had to go back to the clicker. Just as Mary noted, the stress seems to build up (thanks for sharing your observations, it really is helpful). Our biggest challenge is greeting other dogs on leash, he just turns into Cujo, and I just want to avoid any such situation, which just makes it all worse. But our agility teacher is going to work with us on this issue this winter (agility stops with the wet weather....boo-hoo), so we are helpful to continue making progress with him.

Definitely try distracting Toby while you wait, tricks, play tug and such, or take him for a walk away from the action. I had a similar thing, only with aggression resulting from the stress, and I finally realized I can't watch the other dogs run, I have keep Hoku's attention and do stuff with him. The first few classes were really hard, and I would leave the area between our turns, It really helped. Soon I was able to stay most of the time, and just do tricks and such. Now I can leave him tied to the fence with the other dogs to walk the course and help with changes, etc and he is fine. Good luck, it's really a fun thing to be able to do together, and I bet Toby will be great!

Try putting her on a high quality food that is a single source carbohydrate, with single source protein, such as fish and sweet potato, no corn or wheat. And cut the amount back a tiny bit, and up her exersize so she can drop some weight. She sure is a cute girl!

Mary and HDS, would love for you to have the conversation in a thread, as I go through a similar thing, and never connected the stress level to the fear/aggression (duh)...it's seemed random and doesn't happen very often, but I'm sure stress is the underlying factor...

When your dog does something you don't want her to do, a small sharp sound like Eileen said, and then direct her to what you DO want her to do. Set her up to succeed. Put her on her dog bed with a great bone to chew on, and praise her for being there. If she tries to get up on the furnature, gently tell her no and direct her back to her bed, praise, praise praise. If she keeps trying the furnature, then a small Ahhp! or No! and direct her back to her bed, praise praise praise. When she choses her bed, throw a party! Always follow a correction with direction to what you WANT her to do. She'll learn a bunch faster what you want, if you teach her, rather then just telling her No, and letting her guess what you do want.

Welcome and congrats on your sweet new pup, she is a cutie! Ditto to all above about the dew claws. Hoku is my first BC, also, and believe me, they are not like other dogs! Check out NILIF It make life really good with a very smart (and possibly quirky ) dog. Be firm and fair in your training, and manage, manage, manage! Set your girl up to succeed, and keep things as positive as possible. Of course some small reprimands are needed to teach some manners, but manage your situation so that your pup stays out of trouble and you are praising and enjoying, rather then punishing your pup for things that YOU let happen, like chewed shoes, begging, and puddles on the floor. Work her brain, they LOVE to learn, and it really tuckers them out. Check out clicker training if you don't know about it. The clicker has been the best thing for us, and Hoku LOVES to train. We have ended up using the clicker to deal with some of Hoku's fear issues, and it has been amazing. When we are in a strange place and he starts to wind up and get all weird on me, I pull out the clicker and run through some of his tricks, and he calms right down, focuses on me, and all is right with the world again. Crate training is also a great thing, teaches your girl where her "off" switch is, and believe me, you want her to have an "off " switch! I'm sure others more experienced then I will have other great advice, but these things have worked great for us. And you are in the right place to learn about BCs!

Wonderful news! Congrats to you all, and big wags to Miss Z!!!

Very cute girl!

What a beautiful girl, big-big good on you for rescuing her!

Maybe try putting the #2 done in the house outside where you want the pup to go. Maybe that would help give him the idea of where the correct place is. Take him out to that spot when he next has to go.

Welcome! Oh, what a cutie!!! I am SOOOO glad you figured out the picture posting..... keep 'em comming!

Hoku is in Solo's camp, no veggies for him. I tried stuffing a Kong with carrot and PB (which he LOVES) and came back to find an empty Kong, and a neat pile of carrot....

Have fun! You are so lucky to have an indoor place, we don't here, so this week is our last class till spring... Oh, well, we still have our funny little home-made course with flower-pot jumps and kiddie toy tunnels to play on! Keep us posted with Diesel's progress, he is just such a handsome boy!

Very cool for you and Dean! I just love it when you see the light bulb go off in their heads... ohhhhh THIS is what we are doing, I get it now....weeeeee!!!!

Prayers out for all of you to land safely in your new lives...

We've been thinking on exactly what the monster was, and I think it was similar to Mojo's monster, there was water in it, it was in a 'U' shape, and it was close to dusk. He went through it once during warm-up (did not notice anything odd, he went through fast, but only did it once), but he wasn't going again when it was part of the course. Our guess is that the water startled or scared him, and that was that. But once the tunnel was here at home, no problems....So today, we are putting water in the tunnel and will see how he does! They sure do keep you guessing!

I think the clicker is a great training tool. It has been fantastic for us. Have fun, and be ready to to be hooked!

Well, last night at agility, Hoku decided that one of the tunnels had a very scary monster in it He has been doing tunnels since puppy class, and LOVES them. Apparently though, the yellow tunnel had a troll or some other horrid thing move into it, which also was able to generate a very powerful evil force field around it that only he could detect It like he was just bounced away from the entrance, and nothing could convince him that is was not the death chamber waiting him. We got him to go through, but he was trembling and just a mess, but then would do the rest of the course with his normal big smile and enthusiasm..... So our instructor let us bring the evil haunted tunnel home, and today he sniffed it, and barreled through, no problem.... what a goof!

I hope you are still reading this, if you are really asking for help. Please dont let your pride stop you from getting the very heart-felt messages that are in many of these replies. I really think your pup is tired after 1/2 hour of solid Frisbee. Try mixing your play up, and stop BEFORE your pup is tired and asking for a break the only way she know how. Set her up to succeed. Give her a rest, and play something different (do tricks, find-it games, get a basketball and play soccer with her, lots of fun ways to get exersize and strengthen your bond) Great training can be done while playing, with the toss of the Frisbee or a ball as the reward. Keep it fun, getting smacked in the nose is no fun, and I worry that your dog could develop some really hard problems from such treatment. BC's are very sensitive, it does not take much to switch on the fear button, and that coupled with lack of confidence (which is what you are doing, eroding her confidence) can be a nasty combo possibly leading into fear aggression. So please, take our words seriously, and educate yourself about positive training methods, you will not be sorry, I promise.

So we don't kill them for all the evil things they do I feel for ya, I'd be contemplating the same things....