Laurie S.

I use a metal comb on Cheyenne at least once a week and give her a bath with puppy shampoo once a month or so. Between her obedience and agility classes, she was getting pretty dirty on those pretty white stockings. The obedience class is finally over, so she may stay a bit cleaner now. Since she climbs up in bed with me in the morning, she usually reaches my doggy smell tolerance level in a month. I haven't done her nails yet, but have managed to time her kennel stays so they can give her a bath and trim her nails.

I've been wondering what is the best thing for me to carry in case a dog, or more, come after Cheyenne when I'm walking her. Would pepper spray or mace be my best alternative? When I walked her the other day three dogs behind a chainlink fence came running up at her viciously. Fortunately, it was a tall fence but what if they got out? I need something.

Cheyenne has been in a 10-week obedience class for the last eight weeks. At the class this Monday, the instructor talked about graduation and how our dogs will be tested. My first thought was, oh great, she's going to have to repeat the course because there is no way she'll graduate. She will stay, sit, and go down, but will not heel and would rather play than work. And as for "off leash" work...let's not go there. I figured she would at least get the perfect attendance award since I have been dutiful in getting her there every week even though it can be embarrassing at times. Then, the instructor said that all dogs will get a diploma. My first thought: no dog left behind.

My kitchen has a passthrough into the family room. When I leave her home alone, Cheyenne has figured out how to jump from a chair in the family room up onto the counter. The first evidence was when I saw pawprints on my new glasstop stove. That and the 1.5 muffins that she ate.

Cheyenne's a counter surfer but at least she doesn't do it when I'm home anymore, most of the time. The other night she managed to grab a bag of Doritos I had left on the counter. She was rather frustrated by the fact that I had closed it with a clothespin and she couldn't get into it. At least she didn't have to time to do that. Ive learned to put everything away but occasionally, I forget. I have a canister with her chicken treats in it and since it's hard to screw down, I usually just sit the lid on top. When I'm home, she doesn't go after it. But one day I was out for about an hour, and she got up on the counter, knocked it on the floor and went to town.

I did try the turning around method, but got dizzy. I think I'll give it another try.

I feel better knowing that I'm not alone on this!

We just got back from her obedience class and she actually did pretty well tonight, maybe 75 percent good when she's usually 50 percent good. She even was complimented by the instructor, but that was on her stay. At least the success tonight has me willing to keep working. I have tried treat and a clicker and that seemed to work the best. I'm willing to try anything!

I've tried the leash popping, too. The thing is that I think she knows exactly what I want her to do, she just doesn't want to do it. She doesn't pull me off my feet, but the leash usually is taut. It's just embarrassing in the obedience class because she is the only dog that won't heel properly. At least she has a great stay. Oh well....

I've had Cheyenne in an obedience class for the last six weeks, four more to go. I did this on the recommendation of her agilty trainer. She needs more focus since she gets so excited around other dogs and people. When I work with her in the house, in my backyard, or at my office, she does great. She'll sit and down for a hand signal or a verbal and will walk in the heel position fairly well. However, it's totally different in class or when we go for a walk. I've tried all the tricks we were given in class and also have tried using her clicker and treats. She insists on walking ahead of me and she is a fast dog. After about a mile, she'll tire enough that she'll be almost in a heel position. If she does check something out, I keep walking and she'll immediately run to get back into the same position about three feet in front of me. I can hold her in a heel position if I put my left hand on the leash, which I always do when crossing the street to keep her close to me. When I was checking out another bc in my adoption search, the foster owner told me that they prefer to walk out in front and are not good leash dogs. The dog he had walked about 50 feet in front of him and waited at each intersection until he caught up. I walked a couple miles with them and observed this. Is this really true, or can you teach them to heel? I would like her to heel or at least let me have a leash with some slack in it. Sure would appreciate any advice about this.

Finally, after more than five months, Cheyenne is getting in my F-250 by herself! Several weeks ago, she agreed to jump up from the floor to the front passenger seat, but I still had to lift her up onto the floor. Then, a couple of days ago, after placing her front paws on the running board, and saying, "up, up," she climbed up to the floor, then went up on the seat. Yay! She also now automatically sits as I climb up to attach the seat belt to her harness. Now if I could just get her to stop trying to pull my socks off when I'm getting dressed.

I know what you mean. Yesterday, I took Cheyenne into Pet Smart so she could show me which toys she wanted and buy her some treats. I usually don't take her in, but since I was picking up new toys I wanted her to choose. She loves people and other dogs and gets very excited around everyone wanting to get petted or play with the other dogs. She did pretty well while shopping with me doing "look at me" and having her in her traveling harness. But when I went to check out, a guy came in the store with a boxer mix and stood behind me about 10 feet back. Cheyenne started getting excited to go over to the dog so I put her between my legs against the counter to help hold her steady. It was working until the other dog started barking at her and jumping around. That only got Cheyenne even more wound up until suddenly she pulled out of her harness (and it was on tight). She knocked me over and I stopped her by falling on her and pinning her to the floor. The guy with the barking dog just stood there letting his dog bark more and more. I told the clerk she had pulled out of her harness and she yelled to lock the door in case Cheyenne tried to run out (which she wouldn't do). The other dog was going on so much that I needed help from another clerk to get the harness back on her. If that guy had only taken his barking dog away from us we would have been fine. I couldn't move because I was trying to pay for my items. Once I got her outside away from that dog, she was fine again. Sometimes you just want to smack someone.

I had to miss a week of Cheyenne's agility training due to being out of town. That, plus not being able to work with her at home for almost 10 days made me a little worried about her lesson last night. I do keep up with commands when giving her treats (look, turn, etc.), but that was it. Turned out that I didn't need to worry. She is now putting together two to three obstacles, flying over them, and hitting her contacts almost every time. I was standing next to the A-frame talking with her trainer about the resurfacing she had just done to it, when all of a sudden, Cheyenne went up and over on her own. She was tired of waiting and wanted to get going. So, we did contact and moved her toward a jump. Her only problem is focus, which I'm hoping to start working on this month in an obedience class. Also, the minute she sees another dog, she runs off wanting to play. So, we have a lot to work on, but she is doing so well. She even does the teeter-totter at its full height with no fear at all.

Cheyenne ate soap once, and barfed it up in my truck. It was the little leftover scrap that I had put in the wrapper of the new bar and thrown out. She loves to dig in my bathroom wastebasket and pull paper and other stuff out. I still need to get one with a closing top like I got for the kitchen. When I leave her in the big crate (my bedroom) for the day, I have to make sure anything that is fabric is up high on the bookshelves otherwise it's fair game. I also have to hide the Pendelton that I usually throw on my bed and put an old sheet on instead. The first time I left her home with the Pendleton, she chewed several pieces of fringe off. Oh yeah, she also loves to strip the fuzz off of tennis balls. I only let her have tennis balls in thehouse so they stay clean, but then she started "stripping" them. At least she gets a nice safe rubber ball for outside when she's done.

The other day, I left Cheyenne home so I could run some errands. Usually I take her with me to my office. I lock her in my bedroom, which has a doggie door. When I got home, I saw my fanny pack outside on the patio. It had been on the bookshelf. After scolding her about that, I started picking up a few other things she had knocked about outside. I asked her "what else did you steal?" She immediately ran to the front gate, where I found the well-chewed toilet paper roll and the roll holder from my bathroom. I had forgotten to close the door, so it was my fault. So, I tried again and asked "what else?" Suddenly, she turned, grabbed at something, and I saw that she had my favorite hair scrunchy in her mouth. Got that back and again asked the question. This time, she sat still so I figured I had everything. She is a character.