Leaderboard

Amazon has some relatively economically priced beginner sets. Without knowing the age of your GSD, though, I'll throw this caution out there: until 18 months their growth plates aren't fully able to handle the load and if they land wrong the soft tissue can get damaged. For smaller dogs it might be more like 12 months, but our bigger dogs are late bloomers. 🙂 The tunnels and weaving poles are still a-okay to use, I'd just avoid any jumping exercises until mature. There was a gal at the dog park once who had two GSDs and she would put them in a sit stay while she walked off into the wooded section (this dog park was Awesome). She'd hide two balls, one for each dog. Then she'd walk back and release them to find. It was fun to watch them proudly bounding back to her with their prizes. Meanwhile, there was my dog, head under water, fishing out rocks . . . lol. When he was a puppy I had a plastic pool for him and I'd put sinkable toys in there for him to pull out. I never did find a good use for his skill (I didn't know Adrienne, yet!), but he sure enjoyed it. This is the course I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017TBQ4Z2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Most of them are around $60 for the poles, ring, and tunnel. If you have anyone crafty you could get them to build a ramp (I don't know what type of space you have available). In fact . . . I think I need my husband to do that with our spare lumber - glad you asked this question! 😆

You know just the right words. 🥰 You're right - it's the once-in-a-blue-moon thing that makes it difficult to correct. They go months on end with no issues, we manage carefully, and then suddenly something we didn't consider sets off the fireworks. They're back together now. I waited until Gertie gave the signal - she went up to Esther and sniffed her - instead of letting Esther decide when they should have contact again. I really like this idea of Esther seeking us out when Gertie has something. I have a feeling Esther would be easier to condition than Gerts. Both would be the best solution, but we can start with Esther. Steph didn't teach us much, if I'm honest about it. It was basic training, which was rather irritating as we already had that down. When we get time again (hahaha - we started building the apartments . . .) I will reach out to Leah and have her come over since she responds to me. We gave up on getting Steph to contact us, and I get the feeling she ghosted us because she and I were like oil and water. I'm not sure why, but we did Not click. Alpha Female Syndrome? 😆😆 We're both accustomed to taking the lead, perhaps. I tried to dance the 2-step with an older gentleman when we were in Vegas and I kept trying to lead, thus stepping on his feet. I apologized and told him I'm used to leading, and he laughed and replied, "so am I!" I really don't Want to lead, but my subconscious says otherwise. There are few people I don't get along with, but when they're similar to me it's either best buds or they simply don't like me. Women - we're sometimes a mess. 🤷‍♀️😆 So far Gertie has been preferring the bed on the floor next to my side of the couch, so that's been working out. When Esther is on the bed she's constantly popping up, so Gertie choosing the bed is helpful. I was ¼ kidding when I told the husband that the next house needs a leash anchor next to the floor outlet so we can tether Esther when she's being "extra," as the kids say these days. We're building a kennel into our bedroom sitting area so we'll have that as an option. We're strategizing how to handle the next fight (fingers crossed there isn't one, but if wishes were dollars . . .). We have the water bottle, which Esther fears greatly. You would think it's filled with acid with how she reacts to it. Leah said she has black pepper caches around the house, and when her girls get into it she throws a handful of that onto their noses. The sneezing is uncontrollable so they have to let go, which gives her opportunity to remove one or the other from the situation. Talk about management, though. She has 3 boxers and they do a carefully orchestrated dance to get the girls outside, fed, watered, etc . . .. The girls are both dog reactive, one is human reactive, and their boy has no cares to give. Typical, lol. If we can remember to push them together so Esther has to let go, that might help, too. This was one of those sudden ones. Neither of us were paying them any attention, husband was just about to sit down and Wham! The god awful sounds started and they were locked. Gertie's swelling has gone down. Her paw pad is almost healed enough to where I can stop bandaging it - I'm doing it now just to keep it clean. There is a little bruise by her claw that will probably take a week or more to heal. She has a little abrasion at the corner of her nose and a bigger one on her front lip. Esther's definitely getting more proficient and there wasn't a single wound on her this time. Gertie ran after the mailman's truck today so that's another sign she's feeling better. She's been moping about, not following me to the bathroom and opting to stay on her bed instead. I wish we could explain to them that fights aren't necessary. There are more than enough resources to go around!