JMFS

Omigosh! How is his energy level?! Two of the most hyper breeds in one, lol. With him flipping it towards you it sounds like he's trying to engage, but I'm not sure. He could be saying, "You do it, Human.' :D I'll be interested to see the answer on this one because Gertie also doesn't tend to take items other than food, and even then she'll sniff it first if it's something new.

You're not alone on the verbal commands. Momo and Gertie both respond better to hand signals or whistles than verbal. They are all sorts of rambunctious when I bring Mo in for the evening and I can talk to them until I'm blue in the face and they'll continue to ignore me. Momo is more likely to do it because he's older and therefore better trained, but wiggly Gertie often gets him out of a sit. Once I give the hand signal for "knock it off you hooligans!" they'll sit - it's like the equivalent of Mom Voice. I think it's because dogs are much better at reading body language than understanding spoken. Especially since we use so many different intonations and emotions with speech. Hand signals are fairly consistent and neutral, making them easier to interpret. Training daily will net faster results, but repetition paired with consistency in how you train is even more important, I think. For instance, Gertie doesn't have the opportunity to bark at Mr. Bicycle every day so we can't train it daily; however, each time we work on being quiet when he Does ride by she's more and more self-controlled. The waste pick up truck comes by twice per week so we only get to train that on those days. UPS and FedEx are completely unpredictable (unless I've caved to my Amazon or Chewy.com addiction) so that's yet another one we can't do daily. Really, though, you Do train daily. :) Every time you take her out to go potty counts as training. She probably has to sit, wait, then potty, and finally come. Or, if you take her out on a leash then you're training her to walk on a leash. When it's time to eat she has to come, and perhaps wait until you cue her to eat. Pretty much every interaction we have with them is a learning experience. I find it easiest to have a routine. In the morning we get up, I do my morning stuff, let Momo out back, let Gertie out front, get their food and water, let Gertie in, feed the cat, feed Gertie, then feed Momo. That's all training, too. Then about an hour after she eats I let Gertie out again, and take Abbi, too. The day continues like that with our regular pit stops and all the waits, sits, okays that go with it. The more they learn the routine, the easier it becomes, and it counts as training. Ta da!

Soooo . . . there have been No incidents since last I posted! :D I continue to work with him daily to really reinforce this good streak we're having. I can even clean his eyes off before putting his food in his bowl while we're standing right next to it. I wasn't pushing for it at all. He came to me one morning because I had a Kleenex in my hand and his eyes have been itchy with the indecisive weather. He was all goopy eyed that morning and when he was a wee pup I would wipe his eyes every morning. I suppose he remembered that when he saw the Kleenex. Or maybe not - dogs, who knows, right? To lower the anxiety (of which there has been very little) and keep communication clear I created a cue, "ears," for when I'm about to give him ear scratches. It's more of a question than a "command" because if he wants to get right down to eating he'll stay where he is. If he wants his ears scratched he'll step towards me. So stinkin' smart this guy. He had a bone in the crate yesterday and there was not so much as a growl as Gertie and I kept passing by so that's improvement as well, even though we haven't really worked on that. I think if it had been meat or peanut butter something there would have been a reaction, but hey - I'll take the win. His real test will be the next time my friend comes over to do the pool. If Momo ignores my friend I'll know we're in a happy place. They did great at the boarding facility. There were pictures every day of all the dogs playing. I couldn't look at them while we were out of the country, cell service was sporadic, but I have since downloaded every last one of them. Gertie is a little social butterfly, Momo is a creeper, lol. Most of the pictures with him in it are him sniffing around by the fence or him watching the other dogs from a distance. Gertie on the other hand was always with a pack of pups having a grand ol' time, and usually making some screwy face or another, her expressions are not lady-like at all. Every other night they got that frozen Kong filled with peanut butter and Gertie got 20 minutes of "cuddle time" before bed time. Gertie's collar was removed after the first day because her little plastic "driver's license" ID tag got all chewed up. Thankfully extras come with that order so she's all set with a replacement. It's as though they know something about dogs and their propensity for destruction. :D I was told she really liked playing with that German Shepherd and in the 2nd picture Mo can be seen, hanging by his lonesome (in the shade because he's smart!). He May have been following the Dachshund - it's difficult to see the little guy in the back. Dachshunds think they're big dogs so I guess s/he got to hang out with the bigger kids. Gertie's the one one making goofy faces.

Wow! I feel even more insignificant than before when compared to a dog, lol. That comparison with the swimming pool is kind of like my cigarette detection ability. :D We went on that vacation this weekend and there was a casino in which smoking was allowed. Ugh! I'm the worst kind of non-smoker - an Ex-smoker. It's been 21+ years and when I smell it now I can't get away from it fast enough. I have to wonder what dogs think about cigarettes, perfume, halitosis, foot funk, and all other manner of smells. How do they not have a headache 24-7?! While they were at the boarding place they got to go out into the little yard with fake grass (smart!) to play and the owners take lots of pictures each day and post them to Facebook. It was interesting going through them to see Gertie is quite the social butterfly and she usually paired up with the largest dog, or two or three, to play with. Momo was the loner walking the fence line and the only pictures of him playing were a couple with Gertie and one of him sniffing a Dachshund. Otherwise he was in the frame alone or as a creeper watching everyone, haha. Now, if I had him on a leash walking and there was another dog he'd be all about getting over there to say hi. He does the same at dog parks. Can't Wait to get through those gates to run free and then . . . stand Right by my legs. :rolleyes: I even try to push him away but he's Glued to me. At the house, though, he wants no part of cuddling. Gertie, is all wiggles, bows, bumps, and play with everyone and anyone. They both came back to me in good moods so I can only assume it was a positive experience for them.

That's fantastic! That takes a load of pressure off, which makes the training more fun. :)

Oh no! Poor Einstein. That's just not dignified for such a refined canine! The girls would understand. Gertie and Abbi sometimes get "cling ons" due to my long hair occasionally being ingested. What goes in . . .. I feel badly for them, but at the same time I have to stifle giggles as they attempt to run away from the sneak thief behind them. No matter how fast they run, he keeps up. It's a mixed emotions sort of situation. I swear, it's never ending entertainment discovering things that make them lose composure. I think your ideas are spot on. Gertie is far more aware of her situation. Momo, on the other hand, well, imagine putting one of those super bouncy balls into a pinball machine and letting it fly. :D As my previous boss used to say, "wired for sound." To this day, asking him to touch my hand before giving the okay to eat sees him jumping and turning in circles. BTW, we're Much better these days with that situation. :) I've come up with the idea to warn him before chest rubs or ear scratches by saying, "ears," then reaching out. So far so good! No more tension, but he still vibrates with anticipation some days. My special boy, lol.

So this one popped into my head as I was entering information into QuickBooks (booooring). :rolleyes: I decided to take a break and to address the daydreaming so I can get back into work mode. I was thinking, Gertie, why on Earth do you do that?! She was "playing" with a bug in the grass. Pouncing, hopping away, pouncing, nosing, scratching . . .. She finally killed it, sniffed it, nudged it, and walked away. I mean, what was the point of it all? Then I was wondering . . . do dogs think things are cute? Such as, a baby cooing. Baby gurgles and acts all cute and dog tilts head, head then tilts the other way, dog runs around in a circle, comes back to baby, tilts head, bows, maybe chuffs a little . . .. I know they kick the grass after they poo in order to spread their scent. I know they roll in icky gooey grossness in order to mask their scent and better hunt their prey. I know they chase their tails either out of boredom or because they're trying to get rid of excess energy. But what about the Other stuff they do? I had many examples, but of course as soon as I started typing they Wooshed right out of my head. I would love to exchange brains with Gertie for an hour. And preferably at a time when there's nothing icky, gooey, and gross to roll in . . .. Oh! Why do they sniff the Same spot Every time they go outside - nothing has changed and it's boring ol' concrete, yet that Very spot is, for some reason, beyond fascinating and absolutely Must be investigated at every opportunity no matter how many times rain has washed away any scent. What happened there to reinforce that spot as being so interesting, and how do I bottle that so I can use it to train something like "give paw?" :D Gertie will jump right into the pool but if I get a squirt bottle she'll run for cover? She's never been squirted with it! Why are dogs inherently fearful of brooms? Every dog I've known is scared of brooms to some degree, whether they've had an experience with it or not. Gertie sometimes shies from it and sometimes she'll try to sniff it while I'm using it - sweeping is difficult around here. Does anyone else have musings about dogs? They're just so weird sometimes.

As I was responding the trash picker uppers came by, which always sets Gertie off. I fed her treats right before she barked at them each time. Ah, barking, it's Lovely (sarcasm). I often wonder what dogs think of us constantly making noise and then telling them to be quiet when they pipe up occasionally! Momo did the same thing as Poppy initially and the first night I slept on the couch near his crate, which quieted him. Putting 2 and 2 together I moved the crate into our bedroom and he was fine at the foot of our bed ever after that. When we moved to a new place he started barking early in the morning, right about when it started getting light outside. I threw a blanket over the crate and that netted an extra hour or two of sleep. He eventually learned to relax until I was up and moving. Gertie, on the other hand . . . I'm just glad we don't have neighbors against our wall. She and Abbi feed off each other, and the whole time we are gone we can see them pace, howl, and bark. One thing that helped Gertie immensely was getting a pen to replace the crate. We were able to cordon off a section of the room and keep her bed in the penned area. We collapse it when we get back home since we have limited space in the office. She's much happier now, and quieter, but Abbi will still get her going. Has the neighbor complained? As a neighbor of noisy dogs at many times in my life I can tell you it would have gone a long way with me if my neighbors would have been making Any attempt, whatsoever, to train their dogs. Had they told me, "give us a chance to get them trained, we're working on it," I would have had far more patience. One neighbor's solution was to throw the dogs out onto their balcony so Everyone could share in the misery. :mad: At 5 a.m. I'm not the nicest person. By 10 a.m. I'm rather cheery. It was at 5 a.m. that they chose to do this one morning and they got chewed up one side and down the other and Everyone got to share in that exchange. The sad part is that the rest of my neighbors thanked me and said they'd been wanting to do that forever. The owners of the little devils kept the pups inside until 7 a.m. from then on (somewhat in accordance to the Noise Ordinance I gave them a copy of). It wasn't bad puppies, it was utter lack of training and general consideration towards others. I don't understand why people like that even get dogs; they should stick with cats. Or fish. Or pet rocks. Anyway, communication will Usually buy you wiggle room if the neighbor is grumpy about it. Knowing that it's a temporary situation relieves that tension, and potential confrontation. Even if they're not outwardly antagonistic, it might serve you well to let them know you're working on it. I've seen some ugly behavior from people when it comes to noise and it all could have been avoided (unless the neighbor is one of those who's just a hateful person all around - there's no appeasing those people). I've even read about people with new babies going around talking to their neighbors to ask for a little extra patience during the initial phase. There was one about a couple who handed out treat bags with ear plugs on a plane because they weren't sure how their baby was going to behave. I don't know how true that is because that would be costly for a Whole plane full of people, but it's food for thought.

So why do you suppose Momo loves to step all over my feet? *Some* would say it's a dominance thing but he's seemingly utterly oblivious, and happy, when he does it. Just curious what your take is on it. :D I think he's simply all boy and totally unaware he's doing something that annoys the daylights out of me.

Momo is full of zoomies and he's 8 (I may or may not have fully encouraged that hyperactivity when he was a puppy). :D Momo demonstrating zoomies (limited space so he's slower than usual):

First off, kudos on fitting two 2-mile walks into the day! That's great and will go far in the bonding process. Are you playing with her after she nips and barks, etc . . .? If so, she's getting what she wants, the little devil. :D If she's got a burst of energy during your relax time then interacting with her is going to reinforce that behavior. Does she have a chew toy or other interactive toy to occupy her when you want quiet time? Since it's kind of before bed time, and you probably don't want to have to take her for a potty break in the middle of the night, you might try filling a Kong with peanut butter and then freezing it so it's ready to go when little missy wants to play. She'll be working on the Kong while you get to take a breath, and stay up a bit later. ;) She might be needing some mental exercise and the Kong will help with that as well as entice her to lick, which is an activity that soothes pooches. Gertie Loves the "Find It" game. It goes pretty quick now that she's a pro, but after a few rounds she settles a bit and then I give her a Kong or her Orbee Tuff Snoop and she'll work on that until she conks out. The "Find It' games encourages them to use their sniffer (do nose work) to find treats you've hidden. It starts out simple at first so they get the idea, then you can make it tougher and tougher. I put Zuke's Minis on the door handles, under furniture, between boxes, etc . . . to give Gertie an extra workout. Adrienne has a link to that game in the main training section. I also play "Three Cup Monte" (only I don't cheat) by putting a treat under a yogurt cup (recycle, reuse!) and then I have two other yogurt cups that are empty. She has to find the cup with the treat. When learning the game all the cups had a treat and we eventually got it down to only one. We also work with a flirt pole to train "leave" and "drop," though I haven't done that one in a while. I need to work on it again. If you search the forums for "flirt pole" there are quite a few posts regarding puppies biting, nipping, etc . . ..

Nicely done! Observation is a handy tool. I rotate Gertie's toys, too, and she gets those perky ears and does the head tilt while I'm moving the toys from one container to the other. I'm glad you posted because I forgot to do that this morning! It's great y'all figured out her triggers and were able to come up with solutions. That puppy energy can be a chore to work with sometimes and it sounds like you're getting it under control. :)

I had a laugh at the walking trail the other week. There was a lady with a little dog (why is it always the little guys?) and she was talking to someone else with a little dog. Gertie and I came rolling up and she Freaked out. She started saying, "oh oh oh!" and pulling her little pooch away. The poor pup was Fine until she started wigging out. Taking his cue from her he started making these keening sounds like he'd just been attacked. That wasn't the funny part, I felt for the poor guy. Who knows what's happened before, if anything. The part that made me chuckle and shake my head was how over-the-top this gal was with Gertie completely relaxed and not even looking at them. Gerts glanced over at them as we were passing (I thought the lady might faint) and then Gertie looked at me as if to ask, "what's that all about?" There's a mother and daughter who walk their little dogs together at the trail. Daughter's dog is fine, Mom's dog flips out when she sees pretty much anything getting close to her. Again, Gertie ignores the meltdown. On one round Mom pulled off the trail and covered her dog's eyes with her hand. One more round goes by and then I hand off Gertie to the husband because that stinker (Gertie, not the husband) slows my time down. I pass them again and the daughter asks, "where's your dog?! Mom was ready this time." I laugh and tell her I handed her to my husband because Gertie was holding me back. I told her I'll bring her by again. I get to the parking lot, dying lol, and take the leash. I walk over to them and Mom is now Holding her dog and covering the dog's eyes. Oh boy. I engage them and ask Mom to put the pup down, but a couple with a stroller come by and that sets off the dog anew. They pass and I encourage Mom to set the dog down. I tell her I'll stay at a distance where her dog is comfortable and calm. "No, no, you just go," she says. "Are you suuuure? You were looking for us earlier and I think I can help. I promise, I'll move away as soon as she starts barking." Nope, Mom's not feeling it. So I turn around and start walking, slowly (:cool:), back to the parking lot. She puts the pup down and there's no barking. I let them get a bit closer and bark bark bark! So I move a little faster and it's quiet so I tell them, "I think we found her comfort zone. Do y'all want to walk with me at this distance to see if she can stay calm?" We were about 20 feet apart. We get all the way to the parking lot without incident. Good girl! I encourage them to try that in the future with others and to keep her in her comfort zone. She should build up confidence over time. Her story is that she was bitten by a big dog 8 years ago. :( 8 years. The same number of years I'd been struggling with Momo's resource guarding. It resonated with me because I understand how miserable she's been all these years being unsure of how to handle the issue, and I feel bad for the dog for being fearful all those years. I have a Mentos gum container that I've washed out and filled with Zuke's minis (btw, most of the round plastic gum containers make excellent portable treat cases after being washed) and I'm going to take that with me next time in hopes that they're there. I have a 6 oz bag on the way as well and I might just hand that over to them because I recently received a 1 lb bag that I haven't opened, yet (Autoship with Chewy.com for 1 lb and subscribe and save with Amazon for 6 oz And then there are the people who lack common sense. Momo and I were walking a trail when he was about 2 and he was walking on the left next to the "curb" which was the rule. This lady and her husband came jogging by and instead of going single file to my right for some reason she decided to pass us on the left. Momo was startled and he did a little lunge-growl-huff but I had him under control. The husband yelled at him, "hey!" and started moving towards us. Oh no, buddy, wrong gal. I put myself between him and Momo and told him his wife was in the wrong and it's asking for trouble to sneak up behind a dog. I also advised him of the rule that you're to call out warning to those in front if you're going to pass them. Passing on the right and calling out would have avoided that entire scenario. He wanted to continue arguing but I flipped my hair back, stuck my nose up in the air (well-practiced move from all the teasing my brothers did) and walked off leaving him stammering. :D His wife passed on the right on the next round, though they still didn't call out warning. What and ever. My favorite. The lady who docked her kayak at the off-leash park and got upset when Momo approached her. He was 8 months and a tiny rug rat at that point, maybe 20 lbs. She pitched a fit, "come get your dog! Get this dog out of here!" I called him and thank goodness he came. I politely informed her she would want to row about half a mile down the lake as she was currently docked in the off leash park and was sure to be approached by several other dogs. She rolled her eyes and started to to gripe me out when another dog started making his way towards her. She shoved off the shore and paddled away, mumbling to herself. I Tried to warn her. BTW, if any of y'all ever go to Austin with your pooches, try Auditorium Shores. Just watch out for the poison oak, it itches like mad. There's water of several depths and loads of land for our furry friends to romp around. Stop by the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue and marvel that the flood waters were once past the base of said statue. Momo walked past Stevie, paused, backed up, sat down, and proceeded to rapidly bark at the poor guy. Personally, I'm a fan. Momo was doing his part to Keep Austin Weird.

I'll preface this with the fact that I'm not the best trainer in the world. I have the basics down and I understand some psychology, but then along comes someone who's been through the paces and they blow me away with their insight. Having said that . . . how on Earth do we help someone who's entirely inexperienced with training? Without sounding like a nag. :D My dear lovely spouse struggles with Gertie. His idea to get her to sit, come, stay, lie down, leave, etc . . . is to say, "Gertie! Gertie! Gertie! Gertruuuude . . .." Funny as it is to see a manly man be completely ignored by a hyper pooch, I'm a wee concerned he's going to poison the cue and I Really don't want to start over, good lawd please not that! When he Does remember to use the cue he says it sternly and she thinks she's in trouble. The other issue is when she jumps on him (she doesn't jump on my daughter or me because "ahem" she knows we'll ignore her). It's "Gertrude, down," while he's holding her paws or backing up or petting her. Lastly, she's a nosy little brat sometimes. E.g., when she wants to be pet she nudges with her nose. I ignore her or tell her to go to her bed. He rubs her nose and tells her he'll decide when he's going to pet her (sucker, you just gave her what she wanted!). So, does anyone have input? Does anyone else have the same, or similar, issues? He does take advice into consideration and he has gotten better, but I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, or like a mother reminding their child for the umpteenth time to wipe their feet before coming inside. I have started reinforcing some behaviors while we're in the same room, hoping he'll take notice of how I do it (hint: I don't repeat her name 100 times). :D Nagging is something I'd very much like to avoid, but I'm stumped and aside from a little lint, that's all I have left in my bag of tricks.

Yes! This is what I'm doing with Gertie - every so often I'll trade up or simply add to. I suggest this to friends and anyone who will listen! Don't sit there and pet them or put a hand in the bowl while they're eating. It's as if when you're stuffing your face someone starts massaging your shoulders. Sure, it feels great, but not while I'm eating. Okay, Gertie is a weirdo and she actually wants me to do that sometimes but I don't give in. She's attached to my hip as it is! If only someone had given me that advice instead of telling me to "pop him on the nose, he'll eventually figure it out." He sure did - she's gonna pop me on the nose, I'm gonna fight back! I try to remember to think of it as someone coming to take my plate away when I'm mid-fork-stab into my mashed potatoes. My co-worker long ago kept sticking his hand into my chips without asking. One day I got fed up with it and smacked his hand, called him by his full name, and proceeded to tell him about himself and suggested his mother surely taught him better, so I can't really fault Momo - he and I are alike in that respect. My co-worker learned his lesson, though, and he asked permission from that day forward (though it took him a couple weeks to build up the courage). I guess it boils down to personality and until the pot boils over you don't know how someone or somedog is going to respond. I surprised myself with my reaction to my co-worker, lol. It just came out. In fact, I just had a great idea for a human interpretation of the dog's way of thinking. Someone should parody this. Have a person sitting down and eating a meal, then have someone else put their hand in the potatoes (I'm dieting and potatoes are a no-no so I'm hyper-focused on them!). Repeat this scene showing that it's a different meal each time to represent repetition. Then have the person eating yell, "hey!" and show aggressive body language when the interloper starts moving their hand to the plate. :D Mo is unpredictable in his hunger. Some days he'll leisurely suck down his food and other days he'll maniacally gobble it like it's going to run away. On those days I have to show him the treat (and it better be good) so he'll break that singular focus on his food. After I show him what I have he'll sit when I approach or he'll come when I call. I limit it to twice while he's eating because I'd imagine it's still annoying even for a savory dog-version Oreo (his new fave). At least we're at a reinforcement stage now. It's much easier to maintain than the reconditioning phase. As long as I remember not to get too close to his bowl for the scratches we'll be a-okay. I have to board he and Gertie in March and I've already warned them that he gets uppity with his food and any food-related items. They assured me they can accommodate that by feeding him in his "suite" (such a fancy term for a kennel) and he and Gertie will have separate "suites" since Mr. Grumpy Pants likes his own space when it's time to settle down. Before bed time each of them will get a Kong that's been filled with peanut butter and frozen every-other-day (I don't want to come home to engorged pooches) and Gertie gets extra cuddle time every day. Momo doesn't because he doesn't like cuddles. They get to hang out with the daycare dogs for play time and they do that a couple times each day for about 2 hours at a time. It Sounds good, but I'll get a full report and pictures each day just to make sure. :D It's nerve-wracking leaving them in strangers' care! We did take a tour with Gertie on Saturday and I have to say they have it set up quite well and every "suite" was occupied so they certainly are popular, even the gal at the counter brings her dog there on weekdays and puts him back with the other dogs for playtime. Their Facebook page is full of repeat customers and that's a good sign. Okay, back to work for me. I needed a mental break! Pets and scratches to Einstein. :)

What about capturing the behavior as a "bow?" Do you think that would help Robbie distinguish between bow and down? Ever since getting her solid on it, Gertie's all about bowing these days, offering it for everything now. When I tell her good bow, now down, she slides into down. Robbie made me think of that with his rump up in the air (I think this is one of the cutest things they do).

So her comment was the same as yours. It's like y'all know what you're doing or something! :D When she saw how far he's come she was proud of us both and that was a good feeling. I can now peel him off the bowl to come to me as long as I have goodies. If I don't have goodies I'm dead to him, lol. That's fine - I'll take what I can get and keep working towards the glorious day when he thinks, "hey, she doesn't want this, I can leave it and it will still be there." She did say he looks much more relaxed while he's at his bowl and when I approach. She cautioned that we may be practicing this forever, there's just no telling - it's all up to him (and me to the extent of continuing the reconditioning). What Is telling is that he's not reacting when we do our normal routine and that we went for a whole month without incident. As long as we stick to the routine we should be golden. Sadly, she's moving. Like Way far away back to the Ivory Coast. :( I'm excited for her new adventure, but so very sorry to see her go, and a little concerned for her well-being with things being so tense over there. She's a person worth knowing (most dog enthusiasts are). Until she makes the move, though, she has an open invite to come see us and take a load off from her crazy busy days! I have no problem working past the witching hour to make up for slacking with good people during the day (no one needs me at those times so I'm more productive anyway). :D Who knew Mo's derelict behavior would turn into a positive thing?

I forgot to mention - I still had his food in my other hand. No way will I bother him while he's got food in that bowl, I like my fingers where they are! Normally we do a little chest scratching by the door as I'm coming out so his food bowl isn't even in the picture, yet. This morning we were right at his food bowl and I didn't even think about it, just reached down to scratch and he didn't think it through, just reacted. Boo on both of us. I'll just not do that again, that's a good plan. It's been a month of this routine with no issues and I unintentionally threw in a curve ball and ol' Mo doesn't do well with those. That paint's still drying! :D I reached out to my behaviorist the other week to see how she's doing and she's now working at an animal clinic. I'll have to see if she's still doing training on the side. In the meantime I'll wait until After I've had coffee to feed him - I'm smarter then. Edit: Her ears must have been burning. :D She texted me tonight and she's coming over Friday afternoon.

Grrr, we had a setback this morning. For no apparent reason, too, but my hair was in the way so I probably missed a signal from his body language. For the past month I've been able to scratch his chest before giving his food and I've been careful to stand next to him rather than over him and it's been grand. This morning he accepted his ear scratches, even reveled in them, and all was going swimmingly. No signs of him being grumpy (as he's aging he's been developing moods, though fleeting). Fast forward through the boring stuff and we're outside where I commence chest scratches from the side stance and all of a sudden I feel a tooth on my wrist - too smooth to be a claw, I think - you know how things happen quickly. I straighten up, he comes with as he's got his paw wrapped around my arm and he's growling low. I tell him, "what the was that, dude," in a concerned neutral'ish tone. He stays. I tell him get down, he does. I mutter to myself, "nope," turn around and walk back inside with his food. I was not in a place to handle it properly so opted for retreat. Now, after moving past the feeling of betrayal, lol, I'm thinking perhaps it was proximity to his bowl. We were right next to it instead of a few steps away. We also normally come out of the other door so a change in routine could have thrown him. This is such a pain in the you-know-what! We'll get there, though, we'll get there and I"ll keep updating to encourage others - and let them know it's likely to always be a work in progress, it's that commitment we make when we bring the little guys into our homes. I think it's important to know about the negatives so they're prepared. Adrenaline didn't kick in for me and he didn't injure me much (I'm pretty sure this itty bitty scrape is from his claw, not his tooth) so those are both bonuses. I Did throw his food into the yard after I got over myself (a little). He can work for his meal this morning! Which he loves doing so really, he got his food and a bonus treat . . ..

Maybe moss is juicier than the grass. :D If your Vet gives her a clean bill of health then it probably just is what it is. Mine have been Vet approved to eat as they please. I think Abbi does it because Momo does - she chews it off then spits it out. Gertie may do the same and I think it's just the moisture. Neither of the girls did this before Momo introduced them to the cuisine. Mo has no tail and he grabs a mouthful to achieve a full pivot or slow himself down. :D He likes to violently grab the grass and chomp it - I think it's a way for him to get rid of some of his excess energy. Only he knows for sure! I even bought several types of salad to see if it was a nutrient thing but he always returned to the grass. We don't chemically treat our yard so I let them all have at it. :rolleyes:

Dogs Love chase. Being the chasee or the chaser is fun for them. I have dog cows myself - we must have the most delicious grass in all the world for as much as these guys graze. When you call Sasha outside and she doesn't come, then what do you do? If you're chasing after her then I'm willing to bet that she thinks it's a game. Gertie did the same thing and it's a trap we All fall into at some point. In fact, it's a stumbling block of us with fetch. With Gertie when it's a business trip outside (potty) I keep her on a 50 ft lead. She's come to learn that the lead means get your task completed and then we're going right back inside. I test her once in a while off lead and as long as she finishes up and comes back inside she can be off lead, but as soon as she runs around like a mad dog she goes right back on lead for another few days. It's a task of rinse and repeat and nearly every trainer agrees that recall is an ongoing training task. Even my brother with his über trained-in-Germany-by-the-best-in-the-world trainers hunting dog admitted that Gordo peaces out and comes back when he feels like it. Gordo can run 3 miles in 11 minutes (I think that's what it was - it was amazing for sure) and my brother has a scary neighbor who's threatened to shoot Gordo so it's something he's going to have to get under control. Yet one more reason why recall is so important. Anyway, that's just to illustrate that we All have issues with recall. :) When I take Gertie out off lead I'll also bring a bag or my "upcycled" creamer container full of treats. These both make a good deal of noise when I shake them and they're visible so when Gertie is feeling like she has her big girl pants on and wants to show me she's her own dog I make some noise and she comes running. That didn't happen overnight. We started in the kitchen with stay and come. I would have her stay and I'd walk around the island then call her, give her a treat, have her stay, repeat. Then I increased the distance to the living room and each time she mastered the new room I'd add another. Eventually we moved the game outside. This is where the lead is handy because there are Lots of distractions outside. Squirrels in particular for us. Squirrels are my bane. I have come to loathe squirrels. I would give her 10 feet of lead and put her in a stay, walk away, call, treat. Repeat the process until we eventually moved to off lead and we're still working on that one. Some trainers are going to tell you your dog should come no matter what and without reward. Smart trainers will tell you to always have a reward ready. :D Reward doesn't always Have to be food - some dogs consider petting a reward, others love to grab onto a tug toy (watch a flyball video sometime). Gertie and Momo are totally food driven so that's what I use. The thing I learned from Adrienne that was the Hardest part for me: never scold the pooch for coming. If they're scolded for doing what you asked them to, what's the incentive to do it next time? They're going to expect to be scolded, and I don't know about you, but I'd probably avoid that situation. I had to learn how to harness my frustration and that was Tough! It made a world of difference, though, And they don't understand what we're saying so you can still scold them, but in a happy voice. "Who's the bad dog? You are, yes you are!" Here's a post I made about silent whistle training. It works for verbal recall, too, though, just replace the whistle with a word. I like the silent whistle for nighttime trips because I am usually still up at 2 a.m. and I don't want to wake folks by hollering for Gertie. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?83-Silent-Whistle-Training-(How-I-Did-It) I hope that holds you over until Adrienne imparts her words of wisdom. I just like to help with the things I feel I know something about to get folks started. :)

Wow, you have your hands full. I, too, have a resource guarding pooch and I know well how stressful it is. When he attacked me four months ago I decided it was no longer manageable and I got in with a Behaviorist who uses force free training. After 5 sessions we're in a Much better place so I'm here to encourage you. :) It Can get better. For the resource guarding I really do recommend getting a Behaviorist. I managed it for 8 years and that was 8 years of stress I could have avoided. I didn't have $500 to drop on training during those years, but had I known how much our lives would have improved I'd have saved $20 out of each paycheck or something! It really is a massive difference. We're still working on it - he can still be an outright you-know-what about it, but now I know how to address it so that we keep making forward progress. There's a post called Mo's Escalating Behavior - that's my saga documented throughout the process. I know Adrienne has a video for dogs who attack out of jealousy. It's in her case studies and she was working with a situation similar to yours in regards to attention. Gertie gets jealous with Mo, but she's a dork about her interruptions. She starts wiggling all over the place and she'll slide onto her shoulder, then onto her back until she's between us. Mo doesn't really care and Gertie is a lover so I just send her away and put her in a stay while I finish loving on Momo. The video was doing something similar using treats. When the aggressor was coming in to attack Adrienne would throw a treat away from her and the dog getting attention. By the end of the video everyone was friendly with each other. For the sibling fighting there have been a couple posts, but folks haven't updated to answer Adrienne's questions so the posts died off. If you can set up a couple examples of when they've exhibited the behavior she'll have a better chance at helping you figure it out. How much exercise do they get? Border Collies are a super high-energy breed and if you add to that their intelligence level (smarty pants) that will probably take a role in troubleshooting. Bored dogs = mischievous dogs.

We set up a play pen today. Of course the husband had to "rig" it rather than use it as intended. He installed tethers in the form of L brackets to a bookshelf and my desk and we were able to stretch it across the room to cordon off "Gertie's area." She had plenty of room to move around, she was able to stay on her bed instead of slumming it with a blanket in a crate, and she could see out of both windows. She only got riled up when Abbi started serenading the empty house. They sang a few lovely duets throughout the 4 hours we were gone. Other than the occasional bark at whomever dared to move outside this was a big improvement. I went with a 42" tall pen so there would be no way she can jump over it and despite my doubts regarding the rigging, she never even tested it. With the way he set the L brackets the now fence is going nowhere and it does allow her quite a bit more room than she would have if it were put together as intended. Better yet, it folds neatly into the space between bookshelves so storage is easy. I'm still glad to have the camera, though. Now we just need to figure out how to rig That so we can see both girls and both can get treats. Ever the work in progress! I have determined the next house will have built in pens for each pooch in the office and I'm Trying to convince him to make a dog door so they can go in and out to a small fenced area (Gertie is Not trusted to make good decisions about rolling in the stinkiest item available). I had to laugh yesterday because my brother with his "highly trained in Germany Pointer" devoured three packs of tortillas, a bag of tortilla chips and something else (I forget what) from their pantry. They decided to let ol' Gordo have free reign of the house one day to see what would happen while they were out and now they know. It's nice to be reminded we're all in the same boat at some point with our furry companions. :D Gordo Is darn amazing (he figured out how to open a pantry and opted for that instead of tearing up the couch after all), and athletic as all get-out, but at the end of the day, he's still a dog, hehe.

Aw, I didn't know about Petra. Let's see, Abbi's bed is by the husband's chair, which is where the auditor sat. He was rolling away from her and towards me. She was cool with him being next to her until he started moving towards me and then she'd simmer down when he'd move back. I tripped over her once because she snuck over to my side and I wasn't expecting her there. He probably would have been a willing participant with helping with as fondly as he spoke of dogs he's met while visiting folks' homes. He even laughed about the St Bernard who knocked him over. He's at least 6'3" and er, has a presence (he's not a small man) and it was funny to think of a guy his size getting knocked on his keister by Beethoven (not Cujo). :D Thankfully it was an insurance audit for the business instead of tax and he really is a nice fellow. I'm not generally given to panic or freaking out, but I think the tax man coming a day earlier than anticipated would have rattled me - they've got that nasty reputation of being out to get you. Like a financial boogeyman! I was able to gather everything he needed and we were wrapped up within an hour thanks to Excel and geek power! I can genuinely say I like spreadsheets.

So we've changed things up quite a bit since my last update. Each girl now has their own bed on opposite sides of the room. We skipped the pallet high rise and instead got a smaller version of Gertie's bed for Abbi (the orthopedic spoiled rotten kind). We moved Everything out of the office and rearranged. The insurance auditor came today for the annual review and I was so discombobulated because we're not Quite yet put back together due to losing some surface space for paperwork. That, and I thought he was due to arrive Tomorrow, not today. Yikes! Ah well, at least it's over and now tomorrow is freed up. The girls Mostly behaved and one interesting thing occurred: Each time he rolled his chair over to look at my monitor, Abbi started barking her little head off - as though she was being protective of me. This is a warm dog-loving kind of guy, not a "I prefer cats" fellow; nor is he one who gives sketchy vibes, so it was weird. Especially because Abbi has never been protective of Me before (and nope, I can't be pregnant, lol, so it wasn't some Doggy Sense). She'll get snippy if the husband makes a fuss when I tickle or playfully smack him on the shoulder for saying whatever thing he comes up with to tease me; but this was the first time she's behaved that way with me. Gertie liked him quite a lot and she's more likely to be timid around a person who's giving off weird energy so perhaps Abbi is simply having a bad day. She Has been on Gertie's bed a few times today, which is the first time in 3 weeks she's done that. Anyway, Abbi now sits between 3 walls next to the husband so she has her own little cave bed area. Gertie is over by me in "our" area. In the morning I have Gertie sit until I've shut the bedroom door, then I go into the office and call Gertie, while I stand in front of Abbi so Gertie can't sneak in a quick gotcha. Abbi still grrrs some days if Gertie comes in with energy, but now it's a soft warning rather than an all-out axe-wielding psychotic screech. We're Almost to a routine now where Gertie doesn't have to be under voice control, she's beginning to do it automatically. Abbi, well, there's just no hope for training the old gal. Her arthritis is so bad that she's simply grumpy and needs to be left alone so it's up to Gertie and me to get it right. The husband Is starting to tell Abbi to go to her bed on the rare occasions she tries to venture into "our area" so that's a relief - it gets tiresome when you're the only one doling out the corrections and guidance! I"m sure you see a lot of that ("his" dog did this, "her" dog does this, "my" dog is perfect - it's "their" dog who's the problem) and we've been guilty of it a few times ourselves so it's nice to finally be on the same page. I also got to see an example of self-handicapping. When I took Gertie to play with Max the Rottweiler (I've said it before but . . . I love love love him) the first two times he just wanted to hump, mouth, and paw her. We learned that Gertie's collar = chew toy to Max so I have to take it off before they can play. I took her again last week and they were great together (aside from a couple uncomfortable face humpings Gertie paid Max back with - was Not expecting that from "my" dog!). Each time they play together Max has been adjusting the amount of strength he uses, as well as his play style, and this last time he was downright gentle. Well, as gentle as a giant can be - they both knocked into the wall pretty good a few times. Gertie kept going back for more so we assumed all was okay. This time each attempt by Max to hump was returned with Gertie going into reverse and sliding out from under him. His confusion was priceless when she was suddenly gone. Max eventually tired out and Gertie was still trying to engage, but when she saw he was pooped she flopped down beside him. I think we have a good playmate match in Max - we just need to find somewhere Other than the granite floor for them to play on. Dogs skidding everywhere, not to mention that floor is unforgiving. Off to go play catch up from the unexpected audit. Pets to your pooches!