JMFS

Hooray for the giardia being gone! I know all-to-well what that's like (only Bloat instead) to be constantly cleaning up. I bought 12 large reusable pee pads just for those situations since Esther is so adventurous with her mouth, and the incontinence. I hose them off outside before putting them in our washing machine. I get the same twinge of suspicion when we get soft stools! "Ugh, not again!" Ear scratches to Loki (with damp hands, lol). <3

Tomorrow at noon they pick her up. She cleared the exam today, got her rabies booster, leptosis, and distemper shots. Turns out there's a new shot for heartworm that lasts 6 months to 1 year, so I got the 6-month dose done and she'll just take Nexguard or something for fleas. All-in-all, though, she's ready to go. And godspeed to them because a lady had a puppy outside as we were leaving and Esther was Really trying to get to the puppy. High pitched shrieking, low to the ground paddling her way as best she could. Then the lady lost control of the puppy (why it was Not on a leash next to a 50 mph highway is beyond me) and it ran towards us. I pulled Esther to the other side of my truck, and she was kicking up all the rocks they have for pavement, so she couldn't see the puppy, but darn if that puppy didn't keep making it into our view. I had my hands full with receipts and her new flea chew so I was fumbling along the best I could. I finally got Esther into the truck, the lady got the puppy (it thankfully ran towards us instead of towards the highway) and that was that. I gave her a good flirt pole session to discharge that energy and that girl is Still awake, staring at me as I type. As I said, godspeed, lol. I don't know that they're believing me with the severity of this child's issues.

Interesting. There's no telling what chemicals are in those sheets. Even the "all natural" ones are suspect because poison ivy is all natural, but I wouldn't recommend using it in a face wash or shampoo, lol. Given the small amount of chemicals the dogs could ingest, though, it's likely safe for occasional use. I think conditioner made for dogs mixed with water in a spray bottle would be a better solution, though. One thing I like to do with the girls when their skin is dry, which I just recalled, is to make an oat milk and chamomile rinse. I put regular oats in a French press, then add chamomile flowers and put the plunger in. Then I fill to the top with water and let that sit overnight. I bathe them, then pour the oat milk over their coat and let it sit for about 10 minutes (they're Fairly decent at standing still for me) before lightly rinsing it off. Perhaps the mist using conditioner that's okay for dogs, or even the oat milk, might work. All ours are short hair so I can't really test it out. Momo always had plenty of dust in his fur to prevent static, lol.

This is a product my groomer friend uses. She avoids dryer sheets due to the chemicals, but says they do work well for brushing when the hair wants to clump together. Just in case you end up needing something more to add to your current solution. :) She says there are many varieties of this type of product out there, this is just the one she uses when grooming.

@FrederykBlotYou're just electrifying! 😆😆😆 I'm the same way - I produce more static than the rest of the family. Thankfully we have mostly hard floors with only my daughter's and the guest / storage / my yarn room having carpet. I used to discharge my electricity by keeping a key next to my sink and touching that to the faucet. With hair down to my waist the static halo of I can get around my head is quite impressive, lol.

Water. You could use a washcloth to dampen his coat - that would help eliminate the static. I would think adding an oil like jojoba or coconut would assist in coating the fur. If it's your hands, you could keep a damp washcloth nearby (not always convenient) and wipe your hands on that before touching him. Do you brush Loki? The oils from his skin would be spread throughout his coat, thus helping to reduce static. There are brushes made for reducing static electricity. If it's not very humid where you are, running a humidifier can help, too. That would be the least intrusive / disruptive method. Also the easiest. I'll ask my friend who is a dog groomer if she has any additional ideas. She turned us on to this Espree line of shampoos and conditioners. https://www.espree.com/dog-grooming/simple-shed-static-spray

I took everything into consideration and made a plan from there. On Tuesday they'll pick her up. They're going to work on the things I haven't had time to instill (leave, touch, loose leash, muzzle). They predict 3 weeks, I think it will be longer. 1st week is intensive training using science-based force free (hooray!) methods. If she's ready then the 2nd week will be socialization work which will include trips to pet-friendly places and we can go watch her in action. The 3rd week will be non-pet friendly places. This will be interesting . . .. They have miniature horses, too, that they train for service animal duty. She Was going to go with them this Tuesday, but guess who got sick because Everything goes in her mouth?! Gertie had outgrown that phase by now. Esther is, by far, the mouthiest dog I've ever met. I had to scoop a bunch of wet leaves out of her mouth, and retrieved a lava rock (mulch) from her mouth, before we left for my cataract assessment and the veterinarian's office Monday. Surgery next month, hooray! Being able to see will have an impact on my workload. Currently my eyes are so bad that they're slowing me down significantly. I can't tell a 6 from a 8 from a 5 more often than I care to address. Not a good thing since my biggest function is as our finance person! Esther started throwing up Wednesday - Friday and I chalked it up to getting worked up over anticipating dinner because it was at dinner time, clear with a slight green tint, and only once. Saturday it was more than once so I took away food. Sunday afternoon and evening she got chicken and rice. No more vomiting, but we went to the vet, just in case. She's on antibiotics and an antiemetic as a precaution, as well as Royal Canin gastro food. I got "the talk" about training her to wear a muzzle, and I let them know we're working on it but it's slow going because she has to love the thing if it's going to be a useful tool. The more I see her react to other dogs the more I'm suspecting it's a barrier frustration. After she comes home to us they'll do a session to show us what she's learned, and how to handle situations with their training. This is going to be weird! They include 6 weeks of training with the board and train package so we can work with them to reinforce what she's learned. They're not going to just send her off and wish us luck, whew! Leah and I will continue to work with Gertie on polite greetings so I can take her places without her devolving into wiggle butt mode. I think Gertie won't be the only one relieved to have an Esther break. Her energy is so chaotic at times and it will be nice to have a vacation from that. I adore her, but sometimes I just need a breather! Oh, the sit at the door. I touch the door handle, she's supposed to sit. I open the door and start moving outside, she's supposed to hold the sit. This is where she starts trying to follow, despite plenty of slack in the leash. I have a chair by the door that I can use with my body to block her from rushing out. When she breaks the sit I say, "uh oh," then close the door and reset the exercise. When we get outside she's to sit next to the door (the space the chair and my body are creating). She sits wonderfully, but as soon as I begin to move Up she goes. Both girls are scanning the yard instead of looking at me and both of them are otherwise good at looking at me. Outside is just too exciting with all the smells and sounds, even though there's no activity. Not that I can see anyway, but I'm flying pretty blind these days, lol. With the leash training - we don't really go out into the neighborhood because everyone has dogs. She's just too much for me right now. We do walks in our yard and she's beginning to ignore the neighbors' dogs across the street, but the neighbors right next to us rarely have their dogs out so when they are present it's Quite exciting for Esther. Her threshold is at ground level. We had guys here today working on the irrigation and she was pulling my husband towards them. He didn't let her get her way while she was pulling (u-turns!) and they Slowly made their way to the guys. Once she was over there she sniffed them, then let them pet her. He said she ignored them after that. I have to keep reminding myself how far she's come. When she first came home any sudden movement would cause her to cower and pee. Now it makes her want to jump and play. Somewhere in the middle would be nice! She's still quite skittish and suspicious of new things, but her confidence has grown significantly for the most part.

Soooo, we went out for our normal Friday evening Date Night. We returned a couple hours later to Esther having eaten part of the floor. She could have just Told us she didn't like the decor . . .. Now we have: 12 x 24 LVP tiles that are intended for wet areas most LVP is Not and water will seep between the grooves 24" high PVC sheeting on the wall at one point she was starting to lick the drywall and I managed to get her to stop that, but Just in case the walls were getting filthy from the Wobbler and her slurping up the kibble that landed next to the wall Baseboard Small enough, we hope, to dissuade her from chewing it up caulked under the baseboard caulked around the baseboard PVC stops on top of the sheeting the sheeting doesn't cut evenly the stops are So cute, especially with how my husband picture framed the corners I can imagine kiddos playing up here after we sell the house. A little table and chairs for tea parties! Total cost for the two is ~$400. We didn't go cheap this time. The flooring was $275 and the pvc sheeting $83 with our construction and Lowe's Amex discounts. The husband provided free labor, lol. Fingers crossed! By the time we find a dog-proof solution we'll have a back up plan for work if the Real Estate market plummets again, haha. I want to move my desk to the area, but alas it's far too large, haha. It's a little quieter and feels cozy. We're looking for a better gate, but it's Really tough to find one that fits a 44" opening. Most go to about 40" or 42" maximum. She's chewed most of the plastic off the current gate. Gertie's kennel will get only the tile and baseboard because she only eats in there and doesn't make a mess. Leah did tell me about a trainer here who uses the same methods and can board train. Our thought is to get Esther the basics (nice loose leash, polite greetings, recall) so that Leah and I can then dig our heels in to work on the real issues. I'm at capacity, over really, with work, home, and health right now. I haven't been able to do more than 15 minutes of training with the girls each week and my patience level is at an all-time low, which is not a good combination with Esther's issues. I want to do right by her, so I'm looking at all possible options. We're not even sure the trainer will take her with the aggression issues. The husband keeps saying we just need to take her to a park and let her mingle so we're split on that front, which doesn't help. He thinks she's magically going to get along with all the other dogs, and I'm not willing to take the chance. Leah explained to him what's likely going on with Esther when she sees other dogs, but he's just unable to believe dogs can't get along with other dogs. It's a wee bit challenging over here these days! She would have gone through the tv last night if he hadn't been holding her collar. There was a dog tied out, lying down and whimpering, that was rescued from its yard. It was a calm scene, but Esther jumped up at the sound, then at the sight she squared her body, tail went straight in the air, and a series of loud barks were followed by softer growls and then alternating growls and whines. Husband paused the show, dog was visible in the backseat of a car, I told him to turn the tv off (as Leah has told us to do but he only ever pauses, gah!). After the tv was off she started settling and once she was lying down again I took her to her crate in our bedroom, gave her a bully stick, closed the bedroom door, and we finished our show. She barked from the time she finished the bully to about 5 minutes before the show was over. The dog was out of the show 15 seconds after I removed Esther, and no more dogs appeared. We've had her almost a year and she's made leaps and bounds with her confidence and no longer cowering or submissively peeing, so I have to give her credit there. We've had maybe 3 accidents in the last 2 months and I'm starting to suspect the Rock Rose and Plum Cherry in the Rescue Remedy may have something to do with that. No more Proin, no more Incurin. She's been off those medications for 2 months now. Her leash manners are moderately better, but her impulse control is practically non-existent. We've been practicing polite sits at the door, and after exiting the door, and it's like every day it's a brand new thing I'm asking her to do. Short term memory for sure on this girl, yet she's flipping brilliant! Everything goes in her mouth, still. I kid you not when I say in the span of time it takes me to go downstairs, fill a glass of water, and come back upstairs she'll have torn up 2 envelopes and swallowed half of one. As long as someone is up here with her she's okay (better with me than not), but left to her own devices she's destructive and nervous. I need a doggy vacation! She's such a loving puppy, despite all her issues. Once she's accepted you, you're part of her clan and can do no wrong. She adores Leah now, where initially she was Not feeling this intruder At All. I know she can be helped, I'm just overwhelmed with umpteen other things in addition to her. So sorry for the woe-is-me, lol. Hopefully the next update will be filled with positive remarks! I hope all is well in your world!

I echo, "please don't feel like a horrible owner!" Out of the five dogs we've had, Esther is making me feel like I don't know Anything about dogs! However, I my Momo and Gertie are evidence to my ability to train. Even my husband's Dachshunds eventually came around, but Esther is . . . special. Not only do I have Adrienne's wonderful advice and help, but I have a trainer who comes to our house and Esther is Still a hot mess. She nearly went through the television last night because of a dog in a show. You are not alone! I was going to recommend a bed, but I see you already tried that. Gah! I'll be watching this thread for sure. I have a feeling there's going to be some excellent information forthcoming. The calming chews can be phased out once she's able to self-soothe. For now think of them as a training tool to keep her under threshold while you and Adrienne troubleshoot. For a GSD, especially, this one sounds like it would be a winner. I don't see the Hide and Seek aka Find It game posted. That may be a good one, too. It would give purpose to her movements rather than pacing. GSDs are fantastic at that game! You may even try it before you craft, and perhaps outside where it's more challenging. Or a flirt pole - those hit brain work, play, and exercise. I think of the flirt pole like the "Jazz up, Settle Down" game because the pup gets all excited, gets to play, then has to sit to reset the game. It's Esther's all-time favorite. I have also been using "Quiet Moments" by NaturVet. https://www.chewy.com/naturvet-quiet-moments-simulated/dp/45344 It's a spray that emulates pheromones to calm Esther down so I can get some work done. I alternate it with a lavender essential oil spray: https://www.indigowild.com/zum-mist-lavender.html The lavender spray calms Me down, too, because that nervous energy of Esther's drives me bonkers! That brings me to my closing - how do you react to her pacing? I don't mean ignoring, but do you tense up? Roll your eyes? Pause your crafting to peek at her? Do you watch her from the corner of your eye? Do you maybe sigh exasperatedly? Your reactions could contribute - I know mine do with Esther because I get exhausted with the constant energy. I often let out a big ol' sigh like, "omg would you just Stop?!" She knows it's for her. I'm a work in progress, too.

Hi Jerilyn, Would you mind sharing which collar you went with? There are several Great Pyrenees around the forum, and more to come I'm sure! I'm willing to bet they'd love to know what you found.

Well, she got to see firsthand the fighting. We went about 4 months, I think, without a fight. It's just too exciting with the trainer there and her super good treats. The girls were under the table, I don't remember where Leah was, and I was sitting in the corner with Esther. My best guess is Esther pushed Gertie one too many times and Gertie snapped then a fight ensued. This time, though, Gertie got the better of Esther before we pulled them apart. Leah did the wheelbarrow with Gerts and Esther kept trying to lunge towards Gertie. Esther was tethered to me, though, so she wasn't going anywhere. Esther ended up with a couple small abrasions - one below her eye and one further down her cheek. Gertie was fine. Esther is showing her street cred with her tear drop scab! Leah's assessment was that Esther had nowhere to escape to so it was all fight. Esther was in the corner with me while also being leashed to me and with them being under the table it was even more confining. She wasn't overly concerned as both girls showed restraint and each could have greatly harmed the other but did not. She advised to keep the rest of the day calm so they could decompress so I put Esther in her kennel with a treat and Gertie on their bed with a treat so they didn't have to be near each other for a couple hours. The Drop training, Patel style, is going well. Esther is picking up on the cue and I think we're just about ready to step it up a notch. I'm still using her morning meal and am keeping my eye out for chicken to be back on the shelves. Muzzle training is going well, too. We had to remodel it a bit. Instead of waiting for 5+ seconds and excitedly taking it off her I'm slowly taking it away at 3 or maybe 2 or maybe I do wait until 5+, etc . . .. She gets a whole Ziwi Peak if I give the treat while her nose is in the muzzle and a quarter of one if I give it outside of the muzzle. After muzzle training she gets to do a search game outside with treats scattered all over the patio. The idea is kind of like when we get the brussels sprouts eaten we can have dessert - do the least favorable / hardest things out of the way so the rest of the day is fun / easy. We'll work up to moving into the yard eventually but for now that's a no go because we have 3 hawks and 2 owls who keep dropping all manner of disgusting things in the yard that the girls are excited about. We have 1/3 acre of carcasses it seems some days - it's basically a bone yard! She's still pulling on the leash but not nearly as much. I made a potty station near the "trail" and that's helped a bit with expectation. I have a scoop with a bag on it out there to keep it clean and I don't have to walk half a mile to go dump it each time - that was messing with our cadence. I remove the bag before each trash day and dispose of it. No more hunting for things (well, I still kind of do because of the cataracts, but at least I know where to look now!). Gertie is mostly working on polite greetings. Esther isn't ready for that training, yet. We've worked Gerts up to knocks on the wall serving as a cue to lie down on the mat. The goal is to have her up to the door handle being rattled, maybe even the door opening, by the time Leah returns. Last Monday I almost packed Esther up and headed your way, lol. It was a bad bad day for us. She was 100 mph from the start of the day. My breaking point was when we were at the base of the stairs and she had a burst of energy for no reason I could discern. She kicked her porcelain feeding bowl and sent it flying. It broke in half and that was that for me. I was d.o.n.e. done! Almost wrote the husband a note: "taking Esther to Adrienne's, be back later. xoxo" Rofl! I am so busy with work right now that I have half a mind to send Esther to a boot camp, but I don't trust everyone's methods. You or Leah are the only ones I would feel confident with and Leah doesn't have the space (and she has 3 dogs, 2 of which are dog aggressive). Hope all is well in your corner of the world!

Esther has done that to both of us with the poop, and you're right. It's retch-worthy. Ugh! I started with her kibble for now - chicken is a rare commodity these days and our stores are bare. She already trusts us 100% with hands and is the polar opposite of Momo when it comes to guarding resources, thank goodness!

Adrienne, I Love that approach from Chirag Patel! We tried it this morning and Esther took to it excellently. She's so flipping Fast with getting things in her mouth and this gives us a great starting point. She'll let me delve into her maw to retrieve items, but I'd rather get her to drop the gross stuff on her own, lol. I was cracking up at your video each time the pup spat the item out. Something about a fluffy being ejecting a large item out of their mouth had me giggling. H Morris, I hope you find success with the different items! These furry heart stealers can be a major challenge at times!

Maybe go even lower value. Esther will do anything for food so I know well your struggle! Maybe a carrot? She'll eat carrots, but given something else she'll latch on to the else. An apple slice? Broccoli? Blueberry, banana, cantaloupe, celery, green bean, spinach, or some other dog-safe less exciting snack. If one of those works then you can slowly work your way through the list from least desirable to most.

Emergency U-turn for sure! That has been one of the key ingredients with getting Esther to stop trying to haul me all over the yard. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/using-jolly-routine-fearful-dogs/ Those mostly talk about fearful / aggressive reactions, but it works with playful, too. It's not uncommon for our training session to consist of 4 minutes of u-turns and 1 minute of walking, so keep that in mind. It's all practice and it all counts!

Esther is moderating herself! She's really coming into her own lately. She's still giving me challenges, but she's beginning to mature. Even the trainer comments on how Esther Wants to do the right thing, she's just not sure How, or lacks the impulse control. I'm almost certain she's even smarter than Momo was, and that's saying a Lot. Her tongue has several black splotches! That's funny about the Corgi (from the other post) because I've been trying to divert the husband from getting another Dachshund and have put the Corgi bug in his brain. Corgis have their own challenges, but I've already been there, done that, with Dachshunds so why not give a different breed a try? He has watched numerous videos and read articles so there's hope. Yes, they're more grooming maintenance than Dachshunds, but after Mo there really is no coat I can't tackle. I swear he had 3 undercoats! Yes! Covid is running rampant again. Several of our sub contractors have it. It's such a bizarre illness - I tested negative 10 days after my husband tested positive and I had no symptoms whereas my husband was coughing violently, had the body aches, and Zero energy. He went to a clinic yesterday and they pumped him full of vitamins and fluids and gave him Rx for a Z-pack, codeine medication, and Ivermectin. He was sitting upright tonight, which is a major improvement. Like you, I was expecting to see Lab and AmStaff on those results. Lab was 5%. Chow Chow was a complete surprise, especially being twice as much as Labrador! 12% Catahoula?! You just never know with pound puppies! One neat thing about this test is that it gives me information on other dogs who were tested, and who share the same genetic markers. I have a list of 2 "extended family" and 21 distant relatives. One of the distant is also in Florida. They don't give a manner to contact, but it's fun to look at. I'll try to get some pictures, or maybe a video, up of the trail. I put up one solar spotlight tonight and it's quite good. I need the second one to be able to see everything, but still, it's far better than the previous cheap ones I bought. And even if the sun doesn't charge them I can use the USB charger as a back up. That was a driving factor in the purchase - I've been let down by so many solar lights!

This is just an update / progress post. We went over Esther's results yesterday (it was Training Day) and she was interested to note that there are several one-person kind of dogs, almost 50% guarding breeds, and we're wondering if the herding is maybe what's influencing Esther to constantly try to move Gertie around. Most of the breeds that make her up are low on the barking scale, which tracks. She only barks for separation or when Gertie starts barking. For the most part she's blissfully quiet! When she needs or wants something she makes noises rather than barks so she's very vocal, just not overly loud. I think we can see where her energy level comes from, lol. I don't think there's a single relaxed breed in her results. Chow Chow may be the closest with an energy rating of 3 / 5 on the AKC scale. Aside from the Bloodhoud, Catahoula, and Rottweiler all the breeds hit on the mouthy scale and boy is that ever true for her! She has to touch Everything with her mouth. Thank goodness she has excellent bite inhibition and is generally soft mouthed. We worked on basket muzzle training, woo hoo! I really want to get that trained so she can wear her very own muzzle to the vet's office rather than them trying to struggle with her to get it on. I think that will lower some of her anxiety. We also worked on politely exiting the house. Ever since she injured my finger she's been pulling on the leash, scanning the yard, and anxious to get out there and explore. It must have been highly reinforcing to break free that day. I'm waiting for a sit at anything that can be perceived as a door (we have Tons of opportunities there - every room can be closed off). When I get a sit it's, "good girl, 2, 3, 4, 5," then "let's go!" Once we cross the threshold it's time to sit again and wait for the "yes," which is my marker and means a tasty reward. It worked so very well when the trainer was here, but once I was on my own, well . . . we have some work to do, lol. Gertie got some attention, too. She is an enthusiastic greeter so, as I mentioned in another post, we're working on getting a down on her mat when people come in. For now we're at the point of waiting for a down, "good girl," counting to 5, then "yes," followed by tossing a treat to reset. She helped me remodel my marker - I was marking the treat being tossed rather than the down. Esther's leash manners still need improvement, but they're markedly better. I was able to walk her past the yard guys, to the mailbox across the street, grab the trash bin, then walk her back into the garage. She pulled a couple times but I was able to get her back quickly with the help of Ziwi Peak. :D Husband has been down for the count with Covid the past 14 days as of today so I've been stretched thin. I am thus far unaffected and figure I would have been sick by now so I'm calling myself in the clear. My test came out negative in less than 3 minutes, though I did wait the full 15 just in case. While he was miserable on the couch (and out of my hair!) I managed to clear more of my trail, and it's looking pretty good. I have more poison oak on my face, lol. It must be on my gloves and I sometimes absentmindedly swipe at the sweat - it's a habit I need to break. I began clearing a potty area so I can more easily clean up after her. I found some solar spot lights that will help me at night and some solar string lights to Hopefully light the trail. I haven't had much luck with solars, but I also bought cheap ones in the past. I bit the bullet and paid a bit more for these so my fingers are crossed! Not having to carry a flashlight at night would be hugely helpful. If they work well then I'll purchase more for the fence line out front. The spotlights are certainly bright, and they can be USB charged if the sun doesn't work or it's grey out like today. A thing of curiosity has occurred with Esther. She's been off the Incurin and Proin for 8 days now (Chewy had issues in getting the Rx delivered and I was sweating it, lol). Rather than cleaning messes all week, though, we only had one accident after she drank all of Gertie's water in one session. Out of curiosity I've bumped her up to 12 oz from 8 oz per serving and she's holding it thus far! I am going to hold on to the meds and wait to see what happens. I couldn't find a single article online that mentions anything about the issue resolving with maturity so I have a question for the vet if Esther goes for another week with excellent control. I'd imagine the medicines are well and truly out of her system by now! The Proin strengthens the smooth muscles for better urinary control so it could be that they're good 'n strong now, but could backslide once the medicine is no longer helping. I would love for her to be able to live a drug free life since there are always side effects, even if we can't see them. Fingers are crossed! The girls have been serious fight-free since the last time I posted about a fight. Once in a while Gertie will snip at Esther, but Esther has backed off each time. It's usually when they're sleeping and Esther has the audacity to stretch into Gertie. Last night there was a small correction for Esther standing over Gertie while my husband was petting Esther. I corrected Esther, but was then made aware that she wasn't doing anything wrong (say the humans) and Gertie just grumped at her. So my husband received a correction in the form of a reminder that Gerts doesn't like her sleeping space invaded by Esther. Anyone else, including the cat, can do it, but not Esther. I hope all has been well with you!

I think management is going to be suggested. Whether they normally share wonderfully or not there's that underlying tension. The more they get to rehearse the bullying / stealing behavior, the more rewarding it is, and the more it will be performed. When I give treats Esther goes to her kennel. There's a post around her, "Esther Shares, Gertie Does Not." Gertie is Highly tolerant and patient, but she is not one to share her treats. She Used to, but my first pup, Momo, had major issues with resource guarding. She learned the behavior from him. We can take whatever we need to away from her and she looks offended, but she concedes. I always give her something better in return so that smooths any ruffled feathers (as if - she's such a sweetheart!). If Esther, Abbi, or the cat (Monkey) tries to so much as investigate what she has, she'll get snippy. Esther will happily share, but once Gertie gets snippy then Esther takes it up a notch and it escalates to a fight. So, for us it makes the most sense to keep them separated from one another when anything of any value is given (we never know what's going to be perceived as valuable so we err on the side of caution). Separating can be as simple as putting one in the kitchen (preferably Niko if he doesn't raid the trash) to enjoy the item while the other gets to revel in theirs elsewhere. That prevents the bullying behavior of stealing the item as well as keeping fights from happening. That's just my recommendation based on my experience. Especially since there has now been an injury between the boys. Something else that comes to mind is teaching them to retire to a mat (or bed if they have separate beds), on opposite sides of the room, when they have a treat. Since you have trained them to take things one at a time as they're being distributed this might be a viable option. Then a correction can be issued when one goes after the treat the other has. Maybe the treat they had gets taken up if they leave the mat and reappears when they go to the mat so they learn the only time they get to have a treat is when they're on the mat. If you need to leash one or the other, or both, to the spot, there's nothing wrong with that. Esther is leashed when we sit on the couch because she'll wander off and get into Everything, and there's a good chance she'll pee as well (she's incontinent). Another thought: Yuko doesn't take kindly to his crate, but what about Niko? And does Yuko leave Niko alone if Niko is in a crate, or will he just go over to the crate and bark at poor Niko? Without knowing how you're working on the attention sharing, the way we trained it was when Esther was getting loving and Gertie was trying to butt in I'd have my husband body block Gertie while I told her, "Esther's turn." Then we'd switch and it was "Gertie's turn." If it was just me I'd turn my back to the one who was trying to horn in on the action. It's something we have to stay on top of because they both love to be loved. Gertie is more acquiescent and Esther is the bully in our household.

Momo: Gertie: Three different vendors, though Momo and Gertie's were run through the same testing facility. Momo and Esther were swabs and Gertie was a blood draw. Esther Would have been a blood draw, but she was having none of that.

I thought this might be a fun thread for folks who have pups of questionable lineage. I've gotten all three of my Heinz 57 pups tested. I take it with a grain of salt, but it's fun to see what pops up. Esther's been watered down more than a few times. I don't see, "Rubber Chicken" in the results . . .. This was the Wisdom Panel test.

I know it's a lot to go through, especially if you're ready as you're practicing, so I found the quote about take within the lesson: "Take" should be like an instant reward where "leave" is going to be more difficult to get the thing they want. Dogs are opportunists and will do the least amount of work they can for a gain. I should start practicing this more with Esther. She's like a freaking Hoover vacuum. Everything goes in her mouth and she's not growing out of the phase.

They both use their back legs as pillows! Esther is Finally starting to take naps, thank goodness. The husband tested positive for Covid on Friday and tonight the girls were all snuggled up with him and refused to get off the couch because they were so sleepy and relaxed. I'd call them off, they'd look at me and fall back asleep, lol. I had to pick them both up and they were like 46 and 42 pound wet noodles. I would have left them there, but he needed room to stretch out. They're currently in a state much like this picture.

While Esther doesn't snarl, she was (and still can be) Horrible with following where I wanted her to go. Three things have helped immensely in the last 3 weeks. 1. The leash pressure Adrienne mentioned. I'm practicing this in the yard, but I really like the couch suggestion for getting started. Far less distractions! I do a smacking sound or say, "here" and when she's at my desired future heel position she gets a treat. 1b. Every single potty trip is a training session for us 2. Emergency U-turns - they're not just for emergencies. I attribute this to most of our success and her decreased pulling. You'll need to find your own personal touch on it. For instance, Esther responds best if I hold and lift the leash about 18" from her and pivot around that and her. Gertie needs me to use the leash pressure on a more parallel angle. There's an inner and an outer u-turn. Inner you pivot around your dog, outer your dog pivots around you. I attribute the u-turns to the occasional attention heeling I get from her and it's a thing of beauty! I feel highly accomplished teaching her how to walk, lol. 3. Walk in a big circle going in whichever direction you want her to heel on. I have a right-handed heel because our parks require us to "curb" our dogs, which means they have to walk on our right-hand side. So when Esther starts pulling ahead of me I'll start veering into her and use my legs (gently!) to move her in the direction I'm going. I use this method on the u-turn as well, but she's usually much closer to me when I do those. For all three I use the treat as a lure. For leash pressure it's Really tough to do, but I was taught to keep my hand stationary rather than using it to pull the dog. Instead, the treat is what's going to encourage her to come to my hand and put slack in that leash. The first few days were awful and aggravating. By the 5th day she was beginning to respond marvelously to the U-turn so I make sure to do Lots of those in the yard every potty break. It might take us 10 turns to get to the back end of the yard, for example. I do it whether there's something I want her to turn away from or not and I keep the treat at my thigh which makes her have to come to that position for the reward on the inner turn. For the outer turn I'm still working on my own coordination - for some reason this one is more difficult for me. She swings a bit wide, but it's the same as the inner turn - keep that treat next to the thigh so she has to stick to you like glue. A useful tool I have (because I'm arthritic and am sometimes super stiff and not quite able to maintain a firm grip) is a leash that I can hook around my waist. It gives me a little extra leverage. My in-person trainer forgot hers here and I've fallen in love with it. She said use it until she gets back and use it I have! It's paracord braided with a clip on each end (no handle). Every 18" or so there is a closed ring the clips can be attached to that allows for so so many configurations. I can clip it around my waist and put a traffic handle closer to the dog's collar. I can shorten it by clipping some of the length around to the section around my waist. Here's a video of the leash I "borrowed." I have her bringing 2 to me on her next visit. I love that I can use up to 6' and can shorten it to my liking. I also discovered that if I hook the handle end onto 3 rings and slide it under the pantry threshold, then close the door, Esther is effectively tethered and I can move about the kitchen freely (she's incontinent and I like to limit her to one area for me to clean rather than me Easter egg hunting for puddles). https://www.leashesbyliz.com/multipurpose-leash-video

This is what we're practicing with Gertie. If you don't already have a mat I recommend getting a rubber-backed mat that's Just for the pups. That keeps it from sliding around, which is helpful. I bought a 2' x 3' mat at Walmart for $4 or so specifically for this training exercise. Wouldn't you know, Esther caught on immediately after watching Gertie - she's so flipping smart! She automatically goes to the mat and sits on it while I'm putting on my muck boots (wellies, rain boots, sloggers . . .) to go outside. We had to break it down further for Gerts because she is a little slower on the uptake. She's normally so well-behaved that we rarely ask things of her, and when we do she gives us a blank stare, lol. When we get to a stalemate and she won't go to the mat, or she's only touching it instead of sitting and not really understanding how to win the treat, I say, "uh oh," and pick up the mat to reset the game. When she successfully sits I say, "yes!" and toss a treat away from the mat, which is meant to reset the game so we can play it again. As she starts to grasp the concept (we only just got the mat) I'll have her hold a sit for longer periods of time before introducing a volunteer. We'll likely start with my husband asking for the sit and me entering. I am the least exciting person around her because I'm home all the time so I should be the easiest criteria raise. Tip: with training two dogs I'm leaving one in a separate room with something to keep her occupied while I train with the other. I can train Esther with Gertie in the room, but not the other way around.

Way to go! I appreciate it when folks follow up with their results - it helps motivate the rest of us. Keep up the great work!