It's been awhile since I wrote last. I've been diligently working with Ellie to help her become a better well trained pup. We've made substantial progress in so many areas. She's still a huge chewer but there's progress in that department as well. Ellie is now 7 1/2 months old. She is house trained and crate trained. She could use some more training in the recall department but I believe that I just need patience. She is a very smart pup. Some of the commands she will follow are: sit (she had this mastered very early), paw, other paw, down, up, off, lick, look, speak, whisper, high five and most recently if I say "get the ball" she brings one of three of her balls that she has. If she wants water, she will literally pick up her bowl in her mouth and bring me the bowl. She sits near the door when she wants to go out. At night, we crate her unless my daughter sleeps with her on the bean bag chair. She does this sometimes. She will stay with my daughter on the bean bag chair if she has to go in the middle of the night, she will wake her up with kisses on her face. She doesn't resource guard anymore... and pretty much will let me take anything from her.. but I don't unless it's harmful to her. She lets me. Many times she'll drop it but sometimes I have to actually take it from her mouth prying her mouth open. She doesn't let me but she doesn't growl or bite me like she would do when she was younger. She got a hold of a clothes pin yesterday and was chewing it like popcorn. I did get most of from her. I think it's huge progress that we are at the point that though she resists me taking it from her, she trusts me that she isn't trying to bite me. This is what she should do in my opinion. At about 4 months, I brought her to a doggie daycare that is close to my house and I think that helped a lot. Though, sometime in July, she bit an employee. I was still allowed to bring her there but she would no longer be in the playroom with other dogs. Well, that defeats the purpose of bringing her there. I learned that she was being aggressive another dog and when the employee tried to break them up, he pulled her by her collar. She bit him and broke skin and everything. The manager of the playroom was literally giving me advice that sometimes you have to give them smacks on the snout. WHAT? I couldn't believe she said that and I quickly explained that my dog doesn't like that treatment. If you smack her, she will bite you... and rightfully so. She is protecting herself. If you are aggressive with her, she will be aggressive you with you. At the time that this happened, I learned that Ellie responded better when I whispered to her. The firmer and harsher my voice was, the more rough she was. When I whispered the commands to her.. whisper but firm, she would obey. I have since spoken with trainers at the daycare and have been given confirmation that my dog is not aggressive. She just has some poor manners. I agree. She is great at home but now I have to work with her in public. Currently, I'm working with her walking on the leash. I'm using the clicker and she's doing great. Funny how I can't even remember some of the issues I had. I just remember what turmoil my house was under and how we were so close to getting rid of her. I'm glad we didn't. She still is a pup and does things we don't want but still love my pup. She keeps me company when I am home and everyone else is off at work and school. Lisa
Lovely to hear your update and how well she is doing. I am impressed with "speak". Does she "stop speaking " too? Sorry to hear about your dog day care. Does she still go there?
Great news Ellie is doing well, impressed by her "speaking" too! It is funny how the early days sort of fade from your memory!
So very pleased to read your post, that things are positive and on the up ! Sorry though to read about the daycare issues , smacking is never an option , but well done with all
When I say "speak" she will just give a couple of barks. She doesn't continue to bark. We've also taught her "whisper." So she will make a very soft bark. She's getting much better on the leash. I've learned that initially she is very excited so she pulls but I'm still working with her and she's getting better. It seems every time I start taking her out, we have a bunch of rain so then I stop. I could take her in the rain but I'd rather not. I remember she didn't used to like to go out in the rain but now she doesn't care. Rain or shine, she wants outside to do her business, which makes me happy. Whew! I thought she'd never house train. One hiccup... about 2 weeks after my update, Ellie bit my 9 year old daughter. The resource guarding is still an issue but only with certain kinds of bones. My daughter is ok. She bit her in her foot.. which was bad news for a soccer player. It didn't go all the way through thankfully. It's funny because most people that have small dogs, are appalled that my daughter was bit and most people with large dogs ask me "what did your daughter do?" And, they all usually have some sort of story about how their kid was pulling, yanking, or in general bothering the dog and bit their kid Well, that's exactly what happened. Ellie had finally had enough... well, really, I think it's that she had a new bone nearby and she was already on edge about it. She still isn't 100% sure of my daughter since she does unpredictable things to her. Sometimes she's petting and nice and other times, she's bothering her and pulling on her and pushing, etc. Ellie is a pup. She is still making sense of the world around and my 9 year old is unpredictable. So... while it is unacceptable that Ellie bit my daughter, I understand why she did.. and now we are taking steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again. My daughter is treating her better and we all have a watchful eye on both of them when they are together. My daughter learned to pay attention to the dog's clues.. i.e. don't ignore her when she growls or moves away. So, they are building their relationship of trust together. Since then, Ellie has gone through about 15 toys. Most of the toys she's had for several months and being such a huge chewer, they couldn't withstand her chewing on them. The knots and any kind of stuffed toy she has destroyed. Now she just has a few balls and a few nylabones left. I need to buy some more toys for her. I'm not sure what yet. Any recommendations? I will post in another thread about that. Thanks for all of your support. Lisa
