Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Labinbath basically you have a giddy child who gets so super excited when he sees another dog and would just love to go and say hello , Which is what we had with our Jake, But we had some very sympathetic dog owners who were happy for Jake to say hello on the lead and as soon as he got up to them all the excitement disappeared and after a few seconds he was happy to walk away . Now six months down the line he still gets a little excited on seeing new dogs but overall is not all that bothered , It sounds like you are doing your very best to get him trained and give him structure just keep been consistent and you will get their . Mike
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Thanks Mike. Yes we are doing all we can and can honestly say that in the two weeks we've had him, we have a vastly different dog to one at the previous owners house. He is now a calm, friendly and relaxed guy around the house, likes to play when we do, is house trained, only gives a bark when the doorbell rings and is enjoying learning new commands. Now that we have the confidence to let him off lead he is burning off the extra energy and exuberance leaving him mellow and happy the rest of the time. He has met a coupe dogs off lead, had a play around with them, but today he got so carried away with the other dog we had to go get him, showing us up a little as the other dog owners had to hold his harness while we hurried over! but show him that ball and BOOM he is heeling like a champion without the lead, being just super! All in all we are very happy with the progress Dex is making. The trainer on our second session said he was real handful, more than other dogs and had a very short attention span. This wasn't great news to hear as we feel he wasn't seeing the whole picture and to be fair Dexter was having one of his crazy moments, getting pretty impatient being on the lead when there was a a strong wind blowing, smells and puddles all distracting him making him look really naughty as he just had no focus and made us look like we hadn't been practicing anything all week!
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Sounds like he is going great!! He sounds like a smart dog who is very keen to learn and is very well able to focus his attention (even for lengthy periods) when he sees the point of it all. Really good to hear that you are making each other happy
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs He sounds lovely, and you are doing very well with him.
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Lovely to read through this and get to a really positive ending, keep doing what you`re doing and good luck
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Labinbath i would not worry to much about what the trainer has said our first and last lesson with an A.P.D.T trainer resulted in us been asked to leave because Jake would not calm down and kept on barking as he wanted to be next to the other dogs in the class . I was asked to take him outside to calm down my wife stayed for a while longer whilst we sat outside and was never asked back into the class , A few weeks later as we were really struggling ourselves as Jake came to us as a rescue of 18 months and was a consistent puller we took him to a Gun Dog trainer . He showed us up straight away with his initial behaviour but the trainer got him to walk to heel in less than 30 seconds and has continued to progress in leaps and bounds , IMHO my impression of trainers who are A.P.D.T members want it all to easy any dog that takes a little more effort is to much hard work for them hence he chose to insult you with his remark . And they seem to want to offer one to one training so they can get more money out of you , I am pretty sure you are all intelligent enough to reach your goals on your own rather than wasting your time with an inadequate trainer . Good Luck & Best Regards Mike
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs [quote author=Mike link=topic=5737.msg76695#msg76695 date=1399959232] IMHO my impression of trainers who are A.P.D.T members want it all to easy any dog that takes a little more effort is to much hard work for them hence he chose to insult you with his remark . And they seem to want to offer one to one training so they can get more money out of you , I am pretty sure you are all intelligent enough to reach your goals on your own rather than wasting your time with an inadequate trainer . [/quote] Mike, I think I'll just put the other side to this view. Lots (but not all) gundog trainers are great. Lots (but not all) APDT trainers are great - I certainly had a good APDT one (unfortunately she moved away, otherwise I'd still use her). The two gundog trainers I used to go to are also very good - although I don't do the about turn on a slip lead to stop a dog pulling quickly, and use a clicker and positive methods, which is my choice (and the gun dog trainers work with that) although it takes longer and is much, much harder work. I think Simon's trainer sounds just fine, and there doesn't seem a good reason to discourage Simon from continuing to go to him.
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs [quote author=JulieT link=topic=5737.msg76706#msg76706 date=1399964423] [quote author=Mike link=topic=5737.msg76695#msg76695 date=1399959232] IMHO my impression of trainers who are A.P.D.T members want it all to easy any dog that takes a little more effort is to much hard work for them hence he chose to insult you with his remark . And they seem to want to offer one to one training so they can get more money out of you , I am pretty sure you are all intelligent enough to reach your goals on your own rather than wasting your time with an inadequate trainer . [/quote] Mike, I think I'll just put the other side to this view. Lots (but not all) gundog trainers are great. Lots (but not all) APDT trainers are great - I certainly had a good APDT one (unfortunately she moved away, otherwise I'd still use her). The two gundog trainers I used to go to are also very good - although I don't do the about turn on a slip lead to stop a dog pulling quickly, and use a clicker and positive methods, which is my choice (and the gun dog trainers work with that) although it takes longer and is much, much harder work. I think Simon's trainer sounds just fine, and there doesn't seem a good reason to discourage Simon from continuing to go to him. [/quote] Thanks for you input on the is Mike and Julie, we have discussed how many more 1-1 sessions we really think are necessary as we do seem to be making good progress on our own and think classes would be next step once he's had some more interaction with otter dogs. The trainer has 6 dogs of his own and we think that some controlled socialisation with them would be quite useful if he agrees!
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Point well made JuileT the method for discouraging pulling and walking to heel we were shown was positive non treat training just lots and lots of praise and he is such a different dog now with the method we were shown . Mike
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Hi all, Just wanted to post an update. We are so pleased with Dexter's progress. He is now walking really nicely on the lead the vast majority of the time and only really is silly when having to walk past other dogs. We are really confident at letting him off lead now as he plays really well with other dogs and he comes back when called - you wouldn't believe how much he loves to chase a ball, so we use that as our reward when he comes back. He's getting lots of exercise and we are keeping up with the training in other areas too, such as working on 'stay' now. He is a changed dog from when we got him 4 weeks ago. Yesterday, I bumped into another dog-owner in the park who had met Dexter when we were first venturing out with him and he had been very full-on with this man's spaniels. He couldn't believe he was the same dog! Dex is now curled up snoozing on his rug next to me after a good play in the park in the rain and we couldn't be happier to have him with us. Working on walking past other dogs whilst on the lead tomorrow with our trainer, so hopefully he will show similar improvement in that respect too before long. Labs really are amazing! Thanks again so much for all the advice and encouragement! Francesca
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs That is really, really great to read. You're obviously doing a fantastic job. I bet that Dexter is enjoying having some proper human to dog communication and clarity in his life
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs That is fab news Are you coming for our dog walk in Bristol on Monday?
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs That is such good news! Well done Same as Naya, are you able to come over for the walk on Monday?
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Oh well done! Don't worry too much about the other dogs thing - it'll come with just a bit of time.
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Thanks all. Naya and Beanwood - yes, we are very keen to come on the walk on Monday. Where are you meeting?
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs That's amazing work I am so thrilled for you all and Dexter x
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs That's great news. Just 4 weeks imagine what he will be like in 4 months. Well done. ;D
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs If you look under 'off topic' and 'SW group walk' or something similar! It is on there......we are going to snuff mills, meeting in Oldland Court car Park
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs [quote author=LabinBath link=topic=5737.msg81232#msg81232 date=1400944247] Thanks all. Naya and Beanwood - yes, we are very keen to come on the walk on Monday. Where are you meeting? [/quote] The topic is called Bristol walk for forum members and we are meeting at Oldbury court estate, at 9:30. In the field on the right hand side of the car park
Re: Bonkers behaviour when meeting other dogs Looking forward to seeing you on the walk, labinbath! I sympathise - Pongo (23 weeks) is usually a pretty good boy except when he sees other dogs - he just DESPERATELY wants to say hello to them! (As I'm afraid you will probably see on Monday..... deep sigh...... apologies in advance....) Rosie :-[
