Ok,still flushed with the feelings of success from our Pet Show attendance I headed off this morning for an appointment with a Trainer at a facility I've been put onto that does the Bronze,Silver and Gold Good Citizen awards....... EVERY time we go somewhere new like this Dexter turns into a nightmare......it is so disappointing,embarassing and frustrating. We get out the car and he is like an eel on the lead.....sniffing,marking,tracking with his nose....I get him into a sit and we c&t for sitting calmly .....release him and he can't take ONE step on a loose lead.....we bulldoze into reception like a tsunami....... I got him to sit while we waited our turn to register but the second my attention is off him,he's up,nose down swimming round the reception area,crashes into a product display and breaks open a bottle of dog shampoo ( just remembered I didn't offer to pay for that :-[) that spills all over the floor which he slips in ...... All this carry on is punctuated by dolphin leaps up at me and mad grabs at his treat pouch ,he's just dreadful. We get taken through for an assessment....he won't stay in a sit while we are talking and is totally brain fried by all the new noises and smells....so much so that the Trainer says let's go into a room and you can let him off his lead....he bombed around a bit and then thank god did settle at my feet.all the while I'm being interviewed and saying what he can do...I look like a total liar.Based on what I said we can do ( and we can easily,except whenever we go somewhere new) the Trainer said we could miss Bronze and just go to Silver but I've said I want to do Bronze if only to attend a few sessions to get him to settle down...because he will,once he's been there a few times....we are 'normal' when we go to our reactive class,so well behaved and focused we get asked by the rest of the class why we are there? He is always like this at a new place....it really disheartens me...he's 2..... Is this normal?shouldn't he be able to control himself better now?what am I doing wrong that isn't helping him? Are my expectations too high? NOONE else looks as much of a chaos as us.I expect a certain degree of extra excitement and interest but to regress to leaping up at me just seems wrong.our 'look at me ' is rock solid getting us past reactive dogs that are barking at us...but I could have been talking to him in Russian this morning for all the understanding he demonstrated. We had to walk round the arena and show the trainer what we could do...his sits ,stays ,lie downs and recall went fine but he could not walk on a loose lead for more than 5 steps.... He's made me tired today.....nothing ever seems to come to us without a massive time and effort investment...I feel resentful today that I can't just go somewhere and it be easy.....everything always takes planning,worry ( on my behalf) and management.Feeling really dejected today .... Oh and I forgot he jumped on a Bassett hounds head.... :-[ :-[ :-[ the owners were very understanding as was the Bassett hound thank goodness x
Re: Is it just us? Fear not!! We go to Guide Dog puppy classes and they are all like that!! They leap around at everyone. You would never know that in 12 short months they will all be steady working dogs. I am sure it's the enthusiastic Labrador in them, the adore people and dogs so - put lots of people and dogs together and they are in heaven!!
Re: Is it just us? No, it's not just you! Charlie is exactly the same - I still have to walk round in calming circles for the first 10 minutes of training (with all the puppies of other breeds). Most of the labradors are there too though.... ;D ;D ;D And training isn't exactly even new - he's spent over 60 hours there in total already! And new things, new places - just makes him lose it. Everytime I take him to a communciations class the girls there tactfully suggest I might want also to attend "walking together" training! ;D ;D ;D I hope it improves with time....
Re: Is it just us? Nope, definitely not just you - us too! Interestingly, Dex seemed to be pretty good at the show? I get this with Merla too, although part of it for her may be that we tend to do that type of thing as a family, so she feels safer as we do a 'Merla sandwich' between two people. I also wonder if, with an environment like that, there's just too much to worry about, so she kind of gives up! She's coming up for 18 months and we seem to be having a particularly bad patch regarding excitement/anxiety at the moment (with her, it looks like she's excited and over-friendly to a casual observer, but actually I'm certain it's stress related to other dogs, and she kind of tries to appease them). Unhelpfully, the grumpier or wilder they are, the more she gets in their faces. Sigh. Trying to think positive, but sometimes it's hard, isn't it?
Re: Is it just us? No not just you, Elsie is a love on lead these days until we open the door at the vet then it's a miracle we don't either arrive in a skidding of the door mats or she doesn't knock the receptionist to the floor. She is never like that any where else. :-[
Re: Is it just us? My Lab is nearly three and seems to be having a second adolescence! This afternoon on the walk he was just wild, showing the whites of his eyes and running non stop :'( I am hoping it is his food and once I change it back to 20% protein he may calm down.
Re: Is it just us? Not just you. Obi is like that too - he is quite the embarrassment in the vet's waiting room. He is quite high maintenance in many new situations. And it's quite tiring for the humans. On Friday night and Sat morning Obi was minded at his dog walkers. We missed him, but I'm not ashamed to say that it was also just a little piece of bliss ;D
Re: Is it just us? Add us to the list. Takes Lilly at least 2 mins to settle down and not choke herself any time we go to training - she just HAS to say hello to everybody first. ON lead is definitely worse than off lead. (I'm not mentioning the recall once she is actually off lead)
Re: Is it just us? I have two very different dogs but I think Charlie may well beat all of your lovely dogs, he can't cope in any class situation, he is pretty good on lead now though, but let him off lead and he does go on his little 'excursions' but I have to say his recall is improving but he is lovely Hattie is easy, uncomplicated, good recall, good stop whistle, just a lovely good all rounder. David is off to New York in the morning for 5 days so I am walking Hattie & Charlie together and actually feeling a little nervous to be honest The Cosy Dog harness has arrived so that will make it a bit easier for me to hold charlie but just have to get on with it as really can't face two separate walks in the rain and cold. Love them both to bits though xx
Re: Is it just us? Think about my dogs Angela and then ask yourself the question 'Is it just us ? ' again. :. What answer are you coming up with. Seriously Next time Dexter does something embarrassing and goes a bit nuts I want you to think its ok Jen has twice the embarrassment. ;D He did you proud at the show. He can do it and one day he will do it everywhere. Actually I want to thank you for starting this thread Angela. I did think I was in the minority having overly excitable, embarrassing dogs. Turns out there's quite a few of us. ;D
Re: Is it just us? I'd like to join the list too! I think we were on our third attempt at training on Exmoor and we were just about presentable. The first time all Riley wanted to do was play with Murffi which was just never going to happen not least because Murffi thought that was a terrible idea, closely followed by Heidrun and then me. Would he retrieve that day? Would he hell as like : We managed today, just, after Caddie had well and truly told Riley to b****r off!!! Big hugs love x and remember those lovely pictures of you both at the dog show
Re: Is it just us? You are so not alone, Angela. I can't comment too much on how Simba does in new places as there no comparable places here in terms of classes with a bunch of dogs, etc, but every time we go to the dog park and there are other dogs there, I open the gate and call out "Incoming!" as Simba is flat out zooming towards the dogs with his patented excited leap half way there and before they know it a labrador going full tilt arrives in the midst. : My struggle right now is the jumping up on people when they arrive. I kinda had this cracked, I thought, but it's all gone to pot and we are pretty much right where we started, with two big paws pattering on people's chests as they step through the door...sigh.... :-\
Re: Is it just us? Nearly every time we go on our forum walks, Harley jumps up lots! In our vets, it takes a few mad mins. When we get out of the car to go for a walk it takes a few mad mins. Actually, she has lots of mad minutes in virtually any situation, then calms down. It is nice to hear we are not alone You should be really proud of what he accomplished a few days ago and think about how worried you were about it and how Dexter proved you wrong
Re: Is it just us? [quote author=bbrown link=topic=8674.msg122725#msg122725 date=1415568867] all Riley wanted to do was play with Murffi [/quote] I'm with Riley. ;D ;D ;D
Re: Is it just us? [quote author=Lisa link=topic=8674.msg122734#msg122734 date=1415569450] My struggle right now is the jumping up on people when they arrive. [/quote] Jumping up is not a "problem" unless people mind. Seriously, dogs jump up to get to faces. My solution is just to tell people to bend down so Charlie can lick their ears. Then he doesn't have to jump up. Simple. Ok, I know this probably isn't going to go "mainstream" as a way to stop jumping up. It does work though! ;D ;D ;D
Re: Is it just us? [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=8674.msg122707#msg122707 date=1415566229] Takes Lilly at least 2 mins to settle down and not choke herself any time we go to training - she just HAS to say hello to everybody first. [/quote] They have a clever thing at Guide Dogs puppy class. Everyone puts their puppy blanket in a corner, as you arrive you take your pup for a good sniff to 'see who's there'. It really helps!
Re: Is it just us? I'd be delighted if it only took 2 minutes... I've been thinking about this. I reckon that one thing I do which really doesn't help is start off lead walks as soon as we get out of the car. I didn't used to do this. But when Charlie was injured, I so wanted to be like other people at the Common with dogs that were able to jump out of the car off lead. So when I could, I did that. I should go back to the old routine, so "get out of the car" means walk at heel for a bit and calm down. I think it would help with his frustration self management.
Re: Is it just us? Thanks everybody for cataloging your woes to me ;D I know I'm not alone...it just feels it sometimes and it's so frustrating when he behaves like he's never seen me before! I'm back in love with him today ;D we went to the vets and he sat so calmly in between a French mastiff ( massive) and a husky ( scarey eyes,we have staring history with huskies....) wonderful eye contact with me and not a bother in him.....off to catch all your news now and check on about why I've been to the vets...give you a clue,I'm looking up a Chocolate Charlie thread and it's not about a cruciate injury ( thankfully )
Re: Is it just us? Mine would still be ridiculous at a training class if on the lead - they would pull me about at the start I have no doubt. Off the lead they are fine though and walk to heel ignoring the other dogs - bizarre isn't it?
Re: Is it just us? Is it his ears again? Although it could be a whole raft of things my dog has done resulting in a trip to the vet...hope it's not battery eating!
