Well you all know how trying Benson has been, perfectly normal behaviour for an adolescent nutty show lab choccy, however doesn't help when walking it seems he is the only dog running madly across the common and appearing completely oblivious to my attempts at recall.. :-[ We have been taking them out together and working intensively on getting Benson to stay close, using the "turnabout"...being more interesting, to him, which has attracted some very peculiar looks! In addition have been taking Benson to 2 different agility classes, managed to get a space on a local one, run by a top agility trainer. The training ground is owned by a farmer I know, just two fields behind us, so very local, spare places are rare, so jumped at the chance when offered. Today was lovely, hubby busy decorating so armed with chicken, cheese, toys, clicker and long line I set off early for the common. They were both brilliant. Casper mostly on a long line, I think he likes it, a sort of half way between on lead and off. Benson stayed close the whole time, well until the very last few minutes but I can forgive him as the rest of the hour and a half he was great, so great that for the first time I got a compliment from another labrador owner regarding Bensons behaviour and my training, especially at his age! The dog owner had a beautiful but nervous working line 2 year old chocolate bitch, she was a stunner! As soon as I noticed she seemed little anxious, I recalled both boys before they actually reached her....and they spun around and came straight back. Popped both in a sit, then released one by one when she was more comfortable, and when I had the OK from the dog owner. Had a good chat with the owner, he has kept labs all his life, he gave Casper loads of fuss which he adored, and gave me a chance to say hello to his beautiful girl. So pleased with my boys, sometimes we forget how far our dogs have come. I am posting this today as it will become a distant memory tomorrow as I am pretty sure all good behaviour will unravel completely on the Severnside labrador Hoolie! ;D ;D
Re: Proud of my boys... Oh, that's lovely to read! Well done you. But progress is always a couple of steps forward, and one back, of course - in the same week not so long ago, I was complimented on my impeccably behaved boy by one total stranger, and also informed by another that "there are no bad dogs, just bad owners" (to which I replied "tell me where you buy Labrador puppies that are born fully trained and I'll be sure to buy one of those next time"). ;D ;D ;D
Re: Proud of my boys... Bonnie says, "Well done, Benson!!!" We now aspire to be as good as you! Clever boy
Re: Proud of my boys... Well done, boys. You've earned yourselves some time off from good behaviour tomorrow. If you're up for a chase I'll show you where the really muddy bits are. Holly
Re: Proud of my boys... That sort of result doesn't happen without a lot of good training, so you should feel justifiably proud of both boys - and of all your work.
Re: Proud of my boys... Well done all three of you fantastic. It's interesting you say you think Casper likes being on a long line. Ralph the big rescue dog in our family is much happier on lead when walking. We wonder if it's because he was abandoned he feels safer attached so he can't loose anyone.
Re: Proud of my boys... [quote author=Jen link=topic=10525.msg155785#msg155785 date=1428759331] It's interesting you say you think Casper likes being on a long line. Ralph the big rescue dog in our family is much happier on lead when walking. We wonder if it's because he was abandoned he feels safer attached so he can't loose anyone. [/quote] I agree, very interesting! Although I am completely in the camp of encouraging a recall through "choice" and a long line somewhat reduces that, as you could argue there will be no changed behaviour when a dog recognises he is no longer attached to a long line. With a rescue like Casper and given the choice - he would probably prefer not go over and say hello to other dogs, his anxiety however, compels him too and thus he rushes headlong into a situation (usually a trigger such as cycles, single men, dogs etc....) with heightened arousal and it can be difficult for him to deal with the outcome. I think that with the long line, he feels reassured, and knows he can't really run off, but that is OK. He also has the freedom to move more normally. We are usually in bigger spaces with the long line so he is not so restricted. I also am constantly horizon scanning, and usually am able to judge how comfortable Casper is feeling when a dog is in the distance, so can move to where I know he can manage, then stuff him full of chicken and liver cake! ;D
Re: Proud of my boys... My two are very similar I think with their anxiety of people in that they don't realise they can move away a bit like Casper feels he has to go to other dogs. On the occasions my dogs will allow people they aren't sure of to stroke them I can see them get to a point were they've had enough. 'Normal' dogs would move away when they've had enough my two, especially Scott, will continue to be stroked but start to bark. Now I know the signs I intervene. Most people can't read the signs. :-\ I do wonder with Scott if it's also a mixture of emotions that causes confusion. Scott likes to be made a fuss of and loves being stroked but these people also cause him to feel fear. I guess for some reason once anxiety/nervousness gets to a certain level, close to threshold I suppose, a dog becomes incapable of making a choice and it's our job to help. :-\
Re: Proud of my boys... Well done all 3 of you! And a well deserved triumphant walk with all the training you are putting in. Your comment about the long line is very interesting, a horrid incident in my local park a few weeks ago when a pack chase led to 2 dogs ending up being hit by cars made me decide that my two were never getting off lead in the park again, too many Incidents. They have off lead walks in the hills, but i like to nip to the locall park for games and training. So I bought a humongously long line, 60 metres with bungees at either end. I expected Cuillin to be most unimpressed, but she seems to prefer it! so I was very interested to hear about Casper. Cuilli is not a very confident dog around other dogs, and the park can be busy. I think she feels safer and knows I can get her out of trouble....I think...she visibly relaxes when I put it on, and runs about with a toy like apuppy, I have never seen her so relaxed in the park....
Re: Proud of my boys... Fantastic to read this Kate, lots of hard work paying dividends Well done boys!! Long lines have their place and as you know Charlie was on one for almost 3 years as it was the only way he was ever going to learn a recall, he's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and never will be but it really helped us and now he gets part of his walks off lead, and if he regresses we dig it out and do more recall training. We see it as a necessary tool xx
Re: Proud of my boys... How very sad Debsie for the 2 dogs, do you know how they are? :'( very wise to keep your two on lead in the park xx
