# Whats been your most challenging training obstacle?



## Northwoods10

With your past or current dogs, what has been your most challenging training obstacle? 

I'd have to say that Remi in general has been the most challenging. The biggest thing with him was recall.

My labs were ALWAYS good about recall and staying close to me. They check in often and he is a little different. He is more independant and will venture out further than the girls. 

I had an issue with him at about 6 months old when he was just starting to be a bit more reliable off leash. He would hide in the woods when we called him. Just far enough into the woods we were uncomfortable but we could still see him. He would just sit there, until he was ready to come out. 

I got the tip from another GSP owner, that I should completely ignore him and walk the other direction and act very interested in something else. They do not like being ignored. THIS worked almost immediately. As soon as he would go into "hiding" mode, I would turn my back to him and completely ignore him. It literally would last another 10 seconds and he would come running back to me. 

Now, I am very confident with his recall and he has proven it to me several times in the last month. It used to be just a task to get him some exercise, because he was so unreliable off leash. Even with Nallah I remember being able to let her off leash at about 6 months old and she was great. Morgan has always been great off leash since she came to us at 1.5 years. 

So, when Remi challenged that, I wasn't sure how to face it. But now he will stop and turn on a dime to a whistle or "Remi, come!" 

Its sooooo nice being able to have a reliable recall with all 3 of my dogs. I am really looking forward to adventures with them all off leash, instead of 2 of them off and one whiney GSP on a leash! :redface:


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## Tobi

My most challenging training obstacle isn't an obstacle it's a breed If ever you are looking for a challenge this is the breed to go :lol:

Our recall isn't the best but it's getting there, he doesn't go anywhere offleashe but our yard, leave it's/drop it's aren't bad they actually came pretty easy, I think right now... staying out of the kitchen is our big one... it's like he's great when i say "out" and he leaves the kitchen and lays down and then he challenges it by just scooting slowly in while i'm not looking...

Another thing is keeping him interested in training and learning, he gets bored really quick and will just lie down even though i'm bouncing off the walls and have a cup full of treats!


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## whiteleo

Tobi said:


> My most challenging training obstacle isn't an obstacle it's a breed If ever you are looking for a challenge this is the breed to go :lol:
> 
> Our recall isn't the best but it's getting there, he doesn't go anywhere offleashe but our yard, leave it's/drop it's aren't bad they actually came pretty easy, I think right now... staying out of the kitchen is our big one... it's like he's great when i say "out" and he leaves the kitchen and lays down and then he challenges it by just scooting slowly in while i'm not looking...
> 
> Another thing is keeping him interested in training and learning, he gets bored really quick and will just lie down even though i'm bouncing off the walls and have a cup full of treats!


You have to keep it really interesting and fun for B.T's You might pick up this book by Jane Killion


*When Pigs Fly 
*


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## Tobi

whiteleo said:


> You have to keep it really interesting and fun for B.T's You might pick up this book by Jane Killion
> 
> 
> *When Pigs Fly
> *


 I love that book!!! :biggrin: that book is fantastic for any dog though! Something i might add, i have a deep respect for her for having trained such an oddball breed to excel in agility! That is why have so much respect for her and her book!


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## malluver1005

I've never really had any issues with Aspen, until now. Lately he has been lunging at other dogs that are on walks or in other yards. He doesn't growl or anything, he whines. I can't tell if he wants to meet them or what, but Aspen has been pretty good with dogs. Something we need to work on...


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## Stella+Samson

With my Stella it was to stop her from chasing bicycles.

And just when I managed that she didnt do it anymore, i had a fosterdog who did the same, so Stella started again.....

Samson has a strong will to please...but that is also a problem, because during Agility and also work with the dummy (field trials) he did not want to go far away from me. It took a long time to get him to do that.


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## SilverBeat

Wallaby is a wonderful boy, picks things up REALLY quick, usually within one or two 10-15 minute training sessions he is 80%+ reliable with the behavior. Depending on the distraction/stress level of the environment.

So far the only thing that's really tough for me is just having him be reliable off-leash. He isn't. He's like a totally different dog, to the extent that I;m scared to TRY training him off-leash BECAUSE he is so unreliable. So it's just this endless cycle. Everything else? He's phenomenal. His recall is good, we have been working on it a lot adding in distractions.. he's doing really well with everything I've thrown at him. 

When I say unreliable, I mean he doesn't pay attention to me, it's like he doesn't know me from the man in the moon.


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## CavePaws

Indi wins this one by a thousand mile stretch compared to my others. Her aggression towards other dogs and fear of people is the toughest thing I've probably ever had to stick through.

Here are my reasons:
a. it's unsafe for other dogs(not in the pack) and for other people to be around her
b. i am alienated at trials and seminars when i am walking her around, most people seem to know, she is an excellent agility dog but I can't stop and chat with her unless I'm like 5 feet away from others...the warnings kind of suck because people think i'm being a jerk or am mean because my dog is.
c. she can be unpredictable, sometimes even with dogs she knows
d. we've hit a plateau...she has been on meds for a while now and just isn't going anywhere, even with behavior modification multiple times a day
e. i don't have the heart to ever give up on her, so i've changed the way i live and work because of her
f. ya, the social aspect just really sucks.
g. it is CONSTANT maintenance and takes a lot of supervision and awareness to take her places. i am actually really jumpy now because of it. :/


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## CorgiPaws

Annie has a very very hard time containing herself around children. She is not aggressive in the slightest, but that doesn't mean its not very dangerous behavior. Kids running and playing at the park means Annie is on leash. Period. She whines, does her pouty high pitched bark, pulls the leash, throws a fit on leash if she can't get to them. Off leash? Jump, jump, jump, lick, lick, lick. She's a 55lb dog of solid muscle and has the potential to really hurt someone with this behavior. If thy are yelling, screaming, squealing kids... its by far worse. 
I've had plenty of training ideas, but all of them of course require a few kids...and I don't have any kids in my life aside from ky sister's three and they are terribly afraid of dogs, so I don't feel it would be a good move. Its very difficult to work on a behavior they only happens in a rare circumstance...


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## SilverBeat

PuppyPaws said:


> Annie has a very very hard time containing herself around children. She is not aggressive in the slightest, but that doesn't mean its not very dangerous behavior. Kids running and playing at the park means Annie is on leash. Period. She whines, does her pouty high pitched bark, pulls the leash, throws a fit on leash if she can't get to them. Off leash? Jump, jump, jump, lick, lick, lick. She's a 55lb dog of solid muscle and has the potential to really hurt someone with this behavior. If thy are yelling, screaming, squealing kids... its by far worse.
> I've had plenty of training ideas, but all of them of course require a few kids...and I don't have any kids in my life aside from ky sister's three and they are terribly afraid of dogs, so I don't feel it would be a good move. Its very difficult to work on a behavior they only happens in a rare circumstance...


Wallaby is this way around kids who don't know how to act around dogs. I don't like to label kids as "scared of dogs" because there are plenty at my mom's daycare who are shy and unsure of how to handle themselves, most because they have never had a relationship with dogs before, but they aren't _scared_. You can even see the difference with babies. 
I'm lucky enough that my mom understands this as well, and that I have kids around most of the time that I can "socialize" him with.


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## SpooOwner

I'm pretty sure that *I* am Mia's biggest training obstacle.  She probably would have already titled in agility, obedience, and tracking if it wasn't for her boneheaded owner. :tape:

Seriously, it's been hard for me to adjust to how sensitive she is to my slightest movement/change in posture/variation in intonation. Learning to stand still and wait for her to act took me a long time.


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## chowder

CavePaws said:


> Indi wins this one by a thousand mile stretch compared to my others. Her aggression towards other dogs and fear of people is the toughest thing I've probably ever had to stick through.
> 
> Here are my reasons:
> a. it's unsafe for other dogs(not in the pack) and for other people to be around her
> b. i am alienated at trials and seminars when i am walking her around, most people seem to know, she is an excellent agility dog but I can't stop and chat with her unless I'm like 5 feet away from others...the warnings kind of suck because people think i'm being a jerk or am mean because my dog is.
> c. she can be unpredictable, sometimes even with dogs she knows
> d. we've hit a plateau...she has been on meds for a while now and just isn't going anywhere, even with behavior modification multiple times a day
> e. i don't have the heart to ever give up on her, so i've changed the way i live and work because of her
> f. ya, the social aspect just really sucks.
> g. it is CONSTANT maintenance and takes a lot of supervision and awareness to take her places. i am actually really jumpy now because of it. :/


My hardest one was very similar to yours. She was a very dog aggressive Chow that just got more and more dog aggressive as she got older. She started out fine with other dogs, but gradually things went downhill with her. I don't know how many dog fights I had to break up. I couldn't even walk her near another dog at the end. Just giving two of them a treat side by side would have her turn and attack one of my other dogs. Heaven forbid a meter reader came to the house, she would turn and attack whatever dog was near her. 

This was about ten years ago when I was still learning about training methods and had kids at home and a lot going on so I couldn't spend as much time with her as I should have. I'm not sure if I could have 'trained' this out of her or not. We lost her very unexpectedly one night so there may have been some underlying health issues that caused her aggression to increase at the end. It's a REALLY difficult problem to deal with so I definitely feel for you. The unpredictability of it all can be very exhausting.


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## Celt

the down command is my main obstacle with the boys. I can get them to down as long as they are not on a hard, "cold" surface <sigh> i've just about given up on it. Of course sit is also interesting, because when on "hard" surfaces they look like they are sitting until you look closer and then you see that really they're "hovering"


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## CavePaws

chowder said:


> My hardest one was very similar to yours. She was a very dog aggressive Chow that just got more and more dog aggressive as she got older. She started out fine with other dogs, but gradually things went downhill with her. I don't know how many dog fights I had to break up. I couldn't even walk her near another dog at the end. Just giving two of them a treat side by side would have her turn and attack one of my other dogs. Heaven forbid a meter reader came to the house, she would turn and attack whatever dog was near her.
> 
> This was about ten years ago when I was still learning about training methods and had kids at home and a lot going on so I couldn't spend as much time with her as I should have. I'm not sure if I could have 'trained' this out of her or not. We lost her very unexpectedly one night so there may have been some underlying health issues that caused her aggression to increase at the end. It's a REALLY difficult problem to deal with so I definitely feel for you. The unpredictability of it all can be very exhausting.


Isn't it crazy? You love the dog so so so much and the issue is really hard to deal with...Especially if someone thinks it's so bad the dog should be put down. I could never do it, seriously, never. I'm so attached to her, heaven forbid anything happen with her which would warrant her being PTS...I'd seriously move away with her and hide her. :|


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## SerenityFL

Northwoods10 said:


> I got the tip from another GSP owner, that I should completely ignore him and walk the other direction and act very interested in something else. They do not like being ignored. THIS worked almost immediately. As soon as he would go into "hiding" mode, I would turn my back to him and completely ignore him. It literally would last another 10 seconds and he would come running back to me.


This works well for my boy. The girl doesn't seem to care..."OH, you're leaving? Ok, bye!" Her recall was very difficult but she's coming around...slowly. The bigger back yard is definitely helping!


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## SerenityFL

CavePaws said:


> Isn't it crazy? You love the dog so so so much and the issue is really hard to deal with...Especially if someone thinks it's so bad the dog should be put down. I could never do it, seriously, never. I'm so attached to her, heaven forbid anything happen with her which would warrant her being PTS...I'd seriously move away with her and hide her. :|


CavePaws, I feel for you. My boy dog is a bit on the dog aggressive side...not nearly as bad as yours but I can't trust him to just meet another dog. I am envious of people who have dogs who bring them out to meet my dog and theirs are happy and ready to play, doesn't matter the dog while mine wants to talk smack and show his teeth and growl and be a royal pain in the butt.

I have to do everything slowly....and it's embarrassing at times. I don't know how much patience the other people will have or if they'll just lable the dog, "aggressive". I want him to socialize more, he's still young...but man, what is his problem? Like the other day, when he was meeting the two other dogs here...he was being a total jerk about the whole thing. If I DARED to pet one of the other dogs, he went OFF. He was on leash, tethered to a pole and I petted the goldie...Shasta had a fit. When he's the one off leash and the other dogs on leash, he'll come up in front of me, like blocking me, he'll be sideways and he'll talk his crap to the other dog. Like, dude, why are you being so defensive and protective? I can't let him play with Sakari outside because he pins her down, bites her neck and hurts her. Serious dominant issues. Serious.

With people...he's ok. Females he's fine with. Males? Well, I know why, because of my ex-neighbors who were all stupid. I have a male neighbor now and he's more mellow and easy going so I'm hoping he'll learn not to be afraid of males.

All I want is for him to be able to play outside with Sakari and not be an @$$ about it, play with other dogs and not talk a bunch of smack at the beginning, stop trying to protect me from every little thing and stop trying to be so dominant. I want to fix this while he's young...but I don't have a clue how to do it. 

But, as you, I won't get rid of him. If it turns out it can never be resolved, (although I think there is a way...I just need to know the right way), I'll continue with the adjusted lifestyle and deal. But, I can't trust the two in the house, together, when I'm not there. I've had neighbors in the past, at my old place, tell me they've heard the dogs inside fighting.

One day I stepped away for 5 minutes, literally, not figuratively, to talk to a neighbor. On my way back to my place, I heard them break out in to a fight. Can't have that...especially as they get older. He'll kill the girl. He's just trying to be dominant...and it's too much.


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## CavePaws

Serenity, I hope everything with Shasta turns out well. I know exactly what you mean about having to be hyper vigilant about leaving the two together alone, you just can't because it isn't safe. It sounds a lot like Indi, when she see's me working other dogs she flips out...And you can't trust her for a while afterwards, because if you think dogs don't hold grudges, you've never met Indi. I swear she holds onto stuff for days and plots in her little head how to get back at them. That or it is just stuck in the back of her mind that dog A. is on her $#!+ list and must be "taken care of" at some point in the near future. It's scary stuff. Just keep working with Shasta, and if the problem doesn't go away you'll find a way to be able to manage it I'm sure. It's taken me two years, and Indi is 2.5 yrs old, to even find a way to control her aggression in some form or another. It can be done. It's just so hard. -________-;


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## catahoulamom

Finnigan doesn't like having his butt sniffed, ever since I've had him (since 8 weeks!!) He was well socialized and can be great with another dog, but if they go to sniff his butt, he gets stiff and will turn around and snap. He won't actually bite the other dog, but he scares them. I know this is anti-social behavior but I don't know how to change it.  He used to be very reactive but we've worked through about 95% of that. 

He also doesn't like strangers. He's a Catahoula, he's not really supposed to, I'm fine with that (if somebody comes to visit that's a different story - he loo0oves having guests) BUT, if we're walking, and somebody stops us to ask "What kind of dog is that?" like they so often do, and they look at him straight in his eyes, he will growl and sometimes bark. A "WOOF WOOF GO AWAY!" kind of bark, not an "I'M GOING TO EAT YOU!" bark. He can be fine in a room full of people as long as nobody is looking at him in the face. 

I guess training him to be less reactive was the hardest thing we've had to work on yet.


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## jiml

it is CONSTANT maintenance and takes a lot of supervision and awareness to take her places. i am actually really jumpy now because of it>>>>

The worst feeling with a dog like this is the lack of trust. It simply is never there even if the dog is behaving fine. past incidents keep you always on guard.


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## CavePaws

jiml said:


> it is CONSTANT maintenance and takes a lot of supervision and awareness to take her places. i am actually really jumpy now because of it>>>>
> 
> The worst feeling with a dog like this is the lack of trust. It simply is never there even if the dog is behaving fine. past incidents keep you always on guard.


Our dog Tucker used to be a lot like her...I'm not jumpy at all any more, I've learned his limits and what makes him most comfortable and he is able to live a very normal life now. Granted he is almost 6, and he spent at least 4 years being scared and defensive. Indi, who knows, I can't tell the future so you're right...I may never be able to get to the point of trusting her like I trust Tucker now. It's strange, because at agility trials, while she may flip out in her crate still, she is perfectly fine being walked in crowded areas. I've made it very clear to her that when she gets out of control it's back in the crate for a few minutes. I know her limits, they're just very grey right now with some things. We think as she gets older she is becoming more confident in herself, still, she doesn't like dogs. It's just that simple. I'll never put her into situations I truly don't trust her in, ever, it's not worth losing my dog if something horrible happens.


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## DaneMama

My biggest training obstacle I've faced is with Freya. She was given everything in her world on a silver platter before she came to us. She was an expert at stealing food, counter surfing, screaming at the top of her lungs at other dogs/people/distractions she couldn't get to....basically the worst case of impulse control I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. 

We've come a long way, its been tough. 

If she even tries to steal food from one of the other dogs, she doesn't get to eat herself and spends the remainder of the evening by herself in the kennel. That sure nipped that in the bud fast, although we still catch her stealing from time to time. *She does this right in front of us...she has no inhibitions.

Counter surfing...well, that is just space/environment management. We just don't leave anything that is edible or even remotely edible or destructible out on the counters. EVER. IF we catch her with even her NOSE on the counter she loses privileges of being out in the house immediately. 

Impulse control...we do a LOT of "its YER choice" with her. Worked on loose leash walking with her tons (she's gotten so much better and is probably one of our best walkers now). She occasionally has an outburst. 

YouTube - ‪Loose Leash Walking w/Freya‬‏

She's definitely still a HUGE work in progress but we continue to make improvements with her on a daily basis.


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## Caty M

Was she a rescue? I love your dane videos.. they are so cute!


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## meggels

I think my biggest training obstacle with Murph is...Murph. I just....can't teach him anything besides sit lol  


With Abbie it is her anxiety and fear and the way it manifests in her alert/guard/fear barking when she hears or sees something. It's VERY hard to break and I'm afraid there is no hope. But I know she has come a long way. I remember when we first got her at 4.5 months old. She was terrified of everything. Even the sound of a door closing (in a normal manner, not being slammed) would make her urinate from fear. Everything scared her. I didn't think we'd ever be able to play off leash, but I've been bringing her across the street to the farm (about 18 acres of fenced in land) and let her off leash thinking "oh hell, let's try it, there's dogs around so she won't go very far I hope." She's been great. I've been using it as an opportunity to work on her recall and she is doing FANTASTIC. We actually just had a play session in my front yard for about 15 minutes of fetch. I'm beaming with pride and love for my gal  We did sit, lay, stay, come and she is just such a good girl. It's nice that she is SO willing to please and she adores me and wants to make me happy if she knows what I'm asking. My friend came to visit from MD for my birthday in March and met Abbie for the first time. She's very good with animal behavior (though she's more skilled with horses, but does have some dog knowledge). She said even though Abbie is "quirky" that she's ultimately a great dog. Abbie and I were having a moment of snuggles and loves and she looks at me and goes "Meg, she really truly loves you. You can just tell." Funny how something so small and simple as that has been one of the best things I've ever heard....


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## DaneMama

bishopthesheltie said:


> Was she a rescue? I love your dane videos.. they are so cute!


Thanks! She is a "rescue" of sorts. We got her from a friend who got her from a breeder because she couldn't deal with her antics anymore. So we decided to take her in :wink:



meggels said:


> I think my biggest training obstacle with Murph is...Murph. I just....can't teach him anything besides sit lol
> 
> 
> With Abbie it is her anxiety and fear and the way it manifests in her alert/guard/fear barking when she hears or sees something. It's VERY hard to break and I'm afraid there is no hope. But I know she has come a long way. I remember when we first got her at 4.5 months old. She was terrified of everything. Even the sound of a door closing (in a normal manner, not being slammed) would make her urinate from fear. Everything scared her. I didn't think we'd ever be able to play off leash, but I've been bringing her across the street to the farm (about 18 acres of fenced in land) and let her off leash thinking "oh hell, let's try it, there's dogs around so she won't go very far I hope." She's been great. I've been using it as an opportunity to work on her recall and she is doing FANTASTIC. We actually just had a play session in my front yard for about 15 minutes of fetch. I'm beaming with pride and love for my gal  We did sit, lay, stay, come and she is just such a good girl. It's nice that she is SO willing to please and she adores me and wants to make me happy if she knows what I'm asking. My friend came to visit from MD for my birthday in March and met Abbie for the first time. She's very good with animal behavior (though she's more skilled with horses, but does have some dog knowledge). She said even though Abbie is "quirky" that she's ultimately a great dog. Abbie and I were having a moment of snuggles and loves and she looks at me and goes "Meg, she really truly loves you. You can just tell." Funny how something so small and simple as that has been one of the best things I've ever heard....


I would love to get my training hands on your dogs :biggrin:


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## meggels

I would love for you to! Get on over here and help me out please lol!


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## eternalstudent

My issue with becka is the fact that she is overly friendly and thinks that everyone should be her friend. Nearly everywhere I take her this is fine as I have got to know the other people and dogs. They all complement me and her on how nice she is. However, this does mean that if we meet new people out she will still run up to them and try and say hello. Problem being that most people think that a rotti running full pelt towards them is not a good thing, and after making small sewerage works in the pants scoop there dogs up and make the situation tons worse.

My issue is that unless I catch her just before she bolts she is in a different world to me. I get a split second where she is deciding and if I miss it then all the calling in the world won't work.

Every so often I go back to long line work with her to re-enforce it but it is nearly impossible for me to recreate the situations and when I training with her she is much more focused on me as I am on her.

Still she is only young and I have plenty of time to work with her :-0


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## Caty M

Lol eternal, our neighbour has a pit bull x Rhodesian ridgeback who is just the friendliest thing.. but she looks like a huge pit bull. Like she is honestly the friendliest dog I have ever met and will try to sit on your lap. But she is the same thing.. she LOVES people.. I've walked her before when she charges up to kids lol and their parents are frozen with fear as she enthusiastically washes their faces. Some people will change the side of the road they are walking on when she is coming towards them.


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## MissusMac

Recall was great until the last couple of weeks. I think he finally remembered that he's a husky and must give mom a hard time with recall. le sigh.


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## FL Cracker

Where do I start with a 5 mo old....opcorn: "vacancy" sign is lit when were working with distractions (dog's...people ect) and forget about eye contact. I could hold a side of beef on her forehead and she's in "outer space"...but we will get there.


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## SerenityFL

FL Cracker said:


> Where do I start with a 5 mo old....opcorn: "vacancy" sign is lit when were working with distractions (dog's...people ect) and forget about eye contact. I could hold a side of beef on her forehead and she's in "outer space"...but we will get there.


Is she focused on that other stuff and not you? What I've noticed with the hoodlums and distractions is not that they aren't focusing...they are focused all right, just not on the right thing. To me that tells me the distraction is too high. Step back and start with a much smaller distraction. When she's focusing on you all the time with that minimal distraction, lead up to something just a step up from that. When she starts focusing on you through that all the time, up it again. 

When I'm in the yard with the boy, for example, his focus is on me darn near 100% of the time. When I have Sakari on leash, her focus is on me darn near 100% of the time.

When I add a distraction, such as Sakari, to the mix in the yard with Shasta, his focus flies out the window. Ok, so, Sakari is too high of a distraction. I have to start with something much smaller and build up to having her in the yard with him.

When I take Sakari off leash, she may pay attention about 20% of the time. So, I need to start, in the yard, with her on leash, and get her to focus on me no matter if a bird flies over, a bee buzzes around her head, a truck drives by on the street outside the fence...etc.

Baby steps. Teensy, tiny baby steps.

Trust me, your dog can hear you and they know darn good and well what you want, (their attention). They have just decided that "that thing over there" is far more interesting. That tells you the distraction is too high...step back, take two steps back in the training and work on smaller distractions.

I FINALLY am able to work on this, at long last. It's late in the game but not too late. I can finally go out in to the yard and work with them, one on one, to focus and not have some idiot walk by or drive by or yell from their porch at me and the dogs thinking they're funny or clever. So, I'm kinda with you on this one and I know they know damn good and well that I'm there, calling them, they can hear me, they know what I want them to do...so I work with that and we build up as they progress through the distractions.


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## monkeys23

For a long time with Lily it was reactivity because she is so super friendly and nosy. She's pretty solid on that now, but I'd like to do a refresher when Scout finds a home just to fine tune things.

I have never been able to get Lily to go into a down away from me... she always wants to come to me and then down. I guess I shouldn't gripe since she IS half Sibe and I'm pretty darn lucky she's such a velco dog given that. Le sigh, we'll be able to work on that more specifically when Scout finds a home (sensing a trend here?).

Scout... oi vey where to even start. She had such a huge myriad of issues when she came to me. A lot of it was total lack of socialization and not good socialization from well meaning, but unqualified previous owners... plus inadvertant reinforcement of her skittishness by previous owners. On top of it all, not so great genetics and bad early imprinting from the hoarding bust that was her experience for the first three months of her life after being born into it. So yeah. She's come a hell of a long way, but I don't think she'll ever be "normal". She has what I believe is generalized, genetically based anxiety about life in general. I am very unsure as to whether drugs would help and I'm on the fence about drug therapy anyway. I can't afford drugs or a behaviorist so its a moot point. She is very very solid temperament-wise despite that and a damn good dog.... you wouldn't know her issues when she is working, she's like a whole different dog. In obedience work our biggest obstacle is that she will not down on command consistently, I know she understands the concept (she is scary scary intelligent... she was not pleased when I figured out the "I don't know what you mean" thing was a sham that worked on previous owners) and I can't figure out why she just won't function... I have a gut feeling its tied to her anxiety and dysfunction about life in general, poor thing... I'd like to beat that hoarder for letting those dogs reproduce with those genetics... I hope he never gets another animal. She's such an odd duck.

The biggest problem we have overall is that I can't ever leave Scout behind and have one on one time with Lily. This is an enourmous problem that is not fair to any of us. I'm pretty sure its a direct result of imprinting from being born into a hoarding situation. She also has SA in regards to me, but is generally ok if there is another dog in the vicinity. She flips into total panic mode if she is ever totally alone though. Dear sweet thing, gotta love her. I can't afford to keep her permanently and I think someone who could afford more extensive training would really help her a lot. I really really need to find someone for her, I can't keep doing this because I'm stressed 24/7 about if she'll be okay and what is best for her and etc. .... which in turn stresses her more because she's so in tune with me... ugh its a vicious cycle. She needs a home that can either be with her 24/7 or has either an old male dog that doesn't mind getting left behind sometimes or two males so she's never left alone (crated seperately of course... she'd eat the house loose... trust me I've replaced so much stuff I could not afford to replace (didn't really have a choice... gotta have leashes and shoes) from her escaping the crate... scary smart dog...). Despite all this crap, I'm really glad to have helped her and I do really love her. She's very sweet and intelligent.


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## SerenityFL

CavePaws said:


> Serenity, I hope everything with Shasta turns out well. I know exactly what you mean about having to be hyper vigilant about leaving the two together alone, you just can't because it isn't safe. It sounds a lot like Indi, when she see's me working other dogs she flips out...And you can't trust her for a while afterwards, because if you think dogs don't hold grudges, you've never met Indi. I swear she holds onto stuff for days and plots in her little head how to get back at them. That or it is just stuck in the back of her mind that dog A. is on her $#!+ list and must be "taken care of" at some point in the near future. It's scary stuff. Just keep working with Shasta, and if the problem doesn't go away you'll find a way to be able to manage it I'm sure. It's taken me two years, and Indi is 2.5 yrs old, to even find a way to control her aggression in some form or another. It can be done. It's just so hard. -________-;


CavePaws, just wanted you to know, I did a lot of research and now that I have the place where I have room and no gators and QUIET from idiotic neighbors, (or, as RachelsaurusRexU says, "douche lords"), I have hired a trainer. He comes out tomorrow for the first time. He's expensive but I have read a lot and talked to him on the phone for a good hour and I have confidence that he's going to help. 

I told him that my major concerns were with Shasta and his dominance/aggressive (dog on dog), issues and that I want that nipped in the bud now, not wait until he's older. I also told him that they are scared of cars and trucks, (they were dumped in to traffic), and would like to work on that, as well. 

I said, "Listen, I want my dogs to repsect me and I want them to do things for me because they WANT to, not because I have to bribe them with a treat." So, this is more about behavior, (mainly on my part), and less on tricks. 

We'll see how it goes!


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## Khan

Khan has been relatively easy when it comes to training. He mastered the art of leash walking fairly quickly and painlessly. He doesn't pull at all. In fact there are a lot of times when I have to make him walk faster rather then slower!
He is a Champion "Sitter" Doesn't matter if we are home, or if there is a ton of distractions around, you say, or motion sit, and his butt is on the ground! When we are walking on leash, and I stop at a corner, his butt is on the ground. When we approach people he sits immediately so he can receive attention.
He also has excellent recall. I can be across the park and without fail a "Khan Come" instantly has him charging for me! I worked really hard at getting him to not only come to my front; but also to my back. I would hide behind trees so he couldn't see me and call him, he instantly pops his head up, and comes running!
All of these things however were to just to throw me off! He wanted me to see how good he was at these, so I would overlook the fact that he wouldn't do a "Down" I bet it took him 2 months to do a Down. Oh I could get him to do it at home; but when we got to class, nooooo he wouldn't do it to save his life. Our trainer felt so bad for me; because he was doing everything else without fail. All the dogs would be in a down, and here's Khan, standing up, nuzzling me, licking me, turning away from me in hopes I wouldn't see him! He tried everything in his power to get me to give up so he wouldn't have to do it! At one point we thought maybe he had a spring loaded butt! Cuz I could get him to sit, and when I would lure his nose down, up popped the butt! When he finally went into a down, everyone cheered! LOL!
He still doesn't like going into a down when there are new dogs in the class. I guess he figures he needs to be showing everyone that he's "The Man" and down is just too submissive or something.


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