Trixie

Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Jelinga said:
@Shamas mom I walk with a year old German Shepherd (of course he was younger when we started) he is huge but the most gentle and obedient, intelligent dog and loves water, jumps into the water whenever he can! It sounds as if Trixie will be gentle like Otto. I must admit I have always been wary of GSDs but the three my friend has are gentle. You will have great pleasure with Trixie and the retriever part will be great.
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I've seen them go both ways. My brother was bitten by one. I know a couple who were not trained young who have grown to be unmanageable. Training is the key to this breed. They are VERY intelligent, and cannot be allowed to go unsocialized or untrained. Allowed to be bored, they will find their own fun. Unsocialised, their natural protective tendencies come to the forefront. The humans who take possession of Shephard dogs are responsible for teaching them to be good family dogs.

With the Retreiver to offset the GSD, Trixie has great social potential. With her being 3/4 kind Shephard, I expect to have her in training most of her life. Just so she's kept busy and social. She's got a lovely temperament. Patient, respectful, attentive. I plan to foster those features.

On the other side...she woke up this morning and decided to be a menace. So I can see the risk I'd take if I don't keep her busy! This dog will make her own fun, and I won't like the consequences! lol
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Puppy classes are booked to start on the 19th. we will most likely miss the first week...it's too short notice to book time off work, and we're both scheduled into the time frame. But that's not a big deal. She's there more for the social learning than the trick learning. She already knows half of what they teach in puppy class at Petsmart.

We opted for Petsmart because AB took a liking to the way the trainer talks. His soft demeanor and hint of an Isles accent put her at ease. I know they don't cover a whole lot...but that's ok. I found the behaviorist covered so much we lost half of it anyway. That class moved too quickly for me to learn so I could teach the puppy; so I picked out the things I wanted and let the rest move on.

Petsmart being a place we go often, I feel it's not a bad thing to go there to train her to walk nicely. I trained Shamas at Petsmart...just without the trainer, due to his issues. Might stand outside the ring with him and run him through the same excercises the puppies are doing inside if they let me.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Trixie's in training officially now...though it's more accurate to say her owner is. I've started teaching Trixie since day one lol.

AB would like Trixie socialised to wear a Halti sooner rather than later, knowing that she'll be rather large, and possibly hard to handle if she gets it into her head to go a certain way.

She's now half Shamas size.

I'll post some pics when I log in on my phone
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Shoot! My crate's getting too small. The new one. I knew when I unpacked it that it wouldn't last long...I'd accidentally bought the size down from what I meant to buy. But I only bought it a month ago. I think I'll just jump straight to the biggest one, and discontinue the pen. I didn't even get properly into crate training her, because it was attached to her pen...We are at the point where she's passively introduced. She goes in willingly, and eats in there, etc. so finishing crate "training" shouldn't be that hard.

After the first week of here crying her eyes out at night in her crate, I wanted to remove that negative association and start over. So I attached the pen to the crate and just left it there like that. When we're sitting nearby, we randomly toss treats through the roof of the crate, and she's now associated it with good things and often goes to check if anything's fallen in that she can eat
 
Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
Shamas mom said:
fter the first week of here crying her eyes out at night in her crate, I wanted to remove that negative association and start over. So I attached the pen to the crate and just left it there like that. When we're sitting nearby, we randomly toss treats through the roof of the crate, and she's now associated it with good things and often goes to check if anything's fallen in that she can eat
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If Trixie has spent a week crying in a crate that is too small, then that negative association is going to be very strong. Yes, she will be happy to check if food has been dropped, as long as she has the freedom to remove herself from a place of anxiety. Be mindful that any luring into the crate, then closing and leaving is likely have a far amount of fallout going forward. Think about what Trixie needs, not what you want her to do please.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Beanwood said:
If Trixie has spent a week crying in a crate that is too small, then that negative association is going to be very strong. Yes, she will be happy to check if food has been dropped, as long as she has the freedom to remove herself from a place of anxiety. Be mindful that any luring into the crate, then closing and leaving is likely have a far amount of fallout going forward. Think about what Trixie needs, not what you want her to do please.
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The crate then wasn't too small(according to guidelines it was exactly the correct size). The issue was she came off a farm, and was placed in a crate to sleep at night, to keep her safe. She didn't like the arrangement, and cried to be let out. She only stopped crying if someone's hand was in contact with her.
So we put that crate away, and got her a new one, and also a pen. And connected the new crate to the pen, while at the same time moving the entire setup to the living room instead of the bedroom(had a hunch she was afraid of the dark) and leaving a light on for her. This did the trick. It's about 1/3 the size of the dog run she was in with her littermates. Shamas now sleeps outside her pen, and she sleeps at the end that overlaps the door frame, so she can peek into our bedroom and see she's not alone.

I'm honestly not sure if it's worth upgrading the crate, which I can see she'll grow out of in about another growth spurt(and I only bought it July 1st)--I usually phase out use of it by about 9m. Once the puppy reaches a point of being able to be left in a room without eating things, I prefer to close them into the dining room when I sleep. I might just remove the crate from the pen, and use that.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Hubby and I are talking about building a sandbox. If you can't beat em, join em lol. I don't want holes in the yard for shamas to trip in with his sore hips. This morning she was digging in the sand where we used to have the pool and every time I shhoed her off she bowed, ran a circle and dug again

Wretch lol

Probably gather all the sand in one place off to the side, seed that section and fence it til it grows and only let her dig in that one place. Mark it with a wood perimeter.

That's what we did when our son was obsessed with digging holes As a youngster. Worked like a charm. Maybe a dog can learn too?

After an hour of her being a terror, I gave them both pedigree filled kongs and set them to settle before leaving for work 20220729_085030.jpg20220729_085059.jpg
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
So there's a second dog in the puppy class now. a pug puppy....he's the sweetest thing if a bit anxious. But I'd be anxious too if I was purse-sized in a room with a giant that looked like it wanted to eat me.

It didn't take long to help Trixie through her excitement, but she's not yet been dog socialized due to not having her vaccinations finished until last Thursday. And my dad's dogs are late this year so we decided not to risk it. So she's getting pretty excited if dogs come near. They will not be allowed to meet the little guy until he develops some confidence. He's hiding in a corner right now

With only the two of us, I'm able to pace her back and forth and reward a look at me, or a sit, or near the end, when she laid at my feet of her own accord. Jackpot.

We replaced her dinky puppy collar with a Martingale, so I can fit it to her neck in a way that's loose, but won't let her slip out. That should teach her the feeling of a loose leash vs. pulling All the puppy collars are too skinny to walk on, and she's choking. I want her weight dispersed until she learns. Also replaced her harness with a solid one with reflective stitching and a handle for when she's being naughty. It's a bit big, but that's ok--big's only an issue if they back out, or you want to use the front clip. I mostly just want her to wear a reflective vest and a handle for easy catching, and time-out tie-up.

Since going limp, saying ouch, and folding arms are only resulting in us getting bitten in our legs(and she refuses all distraction)...it was suggested that we "time out" Trixie when she bites us(persistently, and not taking normal cues to release). Leash attached to a solid object, simply tell her "Ouch! No bite" and walk her over. go about daily business. She can see us having fun, but not join. The idea is that if she is biting from enthusiasm, and that biting results in being removed from the game...she should learn to curb her enthusiasm to stay in the game.

At the same time, I reward every "touch" and every "kiss" Basically every appropriate use of her mouth. This morning I watched her let go of my thumb at the "Ow-No bite", then go bite a box instead. I'll take that. She can bite cardboard.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Went for a walk with a puppy and came home with a drowned rat LOL. I saw the weather coming in, but figured I had more time...and AB just had a wisdom tooth out, so hasn't been doing much the last couple of days between the pain and the side effects of the meds.

So we put on her leash, left Shamas at home(he was having a reactive day) and decided to see if she could do a Timmies run on her own four feet.

Timmies is a 5-10min walk each way for me.(2000 of my steps on the round trip if I take the long way. Trixie and I are going direct, shaving off about 2 1/2 blocks of walking) With Shamas...it's 20-40 depending on how many trees and bushes he stops at. Trixie and I were out 45minutes total including stops. We stopped countless times to sniff, praise, visit, look at things, etc. I'm limiting these to onc/twice a week.

My only real rule was this: No pulling allowed. It's bad for growing joints. You pull, I stop. She gets it pretty good. on training walks, if she pulls I change directions and she comes to me pretty quick. On walk walks, I stop and she returns to my side, or I turn I big circle, imitating the directional change of a training walk.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Hmm

Not sure how I feel about the method for "Leave it" in class. Seems to me that what he's asking for is "Leave it, Look at me" I get the point-he wants eye contact, so the dog doesn't go straight away back for the thing you want them to leave. But it seems to be a chain of events, and she's not steady on eye contact yet. It makes her uncomfortable unless she's holding contact to wait for the next cue. Then she's really intense...like border collie instense.

Trixie's pretty quick to pick up Leave it...but she looks away, lays down. Which I'd say is good. She disengages.

I think.....it might be best for her if we establish "leave it" and then add "Look at me" to the event chain, to create the merged behavior of "Leave it and look at me"
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
We covered Leave it in Angel's classes...but when we covered it with the behaviorist, we rewarded every time she disengaged. Next level was when she refused to engage. Level three was making eye contact rather than going for the thing. Then she added games like dropping treats, tower of treats, etc. She works in levels with each behavior introduction.

This guy wants eye contact before she gets rewarded...thus my initial confusion. Seems to me he's asking for a behavior chain, not a behavior. She's getting frustrated because she's doing as she's told, and not being rewarded. She actually laid down and refused to co-operate further as a result.

I've got a week to get her up to what I consider to be the Level 3 behavior, so we can go in next week and have her practice without getting frustrated.
 
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