Not attacking or barking at the vacuum anymore 🤗🤗 but still would like her to get a little more relaxed around it. She even showed interested in her bone after I turned the vacuum on. So I was happy about that. We clean a lot around here so she gets a lot of practice.
Last weekend I had a lesson with Cookie! This lesson was based on socialization. Her owners would like her to be a little more comfortable around other dogs. A HUGE thank you to Liz for helping us out! Stig and Josie were so helpful. Thank you Liz for picking me up and dropping me off so I could get my car cleaned!
As you can see our dogs had a blast!
Thank you to everyone who came out to group class! It was a great group and the dogs did great!
My girl Sydney thanks you all as well 🤗💖🐾
BIG BIG steps today for Sydney. First she did group class this morning AND this is her first time being able to work outside!! Sydney is normally too nervous to even function outside. We sit on a place and try to let the world go by. Today we played a little bit and even did some obedience. It is not perfect at all but I was able to control the barking. She still did it but when I asked her to stop she did! You will ALSO see what we got over our fear of the blow up turkey!! Making progress one step at a time!
Now this is when my animals start to help. They will help me show Sydney how to chill out and relax, not overreact at different noises and sounds, how to see people as not such a threat….the list goes on. I will make sure that she still gets her single lessons on her own but now that she is introduced to everyone I will definitely use their help.
Sydney with dogs - she wants to play but gets nervous quickly and goes on the defensive. So I am making sure the dogs are calm when around her so she realizes she doesn’t need to be so defensive. The more comfortable she gets the more movement and excitement I will allow her to be around.
Sydney with the kittens - this is a completely different situation. She wants to chase, charge and control. My cats realize when new dogs come in but it doesn’t take long before they are trying to rub on their faces, chase their tail, play with the leash…. I have been working with the flirt pole a lot because of this. I want to have control when she is around the cats. I need to be sure she understands what I want from her.
Working on control and space here. Teaching Sydney how to drop items and give space to the object so I can pick it up safely without her going to grab it before me or worse at the same time and me getting bit by accident.
Big steps today! Ms Sydney met Jed and the kittens today!
Introduction to Jed was a bit crazy in the beginning but she started to realize rules still apply even with a dog around. She tried playing a lot in the beginning but I just stayed consistent and was sure to follow through on everything I was asking from her. Her obedience is nothing like it was last night but this is exactly what I expected. We have a lot of work to do today!
First morning training session complete. We went outside for a little bit this morning when not many people were out and started some obedience. Didn’t do great but it was the first time. We will stay at it today when traffic is low.
Now….relaxing chewing a bone 💖🐾
I have sooooo much video and I’m trying to go through it all to post it but this is from just now and I wanted to share. I truly wasn’t sure where I was with Sydney and her obedience. Did she understand what I was asking? Does she truly know what I am asking from her? I didn’t introduce any dogs or kittens yet because I know I need to make sure she understands what I’m asking from her before I do that. The rabbit I can’t do anything about. She has a hard time ignoring Thumper. I do have two extra gates around Thumper because I am extra cautions but I always have Sydney on a leash until now. I was actually able to keep her focus and attention on me and what we were doing together. She did so well tonight….today in general. This doesn’t mean she is ok with Thumper. I will still have a leash on her. She isn’t fixed by any means. We still have soooooo much work to do. Tomorrow I will start introducing other animals to her. She is ready. We are going to go slow. I imagine it’s going to be hard for her but I will do everything I can to set us all up for success!
Sydney understands the assignment!
Great job to Sydney’s owners for doing their homework! We will be using a muzzle with Sydney due to her reactivity. I just started playing around with it today and when I pulled it out Sydney came running over. People are sometimes uncomfortable with the thought of a muzzle but if it is introduced properly and practiced consistently it is a great tool to use for being able to socialize a dog and keeping things safe! The more we work with it the less she will acknowledge or even care about it!
Two videos both taken during morning food prep time. It takes me on average 20 minutes to get everyone’s food, meds prepared and kitchen cleaned up.
The first video was from yesterday morning. The second video is from this morning. Can you see a difference?
Here she is! Sydney is a one year old Cattle dog. She will be staying with me for 3 weeks for a behavior modification. Sydney is an extremely fearful dog with a lot of reactivity. This is from yesterday. When we left her house she was jumping and barking at me. I had her owners load her in the car and off we went. She became my friend very quickly. I am going to spend a lot of time trying to get Sydney to slow down, building confidence, working on reactivity, general obedience, and trying to get her to understand it’s ok to just relax. Anyone who knows me knows that the severe fear cases like this are my absolute favorite. We have a lot of work ahead of us. This morning at 5:30 we started. No people no distractions just us. Depending on how she does today I may introduce her to Ali. The journey has begun.
My current crew! Working with Phoebe and Hugo this morning! A day trip to work on obedience, socialization and reactivity.
When you were told to chill but you just aren’t ready to chill because you haven’t seen your friend in a long time…you play as quietly as you can so you don’t get in trouble 🐾💖🐾
