Glad your class went well Moon's Mum. Cain certainly seems as though he is more chilled with his DAP collar.

Had a really good week with Polo. We have been really busy with dogs coming and going and Polo has taken it all in his stride. Today I took all the dogs to the paddock before dropping a few home. It tipped it down just as I arrived so I thought sod it and let all eight dogs out for a run about. Polo started to play with Lady and she was chasing him when all the dogs joined in bar one! So there were 6 dogs chasing Polo, only two of them being ours

Polo is not keen on being the chasee in a game and began frantically looking over one shoulder then another. So I called him over to find refuge with me as he cannot end the game without getting defensive. He turned and hared towards me by the back of the van and I let him hide behind my legs so the doggies couldn't get him.

Reactive dog class went well. We all took turns at agility with the next dog entering the paddock before the last one left and then all walked around on-lead in a loose group.

And finally Polo's wednesday group walk went exceedingly well. I got to the gate of the common and my friend had a red and white collie Polo had not met before. So I called to check it was ok to let Polo meet him and then let Polo off. He started trotting towards the group and then realised there was a different dog present. What happened next made me sooo proud. Polo turned 90 degrees so he was side on to the collie and approached in an arc! He is learning doggy social skills! The meeting went well and later on in the walk he even let the new collie sniff his bits for a whole 4 or 5 seconds without ripping its head off!!! So tolerant.

Oh well done Polo You should be really proud of him, retreating instead of confrontation, displaying proper doggy social skills. He really sounds like he has turned a corner and have progressed massively in the last few months. Well done to you, Polo is a credit to all your hard work

Ahh thank you!

Brilliant to hear Cain had a good socialisation class and that you are looking forward to the next class

Maisiesmum its fantastic to hear how well Polo is doing sounds like his social skills are really coming along

Got the park to ourselves today. Decided to focus on off lead and distance obedience work. Over summer I've been so busy avoiding everyone that I've let his outside training slip (been doing loads of training at home but not much on walks). He surprised me with how attentive he was we practises off lead heelwork with sits and downs, plus making him stay then picking him up on the way past in heel again. We did sits and downs at a distance, emergency downs both towards me and running away from me. Also did recalls and watch me. I then worked on proofing his down stay. I usually walk calmly away, for the first time I tried running. He broke his stay the first few times, but then he started to get the idea as a ran around the park doing jumping Jack's - we must gave looked a right sight He was fab though, totally focused and I'm very pleased with him

Another update from me and Anton:

Anton is an absolute dream to own at the moment. He's met my new boyfriend twice since my last update, both in and out of the house, and there have been no altercations - not even a bark (yet)! He is getting plenty of treats out of it, mind (Anton, not the OH!).

His dog reactivity, which I haven't posted about in a while, is also LOADS better than it was when I first posted a thread about it over a year ago. He has barrier frustration issues onlead, but we haven't had a temper tantrum in months and managed to walk straight past a Springer (one of the breeds that used to really wind him up) on a narrow path tonight with only a little bit of straining on the lead - a year ago, he would've gone mental! I was very pleased.

Seems like everyone's dogs are making really positive progress at the moment!

Well done! Cain seems to be a very smart boy

Fantastic! That's brilliant progress well done

Had a bit of a nightmare week with Ted feeling like all the work and progress he's made has gone out the window, even his recall (admittedly has never been 100%) has deserted him! Is it possible for dogs to go through a teenage stage at nearly 8 years old

Anyway we've had a much better day today so as i'm feeling a bit more positive thought i'd post about it if anyone's interested

Took him for a walk this morning where i knew we where highly unlikely to meet any dogs and we could both relax a bit which seemed to help. Then as i'm not working today and its cooled down a bit took him for a lunchtime walk to somewhere we rarely go but i knew the chances where we would meet a couple of dogs so we could go back to basics. It didn't get off to the best start when he decided to lie down in protest that i wouldn't allow him to go over to a couple of dogs After that we met a little terrier where despite a bit of staring to start with Ted decided to turn away and have a sniff in the grass at which the terrier went back to its owners Moved a bit further on and a irish setter came racing over to say hello which he did nicely then she bounded over to some mini schnauzers who started racing around playing and then over to us to say hello. Meanwhile two jack russells also joined us so five dogs milling and running around him plus one small child, but he was great seemed relaxed tail wagging and just trying to get round and sniff everyone

We moved on and past a couple of other dogs one he ignored and the other he needed a little distracting but he sat nicely while they passed. Coming back a collie came running towards us chasing a car that was coming down the small dirt road that runs alongside the fields, it was barking so caught his attention and as it was a narrow bit of the path and there was a gate to the road i decided to move onto the other side of the fence. The collie came over to the fence as we where passing and once again Ted ground to a halt but as he was quite tense i wouldn't allow him to go over. The owner of the collie stopped to chat and when her dog turned and walked away from the fence Ted seemed to relax a bit so i let him forward to say hello. They had a nice sniff a bit of marking and a bit of whining from Ted when the collie pottered off but no protest when we walked on. Didn't meet any other dogs after that so ended on a high note

This evenings walk he didn't seem nearly as focused on the other dogs about we even managed a bit of play with his ball. We bumped into someone i know with her ckcs who's a bit nervous of Ted and walked with them for a bit Ted was great they've met a few times and now he just tends to ignore her when we meet and she has a sniff when he's not looking He carried his ball back up the field after we'd been playing and we passed a springer Ted glanced over and just carried on walking nice relaxed wagging tail

Fingers crossed the last week has just been a blip and we can get back on track!

Well done to Anton! I always remember Anton's story and how upset you were a few months back. I'm delighted to hear you sounding so positive, sounds like Anton is doing great and had really turned a corner I keep telling my bf that I can't ever dump him because Cain would eat any new boyfriends I'm glad Anton has accepted yours

Sorry to hear Ted had a norty week (they all. Have them at some point!) I blame the full moon sounds like he more than made up for it on his recent walks though. That's a whole load of dogs he met, and behaved, with. You should be really proud of him

Good to hear about all these successes. That's great that Cain was so focussed and obedient at the park. What a clever boy!

Sounds like a thumbs up for the new boyfriend from Anton Well done on making such progress with him.

It sounds like Ted is back on track indeed. I agree with Moon's Mum over the full moon.