ummmm, Bitkin and 1cutedog..... you're both missing one great thing about them on your lists:

they've both (all three really) found great and loving owners who are willing to try everything and put in all the time needed!!!!!

loads of threads on here are about irresponsible/lazy dog owners and how annoyed we all are about them... I love the fact that this thread is about responsible ones!!!!

sorry, couldn't help but put in my two cents....

Hi Cintvelt.......what a lovely thing to say, you have almost reduced me to tears. (Well, it makes a change from Jimmi reducing me to tears!! )

Honestly - encouraging words like that do help enormously. You may help yourself to my bottle of whisky if you like.

thank you, don't mind if I do! I've just come back from a thoroughly frustrating obedience class with Tess-the-totally-"anything-is-more-interesting-then-you"-adolescent and so a really stiff drink is really in order!!!!!

keep smiling, and thank heavens for Dogsey

I agree.........cheers to Dogsey and all who suffer in her

Helena your post makes so much sense to me as well. I haven't played with Lana nearly as much as I should. I've been looking up games to play with her recently as I really feel I am neglecting her and think how boring her life is with me. Okay I take her to the park a couple of times a day and of course take her other places but I've often thought I'm not the right owner for her, too old and boring. I still feel I am getting to know her. Although she can be quite loving she can also be very aloof and she's quite a difficult one to get to know. Very complicated dog compared to my last one or maybe just she doesn't trust me yet.

I've tried playing tugging games with Lana, she's too long and stands on her back legs and is almost as tall as me so although I have my arms stretched right up, they are not long enough. haha We also can't do it here as she slides on the floorboards. When I wrestle with her she gets really worked up and appears quite vicious so I need to keep the wrestling sessions short. I do play find the treat or the ball and get her to sit and lie down but have no imagination for others hence all my google searches. She hasn't played with her toys much here because of the bare floorboards and the noise carrying so evenings especially are even more boring for her.

I'm pretty sure I will be staying here and once I know for sure will be investing in a carpet for the livingroom at least so she can play more games. I got a clicker and thought of clicker training her but don't think I am doing it right plus she can sit, give a paw, stay, down and come back so not sure what to use it for.

My previous dog was also a rescue dog and while I was out at work each day she wrecked almost the whole livingroom and all the furniture in it. The last time she did something I was so, so mad and felt like crying as I didn't have the money to replace the items I stopped talking to her. I still fed her and walked her but didn't pet her or anything. This wasn't on purpose, this was because I felt I really hated her I'm sure she felt the hate vibes wafting across to her. I kept this up for a few days and would you believe she didn't do anything like that again. Of course it could have been because there was nothing else for her to wreck. She still had my son to cuddle and play with her so she wasn't left completely hated

Bitkin, I'm not suggesting you should try this with Jimmi
Thanks for the whisky, I'm afraid I've almost emptied the bottle

cintvelt, thank you, that's really given me a lift and cheered me up.

Honestly it didn't take me that long to write my previous post, I refreshed the page when I came back but didn't think that new posts would go on the next page

Hope you got your whisky before I almost finished the bottle.

Yes thank heavens for dogsey and all the members. I was feeling quite desperate before I first posted on here, just having people who understand what I'm going through and coming up with great ideas to help. Writing it all down helps so much as well, as you have probably noticed with the length of my posts.

I think it's a magic bottle

Sorry not to have been on earlier came down with some sort of stomache bug yesterday and spent the day languishing on the sofa.
One thing I have to put right is that we've had Bessie since she was 8 weeks old so her condition is purely our fault. Like you lcute dog I sometimes wonder if we are just too old for her and that she finds us a bit boring. She loves it when the grandkids visit and has a special bond with my grandaughter they are inseparable. Having said that she does get played with and has two good walks a day as well as outings to the shops in the car and funnily enough we can leave her in the car and she just sits quietly waiting for us to return.
Bitkin - we tried her with a crate when we first got her and although she would go in for food and treats she wouldn't stay in there - she seems to just hate confinement of any kind.
Wysiwyg - I think we are going to have to go down the route of a behaviourist - I have one on a vet referral, just have to confirm the appointment and it's just the cost that has been putting us off. But I sometimes think her behaviour is more like that of a spoilt child throwing a tantrum because they haven't got their own way!
I tried for a while making her stay outside the post office each day whilst I went in - she would jump up at me and bark whilst tethering her up but as soon as I went into the shop she would be quiet. Had to stop that though as she was starting to react half way up the road knowing she was going to be tied up and actually grabbing my jacket as I left her.
She does have her good points though lol!
loves all other dogs and people
sits quietly when out if I'm talking to someone
very good at the "leave" command
can't think of any more lol!

I'm reporting in early this morning coz I'm supposed to be busy on the puter with all my van bookings, but I just had to come in here first as yer do!

Thanks for the whisky Bitkin, and I hope you have plenty of supplies tucked away somewhere in case you're still housebound with you know who! 1cutedog, I didn't realise how big your Lana is , I really must go and see some pics, I was thinking Lana was a little dog like Jimmi, and you did make me laugh about your previous dog and that furniture, although of course, it wasn't a laughing matter when it happened was it

I'm so glad you think my theory could be helpful to you both, I've spent so many years trying to keep one step ahead of my super intelligent gsd's that in turn it teaches ME sometimes, along with a clever horse of course! It's interesting what you have said 1cutedog, about how you reacted to your previous dog when he destroyed the furniture, and little do we realise sometimes, that dogs do actually understand when we really get mad, maybe they can read our aura's who knows! I do know that when Zena is pestering the life out of me, and although I've never, ever had the need to shout at her (she's far too sensitive a dog to cope with that), she does seem to cotton on when I use a stronger, firmer tone to my voice to tell her I've had enough, and to go and lie down, coz she actually does it, much to my surprise, be it with that "oh woe is me" look firmly plastered all over her face, but then the minute I go up to her to praise her, if I feel sorry for her, she instantly gets up and starts again so I have to make sure now, that when I do go and praise her I'm still in "that" mood although it's softened a tad, otherwise she'd cotton on! Lol!

I know you love them dearly, Jimmi and Lana, but you have to keep in mind that not only do you need to gain their trust, but also their respect, in that everything you say and do with them you actually "mean" it if you know what I mean. Matter of fact is just as good as a firm voice, better in fact imo, do everything as if you KNOW they're going to just do it and behave, such as when you do walk out of that door, don't for one minute even let it enter your head that they're going to be sooooo naughty, don't stress yourself about it, just DO it, as if they're the perfect little angels who are used to being left and will be fine, just like I did when I left mine in that unfamiliar van! This is of course for the constant in and outs, and it will help you whilst knowing that you will in fact, be back in there within minutes, and remember how Jimmi was when you were doing this??? Yes, he was learning from it, big-time! I honestly think that if this were happening to me, I'd be repeating it soooo often I'd be boring myself to death!!!

I've had sooooo many instances with bringing up Zena, I was constantly changing tactics if one approach wasn't working, and although I said be consistent, I'm talking about something NEW each time that she did, I was desperate to try and find the right solution for each incident, i.e. barking at men, lungeing at my friends out of the blue, people coming to the house, etc. etc. etc. and through sheer grit and determination I've conquered it, just gotta work on the vet fear now, which I'm doing by taking her there every few days, just to get weighed or just to sit and watch, or get a treat, and again, that's familiarity isn't it, same as what I'm suggesting here with the going out constantly, shutting that door, coming back in.

I hope you're remembering to put something in their beds that you've recently had on, something that smells strongly of you, just like that behaviourist said in the e-mail, it's very important I think.

I don't know about the games, I was lucky, I played with different toys, but I always got on the floor, down to her level when I played, and I made it fun. I really don't think you have to get into the special games, but hide and seek is good, but I don't think you have a garden do you 1cutedog, but I think you do Bitkin? Just 10 minutes twice a day is enough, it gets them realising that this is THEIR time with you, along with those walks of course, and when you're out with them, spend a bit of time actually being with them on a one to one, maybe with a ball, maybe have a sit down on one of the seats, do a couple of sits/downs and give a treat, or maybe just stop now and again and give them a cuddle, I'm always doing that!

That ignoring Jimmi you've been doing is fantastic, and I know how very hard that must have been, but the result was good wasn't it! I've never had to do that, although I suppose I do it inadvertantly, because each time I come home and dump all my shopping in the bootroom, I open the kitchen door, shove a slipper in Zena's mouth who is always there first to greet me, she gets a quick fuss, so does George, then I'm instantly unloading the shopping and ignoring them both, I don't make it a big deal that I'm home, especially if I've only been gone half an hour but Zena thinks it's days it's only a big deal when I've been gone 2 hours or more! I'm left completely alone then, to do as I wish (shock, horror!!!), because I have a routine, and a routine is paramount imo, they know that when mummy's finished doing stuff, if they sit quietly, or go out in the garden (door is always open), then they will get taken out again, and if you give a dog a good routine, then you've got a happy dog, you're not stressed out as you can have that in-between time for yourself, so if you haven't got one already, try and sort everything out into a routine. You know with horses Bitkin, a strict regime makes for a calm, settled horse, they don't like change, and I suppose it's the same for our dogs.

I'm guessing in about one month's time, you'll have cracked it let's hope! Bitkin won't have to worry about her kitchen being rearranged by Jimmi after a shopping trip, and 1cutedog will return to a calm, sleeping, quiet Lana! Think positive, it WILL happen

I never thought that a strange man we have never seen before would be able to stroke Zena out on a walk, but it happened yesterday when I met a load of walkers up on the downs, she just went over to them and let some of them stroke her, even men, and if you had asked me 6 months ago if that could ever have happened, I would have said a firm no! Anything's possible if you put in the time and effort, just like you 3 wonderfully, patient, caring, responsible owners are doing! Keep up the good work, and don't at any time get despondent

You're never too old!!! I'm getting my pension soon and look what I'm lumbered with here, a hyper-active, highly driven gsd youngster, constantly, but constantly on the go (apart from this very moment where she's sleeping at my feet of course!!! but that won't last for long, we're off to an agility class in a moment, oh Lord give me strength!!!! ).

You have to learn to be a child again sometimes ya know For the sake of your dog of course, who cares what anybody else thinks Good luck to you too, I'm sure you'll find some useful tips throughout this thread if you dig around in it enough!