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Location: South East UK
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 27,437
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Originally Posted by
elaineb
Oh H, I am that made up for you
and Zena of course, what a clever little girl you are!
Elaine xx
Thanks for sharing my excitement!! I still can't believe it, her very first outing, she's never been outside the garden apart from in the car and to the vets, and yet she took it all in her stride, with a little bit of help and persuasion from me of course. I didn't pull her once, I just let her have as much space as she needed until eventually she came in to say hello to her very first dog when out!
Originally Posted by
tawneywolf
Think of the wolf pack Helena,the babies instinctively follow their mothers and siblings, because if they didn't they wouldn't last long would they?? That instinctive behaviour is what you have to use. Believe you me this is the absolute best time to establish the pecking order, i.e. she follows YOU - NOT the other way round!!! When you spoke about previous dogs when you are on the yard going backwards and forwards to the muckheap, it is no different from what you are doing now, the puppy followed you backwards and forwards, this is the same, except you aren't on the stable yard anymore
When she gets a bit older she will begin to want to charge off on her own, it is natural, but if you have established a decent recall you have more chance of her coming back to you fairly quickly, I do tend to keep walking if mine go off after a squirrel or rabbit or something, as it just keeps them that little bit insecure and more likely to come back quickly if they know I will not wait around for them or chase after them. I am their security and provider and they don't want to lose me, now do they
All so interesting for me yet again there June! Did you ever try to Monty Roberts thing with your horse??? I did, and I managed to get him following me around the school, turning sharp left and right whenever I did, so if I can do it with a great big strapping 16h2" horse, I'm darn sure a cute little puppy will be a doddle!! You're soooo right. I've been watching a lot of The Dog Whisperer lately and he's taught me a few things I didn't know. I never worried before with any puppies, I just did what came natural, and it was so natural for me to have them loose around me up at the yard, to the point of coming out with me on my horse for a short walk in the woods, and yet they never, ever went off the track into the woods, they just stuck in front of me the correct distance. I've always been very verbal with my dogs too, always talking to them, always telling them how good they are, and I was doing that this morning with Zena, I hope she understood! I'm sure she felt totally relaxed! I understand about the other dogs and putting her back onlead, BUT, when one was coming over this morning, she WAS going to run in the opposite direction (that was the 2nd dog we met!), until I called her and crouched down next to the new dog, and that is what worries me, would she run off in that kind of situation, being scared. Perhaps not, if she sees me as the security she should come back to me. I hope!!!!xxxxx
Originally Posted by
Kazz
Go on bite the bullet I found letting a small pup off lead to leanr recall and manners with other dogs is easier than letting a "teenager" off lead who people then consider to be a hooligan.
People are a lot more forgiving of puppy errors than "teenage hooligan" errors...so are other dogs to be honest. My Sal will forgive and even allow a strange pup liberties, she would not allow as the pup gets to "teenage" months....but the pups get a good "instinct" of other dogs from the start who to play with andhow to initiate it, who to ignore, who to avoid and who are friendly but not "players" who ill share who won't its like a playground and the sooner she learns the rules the better for her and you.
Georgie is obviously a player with pups, my Sal isn't but will ... happily tolerate/meet greet and to my surprise at times has even gone as far as to protect a pup or two from over enthusiastic/aggresive adult dogs...
I watch her approach other dogs and have learnt to "note and take action with her approach to them" and she is rarely wrong.
Let her off she will stay with you, but take the squeaky and yes put her on off lead and not always on lead when you see another dog otherwise she will associate a dog approaching you with "danger/trouble/fear/lead" which you won't want. Hopefully Georgie has taught her some doggie manners in meet and greet.
Oh I meant to say keep walking I do I watch where Sal is but not follow her in fact if she goes too far off (rare these days and usualy an excellent reason ie once a fallen man in the park at Christmas) I turn and go the other way. SO much so that at a crossroads if she is in front she will wait for me to point not speak) the direction I intend to go and go that way so I make the descisions not her, so even if she is in front "on point" my OH calls it she is still following my instruction. When she was a teenager (and being a Sbt) if she went to far outsde my "safe zone" I would hide behind a tree and she would worry and search, then I wold make myself seen again and she would find me a stick like glue...if she was being totaly interested in rabbit/cow/fox/horse poo or squirrels etc that is Ohh so exciting to a youngster I would sit/crouch down on the grassso she would come back to see what I was doing because of course "I amd her life and more interesting than anything in her world" always. So why miss out on my "new find" back she would charge, let her stay with me then slip her lead on for about 2 minutes then a game of ball off lead then on lead then off again....so she associated the lead with somehing good to come...
dog minds I did not know I had practiced till I started to type this.
Thanks for all that Kazz, all very informative to me. I won't be bothered one iota when I've seen how she behaves offlead for the first time, and I'm going to do this on our OWN first and then I will let her play with the other dogs that I know, who I always meet on our usual morning walk. They're all over friendly, some don't even take any notice of Georgie, so they won't bother with her, but will let her go up for a sniff, I know that! It's just that it's so late in the day to have done any of this, other pups of mine would have been with me twice a day offlead at the horse, so this is all new territory for me and the more help and advice I can get the better. I've been given some brilliant advice her, and I know for sure, it's the wtg tomorrow. I'll keep doing the on and off lead bit as you say, just to ensure her, she's going to get her freedom
All very exciting for me actually. I'll feel a load better when we've started our training classes. I know she's good at home, but there's nothing here now to attract her attention elsewhere is there, she knows everything around her, but new sights, new smells, possible fears, just makes me a bit apprehensive as to what she would actually do! I remember Georgie running off with me once when I thought I had instilled an excellent recall with him, but give him his due, it was a very windy day, we were on top of the downs, and he had only gone off to smell a dollop of fresh horse poo and tucked into it! Lol! He was easy to grab whilst eating that!!!!