No! just Rehome your O/H, or have you tryed Clickerr training Your O/H ? Smarties work well!

I'd weave and jump through hoops of fire for a bag of skittles right now!

precisely. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I'm sure a lot of us, if not all of us were pretty green when we got our first dog. The important thing is to move forward from here and help Jake and Lozzi, not make nasty comments and point fingers.

i have just come in, and read through all of the posts since this afternoon and i am serious shocked at how nasty some people can be. i cant even reply properly coz i am so upset. some people on here know how much i love my boy and how much i would do for him. i would move heaven and earth for jake! and those members who actually know me, and dont just judge me, know that!

i have been through so much recently, and have been doing my very best with a demanding pup and dealing with other isues with me, so to have people (some of whom i actually did like before this thread) come on here, and criticise me in such a way is extremely hurtful. some people just think they are so damn perfect, and think they are better than everyone else! there have been members who have actually been so so nice, yet still managed to give constructive criticism and advice, and it is those people who i will listen to and have the utmost respect for. it just shows the viciousness and nastiness of certain members that they cannot show a bit of kindness in the way in which they post.

thank you to those who have been nice, and supportive. i really appreciate it all and tomorrow when i feel better and had a chance to sleep on it, i will come back and reply. i dont really feel up to it just now though.

After reading some of the replies on this thread lately my advice would be to ignore everyone else and liaise with Shona.

It'd far easier and safer tbh!

You never had a first dog?? you never made a mistake or two? or were you born with all this dog savvy info? I am guessing you and your dogs are perfect. You can read all the books you like you still have new experiences that arent covered by books and who is going to licence dog ownership? you? People need licences before having kids too IMO if that is the case and can I be judge jury and executioner? We are not experts we are all learning.
If you read this thread and it was a dog that got some of these posts they would have attacked and bitten some of the posters. Some are abrupt and that if fine but some are down right rude and arrogant.
FYI it is hard to get everyone consistant, do you want to know why............because you have little control of what others do, you can ask but you cant demand it of them.
I think if you have nothing constructive to say except act superior to all I think it is a good idea you bow out.

Oh so you now are a psychologist also?
Well I feel sorry for Lozzibear she has opened up an issue she had and she has been ATTACKED by other posters, if you didnt want to help thats fine, but if you want someone to listen or hopefully listen to the advice you will find people are more recieptive when they are not ATTACKED.
She was highly emotional when she wrote it no doubt, thought it could help to write it on here and gets these type of posts well good on you.
If you want some one to listen or see the seriousness of something trying to ram it down their throat won't work, it will make them jack up and defend themselves, similar to a dog being cornered and ATTACKED.
I think constructive criticism would be great, if not it is just wasting all those who have some great ideas to help and in their quiet way are drowned out by sensationalist claims.
People are obviously getting frustrated (me included) on this thread for a whole lot of reasons. But I believe (yes I could be wrong) it was written in when she was highly emotional shortly after the incidences (feel free to correct me if I am wrong LB) she was very descriptive in the events that took place.
It would be overwhelming to recieve so many replies, most being great in content and what advice I would like to recieve. But then LB has to read them all digest the information. Formulate a plan to work this issue out.
LB you know what I think, somethings need to change but what? that is up to you I know what I would do but Jake is not in my house and he is not mine, he is yours and I know you care for him. It may have been a once off but Jake is growing into a dog and it is easier to correct things that are not ingrained into them and for the best chance for it to be a one off is to change a few things now. Shona's offer is so wonderful, green with envy. Jakes eyes and ears need following up with the vet, even if they look cleared up. The book people suggested to you would be awesome to get and have a read.
I think your last postings are trying to play down what happened now and I get that you feel as if you are being attacked but there are some awesome words of advice if you can pick your way through this thread, but I know with your head stuff that can be hard, but as I think I said in my earlier post those words could be lost if you only focus on the wrong posts
In the following weeks I would love to know what you have decided to do, how Jakes eyes and ears are, how it goes with Shona, what that book said that was good, how have you changed things in your view of treating Jake.
I know some of the posts are abrupt but I believe some of them contain great advice others are just people coming into the cyber world acting as if their dog handling skills are perfect, it is easy to do but when we turn the computer off it is back to the real world where we are all human and mistakes are an unavoidable as we are just that human. Lozzibear I think your only mistake would be to ignore what Jake did and not learn from it.

Just so i know, Have i been nasty or helpful?

Don't feel you have to come back and reply - actually I think you've been rather good in that you've replied very fully to most if not all questions which not everyone does

I think too it might be a good idea to liaise with Shona and take things from there...Keep your chin up and the only further advice I would give is to not relax into complacency about Jake if he appears to be better - read up some good books and talk to some good trainers and keep up that ol' self education!

Another book I'd recommend as well as The culture Clash is by Marie Miller and Sarah Fisher - 100 ways to train the perfect dog. Wht I love about this is that it inclues real life examples of a couple of problematic dogs but is easy to read, has good photos and yet really gives out a good message about dog ownership and how to see things from the dog's viewpoint which will help with understanding consistency and how dogs can get stressed if indeed they are confused. Also if your parents do things differently then maybe a read of it will help them understand too. And a bonus, it's not expensive!

Wys
x

i absolutely agree with emrad. this is a community for people who love dogs and here we should be able to share the good times with the bad and without fear of being made to feel inadequate.

this is not some huge forum of unknown people, it is the same posters who contribute daily and i feel, develop friendships due to our mutual love of dogs.

this is a place that all of us should feel safe and really that we are among people that understand.

i would never profess to be a 'dog' expert. i've only owned 3 dogs and my experience other than that is 20 years + of grooming. sure, i have some knowledge and if i feel it's appropriate i will pass it on. equally, i have learnt so much from people here that i am very grateful for.

but it's beyond me why anyone, and lets face it, none of us were there, can offer advice and then get all shirty if it's not acted upon. we only know what we have read which as emrad so rightly pointed out, was written in a highly emotional state.

nowhere has LB said that she is unconcerned about jake's behaviour that day. nowhere has she dismissed it as unimportant and yet still, she is being treated like she is.

to criticise her or even accuse her of attention seeking, is pointless and nasty and achieves nothing more than to upset LB and those that support her. she has fully taken on board the advice offered in a pleasant and helpful way.

i've only just caught up with whats been going on in this thread and to be honest, im really quite shocked with some of the comments you have received. i also thought this was a forum to gain help and advice from others in similar situations. and i have to say, 99% of replies are. there really are some fantastic people on here. but to just throw negative and downright nasty comments at you is completley unaceptable. i only hope that you can come through this, hold your head up high. you really have done nothing wrong. you asked for help and we are all here for you. take all the good advice and ignore the bad. you are a good person and you have a wonderful boy who you obviously love dearly. you will get there with him, with guidence and advice from your dogsey friends. stay strong sweet heart. we are all listening. big hugs from me and sloppy dog breath kisses from Tilly. xxxx