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January 21, 2009 at 4:42 pm #62952
RozandFly
MemberHi All,
Those of you who have read/commented on Wally in Health and ‘Hips not good’ will know the background!
Briefly, Wally is a 10 month old collie (tho sure he’s crossed with a retriever somewhere!), I’ve had him since Dec 23rd, he spent 1st 4months of his life crated with his brother in a house with 7 bull mastiffs and no food bowls in sight, and then the next 5 months in a foster home. He has hip dysplasia and therefore needs to build up his leg muscles by lots of lead walking.
I also have another collie called Fly that I do agility with. Fly is currently injured and requirng rehab lead walking, but usually is very active, does agility etc. Bev has been to see me and Fly about her lead walking as she pulls a lot – we also need to work on her greeting as she is very dominant on the lead and plays in a bossy manner.
So…trying to walk both is turning into a nightmare. Fly, despite knowing her cue for heeling when it’s just me takes no notice when there are other people or other dogs around. I’ve been working on this but obviously adding Wally has made it all tricky to say the least.
Wally is fab on the lead – walks to heel, if you stop at a curb he sits, if he’s not heeling you can pause and he’ll come straight back to a heel. BUT – if another dog comes in sight he is a terror – he really barks, pulls on the lead, and I can have the nicest treats in the world but he takes no notice. I really think it’s through lack of socialisation and fear.
Fly clearly adds to this, and the pair of them together in this situation are unmanageable and looks like I have two monsters with me.
Off the lead they are both angels (ok, not quire, but you know what I mean) – Wally greets other dogs well and plays nicely (tho he has flawed Meg and not sure why, what to do about that!) and Fly more often than not couldn’t give two hoots that there is another dog around as she is ball obsessed.
Walking them seperately is becoming less possible as they both need more, 5/6 walks of 30mins and increasing is getting silly!
Can people suggest what to do? I know there are some very obvious things but I have become irrational through being pulled in every direction and looking like a terrible dog owner!
:help:
Thanks!!January 21, 2009 at 5:38 pm #78250Justine&Rafe
MemberKnow the feeling!!
Not much help, but you aren’t alone on the pully leady doggy thing!!!
Rafe (43kg) + 2 chocolate labs (2 x 25kg) = A LOT more than me.
+ 12 legs versus 2….
= me getting airborne
= me not able to take girls out while trying to get Rafe sorted as he my top priority.
Will watch this space to see what advice you get as am interested too!
January 21, 2009 at 5:40 pm #78251deebee
Memberis there a dog equivalent of a horse walker?
i’ll get my coat……
January 21, 2009 at 7:05 pm #78252Anonymous
GuestHee hee, not laughing at the situation Roz just know exactly how you feel. meg walks well (ish) by herself but as soon as I add ollie to the situation (errr all the time) she is a ball of bouncyness and looks to him when we walk backwards (not up at me like she would if it was just her).
I think basically it comes down to patience and practice (2 things that I am very bad at!) We have to realise that by letting our dogs pull we have reinforced the behaviour and it takes more to undo it than it would have if we had done it properly from the start! I have “lost it” with Meg on a number of occasions over the last few weeks purely cos I have been stressed and feeling guilty that we stopped her training for so long. trying to make up for lost time I have somehow lost my way and tried to rush but shouting and getting frustrated. Who knows what damage I have potentially done to the girl, I really feel like I am letting her down and making her worse.
I am hoping that over the next couple of weeks I can put in some more training with her and do “best place to be” all over again. My frustration lies with “she should be able to do this by now” and “will she ever do this”.
Anyway-back to Roz-I would get a dog walker or take your friend up on their offer but be clear about what they need to do (and what not). When are his hydrotherapy sessions? I can come along for moral support ( i know what you are like with dogs and water) if you like.
Sorry – I have rambled too – just remember – you are not alone!February 19, 2009 at 4:43 pm #78253GuestHi,
The dogs distract each other – I had this sillyness when we had Mist last summer. My 2 dogs who both walk well together under cue suddenly turned into monsters and I had Mist tugging like a huskie dog AND a toddler who needed his hand holding !!!
It is definately patience and practice.
I would tackle this by using Fly’s time to tackle the ‘distractions’ – make sure her C5 heelwork is of a fair level without distractions and then try adding them and keeping her focus. Would she lose focus if you walked somewhere new to her or with lots of people around ? How about when someone walks another dog down the opposite side of the street ? what about one walking the same way infront of her ?
How about getting ollie’s mum to walk by / infront / behind you and see if her attention keeps focus, then get ollies mum to take Ollie and keep her focus, then work up to trying Meg and then Ollie and Meg (ollie’s mum dont worry if they not perfect or they bark – the point isnt for you to be perfect here its for Fly to learn she cant just break cue when she fancies) then try wally (with ollies mum handling him) as he reacts like a bit of a nutter he’ll be a good test !
You need to do something similar with Wally but sloooooower there will be a way you can get his attention back you just need to slow down and back up with the pup 🙂
Once Wally is to the point where you can atleast distract him and walk on then you could try walking him out with someone else doing Fly to test how she copes with him firing off once you have her not firing and him ‘distractable’ then try them back together again but stick to the cues and “ahah”‘s and dont let them repeatedly break.
If you need to walk them at the same time then you need someone else but ollie’s mum is right – they absolutely must know what they are doing too as it wont speed things up it’ll just slow them down 😉
Try and remember each time that you put them in a situation and allow them to bark at other dogs it strengthens this response that you dont want them doing – you need to manage this heavily until you get her cue better or you are just working against yourself.
Claire x
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