New Family Member, Pics to Come Soon.....

Lonewolfblue

Superstar Fish
Jun 5, 2006
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#41
Well, some reasons might be lawsuits, and another is maybe they don't have dogs that they feel are qualified to be used in the socialization and training. But the gal I go to has many years experience, as well as had several dogs in the past that's had many championship titles. She is very good at what she does.

Here's more pics....








 

FishGeek

Elite Fish
May 13, 2005
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#42
Speaking of your 'puppy' Mo I want to see new pics of him :D

I did get my Aussie for competing in agility and my tainer wants me to try out flyball with him when hes older (he just turned 1). We have been doing some agility training but took a break for a couple of weeks while thingsare in limbo cause we are moving to SC. Fun, Fun.

It would help your dog to get her into something where she can be around other dogs and yet be focused on something else instead of the dogs.

Are you gonna get a puppy?? I think it would be best to get either a pup instead of an older dog that may be more threatening to her.
 

Lonewolfblue

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Jun 5, 2006
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#43
Speaking of your 'puppy' Mo I want to see new pics of him :D

I did get my Aussie for competing in agility and my tainer wants me to try out flyball with him when hes older (he just turned 1). We have been doing some agility training but took a break for a couple of weeks while thingsare in limbo cause we are moving to SC. Fun, Fun.

It would help your dog to get her into something where she can be around other dogs and yet be focused on something else instead of the dogs.

Are you gonna get a puppy?? I think it would be best to get either a pup instead of an older dog that may be more threatening to her.
Not sure if you already know, for agility training, you can do everything but jump your dog. It's not recommended for pups to jump until the age of about 1 1/2 yrs old to 2 yrs old, as their joints aren't fully developed yet, and most dogs if jumped too early, will get arthritis at a much, much earlier age. This is what was told to me by my trainer, which for my dog will be at least another 8 months to a year. But as for the running the coarses, the rest is ok to train.

As for a second dog, it will definitely be a puppy. The younger the better. I've seen some at the humane society that were 8-10 weeks old, which is what I'd be looking for.
 

FishGeek

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May 13, 2005
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#44
Sounds like you are on top of things :p

Its not jumping the dog thats an issue, its repetitive and continous jumping that causes the problem. In class we do a bit of jumping and then move on to something else. We dont stay jumping long enough to get him tired but its enough to calm him down some so he can focus. LOL. His favorite obsticle though is the shoot. :p
 

Lonewolfblue

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#45
Class #4:
Today was Betty's next class. She's progressing pretty well. In fact, the trainer was able to bring her dog on the same side of the fence as Betty, and we walked both dogs within 3 feet of each other. She got to where she was pretty comfortable with it. Then we changed it a bit where instead of going the same direction, we would go in opposite directions. She did get pretty stressed as her dog approached. Wasn't too bad when we were in the middle, but the other direction when the dogs were in the middle, that's where she was the most stressed, and was hard to control. But overall, she was much better than previous weeks, and the trainer had a lot of good things to say about it. ;)
 

Lonewolfblue

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#47
Well, Betty does have her ups and downs, but I think we've made the turning point. She's beginning to feel more confident in herself on our walks. This is helping with her fear aggression problem. Hopefully instead of increasing, it will now start to decrease, and hopefully decrease to zero, as I would love to have her in competitions.

Todays walk started on a more anxious note, she really wanted to get out there, lol. And she was hard to control, as she was pulling. But I started on the Stop and Go drills, where whenever she started to move ahead, I would Stop. She didn't like that, lol. She wanted to Go, lol. But after a short while, she still would pull some, but was more managable.

Then we got down to the trail, and there were a lot of dogs there, lol. More than I expected, lol. But that was a good thing, as I was able to try and work with her fear aggression problem. Then we got to the area that has a lot of trees. I began working on her handling, circling trees, etc. I kept moving and turning, forcing her to keep her eyes on me, and if she didn't, she would get a pinch from her prong collar. We worked on that at a walk for about 20 minutes, then upped it to a faster walk for another 30 minutes, then a jog for 15-20 minutes when I was ready to fall over myself, lol. She did very well, and is now beginning to watch me more, rather than her wanting to lead.

Then the walk home was awsome. She heeled perfectly for 30 minutes. She walked about 1 step behind me, and when I stopped, she sat at my heel. She's never done this before. She did try to pull in front of me a couple times along the way, but I gave a small snap of the leash to get her attention. It wasn't enough for the prong collar to pinch her, just enough that the sound of the chain links tightening slowed her back down. But overall, it was near perfect.

Well, tomorrow is Betty's next class. Will give you an update on how that goes. Hopefully it's even better than last week, even though last week she did Awsome. Will keep you posted.....
 

Big Vine

Elite Fish
Feb 7, 2006
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#50
Sounds like you've got some sound strategies when it comes to walking her.
And as you know, 'the walk' is so important for dogs. My wife and I have really been working on proper leash manners with our dog too, so I can somewhat relate to your situation. We use the stop & go method quite a bit. When she gets really bad at pulling ahead I'll make her sit and lay down too. And then on top of that I make her wait in the down position. Anyway, she's always much better-behaved after a long walk. Does a lot more good from a manners standpoint than taking her to the dog park (or "Chucky Cheese" as Caesar Milan calls it). Sure, she'll burn energy either way, but I'd much rather see the good behavior that stems from the discipline/self-control that she learns from regular walks.

Nice pics, by the way.
Wouldn't it be nice if she could be the one to chaffeur you around for a change? :p

BV
 

Lonewolfblue

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Jun 5, 2006
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#52
Class #5
Well, Betty's class went pretty good today. The trainer wanted to give her dog a break today, so we worked more on commands, and left her dog inside today. She did very well.

I also got some information from her on AKC Rally as well. We are going to begin some of her training now, as we work on her socialization. On days of bad weather, we will work in her garage on the Rally training, and on good days, dog socialization outside. She's pretty confident we can beat this fear aggression, and she feels Betty will be Outstanding at Rally, and even Obedience. Then, once this is done, she feels we could even go on to Agility, and maybe Utility. Will see what the future holds.
 

Lonewolfblue

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Jun 5, 2006
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#53
As for Betty, here's some of the commands and words she knows..... And to think that this is just a small list compared to what she has to learn for AKC Rally and AKC Obedience.

Sit - Voice and hand command
Down - Voice and hand command
Stay - Voice and hand command
Come - Voice and learning hand command
Good Dog
Bad Dog
Potty
Up - Voice only
Jump - Voice only
Let's Go
no - Voice and hand command
ah-ah (Goes with no)
Betty - Her name of course
In the house (She goes in her training kennel)
Out of the house (She comes out of her training kennel)
Go for Walk (To go for a walk)
ball
toy
Get the ball - Brings the ball.
Where's the ball - Goes and touches the ball with nose then returns with no ball.
Get the toy - Brings the ball.
Where's the toy - Goes and touches the toy with nose then returns with no toy.

Words she's currently learning...
Out
Heel - Learning Voice and Hand Command
Watch me - Learning Voice and Hand Command
 

#56
Don't let the tail fool you. Many Blues and red heelers are born with tails and they are docked at birth or shortly there after. She is lucky... She got to keep hers! This will provide her many hours of enjoyment. We have a pair of 'twin' girls that closely resemble your girl and they have the long tails.

She is beautiful tho... Congrats! And I am happy to read at how well her classes are going!
 

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#58
Our girls chase their own tails. They catch sight of it moving or flickering and they don't match that movement as one of their own in their brain and they attack it. It is sooo funny! Or they attack each others tails... Ours are still young about 8 months and little balls of energy. Of course they ride on the 4-wheeler behind you and act like they own it... Silly pups! LOL

Yup gotta love Heelies!!!