I'm going to be killed by two dogs on Friday....

[jackieandwayne]

Please keep your fingers crossed for me on Friday.......good friend Les had adopted yet another dog. She's a diamond with rescues, always room for one more. Merlin the husky/GS shepherd arrived at 11 months in November last, having been confined to a cage in a small flat. Female owner admitted she was afraid of his strength and couldn't walk him. She was owner No 4. He stays where he is now, Les never gives up on them.

 

He's hurt Les' arm and she has a brace so old big head with the dogs here offered to take her out to the forest and "deal" with him once and for all. Well, I've met my match here. If I tell a dog what to do i expect it to be done. end of. Along comes another dog, and because I already realised Merlin has a high level of excitement which could turn into aggression if not checked, I decide we'll teach him to sit politely to one side when dogs come by for now. On the lead of course, which I hate, but this is a large dog and we are looking at the Law here with him if we are not careful. Bloody creature. Oh he sat alright, but then he leapt in the air, ran at the group of people and dog coming towards us and I was attached to the end of the lead. For two or three seconds i was horizontal off the ground behind him just like a bloody cartoon strip. I landed with a plop and in a heap at the feet of a very surprised looking man and three women tryng not to wet themselves laughing. The laughter broke the tension thank God. Oh my shoulders and arms!

 

I get on the phone to my dog whisperer friend, and we've arranged to spend next Friday with Les and Merlin. DW uses other dogs to rehab the bad boys, and her special selection for Merlin? A great dane, Bertie, who weighs 220lbs, can look the DW in the eye, and she is tall! Oh she says, it'll be fine, I rehabbed him last week, he won't knock his owner over again! He won't do it again and it do them good to meet each other. OMG. And Les now has an RSI so guess who has to do this bit for her?

 

I know the DW will sort Merlin out, but just in case, please, everyone, fingers crossed for me at 1pm next Friday when they are going to do their street walking exercise together through one of the busiest parts of town! Must remember to take a shovel.

[mrbigjase]

eh?

[Janie1962]

How did it go with Merlin & Bertie? Sorry to say I did laugh at your antics! My lad was attacked by a dog who was off the lead and now suffers initial fear-agression when faced with strange dogs. If the owners just stand and talk to me, after a couple of minutes he's fine. He'll greet the other dog, then just sit politely at my feet. Apart from that, he's the best!

 

Hope it all went well - please let me know!

 

Best wishes

Janie

[jackieandwayne]

Hi Janie, yep it was all good and Merlin is now a "work in progress" He has aggression but not the usual fear aggression, this is the other one, "Mr Big Balls I am in charge". (He doesn't have any whatnots anymore - made not a blind bit of diffference!). Bertie is beautiful with the same temperament and grandiose ideas of his place in the world as Merlin, but you know when you have two huge dogs like that on head control gear, walking them side by side as if they were best friends, it does look good! (Bertie has shocking halitosis! its not often you have a dog almost level with yourself so I suppose that's why it was so noticeable - he was almost breathing in my face!).

 

Seriously, we spent 5 hours on Friday walking Merlin on the head gear, all through the busiest places, poor Les visibly cringed when we told her we were now going on the school run with him to collect her son - this lot of parents don't show off with posh cars and designer gear to collect the kids, oh no, they all walk their designer dogs to the school! Its at the bottom of an enormous hill = I nearly expired walking back up it. But what it did for Les was give her the confidence that here she was with this massive (wannabee dominant) Northern Inuit Dog (not a husky after all!) on two lightwieght head control leads held in one hand - walking towards her worst nightmare, about 30 pedigree dogs all over excited, and nothing bad happens! Once you get the owners confidence up, the job is 3/4's done. Merlin CHOSE to lie down and wait patiently, and Les was able to relax and chat and laugh as if she had a cat on the end of the lead. Merlin will soon forget his grand ideas and settle down, he can't go off lead for about 8 weeks yet, (except with my own dog who he knows well) but he'll be getting plenty of pavement pounding with just him and Les. The difference is that Les knows she won;t get pulled over again, we proved it to her by walking through one of the busiest shopping/traffic areas of the town. See, she hadn;t realised that she could be pulled under a car or lorry by him.,

 

You've got it spot on with your own boy and fear aggression. Its no good trying to find places where nobody takes their dog is it? It can;t be done. The thing for this problem is socialisation but with your dog having the strongest confidence in YOU that nothing bad will happen. Which you have taught him. See, he's forgotten about being attacked, he doesn;t really remember why he can be a bit fearful, he just is. But YOU never forgot it did you? When YOU completely forget it, you will never have this problem again, I promise! What sort of dog do you have?

 

Taz is a border collie, and as I type I can actually hear him dragging one of my boots up the stairs to me! I guess its that time again!

[renegadeimp]

I love northern inuit dogs. Hard to train but loyal and obedient as anything once they gain your trust.

[jackieandwayne]

Renegade, I'm ashamed to say I had never really taken any notice or been really aware of this breed. It must be because they are a relatively new breed (80's?). I do like a good wolf though, its my favourtie animal. This Merlin, I'll be seeing a lot of him, because he belongs to my best friend and we always go out on long walks. He is one of the most handsome dogs I've had anything to do with, he's a cracker. And he's one of the few animlas who has got the better of me! I think I respect him a bit more for that!

 

He'll be fine with Les, all over the weekend she's had him out for a couple of hours day on his head gear, just the two of them. Poor soul, this is his 5th home, and he's only 18 months old. She won;t give up on him. Next week we go back to the dog whisperer's house for treadmill training for Merlin and to see how he is with a real established pack of dogs - afghans! Then in a few weeks we'll take him to the local agility (that'll put Les through her paces!). If she can stay calm in that sort of environment, and keep Merlin calm and occupied, then she's cracked it I'd say!

[renegadeimp]

They are very loyal and obedient when brought up right. It's just in their nature to be like that.

[Janie1962]

My boy's a Doberman cross. Very loyal and protective; also very puppy-like (at age seven!).

[renegadeimp]

Dobermans are just big softies. Its the owner that causes the rare few to turn nasty and give the breed a bad name,

[jackieandwayne]

Oh I love all dogs, but I am a border collie person through and through. Dobermans are great, rotties as well, and you are right, it is 99% of the time the owner and the way they bring the dog up that causes the problems.

 

The things I see when I go out, makes me cringe. I see owners being dragged along by their huge dogs, I see people trying to avoid me and Taz because they are expecting a fight - yesterday a lady with a terrier preferred to walk in the busy road rather than risk her dog have a snap at mine! I've met couples walking along, one with the dog on a lead, one ahead to fend off any oncoming dogs, just in case! Even poor Les had started to panic about corners, in case there were dogs round them! The thing I hate the most is when a small dog owner lifts the dog out of the way of a bigger dog - very bad unless the little one looks likely to be killed. And no wonder Henri the boxer had a punch up with a black sharpei the other day - the two female owners dislike each other, and there is tension as they walk past each other - this is why the two dogs had a go! But hey ho its given them something real to fight over.

 

Its almost as if some people are ashamed to say they got it wrong, when actually, its a very common problem. I'm lucky because one of my best friends in a dog whisperer with 40 years experience and a kennel club judge to boot (she's older than old Cesar Milan and doesn't bleach her teeth either and she is English so understands our funny ways with our pets!) so I learn something new from her everytime we meet up, and because she charges quite a lot, if I find a really genuine hardship case, she'll do it for half her fee.

[Crazy Diamond]

A friend of mine got a Red Setter who has so far resisted every attempt to teach him recall. He's been to dog whisperers, boot camp (with extension times!), but nothing did it, once off the lead, that was it, red mist descended and he disappeared like Red Rum on dope...

 

In desperation and after 2 years and thousands of pounds, she resorted to the electric collar, and it has worked wonders! He looked completely shocked the 1st couple of times but got the hint and has not given any trouble since.

 

Before anyone criticises, it was that or him getting run over (again!) or being lost for good or even the last thing she wanted to do: take him back to rescue home, which would have broken everyone's heart, as he's a lovely dog otherwise (we won't get into his eating habits right now).

[honeybee13]

Hello Diamond.

 

The red setters I've met have been pretty scatty but nice. I can imagine it's tough. I hope it works out for your friend.

 

My best, HB

[jackieandwayne]

I wouldn't criticise you for using a vibration collar (not electric shock, all you want to do is distract the dog not hurt it). We tried it on Merlin and he took no notice of it. I would rather that in the very short term, than a dog getting run over because it won't come back. At a collie training class I went to years and years ago, pulling was dealt with swiftly. If the dog/owner couldn;t get it sorted by kindness/reward/fun, the organiser took the dog outside on a reasonably long rope, let it pull, then gave it such a yank it would somersault backwards. Lesson was always learnt with one or two goes, then it was back to class, down to fun, with no pulling, ever again! I prefer head control and calmness myself, if all else fails. The person who used this tactic knew what they were doing, done by a novice and it could seriously injure a dog.

 

I wouldn't mind betting your friend even tried the clicker method with her red setter to no avail! These lovely dogs seem to be almost royalty in their attitudes - gorgeous and they know it! Far to aloof to be distracted from anything by mere food treats! I don't think they are scatty, its all well thought out mischief with them! In fact when Taz and I go out in a minute we meet up with one called Rosie - she's a demon! It looks like she won't do a thing her mum tells her, but if you watch her you can see she always has one eye on where mum is, but is still going to do what she wants for now anyway! When she wants to be good she sits at mum's feet and looks at her adoringly, and all is forgiven! Every morning she starts her walk looking stunning, brushed etc, after the hour she's covered in twigs, leaves, and boy does she like to roll in fox and badger poo!

[Crazy Diamond]

Ah ah ah, you just described Archie to a T!!!

 

... well, except for the well thought-out mischief part. The dog trainer of many years experience said to my friend in despair that he had never ever met a dog that was as dumb as that. Lovely, friendly, but really, really stupid!

 

He also has a few other character flaws, one being that he loves leather. I mean he loooooooves leather. Can't get enough of it. Ate my friend's husband to be's wedding shoes... the day before the wedding. Ladies visiting have to put their handbags high up or risk losing them.

 

Another is that he thinks he's a goat, prodigious appetite, always hungry and will eat anything that has any type of even remotely food smell. And he's FAST! She put the shopping down, turned her back for 2 seconds, Archie had gobbled up the special heart shaped chocolate favours she was going to use to scatter on the wedding tables... for days after she could find his poop by looking for the gold and red foil in the bushes...

 

He is beautiful, adorable and all that... but there are times where I can see her patience being sorely tried!