Positively | Victoria Stilwell | Forum

The more stressed out he is, the more Breeze scrats. He does it a LOT when we go on our more urban walks around the cemetery. I would say it's probably just a kind of 'stress reliever' action, based on absolutely no more evidence than that

I agree - if possible teach them separately. I do this by having my other half look after one dog while I work with the other. Or if he's not there then I can work with my terrier while my hound relaxes in another room, but I can't work with my hound because the terrier is not happy being left alone...

There's a thing called 'Don't break the chain' which ties in with what Erica and you are both saying, where you set up your calendar & stickers (or a marker pen, or whatever!) so that everytime you do that thing (whatever your 'thing' is) you can put a mark on the calendar. The idea is that so l...

I would arrange a phone call where you can discuss it with him - I would LOVE someone to come and walk me through what I'm doing with my nervous dog - even though I know the theory I'm sure there's places where I could improve or change things slightly. See if you like the sound of him, if he thinks...

Steve Mann from the IMDT should be fantastic, very well respected and teaches a lot of trainers I know. No personal experience but a lot of people here have met him & I'm sure would sing his praises.

Elisa, I agree with the 'to not get too riled up' lady. With Scout food treats work a treat, but balls will get her glazed over, incapable of thinking of anything beyond the ball, and certainly not able to do anything that involves moving her body in a way that's not 'positioned to go and get that b...

Oh sorry, I read your last comment incorrectly! I thought you said you thought she DOESN'T like being picked up. Always a good thing to work on, regardless. My little terrier will lift her paw up when she wants to be lifted - it's pretty cute! Usually it's when she's sleepy and doesn't want to go al...

Master2, it is generally a good idea to think of your little dog as if it were a big dog. If you had gotten a German Shepherd how would you handle getting them from one room to another? You'd find a way to encourage them, you couldn't just always pick them up and move them! We have a tendency to tak...

Wow, Amy! Good on those dogs for coming back to you, good on you for having trained it so well, and I hope you had a moment to appreciate the swans too

We had two policemen in our house at 12 midnight yesterday (this morning?) and by 12:30 Scout had one of them fully trained in squeaky-egg toy kicking. So much so that he felt the need to leave the room to play with her so as not to squeak in the same room as the upset girl in the room (everything i...

Breeze pees like a horse, a horse that pees all over his front feet that is, every time he does his 'proper' emptying peeing. Sorry.

Although he is fine (usually) when he's marking stuff. It rarely hits what he's aiming for but at least it misses his feet. Sometimes it does hit Scout's head though

This explains why when I met up with my OH both our dogs were off lead... RIGHT NEXT TO A FIELD OF CATTLE

and why he cannot fathom why I was so shocked & appalled! They were literally in the same field - only separated by a string of electric fence.

There is an extra step of cleverness (I think) in that he doesn't switch the coffee grinder on, pull out the ball he's brought with him and call Scout for a game. He switches the coffee grinder on and hangs out in the corner of the kitchen for 5 minutes with not a lot to do but wait. It's Scout that...

WELL DONE for walking away! It's hard to turn your back on a little puppy when you've wanted one for so long, but you've made the right choice. You will find the dog you are looking for eventually!

Ah I had just the same thing yesterday. I was having a cuddle on the sofa with Scout, she was all tucked up and buried under the blanket with me, doing that contented dozy noise that she does, when all of a sudden WHOOSH she leapt up and ran off. After a second I realised that Lodger had put his cof...