Positively | Victoria Stilwell | Forum

Its me again... Merlin has been doing amazingly with his bullying, but something horrible happened today that I need advice/reassurance for if possible. I'm freaking out a bit! Merlin got into a dog fight with another boy. They were posturing, then Merlin broke away, then the other dog went for him....

I asked my trainer today about the bullying, and she said permanent longline so I can interrupt asap. Because its only been happening for just over a week she didn't seem to think it would take long to retrain his brain. Even though I kept interrupting him, he was still rewarded in the time it took ...

Ok, that makes sense. I've been calling him back / interrupting every time but I think Merlin may already think that this is the way to behave since he's still doing it and its getting worse. I hope that isn't the case. I hope everything I've been doing, even if it looks overprotective, pays off whe...

And I thought having a boy dog would be easy! I'll avoid all intact dogs he doesn't yet know. He's not the only dog to be doing this, so I found out. The lab he had a go at apparently did the same thing the day before to another adolescent dog, but actually bit them (no blood, but was latched on). T...

New development: I've noticed a pattern. The dogs he gets all growly about are all adolescent, intact male dogs (around 6 months +). Not only does he stand on top of them, but he will rugby tackle them down and hump them, especially if they jump up at me. If they jump up at me he will tackle them (l...

Going through this right now with my pup (see almost 7 months old pup thread if you want), you'll get some great advice from the guys here and it has helped my boy dramatically in such a short space of time. What I did was: 1) Do calm above all else for anything to do with dogs. Going off lead to so...

JudyN wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2017 12:44 pm It's criminal when dogs who look like that aren't particularly cuddly, isn't it?

It is! I've met other Spitz owners who despair at how independent, yet somehow totally dependent, their Spitz's are. You want to follow me everywhere all day but don't want to sit still for a stroke? WHY!

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Thanks Suzette, I put that into practice today. 3 second greeting only, less if it was the cockerpoo who sprant up to him off lead and rolled over IN HIS FACE. Merlin thought it was christmas, wagged his little tail, and proceeded to try and step on top of her. Nope, not today, oh how he whined... D...

Spaniel bowling does sound like fun... :lol: Merlin is the type of dog to run away if things get too heated (at the moment at least), so, like Jasper, I hope that means he's not trying to start a fight. Dogs have lunged at him aggressively whilst walking on the lead, and he's never lunged back. He j...

That was what I was afraid of :( I'll avoid on lead greetings, especially with smaller/younger dogs (his targets it seems :(). Is it something that is likely to just be a part of who he is forever? He hasn't had the chance to practice it often, and he knows play ends if he tries it (or any other pus...

He did it again :( We went out walking today and he met a 6 month old cocker boy. Both dogs on a lead, they had a sniff then the cocker rolled onto its back. Merlin climbed on top and started growling. Again no teeth bared, but he wasn't loose in his body language and was staring. We seperated them ...

I know, I don't know how they spot everything so quickly. I also find it weird how quickly they can 'make friends.' Merlin will meet some dogs and it'll just be a sniff and maybe a gentle run around, but with others they meet and 2 seconds later its OK WE'RE BEST FRIENDS NOW! It seems to happen befo...

That makes sense, I'm glad I did intervene then and will again without a doubt no matter what the other owner says. After I intervened they played very nicely with give and take and sat patiently for treats next to each other, so I hope he did learn that pushing puppies to the ground is less fun tha...

Another question (I know!) Today we took him to the park, still practising the calm before let off lead etc: He's actually been really, really good since we implemented everything recommended here. He barely barks at dogs now, he can even pass by dogs without pulling to say hello. Sometimes he relap...