A new Member of the Family

[MillieB]

You must watch it on iPlayer Daisy. It will show everyone how worthwhile it is to persevere with dogs which haven't had a good start in life.
Our Millie is so loveable but her previous owners hadn't walked her so she was very nervous of traffic, especially lorries. She also was wary of men in yellow reflector jackets.They just didn't want her when they couldn't breed from her any longer. We will have had her three years in July.

[Daisy]

Millie - sorry I meant to reply earlier but with being away at the week-end everything's a bit haywire. I will definitely watch that programme. Having seen the patience of other owners at training, I have great admiration for people who take on dogs who've had such a bad start in life. How can people basically discard a dog just because they can't breed from her! But it sounds as though she has found just the right forever home with you.

Eva is the most affectionate dog we've ever had, but a little bit of me wonders if that's because she's a bit insecure. I guess we'll never know. When you've had them from puppies they know they're safe and don't need to 'prove' anything.

Week 7 of training: I did the heel work with Eva today, and I think she feels more secure with OH handling her. She was a bit restless to start with and then the trainer did the 'walk past and ignore the other dogs' slightly differently, which threw me and I think I confused Eva. She was quite tense so at one point I resorted to 'treats on her nose' tactics to get her to move and sit where I needed her to go. But the trainer runs a monthly 'walk in the park' for anyone who wants to turn up with their dog, and she thinks Eva would benefit from it - so come Saturday we shall be marching round an all-weather play area with goodness knows how many other dogs!

[Clover]

Daisy,Eva sounds a real sweetie. I'm sure she'll get there in the end with all your patience and perseverence.She's a lucky girl to have found you.

[Daisy]

Clover - she is a real sweetie, and we're so lucky to have found such a fantastic dog. We just want her to be happy in what every way she can, but we're hoping that through training she will get to relax on walks and enjoy our wonderful forest.

[Gemini]

I hope the monthly walk in the park with other doggies goes well Daisy

[Daisy]

Thanks, Gem. She's definitely getting better - less panicky/excited when she sees other dogs. Today we met 2 on our walk round the block - one on a lead, and we were able to cross the road so she didn't have to go too close, but the other one was in a garden and barked it's little head off at us. She looked a bit startled but I was able to keep her walking past and then gave her a treat.

[Daisy]

The walk in the park was more of a route march round the all weather courts. There were about 10 dogs there, including one of the trainer's own dogs. We spent 2 hours walking round and round, very calmly, sometimes changing the direction etc. At first Eva was a bit restless, trying to turn round to see all the other dogs, but funnily enough ignoring the one immediately in front of her. The choc lab, Charlie, was there (the dog she spooked in class). He was shaking in the car beforehand but actually once we were walking he was ok. The trainer made sure we were always as far away from each other as possible, and he coped really well. A couple of the other dogs were quite startled to see new girl Eva, but that is the whole point - that they learn to accept different situations and trust their mum or dad to guide them through it.

After 2 hours Eva was shattered, OH's feet ached, my legs ached and my Fitbit was ecstatic with all the steps I'd taken! Hopefully next month she will be totally relaxed.

[Gemini]

Go Eva! Mum and dad are getting fitter too

[Daisy]

Gem, ironically, I'm not getting fitter. I'm used to at least 5 km walks every day, but Eva gets too hyper to go on them at the moment, so it's more of a short walk round the block until I can build up her tolerance.

[Libra Gran]

I'd forgotten you started this thread Daisy read most of it tonight and it's wonderful to see how well Eva is coming along. Well done on a great job.

[Daisy]

LG - thank you, you're very kind, but it's Eva who is really doing the heard work!

Week 8: Today OH did the heel work (walking her on the lead with other dogs in the hall) and I did the one to one off lead (no other dogs in the hall). She walked into the hall quite calmly, hardly glancing at the other dogs and proceeded to stay pretty calm even when all 3 dogs were walking round at once. Poor Charlie is still skipping this bit, so there were only 3. In the one-to-one we started a new activity. The trainer put a bit of carpet on the floor (about A4 size) and Eva had to touch it with her nose or front paws to get a click and a treat thrown for her to go and eat. My only instruction was to stand perfectly still and eyeball the carpet! The first time it took her several minutes of trying to get my attention and trying t work out what I wanted her to do. Once she'd done it once she'd 'got' it and was getting clicks and treat every few seconds, even when the mat was several feet away. The idea is that Eva has to look to me (or OH) for 'help' in what she's supposed to do, and by following my gaze she worked it out. The click is the instant confirmation she's done what I wanted and of course galloping across the room to collect her treat is pure fun. I think we were all amazed at how quickly she picked this game up.

This evening I took her round the block and she was calm all the way, except where there was a car parked across a pavement, so we backtracked and crossed the road, and she was fine again, but although we saw other people, there were no other dogs around to distract her. And guess what, LG - it flippin' well rained on us!!!

[Daisy]

After yesterday's good training session, we learned last night that Eva doesn't like thunderstorms. We had noisy torrential rain to add to the drama, and when I went downstairs to check she was ok she was very agitated. She came back to bed with us and stayed there until the storm ended, then went to lie on an old duvet she loves which was on the landing. She seems quite tired after yesterday's excitement!

[Clover]

Oh poor girl. It's bad enough for us and we know what it is.
Also I think animals are more affected by the changes in pressure that the weather brings. With thunder around we often say it feels"heavy" and animals are more sensitive than us.
At least Eva finally settled down after her exhausting day

[Daisy]

Clover - I think you're right about pressure etc, also I bet she can hear distant thunder long before we can. She's been very tired/subdued today, bless her.

[Daisy]

Week 9 of training, and it's all change!

Each week we bring our dogs into the hall one at a time and give them time to settle a bit before the next dog enters. Today we moved to a different class - still beginners! So when OH brought Eva in instead of seeing a long-haired Daxi, a chocolate Lab and a black Lab cross, she was met by a Leonburger, a black version of herself and a very, very hairy German Shepherd. Picture a Laurel and Hardy scene where Oliver Hardy is spinning first one way and then the other in disbelief at what Stan Laurel was doing, and you've got a rough idea of Eva's reaction. I was glad it was OH on the other end of the lead! After a few minutes she seemed to settle down and accept the new dogs. But it was noticeable that after quite a short while she was really tired, mentally, at least. When it got to the one-to-one training we backtracked to easier activities which she was well used to doing and she relaxed a bit. But she went to sleep as soon as we got home, woke for dinner and slept again! It's hard work being the new girl in a class.