New dog club

I have a new dog club a junction or two down the motorway. £5 per lesson for just an hour, but the trainer seems ok. No agility at this place or even proper obedience, so it may not do forever. Willow learns very well in these classes, much beter than me in fact, but it is getting her attention that is hardest. she knows where the door is and strains to get out at times. she generally sits with her back to me which is not supposed to be a great sign! Anyway at least I'm able to try that route again, it seemed to help before.

Biting the hand that feeds you!

A couple of weeks ago we went down to the south where my family is from. We took a caravan so that Maggie and I have somewhere to sleep when the house is full. During the journey we had a bit of an incident, and I got bitten.

Willow decided to go from the boot of the estate to the rear seat while I was giving Adam a comfort break and would not go back. Brainless me thinks well ok I'll put Adam in the bed with Willow and then get willow out via the rear seat. I forgot about the jealous guarding and she went for Adam. I fended her off and got bitten, not badly on the right hand. Willow turned into a monster and was barking and snarling at me and could not be cowed by threats. of course when i told her out! she got out of the car and looked up at me as if butter wouldn't melt. Grrr!

She has been fine since and is showing signs of seltting down.

The clocks go back

Willow is still growling at us. She is terrible some evenings. She is ok if you leave her alone.

She went for another dog this morning, the other one growled at her so she let rip with gnashing etc. She got very close to the other dog but did not bite her. I made her go down and kept her down for a bit and she was ok after that. Of course the other dog had gone by then. I have started to use the same tactic when she barks at me to go on during a walk.

I am still going ahead with agility training commands; if she can do the training then I want her to be ready. The doubt has to be her attitude with other dogs. A lot of agility is done off lead, and currently she might be a liability. Anyway it can’t hurt for her to learn some of the non-obstacle stuff, and I can use logs etc in the woods to teach her basic obstacle concepts. This will all be useful when we go running.

We have been out running recently a couple of times. On Wednesday we went on road (well pavement). She was OK but still pulls. She has to be on a lead of course for safety and so-on, but she gets to go a little faster than the standard walk. Mostly she goes the right way around pedestrians, but she went across me at one point and nearly gave good reason for amusement to the group I was trying to go round.

The clocks have gone back. Great to have an extra hour, but the evenings are now darker an hour earlier. I bought a big torch, it’s very powerful and might allow me to continue going in the woods, I suppose willow will have to stay on the lead though. Adam will be fine so long as I light his way.

general synopsis

Recently Willow visited Lewis She travels well and she enjoyed the drive. It was a surprise when she got there to have three other dogs there, and all the people and cats. We put her in a crate for some of the time and I think she preferred it there!

She is always looking for ways to be boss, it's hard to keep on top of her. At the same time she seems quite timid about some things. You can take her for a walk and she runs all around you and gets in mud up to her belly, but when you take her out last thing at night she appears not to want to get her feet wet on the grass!

She now seems to be cat proof; so much so that she has been spotted sleeping on the same sofa as one of the cats. No she isn't allowed on any sofas, but its hard to remeber to put all the encylopeadias, boxes and bongos back when you go out sometimes.

Adam (our 14 year old springer) seems to be safe; he has certainly backed off alot. He hasn't reacted badly to her possessiveness and take over attempts. He is pretenting to be unaware of her at the moment!

Dog training classes

I have taken willow to training classes 3 times and now the class is going to stop until an unknown date after christmas; 3 months! I have heard about a club in Barnsley, but that is too far (culturally not in miles). Might try it anyway.

Last night willow went for another dog, she didn't acctually bite but was v aggressive. I stopped her with the lead. The trainer was there next to me and took over. she waited until willow did it again and the said no! Leave it! then she go the lead under her foot and said lie down! and forced her down gently just using the lead. Willow did not know what hit her! she sqeualed from the shock of being told what to do, and even worse me abandoning her to the other end of the hall. she settled eventually and after that seemed better. she is in a good mood tonight, and lying at my feet at present as I type.

The other thing we did last night was have a very beginers level agility class. Willow loves it, she keeps looking at me and even follows orders mostly. she learnt the words "tyre", "tunnel" and "over" and had good practice at waiting before jumping over stuff. because she is so fast and bright I think this will be a good future sport for us. It is not undemanding on the owner's fitness, and it will keep her occupied. I am going to build some gear at some point. Anyone who knows me will laugh because I go climbing, running, sailing, cycling, I walk the dogs for 45 mins a day, I am learning Spanish and I do lots of DIY in the house we bought recently and the flat I am trying to sell. I have a dinghy in the garage that needs fixing and last weekend I half built a dog run. So when will I have time to make dog jumps? Vamos a ver.

Growling

Things that make her growl:
giving her food and not immediately scuttling off to let her eat
going too near her when she is mardy
Adam (our harmless 14 year old Springer) going near her when she is mardy
giving her tidbits (yes really)
touching her when she is in her bed, or my car, or anywhere else she has recently decided is hers (or is it just when she is relaxing)

Running

Willow and I have been running. We went for the first time about two weeks ago. I let her off the lead and she was strange in that she kept looking back when I was ahead as if I wasn't with her. I had to call her to get her to realise it ws me in the strange garb and moving differently.

She did her running off trick, she went for 3 or 4 minutes, long for her. I was worried she wouldn't come back; but she did.

Tonight I ran with her on the lead, it's much better. she pulls all the time and I have to pull back just to stop her unbalancing me. I can pull each time my hand goes back and this keeps it under control. She really is incredibly strong and fast, and I will have to work quite hard to keep her excercise levels up.

We also had about 10 minutes of tuggie, which I won. she thinks its no fun if i just sit there so she keeps offering the tuggie. Will this get the agression out of her system or just wind her up? who knows but for now it is good interaction so I'm happy enough.

The Story so Far

We have recently got another dog as company for our original dog Adam. The new dog called Willow has been rehomed because the last owners were going to have children and beleived that Willow did not have a suitable temprament. She growled at them alot and was threatening towards a young relative.
She was getting 10 mins walk in the morning and 30 mins of mad dashing about (off lead) in the evening. She would not come to them when called, although she never went off completely. Going near her food, bed or the back of (her) car caused snarling with teeth out and touching her was generally fairly offputting due to the same behaviour. She could sit and lie down on command but nothing else.