Home behaviour still improving

The boys are still getting better at home when we have visitors. Over the past few weeks we've had more people coming and going in the house than usual, between friends visiting and a new estate agent popping in for photos, updates etc..
The boys are still very excited when someone comes in, but they do respond to our commands to not jump up, and the excitement dies down after perhaps 2 minutes now, where as it was 10 minutes originally, then down to 5 mintues as we tried to put our new procedures into action. Once their initial excitement has worn off, they are fine.
They still go mental when the doorbell goes, but we've still not spent any concerted time trying to fix this, we need to devote a couple of hours over a weekend to it. I saw some progress months ago when I tried for just a few minutes, so I'm sure we can sort this too.

Fun in the Snow

We finally had some decent snow in High Wycombe in early February, and I love taking the boys out to play in it. On this occasion we went along a walk through some local woods to a large park area, where I knew the chances of us meeting other dogs were pretty high. On the way to and from the park we didn't meet anyone though, and I was happy to let them off for a runaround, and as is the way with them, so long as there are no other dogs around to distract them, their recall is good. When we were at the park I did let them off the lead, and neither of them went more than 30 metres away without checking to see where I was. After 5 minutes or so a chubby brown labrador appeared with his owner; the dog was quite old and seemed very relaxed. I had already recalled Mishka before he saw this other dog, and got him on the lead. I was happy for Jackson to stay off the lead and go and say hello. Mishka was straining to go and say hello too, so I asked the owner if it was OK for Mishka to go over, and he had no problem. Mishka went for a good sniff, and did his usual thing of rearing up, though there was no barking. He then tried humping this dog (definitely not a bitch!) and I was too slow to try and deter this behaviour, I should have been quicker really. After a minute or so the owner started to wander off and his dog followed, with Jackson in close proximity. Mishka was less certain about where to go, and after looking at those two dogs, and then at me, he came to me when I called, which I was very pleased with. Jackson and this lab had found a Rotty to play with, about 50 metres away, but after two or three stong calls, even Jackson decided he was better off with me and came over. I was relieved and pleasantly surprised, I had thought I would have to go and get him, but I tried having some faith in him and in myself, and it seemed to work. Perhaps having confidence that he will come if I stand my ground and call him works. I am the pack leader, after all :-)

A New Year and Forward Progress

Happy New Year to both my readers :-) We saw some progress during December.. around the middle of the month I was out with the boys on a Saturday lunchtime in our usual park, and they were off the lead. They were responding well to me and the whistle, and then the inevitable happened - a lady appeared in the park with her dog. This is a situation we've been working towards for months, but had hoped that it would happen under circumstances that we could control, i.e. with a dog trainer on hand, and with dogs whose handlers were happy for our lads to be off the lead around their dogs. However, I figured the wrong thing to do would be to panic and start shouting for the boys to come back, and go running after them. The other dog, a jack russell, was on the lead, and Mishka was the first dog to reach him. He circled the small dog a few times, and had a sniff, but there was no barking. By this time Jackson also arrived, quickly followed by me at a calm, yet fast, walk. Jackson had a few sniffs, but again no barking, and Mishka backed away slightly, but I didn't feel the need to try and grab either dog at this point. The other owner seemed happy for my boys to investigate her dog, although she did comment on how strange her dog was reacting, he seemed shy and afraid. She let him off the lead for all the dogs to play, and he stayed close to her, but still my boys just circled and sniffed, with only Mishka getting vocal, letting off a few barks whilst jumping up on his back legs, but it seemed more like an invitation to play than anything else. It had been about 2 minutes since we'd first seen the dog now, and I felt it was time to see if I could get the boys back. I gave two blasts on the whistle and called Mishka, and whilst he ignored me at first, I repeated this immediately and this time he looked at me, and saw that I was waving the bag with the liver cake in, and he came bounding over. I put him on the lead, and gave him his treat. Jackson came to me as soon as I called his name. So this first interaction with another dog off the lead was a success! I was worried initially, but figured panicking would make the situation worse. The attitude of the other owner helped a lot too, she wasn't overly concerned about my boys, and the enclosed nature of the park reassured me that they were unlikely to disppear a long way away. The following weekend we took the boys on a forest walk where we were pretty certain we'd encounter other dog walkers. Before we did meet other dogs, I took this video just for the fun of it:

Further on, on a narrow trail, we did meet a family walking a small dog coming the other way. The boys were 20 or so metres in front of us on the path when we realised that a meeting was inevitable, so we sped up slightly to catch up with them, but there was just some sniffing and circling, and that was it, we passed by the family, and called for the boys. Mishka actually came to us first, but Jackson set off following the other family for a few seconds, until some persistent calling and whistling got him to return to us.
Later still on the walk we encountered a jogger out with his three dogs at the same time as a walker with a labrador, and here both boys set off to say hi to the lab first, and there was some barking from Mishka, but again we weren't too worried. Mishka did follow the lab on another path as the walker departed, whilst Jackson came back to us and we put him on the lead. Mishka was refusing to come back, and we started to worry that he would continue to ignore us. Then this jogger ran past, followed by his three dogs, and Mishka set off following them, but after being gone for 10 seconds or so, he came back to us after persistent calling, whistling and waving of the cake bag. We put him back on the lead and kept both boys on the lead until we got back to the car.
So, not perfect behaviour, but also not a complete disaster either.
We're completing the questionnaire sent to us by this local trainer who runs Social Walk classes, and so hopefully the boys will get to participate in a few of those soon.

A bit better around visitors

Not much new to report, we've not been able to take the boys for a good, long woodland walk for a few weeks, which is a shame, although last weekend we took them up to my mum's in Manchester. Their behaviour there was noticably better regarding not jumping up at her - she's not had dogs, and remembers not to pat them or respond to them if they jump up at her. On this trip though there was very little of that behaviour at all, which is a good thing.
We also took them for a walk in the fields behind her house, and let them off to run about. They both came back when called, Mishka actually a little better than Jackson this time, but then he seems to have a stronger liking for the liver cake!
We still haven't let either of them off the lead near other dogs, the right situation hasn't really arisen. It nearly did a couple of days ago, I was with them in the little park where I've been letting them off recently, and there was a woman playing fetch with her jack russell. I let the boys say hello (on the lead) and all was good, and it would have been a perfect chance to let at least Jackson off and see what happened, but this one the one occasion when I'd not brought the liver cake with me, and I want to be consistent in when and how I use it. So I chose not to let either of them off this time.. ho hum, there's always next time.

More off the lead work

Two weeks ago I took Lara and Jackson to the park, to see how Jackson would react when I know for certain we'll be in close proximity to other dogs. I must admit that he doesn't appear to be aggressive when near them, merely curious and excited. There is lots of sniffing of the other dog's face, and his tail-wagging goes into overdrive. It's difficult to tell whether his ears are up or pinned back to be honest, I've only ever seen them in one position, and it's neither one nor t'other. With Mishka on the other hand, it's easy to see when his ears are up (nervous or excited) or pinned back (relaxed).
I still didn't let Jackson off his lead though, even with his muzzle on. I just don't think he'll respond to my calls or the whistle if he goes to investigate another dog, and that's just not acceptable. This is a big park though, and perhaps in a smaller one, I might be more tempted to let him off, where I know I won't have to chase him for hundreds of metres.
Last week Olga and I got very brave one midweek lunchtime, and we took the boys to our local, smaller park together, and with no-one else around, we let first Jackson, then Mishka, off the lead together. There were no other dogs (or even people) around, and we tried some simple Sit, Wait and Come commands, and they were both fine. We moved onto a slightly bigger park, and let them go more further afield, and between a mixture of us calling them, and the dog whistle, both boys came to us every time. We did this for about 10 minutes, and it was great.
Then last weekend we took them back to this "middle-sized" park, and let them both off again, and this time I'd brought a ball for Mishka to fetch. Jackson has never taken to fetch, or at least we've never been able to teach him. Besides, he has his muzzle on and couldn't fetch a ball back even if he wanted to! Mishka traditionally plays this game very well for 5 minutes then gets bored and gives up fetching, and he was true to form on this occasion. I've bought a second dog whistle, just like the first one, so Olga and I can be consistent in calling them, and both boys responded. They were given more freedom to wander this time, and both disappered into some overgrown bushes, chasing some small animal or other, but both returned after toots on the whistle and some encouraging calling.
I think the idea is to get them in the habit of always coming back (and wanting to come back, not us going in search of them) when called, no matter what, and then we'll have a go with other dogs around.
On that note, I'm not going to take Jackson to the puppy classes where we took Mishka, I'm happy that he's not aggressive, having seen him interact with several dogs in the last few weeks since we bought his muzzle. Mishka is almost the bigger concern, he tends to rear up on the lead a few seconds after meeting another dog, although how much of this is for Jackson's benefit I don't know, I really need to take Mishka to the big park next weekend on his own and see how he reacts around other dogs when Jackson is not there. I think £7 might be well spent on getting him a muzzle, as it's given me much more confidence with Jackson around other dogs.
I am going to contact the dog walker in Beaconsfield that I found on the web, who offers a Social Walking service, where she will pair up like-minded and like-sized dogs for walks under controlled conditions. I really think that will help both boys. Perhaps best if we treat the dogs separately at first, and see how they get on with other dogs when the other one is not there, but we'll see what the lady thinks.

Since the introduction of the muzzle, Jackson seems more reluctant now when presented with his lead for walkies. He used to be very keen, coming to us and happy to have his halti put on. Now we use a harness that goes over his front legs and fixes behind his shoulders, and since we started using that, more often than not he'll run away at walkies time, and go and sit on his bed, shaking. We do tempt him out and occasionally he will even offer a paw to help me put his harness on, but then he'll stand still, but shaking a lot, until we open the door, and from that point, once he's outside, he's absolutely fine with the muzzle and harness.

The new diet is popular, there's always two clean bowls. I've ordered a month's supply of the four different flavours of NatureDiet (chicken, rabbit & turkey, fish and lamb) and we've got a goof routine going with regards to serving it up. The boys have to sit, then give a paw, before they get their food.

The doorbell and visitors is still an issue. We've actually moved the doorbell up to our office, so they don't hear it when it rings, but they can sense someone is outside, and once one of us starts to come downstairs to answer the door, they boys start their barking, more often than not initiated by Jackson. Funnily enough, when we spent a few minutes a couple of weeks ago ringing the doorbell, it was Jackson that learnt quicker than Mishka that if he gave one bark then sat still, he got a treat and praise. Mishka didn't get it at all. We need to repeat that exercise much more often than we currently do.

New food - so far so good

The boys have taken to their new food very well, we're scaling down the amount of dried food we include with it, although this week they have been spoiled with leftover food from us, as the humans are all suffering from coughs and colds, so our appetites are not what they could be.
They both know to sit and give a paw before the food bowls are put down for them, and I think Jacky has been not quite so sociable this week in terms of jumping up on the sofa with us. He comes up when asked of course, but I've noticed he does seem to jump up of his own free will as often as he used to, which I think is a good think. (Although he does still do it from time to time!)

Off the lead!

Big news this week: on Sunday we took the boys for a walk in the woods, to the place we normally go in West Wycombe, where it's rare, though not impossible, to bump into other people walking dogs. The weather continued to be toasty hot, so we took a little picnic too.
When we reached the woods, we put Jacky's new muzzle on him, and let him off the lead. We didn't actually bump into any other dogs, but it was a relief to see that within 2 minutes he was trotting along, not trying to take the muzzle off, and coming back to us whenever we called him or gave our two peeps on the dog whistle. He did seem a little subdued whilst wearing the muzzle, not really going more than 20 metres in front of us, but that in itself doesn't worry us. At the moment, we'd rather he did that than run miles away.
(We'd tried the muzzle on him at home, and whilst he did try to take it off the first time, once enough treats had been administered, he seemed happy enough to have it on)
We kept Mishka on his 5 metre lead at this point, but after our picnic we came back through the same woods, and decided to let them both off, so for the first time since our December holiday in the Lakes last year (outside of our back garden, of course) they were both off the lead at the same time. Mishka was more adventurous than Jackson, although to start with even he would only go 20 metres before turning to check we were still following. They both came back perfectly when called and whistled, which bodes well for future walks.
We got Mishka back on the lead when we noticed a couple entering the woods, as we didn't want him bounding up to them and worrying them, and we couldn't see if they had a little dog with them, but for those 10 minutes or so, I had what I want to achieve consistently in the future, a walk with my family in nice scenery, with our dogs off the lead, but responsive to our commands. Heaven!
Jackson was fine off the lead until we cleared the woods, and he spotted a grouse or partridge in the undergrowth, and went after it. He gave up pretty quickly, and came back to us, and we put him back on his lead and took his muzzle off.