Sit and wait to hunt

We've made quite a jump ahead with our retrieve training in the field. I've managed to get him to the level of having him sit, tell him to wait, I walk off 20 paces, clearly show him I'm throwing the sock down, walk another 10 paces to the side and send him in to find it and bring it to me. I've also done a variation of this with throwing food down for him and sending him in so that when he finds it, he can eat it. The great thing is that he has accomplished this in his most exciting place in the whole world on the top field at Botany with other dogs in the vicinity.

I started off training this at home in the kitchen ages ago with the sit and release training for food. Then I added in the wait. I know I could have probably not added in the wait and just work on sit until I release you, but he really understands wait now. I use it for lots of stuff and he gets it, so it's good to use I think.

I'm now working up to me going out of sight outdoors but first I'm going to stick to getting him steady with distractions at this level.

And perhaps I should make reference to the comments on the Cesar Millan post. None of my training with Grey has been overtly aversive. He's learning to sit and control himself in little stages with rewards not because he's scared of the consequences of breaking it, or scared to make a mistake. I'm not setting him up for failure so I can teach him a lesson. Grey's a dog that if you bully him he can raise the stakes a little higher. Everything I try to do with him that works is to work in tiny increments. His reactivity to traffic has much improved by clicker training him around the things that scare him from a distance he's comfortable with. Push him too far, go too fast and it all goes pear shaped. Then the next time we come across the big scary truck, he gets ready. Put a slip collar high on his neck and you would literally have to half strangle him to get him to walk on the lead. Jab him in the thigh or side and he would probably turn and mouth me hard. It certainly wouldn't calm him down.

Really nice morning out

Had a great trip to a different park today. I dropped off the car at the mechanics for fixing and walked up to the park. I had the head collar on because of the ice and we had a 5 minute walk. Did a lovely series of recalls, this ways, blind retrieves and a couple of memory retrieves. He even didn't run in to another dog he spotted in the park on a flexi. He stayed to hunt for the titbits I was hiding for him. A nice walk along the seafront and through some fairly heavy traffic. All in all nice and relaxing.

Petition against aversive dog training and Cesar Millan

People into Cesar Millan are often evangelical. "It works!", "He's right!"
Well, capital punishment has an effect but it is right? And is it the best, most humane and the most effective way?

Here's a campaign set up by many animal welfare organisations coming together to speak out against this fashion for a return to out-moded animal training practises.

http://www.dogwelfarecampaign.org/

Check out also their page debunking dominance theory. Pack theory really is tedious in the regularity that it crops up. People just feel comfortable with it I guess. I don't.

My not very great sit stay video

Timing awful. But you get the idea. Needs lots of practice yet.

Teaching a stay

Thanks to Dogmantics for her useful clicker videos. I ran through some more of her stay training with Grey.

Dogmantics video:



It picks up on the sit with release that I have started teaching him after checking out Fanny Gott's vid about 6 months ago. I've been practising at home and also a bit in the fields. He's pretty good and so far we have a nice sit or down while I throw food as a distraction and move around him. I'll try and video some of it soon. For the moment, he's snoozing big time under the table.

Back out ruuuuuuuuning!

My wheel has been part mended so was able to get out back to our big running fields today. Was great for both of us. It didn't take much for both of us to blow away our cobwebs so to speak. I realised that when I've not been out on one of our big walks where he can run off some energy that I find I get quite down. Routine is great for both of us. Grey was ruuuuuuuuuuuning! Not surprisingly after 3 days of not.

Other than that, I've popped Grey on the flexi a few times to practise bits of recall and pootling about when he goes for a wee on the square.

In depth critique of Cesar Millan techniques

From the earlier blog post from Boulder Dog, but in case you missed it, Dr Yin's indepth coverage including videos is really good at covering just how wrong much and behind the times as far as canine behaviour CM is.

We'd be appalled if we saw zoo animals treated like this.

Grey's fears

Sometimes we have a bumpy few days to get through and my confidence can take a knock. Especially since being a first time dog owner, I don't know if I'm getting into something a bit bigger than I am. But then a word from wiser friends and usually the problem doesn't seem so unsurmountable after all.

Yesterday Grey had picked up a live seagull that was in the shallows of the sea and had carried it off down the beach away from me. I was running along shouting at him to drop it to no avail and was mortified at the sight of my dog carrying a dangling bird along the main sands. He didn't shake it or play with it, just carried it. He eventually dropped it and it went to peck him and he was startled and jumped back. I managed to get hold of him, and by this time I was in a state from running and shouting after him what seemed like the whole length of the bloody beach. The bird recovered itself and wandered off. At this point I was wondering what was the best thing to do. The bird had gone off out of reach and Grey was now on his headcollar. My wellies had a hole in them and I realised I was soaked up to my knees from running after him in the water. I was probably stressed by the fact that I realised I couldn't get the bird off of him until he dropped it and how would I manage to train him not to pick up a live bird that didn't fly?

Today I have to hit myself on the nose with a rolled up newspaper for taking Grey out for a wee on his lead without my clicker and treats. We went out into the green and a man appeared in a big black coat. Grey spotted him and fixed on him as he came closer. I tried to casually go the other way, but the man caught up with us and Grey reared on the lead and barked at him. I came home a bit bruised thinking the worst. That I have now got he makings of a people aggressive dog. But again, words from the wise remind me that I could have probably worked through this with my treats and clicker etc. And they're right. I know that if I had clicked and treated him like mad at that moment that he would have been fine. So this is now a training opportunity. We went back out an hour later and actively trained around the postie and his bike. (He thinks Grey is mental anyway. In a nice way, of course!) the sweeper and his bin, the drinker on the square with his cider. We even managed to calm down after the two canons went off for two minutes silence. We did some long line recalls which were amazing. My car is out of action at the moment and it's hard for me to get to an area where I can safely let Grey off for a big run. For the moment, I think Grey is going to get most of his food from hand in the form of training. This way we can do lots and lots of little trips out and work on positive rewards for managing himself outside.

We do have lots to work through. But we can do this.

What's wrong with Cesar Millan coming to the UK?

I can't really put it better than Boulder Dog's blog really. Lots of links and info for deeper research into the whole area of out moded, and down right dangerous dominance theory. There is a campaign growing to stop the little man with the teeth preaching more dangerous techniques. But he is coming to the UK and no doubt we'll see more people in parks hissing and shushing at their dogs, poking them sharply, hanging them up by the neck and wrestling them to the ground in so called alpha rolls. Sigh.

The new life as the hotel dog

We've been settling into a new routine since starting the B&B. It's winter, so no going out early before breakfast in the dark. I reckon in the summer it'll be up and out before anything when it will also be cooler. But coming into winter we've got a really short day to deal with. We pop out for lead walks first thing then back in for breakfast. Grey has to go in the lounge while we're cooking. Even if he was allowed in the kitchen he'd have to be in the lounge being such an ardent thief there's no way anyone would get any breakfast!

He did escape and pop into a journalist's room last week who thankfully loves dogs. He even got a sneaky sausage given him. Hope she counted her fingers after!

But so far it's gone ok. Ollie and Jay the coonies have more or less moved in next door on comfy sofas until we make the big move to their new home up north next week. We're really sad they will leave us, but they really need more freedom to roam than they can have here.

It was sunny enough for skinny dipping

Last weekend all three of us went out for run around the field at the top of Botany Bay. Grey was enjoying the trip out with his favourite man about the house. But as we neared the opening at the top of the cliffs that you can climb down, he'd zoomed down and was sat in his usual style in the sea up to his neck. We whistled the naughty little bugger and hid in the grass at the top. He zoomed straight back up and had to start the search. So after a scan of the beach below, which looked very quiet, I decided to take Grey and his dad down to the sea because it was such a lovely day. We're not supposed to be taking Grey on the beach because of how mentalist it can make him sometimes. But with his dad being with us, it was easier to keep him interested.

I decided to throw stones out of his reach in the waster making sure he couldn't catch them and break his teeth. We had a superb time and the sun was so bright and lovely. Makes me realise what a lovely place this is to live.

Zak George

Thanks to Clicker Solutions I checked out videos by Zak George a young dog trainging guy with a programme in the US. He's fuuuuuuuuun and great! Check it out.

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/zak-george-project/
http://blogs.discovery.com/zak_george/

A fantastic Day at Dog Communication Because Mutts Need Manners

Grey and I went to Surrey today to attend a group run by the lovely Laura and Penel Dog Communication. Quite honestly, the bestest activity event that we've ever done. It was brilliant. Grey was a right monkey as usual, but he seemed (well to my untrained eye!) to learn to handle himself better by his second outing in the field with the teaching dogs. Basically, if he went OTT, the teaching dogs stepped in and told him off. The other dogs were amazing and it was a lovely atmosphere. I feel really lucky to have somewhere like that within easy reach of where we live. We're definitely going again. I'm really looking forward to seeing him learn how to handle himself more. Perhaps it will have a knock on effect for other areas. And I think it will help me too. It's a safe controlled environment. No worrying while out on walks.

They think he's been slow to mature. Sounds about right. That's what Helen Phillips said too and another behaviourist we saw. 30KG of puppy.

It was all going great and then not!

Finally reporting back after missing the internet for a month. Grey and the coonie cats were making very good progress at living together. We managed to get Grey not to chase the cats, one cat to not run and at one point, we were all sat on the bed together more or less quiet. Not bad for the first two weeks. The coonies still growl at him and I think cuddles are a long way off yet. But still way way better than I'd feared we going through since moving house.

Grey and I have been practising more road walking on the flat collar. He's done really well. Lunging at vans etc has decreased 90%. Still has the odd one if he's really hyped about being out and for some reason switched on. But the fact that's he's manageable on a flat collar and I can walk him around is really great.

So tempering the good news are two incidents. One is that my other half now has a black eye after Grey bopped upwards while L was leaning over him on the square when we were locked out last week. It was a real smack and ouch. Poor L. Bad dog mum moment number one. Don't let people lean over the dog if you can't trust him to stay with all four paws on the ground.

Incident two is today we went out for a beach walk with two friends and their dogs who we've not seen for months. Grey was a awful. Really rude, rough and OTT with the lovely whippet dog the same age but a little younger than Grey. He had hold of him at one point and that is just not on. Pinning and having a jaws round another dog's neck is really really bad. He did improve by the end of the walk but lordie, it wasn't a good. So lots of work to do there with Mr Grey.

He definitely has a habit of behaving badly when other dogs are on the lead and also now I see if the dog is a bit smaller than him and especially it seems if we all out for a walk together rather than a quick meet and greet and move on. I'd been working of ways getting him not to run in to the other dogs. Having a retrieve trained in would be really handy at this point perhaps, because if I give him a toy at this point he would just parade around with it and then his recall goes to pot. I probably manage him when I'm on my own by playing the 'find it' game of blind retrieves, where he will bring it back to me and also come away from other dogs to do that. But if an object is thrown, he sees it differently and he runs off and parades and can become more of a tease. I hadn't realised that he would be so awful because I've not been doing linear walks with other people alongside. I'm still unsure how to manage those as he pulls so hard and I don't know how to stop and start and recue him back to me if I'm trying to keep up with people. Perhaps this is why I've avoided it as I find it hard to manage a 30kg pulling dog if I don't stop or change direction. I ended up popping him on the dogmatic today which I haven't had out for ages.

Oh Mr Grey. Never simple is it. He's now asleep under the table farting. Lovely.

We're back! Normal radio contact resumes

Well, we're 80% finished with the house move and have opened a new business. Moved the cats into the bedroom, Grey into the open plan diner (help!) and the lounge and guests into our new b&b on the top floors. Picked Grey up from kennels yesterday. It's always so funny to see him after a break as I see him in a new shape everytime I see him like this. His eyes seem greyer, his beard funnier. I dunno.

He's been really good since he came back to the new house. I don't know if it's because I decided in my mind that he would have to be good! It's a lot more open plan than how we've been living in the previous house and sharing with friends and a baby. I managed to introduce him to the cats who he's been separated from and previously had been barking at when he heard them run in another room above. He was brilliant with the cats. Much more interested in their food of the food I had for him or their cat litter (yuck!). But it's all looking hopeful as I'd been quite stressed thinking how it was going to work out now I have a business to run so more doors shut so cats can't run into guest rooms. They're not too in love with Grey yet, but perhaps given time they'll settle. So far no chasing which is great.

Other news is that I tried him on his slip lead today as it was the only one I had to hand after the move. And he was fab on it. Managed to walk him round the old town across the main road and onto the Harbour Arm. Big yay on that one. Perhaps he's been at training school all week and not kennels after all!

Half a heart

Grey is in kennels tonight and tomorrow while we continue to pack our house up and finish preparations to start the b&b next week. He was so pleased to go there today. Never seen him wag so much. Feels lonely without him though.

Recording training sessions for the ipod

I really like this idea that came up via the Clicker Solutions list. Basically, recording training sessions into audio files that can be played on the ipod or similar mp3 player or phone. Great for training where behaviours are broken down into tiny tiny increments or also programmes of densensitization of reactive dogs where you literally move forwards a millimetre at a time. The protocol from Dr. Karen Overall in the link is something I will have a look at for Grey. Mmmm more reading.

Breaking down general handling and grooming

Given the amount of stuff I've had to get off Grey's fur this last few weeks an article by Kathy Sdao jumped out at me while I was looking through her site last week. It's nothing that I shouldn't really ought to have been doing or that other people haven't said to me. But sometimes it takes a prod to remind you to do the more boring things. But actually these things aren't boring, they can literally save you a load of stress for you and your dog. You need to be able to do things when you need to do them.

Kathy's approach comes from training zoo animals to assist in their general everyday care. Given Grey's problems with his teeth and his hairy muzzle that acts like a magnet to spikey sticky buds, it's a good idea to work on these things every day. She recommends leaving out nail clippers etc so that you are reminded to integrate them into your daily training sessions every single day. Jean Donaldson refers to a similar protocol in her excellent book called 'Mine!' on guarding (body, location, food etc).

Grey had become increasingly nervous the last few weeks around his muzzle because of the seed issue. I had a few incidents where I'd tried to take him somewhere where there aren't the bloody things and still he found them. I worked a few days of getting him to look at the nail scissors and work up to him targetting them with his nose. Got him used to the sound of them opening and closing. Eventually he was better around them. In the meantime I stopped pushing on the issue and left him covered in the stuff while they dried up a bit and I could gently comb through.

Fluffy head + sticky seeds =

Dispelling pack theory

Kathy Sdao lists reasons to dispell pack relationship between humans and domestic dogs. It's amazing how you see behaviour with different eyes if you let go of this belief. I've had people chastise their dogs for telling off Grey who perhaps has been too boistrous and rude in his body language, when in fact their dog was doing the right thing and reminding the youngster to calm down.

Similarly, that there is no point in carrying out rituals of humans eating first or going first through holes in square pieces of would i.e. doors. Sure it can be convienient to have the dog wait but not that it's going to take over the house if it goes through a space ahead of you. Are guide dogs for the blind over dominant? How many times a day do you put something in your mouth to eat when the dog doesn't? Or how about if you give the dog a bone or chew to eat and you don't? Personally I don't think Grey remembers he's just eaten. I could give him another meal and he'd just go. Oh wow! food! There are countless times he eats in the day and I don't and vice versa. I can teach him not to snatch, steal (working on this one), but in essence I think a more accurate description of him of a giant scavenger than would be despotic king of the castle.

Why put more important on ignoring your dog when you get up in the morning or come home? Aren't there loads of times during the day when you ignore your dog? Like now, I'm on the laptop. I'm on the laptop a lot throughout the day. Grey has learnt this a cue for not much happening in the foreseeable future. Might as well lie down and snooze while mum is staring at the square thing on the table as she tends to stay there for at least 20 mins. On the otherhand, if she snaps the lid shut and stands up, then this could be interesting. So why factor in set periods when you have to ignore the dog on top of a daily routine? What does he or you learn from this? When I went to a puppy class last year with puppies as little as 12 weeks. We were instructed to ignore the pups every day in the morning for 2 weeks. This was from a so called positive training class. I thought this bad during the bonding period with young pups.

Here's Kathy Sdao's article on the topic: http://www.kathysdao.com/articles/Forget_About_Being_Alpha_in_Your_Pack.html

It's very hard to find trainers who don't still have these outmoded beliefs at their core. For this reason, I've ended up training alone and with friends for the last year. I'm simply not going to have someone wrestle my dog to the ground when I can teach him a sit. Or to have me actively ignore him when I need to give him feedback.

Some recent pictures

Blackberries and learning

I've been going blackberry picking with Grey this week and it was really interesting to see his behaviour. Two things came up. One that he learned how to pick blackberries. Previously I used to give him a blackberry and he never picked one for himself despite sniffing them. But when I was just picking for myself and ignoring him, he started picking off the lower branches and ate quite a lot. So I wondered do dogs learn at all from copying humans even though we have different tools? We have hands they pick from their mouths. Or is it just opportunistic?

Second he behaved differently while I was picking than he normally would in the same field that we would go to on a walk. Effectively I was ignoring him and stationary. He stayed very close and often was laying near me or just pottering close by. He didn't do a quarter of the free running he would have done normally. So different energy from me really affects him. Interesting. I'd already seen the week previously that one way to get him to bring an object back when playing fetch is if I sat down on the ground. He was much more likely to come to me than if I was standing.

We have a breakthrough!!!!!!

While it's incredibly late, I thought I might as well write up some news that I've been meaning to post but haven't had the time since we're in the final stages of setting up the b&b. The big breakthrough is that I started doing scentwork on my own with the rabbit tug toy I bought him a while ago. The one he won't tug with outside. And now I know why. He totally loves scentwork and will give up most things to do it. This includes other dogs. This means he'll come away from most major distractions to search for his toy. And the second big change is that instead of parading around with the toy once he's found it like he used to, he brings it back and drops it at my feet or as good as near and he gets a click and a treat.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me. It completely changes the dynamic of our walk because he's much more connected to what I'm doing, has great recall and it's a total joy to see him working. Grey has never got the hang of retrieves as he was always so possessive. I know it's not perfect in many ways and some might say it's untidy to teach him early on to drop the object near me and not to deliver to hand. But to be honest after riding the rollercoaster that is managing young master Grey when out then this is too good a change to miss. So if we're going to do anything training or activity wise it looks like searching and scentwork is a goer.

He will even manage a downstay or sitstay while I walk away from him 20 paces to hide the object in long grass! Yaaaaay! I'm doing a mixture of air scenting and ground scenting. He can track back a long way now. He's also so much better on the lead on the way back to the car. We managed 24 paces doing the 300 peck heeling method.

He did get an eye injury from last week's scentwork training session with his brother. So that was a trip to the vets where they think he was poked inside the eye by something sharp. He's ok now though. Just wasn't too happy to have to have eye cream.

Comparing the brothers

We had a really fun morning out in the rain last week. Yes! In the rain! We went along on a session to learn some basic tracking and searching near Whitstable with grey's brother and littermate Gunner. My goodness, how different they are in size. Gunner is a much much bigger dog in stature and height. He always has been and probably because he is still entire that this has possibly enhanced the difference. Grey was neutered at 12 months (remember his unexpected birthday present that he wasn't too keen on!)

The scentwork training was really up Grey's street. He was very enthusiastic about his own tasks and everyone elses too! My eardrums by the end were ringing as he generally barked the whole time. I guess you could call it drive! If we continue with it, he will hopefully learn to wait his turn and that there are things that aren't for him to do.

In other news we're still working on lead walking, lead walking, lead walking. He's currently rolling around lounging on the sofa after a busy morning out in the Old Town. I have to have one gripe. Why do people think it's ok to ride bikes down the pavement and especially if there are people with prams and right next to a big dog. It's really unfair. Grey has been spooked a number of times now and it's so annoying as it can really set a dog back. Get on the bloody road you people!

Sticky buds - aaargh!

Monkeyface was covered all over his head and chest this morning with horrible sticky buds, or whatever they're called. Damn things.

Big improvements

Realised today at breakfast how much the monkey has improved. Previously having food on the table would have had us in full on defence mode and he circled, sniffed and planned his attack. Today I realised how relaxed it was. He managed a lovely 'leave it' when I'd placed a dish of his food on the table in preparation to do a bit of training with him and I'd walked away. So, Mr Monkey, well done you!

We're working the L3 Go to Mat. Need to look at duration now as it's 1 minute. He can now go to mat and lie down in different locations.

This morning I practised his nail filing. Funny how it takes him a while to get started. Without doing a couple of hand touches he often just stares. After the touches he just seems to get it. The touch thing is what I'll often do if he gets stuck in training. Not sure if that is a bad thing or not. It seems to signify to him that he's in the game and off we go.

We also worked on 'stand' and 'sit up', where he comes back into a sit from a 'down'. The sit until released is coming along really nice too. I can now drop a handful of food in the kitchen floor and yesterday a piece of sausage in the park at 10ft from him without him moving until I give him the 'free' release cue.

Still struggling with LLW. He can loose lead walk up to a pile of food on the pavement. But without this obvious training cue, he's still boinging around on the lead like a young puppy. So still not able to go on linear walks into town. For the moment I'm doing little training walks and then the offlead training runs when we've gone out to a field in the car.

Video: Level 3 Go to Mat training - Session 4

Working the down on the mat. Adding in playing tug as a reward.

Video: Level 3 Go to mat training - session 3

Adding in the down on the mat.

Tuggy tuggy

I got a new tuggy today. Was a bit smaller in size than I expected it, but after initial caution, he liked it. We played a bit in the kitchen with it and he got into it. But he's always quite into tug at home. It's outside he acts differently. At first when I whipped it out on our evening walk he almost forgot where we were and he started tugging on it. But then he quickly started refusing to touch it, clearly wanting me to throw it so he could have it. But nooooooo. Not that game! Then he got a little rougher trying to get it off me. But nooooo. Not that game, either! So then he got back into just refusing to look or touch it because he just wanted it and didn't want to play. So we'll carry on playing at home and in different places and see how we go.

At home I integrated it with the Go to Mat training as a reward and it did seem to pep him up to come back into the game to do more training.

It's a neat little tug and fits nicely in my pocket.

Video: L2 Go to mat training

Level 2 - Go to Mat:

Dog goes to, gets on a mat, dog bed, hammock, or pause table from 5’ away, 2 cues only - two voice cues, or a voice cue and body language, etc.

Next sessions I'll work on moving the mat around different places. Thanks to Sue for giving the thumbs up and tips to move on.

Nice post on directional training

From Vicky via Sue Ailsby:
http://viassistancedogs.blogspot.com/2009/06/26-c-teach-your-dog-directional.html

Better days

Up and down at the moment. We had a much much better day yesterday. Probably because I had to go back a few steps to make sure he was calm and able to manage being out. We went up to Epple Bay where I was able to park right next to the path down to the sea. The path is a steep slope, with a high stone wall either side. So no sideways distractions and the goal of getting to the sea in front. I've started using the parking technique I learnt from H where I stand on part of a long lead if I need to do things with my hands like when I faff around getting out of the car and he's excited. It stops him pulling me all over the place and calms him down. A lot of Grey's pulling is to do with him easily being able to pull me off balance.

Once we had calm and managed to do a nice training walk down to the bay. I guess this could be a bit of a premack principle. In any case I could see it working for him. He wanted to get there, and the only way we were getting there is a on a loose lead. The other cool thing was we had the whole bay to ourselves and there was only one entrance and exit. So we did loads of nice recalls and this ways and finding food.

At home we've been practising the release cue from sit. And he's doing really well with that. Yay!

Today I drove up to the fields where we've sometimes walked to with friends. I decided to drive as the walk would have been too stressful to get there and it ends up taking me ages. Practised LLW lots and then a lovely session on the pathway. There were about 3 vans that came trundling down the bumpy farm path where we were walking on lead. He did really really well and I got him to 'leave it' and sit nicely for treats. So I'm so proud of him and releived we have light at the end of the tunnel that he can get over this. Just have to remember times like this on the next time I get stressed out. And another thing that has been so good for us both is that he hasn't had to have his headcollar on in weeks and is being managed without an antipull harness either.

Managing Reactivity

Grey in his TTouch body wrap. Totally crashed out last night after we got home.

Grey has been really reactive to traffic again. So we've had to go back to basics on dealing with this. I'm going through a process of getting him to look at me and engage with me when he has seen a van or lorry come before he starts to stiffen and react. I'm thinking of ordering Control Unleashed as a lot of what I'm trying to do sounds like it's covered in there. Yesterday I had a horrible walk with him in the evening where he was basically very tense and totally alert. When stopped from charging around he started lunging and barking at everything. I managed to calm him down eventually and did some more TTouch on him.

We'd been out to see a lady called Jacqui at the weekend who is a TTouch practitioner. She was really lovely and Grey really liked her. We have some techniques to work through and the body wrap which I just use a horse tail bandage. The names of the TTouches we're using are: clouded leopard, raccoon, mouth touch, ear touch, belly lift, tail touch. There is another we do that I can't remember the name of. I took heart from the positive stories I've heard from Jacqui and another couple of friends who have worked through problems with reactive dogs and they have come through it.

More info on TTouch:
UK TTouch Team
http://www.ttouchtteam.com/
TTouch on Youtube

Today has been a much better day. I did small training walks in front of the house. Just hanging out on the corner puppy style being calm near the traffic. Then in the park (once traffic had died down and it was quiet) I've long lined him so he's not been charging around. We pottered around and did a bit of scentwork. I'm going to work up to letting him off in the next few days. He was fine on the walk home and we managed to get back on the flat collar by clickering him increasing 1 step at a time 300 peck heeling all the way home.

Doing his nails video

Release Cue Training Session 3

With dropping food on the floor in front of him.

Me having a go at the release cue training

I made a little video of the first session of release training. My body language is awful! Argh! Keep still lady! And what's with the body blocking? But anyway, here it is! Much room for improvement.

Nice video of a viszla being taught a release

From the lovely Fanny Gott's site:

Minnis Bay walk

Earlier this week we'd been out to Minnis Bay. It's so lovely if the tide is out. Grey's a bit harder to handle there if the tide is in because that forces lots of dog walkers to stick to quite a straight path. Although once past that bit with now the dreaded beach hut and BBQ distraction obstacle course, we're out onto natural ground with a shingle beach on one side, much like Dungeness and rough grassy areas below the sea wall. Perfect for bits of fun scent work. Plus that bit is free of cyclists and a lot of the dog walkers don't go on that path as it's rougher. So we drift between the three areas, rough ground, paved sea wall path and wide wide beach stretching out to infinity. The week days are easier as there are less people about. The winter is bliss here, but then I'm northern so I like that kind of bleak landscape.



Grey was quite hyped up here this week and so we're giving it a break for a while. He's got a wee eye infection too, so a break from the sand will do him good.

Back to the old neighbourhood

Well, back to the hood for me and the other half, but it's always an adventure for Grey. We also got to realise how much of a micro-climate we live in here in Thanet, because we left misty cool breezes and arrived in London humid heat. We had the aircon turned up for Mr Grey in the car. The other half went boxing after picking up our load of toilet seat, hob, tap and sink. Grey and I got off the busy Hackney Road and headed for Haggerston Park and the shade. I was amazed how much it's been developed there. Really nice football pitch, tennis courts and woodland walk. Very nice. Grey stayed on the lead and we managed to mooch around in the shadows under the trees and sit on the grass. It was Grey's first five a side football match and he didn't seem too impressed. So we did some nice clicker training on eye contact and also I paid up for passing people, vans, bikes etc with nice calm acknowledgement and a look back to me.

We headed out to our old neighbourhood in London Fields. AMazing how full of people it is now. The park has definitely been recaptured by the community. It was absolutely packed full of people and picnicers. Lord knows what Grey would have done if he had been offlead in that situation. He would have probably ramraided a few and gone off with his booty.

While we were off to get some chips down Broadway Market we bumped into a vizsla and his two owners who I've met before when I'd admired him in his smart Hurtta harness with the handle at the back. It turns out this is Hamish and he know's Anna's Ziggi. Grey was quite enthusiastic about meeting Hamish, but eventually settled to lie down on his side. We strolled off our separate ways. Then we bumped into another Vizsla, Vigo and her owner who had already heard there was a slovak in Hackney. How could anyone miss Grey? He was shouting his head off outside the offlicence at the entrance to London Fields when L had gone in for some water. Funny, because he's stopped shouting like that in Margate. Grey I mean, not L! Must have been the excitement of being in London town. It made me wonder what it would be like to live back in town with a dog like Grey. I suppose we'd adapt and do more at weekends. We'd probably miss the beach and more free running.But then I don't know, I'm sure I'd find a new environment.

So we're very happy to have met some more blogging dogs. Very sorry to hear of Radio's passing, Andrea. It looks like an awful condition to strike at a young dog like that. We had a similar experience with losing both our maine coon cats, Rock and Clark at 4 years old to feline HCM. Our breeder has screened for it now. Losing a young animal like that is heartbreaking.

Back to today, we had some lunging at traffic in Hawley Street this morning. We'd started to head home from a leadwalk to the beach where we found the tide in. Boo! He seemed more on edge today. It was probably my fault that the walk turned out longer and with no offlead run first, he found it hard to deal with the traffic. It's a real trouble road for us to cross there as it is busy and we have to wait to cross. This seems to be a trigger if it is going to happen. If I keep him moving, it doesn't seem to trigger him. Once he's set off about a van, lorry or cycle, then he'll often start on all following vehicles. So still lots to do on this.

Hot sunny days

I've not been posting for a while on how things were going. But we have been busy. What is it? Make hay while the sun shines?

We've been doing early morning walks and then late evening to avoid the heat of the day. Then short lead training bits during the day or bits of retrieve or stay training in the back yard. I had a really brilliant week with Grey this week. He felt like he had passed another corner and was slightly steadier and, you know, more grown up. He came away from other dogs easier. One one morning he more or less followed me round a playing field offlead while a rottie was the other side. I've been doing lots of reinforcement for being with me with the clicker and going out before breakfast. I tried some stay training in the field too, but I'm now looking at being more steady and careful with that on the advice of a friend.

And then there are days like today where it all goes haywire. He jumped on the dining table! Stole a mask from a lady's stall we were at in the old town and was incredibly over energised this evening and hard work. But then you get days like that.

But I have been really pleased to see that we can walk some distance on the flat collar now and again. So a huge YAY!

I forgot to post feedback on the second opinion on his teeth. The dentist said there is nothing more to be done. So I've booked in with a one to one session for ttouch, which hopefully will help him.

Another teeth update

I'm going to get Grey a second opinion on his teeth situation. They still seem to be bothering him and since he has matured things seem to have changed. His front teeth are jumbled and multi-layered. They clash and there is still some impact of the left canine into the upper gum.

It could be affecting his training and behaviour on the headcollar. Which is a bit of a catch 22 situation. I can't really handle him without one on. The dogmatic seems to be the best fit so far as far as his eyes go. But it's still not ideal. This will require ongoing treatment it seems.

Training update

I've not really been updating the blog the last few weeks. I blame it on the sunshine and long walks with Grey and his friends. We've settled into bits of training. Lots of socialisation round town and walking with other dogs which has really paid off. He seems to have really calmed down. Yes, still a monkey and very much a character, but I'm learning to work with it. We've got a weekly session with J locally and that gives us more than enough to work on. At the moment we're working recalls, retrieve with a stuffed toy that he brings to me to get a treat out of it, twist, heelwork and general calm around traffic, leave it training around food.

He is able to look at approaching vans now and more or less not lunge. I haven't had a lunge for a week. That is really good and I'm really proud of him. It's a huge step forward for us.

I'm trying to plan ahead and think what I'd like to do with Grey. I have always thought it might be nice to do some kind of activity. He enjoys doing stuff and it would be nice to find something that I can manage timewise and that will get his tail wagging. So what to do: agility, scentwork or some specific gundog training?

This weekend it was really hot and he laid up most of Saturday. We went out to the beach in the evening and it was really lovely. Shame about the messy summer beach users leaving a trail of rubbish in their wake. He unfortunately scoured discarded BBQs, but thankfully no bones found.

Ha ha I just spotted lots of pics of Grey

From last year's slovak fun day. See if you can spot him:

http://www.slovakianroughhairedpointerclub.org.uk/events.htm

He was about 6 months old then.

Lily the weimie service dog in training video

Really nice video of a weimie called Lily who is a service dog in training following The Levels programme.



See, HPRs can do this stuff!

training diary

Grey has got into aunty J's school. Grin.

Today we went out on the lead to the park with L and the baby in the pram. While they went on the swings in the little kids' play area, Grey and I walked on the lead round the park with a bag of treats. We had a brief spell off lead with his toy in the enclosed basketball court until a park rubbish collector told me I could get fined for that. Although there are no signs up?

While in there I was throwing his toy for him and enticing him back for cuddles and a bit of tug and not insisting he let it go. Basically getting him to come back to me for good things and if he lets go we throw again and keep the game going in quite high energy.

Today we worked on teaching him 'twist' at home which is an anti-clockwise spin.

Last night we had gone down the beach and I was playing find it by clearly throwing a treat and then calling him into me for a puppy recall to get a treat from my hands. He stayed much much closer to me and he was very engaged. Came back on the whistle a few times and it was much easier to finish the session on a positive not and loose lead walk home.

He's doing really well on the lead now. I can manage the odd lunge at lorries but more often than not he's rewarded for being calm around them.

Sink fishing

Grey can now reach into the utility room sink. Note to self: Do not leave things in the utility room sink.

tasty treat recipes

Mmmmm homemade treats from Willow.

Lead training

We're doing some waiting for offered behaviours with Charlie, so I was interested to see how Ian Dunbar's lead walking would work out. In the past I've not had much success with the be a tree method as it usually resulted in Grey sniffing the floor, going round me in a circle and generally finding something else to focus on. But as part of a structured and active training session it worked really well. The key is to keep the pace up and interested. Not long so he doesn't get bored or stressed.

Ian illustrates it in this video here:



It basically trains in a sit when you stop. Obviously, Ian is performing this on stage and not on a street with lots of doggy smells. But I tried it out with Grey this morning. Starting with one step, then two steps, three steps etc. it worked really well and it's similar to 300 peck heeling by adding a step each time. We went out on the quiet Sunday pavement, which is a fave training day of mine. We had a spin round the carpark and then back on the pavement.

Are domestic dogs pack animals?

More Jean Donaldson! An article that discusses the reality that domestic dogs differ from wolves and that when allowed to free roam they do not form packs.

"During the tenure of dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, a poorly thought out reconstruction effort in Romania resulted in the demolition of thousands of houses and the relocation of thousands of families into small apartments throughout the country. For family dogs, this meant being turned out onto the street, where they have multiplied and eked out a marginal existence ever since.

A sad situation from every possible angle, the explosion of free-ranging dogs in Romania is an unintended experiment that challenges one of the most taken for granted aphorisms in the dog behavior world: that dogs are “pack animals.” The dogs in Romania have not formed packs. Their associations with one another are brief and casual: a couple of dogs may hang out together temporarily and then part company. Dogs are often drawn together by a scarce resource like a food source or estrous female but once this magnet is gone, they go their separate ways."

Jean Donaldson on motivation

Nice video of Jean Donaldson conditioning her dog buffy to happily accept the Gentle Leader headcollar.



And another of her discussing rewards and motivation in training. I really like how Buffy is allowed to come in and sit on the Buffy Chair! Putting pay to the theory that dogs take over the world if allowed on the furniture.

The importance of testing for infections

I was reminded by Gunner's owner about the importance of not ignoring continued tummy problems for prolonged periods. Gunner's condition probably worsened because his infection went undiscovered and further the anti-inflammatory medication masked the effect of the infection. There have been many reports of prolonged tummy problems in slovaks that I have come across. I don't believe this is down to a genetic predisposition. In many cases the problems came down to GI infections. Unfortunately, tummy upsets in young pups can be down to 101 different causes. But if it continues for more than a few days after settling puppy into his new home, I would get fecal and urine tests done. So much is put down to puppy being stressed with a move.

We think Grey had infections from being tiny because his baby teeth had very patchy enamel that the dental specialist spotted when he had his first work done to rectify his overshot jaw. I have been in touch with two of his littermates and all had treatment for infections like campylobacter and giardia. It is important when infections like this are discovered that any dog that has come into contact with an infected dog is tested and given treatment and that the environment where they reside is disinfected. Otherwise the infection can remain in the environment.

Gunner is now doing well on his medication and we cross our fingers he'll be back to good health soon.

Sunny times and progress

I was reminded this week to take stock of just how far Grey has come in the last few months. I went out with a friend for a few lead walks and she mentioned how different he is now. So much calmer and pulling less. More able to manage himself and focus. So, yes, mr monkey, I'm very proud of you. Even though you did nick the sugar bowl off the table and had an attempt to swallow all of his dad's mashed potato last night.

We've done a lot more lead walking the last few weeks. All on the halti and occaisionally heelwork on the flat collar. He can now do heelwork with sits when I stop. This is obviously really hard work for him to keep up with and so I only use it in short bursts. I'm not interested in him heeling all the time. That would be really stressful. Heeling to me is very tight to my leg with him looking up at me. For general walking around town leadwork, a slack lead is the goal. I've started having my lead long again from yesterday, so I can cue him to 'go sniff' occaisionally to give him some freedom and variety on the walk. 'Go sniff' can also be a reward as well as the food.


We have been playing hide and seek in the park when it was empty. Doing lots of fast changes in direction with him off the lead. Getting him to follow me and see where I'm going. Then a few times we've been up to the lido with a walk round the highstreet to keep working on his experiences around distractions. He has improved loads. He still has the odd lunge at vans, but are becoming infrequent. He seems to be ignoring motorbikes now. But if a van or vehicle appears near the beach or park, he will still take off chasing. So still got to work on that.

Comments policy

It's great that people take the time to post comments on the blog. Most of the time, I'm sure no one reads it except me! But as a rule, it's not cool to post private emails from other people to other people on a public website where they are named in full. It's not just not cool, it's a breach of privacy. It's even worse if the poster of the comments is also anonymous. How uncool is that! So if you would like to post comments, please do so. Keep it legal! It would be a shame to have to introduce comment moderation. It's not the spirit of the blog.

I've removed the offending comments for now from public access.

All that matters in this case is that Gunner is now hopefully on the mend following his course of anti-biotics for his infected vertebrae. I.e. not a dislocation.

Grey's castration one week on

People who know Grey have commented on what a changed dog he is lately. I think it's too soon after the op to put it all down to the castration. He had also started to change in his behaviour in the weeks running up to the op too. So I reckon it's a combination of things coming at the same time. Grey seems to have turned a corner in hi behaviour and energy levels. He no longer greets people at home by jumping rudely up at them or me. He does a new move of sitting in front, turning round so he's sitting backwards and puts his chin up to gaze lovingly at them eliciting chin rubs and he leans into their legs and if it goes really well he might end up sliding down to the floor for a belly rub!

I think my own behaviour and body language towards him has also changed, so as a consequence his general behaviour has modified. He's generally a very much calmer dog and has since the op developed into a real cuddle monster. We have a lot of people staying at the house at the moment including a baby. He's taken it all in his stride and has coped with all the new noises and activity. We moved a sofa into the dining room where we spend a lot of time now and he's taken up residence on there with a fleecey blanket and likes nothing more than to lie squished up next to someone on it.

If this is the sign of the new manageable Grey I feel really positive and proud of him.

His wound is healing up nicely. He's not had a buster collar on and didn't lick his wound much at all. His scrtoum is shrinking away nicely. It doesn't look that attractive at the moment! But then who's looking!?

Yesterday we took him up to London in the car to visit a few shops in Islington. He was allowed in all the shops and he was so well behaved and managed brilliantly. His fear period seems to have come to an end, thank god. He was on the halti and more or less walks nicely on it. It's no great love affair with the head collar, but he's manageable. We're awaiting delivery of the Dogmatic which should be sturdyier and fit him better under the eyes.

He's been on strict lead walks only all week, which I think have also done him good. It's broken the link that a walk means pull until you get to the free offlead romp. I'm going to take him for a free running bit this morning. Tomorrow we have a first training session with Charlie. Looking forward to his opinion.

Gunner is home!

We just heard that Grey's brother, Gunner, is now home at last. He was sent home on morphine patches to manage his pain and the vet thinks he has diskospondylitis (also spelt discopondylitis). I don't know much about this condition yet, just starting to look into it now. I found a pdf paper on it. On wikipedia it refers to it being linked to Brucellosis in dogs that can be screened for in a breeding programme. I'll post more as I dig more out.

More info: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2105&aid=269

Grey losing his nik naks

No way to put it sensitively. Grey has gone to the vets to be CASTRATED. Sorry if that makes the boys wince, but time had come for the operation. Hopefully, we'll see an improvement in behaviour towards other dogs where he will stop humping so much. It's no replacement for training and managing his behaviour, but even if we look at the state of his teeth, the world doesn't need any puppies with teeth like Grey's.

I'll be picking him up tonight. They leave his purse but he'll have no change so to speak.

Sorry, Grey. Not your idea of a great birthday present, I know.

Happy birthday Grey

Today you are one year old, monkey boy. I wouldn't be without you.

Grey's brother is really poorly

I've just heard that Grey's littermate is really poorly again with the mystery pain problem in his neck and shoulder and that pain killers hadn't worked and he's in the vets on morphine. I'm so sad for him and his owner. He has been ill since he was 9 months old and this latest flare up is really serious. This is the 3rd pain issue I've heard of from people with slovaks. All young dogs under a year old. I chatted with a breeder about it who had suggested it could be linked to previous GI infections when young and these stay somehow in the system causing reactive arthritis. In humans it's called Reiters Syndrome. No idea if this is what Grey's brother has. His vet thinks it might be something to do with the vertebrae. Obviously we're really worried in case something could also happen to Grey, but primarily sending healing thoughts to his brother. It's not fair for such a young dog.

Out and about

We've been more out and about the last few days. Just mooching around the old town and through the park. He had a bit of a play with a GSD. But mostly he's got used to not always being offlead in the park. So we've walked round it and through it.

It's been easter weekend and I was on gallery duty. We also had visitors stay at the house, which is always a new training opportunity. I decided not to go to the cricket ground for training in case there were other people there. I wanted to get away from the car chasing for a couple of days. Grey was on the long line at the gallery for a little while at lunch one day and he was super good. Didn't bark at anyone coming into the space. I left him to sleep at home rather than stress him with the car and people approaching all the time.

We had a surprise visit from the new slovak on the block, Obi. Very nice to see him. Everyone commented on how trim Grey is looking. Which is great because he was a fatty when they last saw him!

Other than that we worked on target mat at home, doing his own nails on the doggy nail file I built him. Lots of nice rewards for passing traffic, people and prams. So a busy few days.

Jean Donaldson's 10 myths about dogs

Really nice list, which as a new dog owner having to field training classes etc is really useful to refer back to.

http://www.dogsincanada.com/fairy-tales-the-top-10-dog-behaviour-myths

Chasing

Excellent article on dealing with chase mode in dogs. Working on building on turning the chase onto a toy.

Training, Thursday 9th April 2009

This morning we headed out to the cricket field at 7.30a.m. The traffic was building but not super busy. Grey started to react to the cars again so I went straight into relxation circuits round bollards. I think I must have kept it up for 10 mins. By the end I was able to go into the centre of the field and release him with him not running back to chase the traffic.

We had a good session of voluntary check ins, long line and toy play.

We did filming today for a TV show and the director said he'd never seen such a mad dog when they wanted to film him with us on the beach. He was relatively well behaved as well. I thin what gets people is that he's like a young pup in a grown up dog body. He really has difficulty containing himself, which of course, what we're working on.

This evening I decided to take him up to Botany Bay to see some other dogs. I started some relaxation circuits as he was really excited. It calmed him a bit. We worked voluntary check ins. Then threw the toy. He ran in to another dog who was on a flexi and I wasn't able to catch him in time. Really sorry about that as he started to hump the other dog. I gathered him up, aplogised profusely and took him back to the car thinking I have to really work out how to deal with his running in to other dogs thing. Wonder if the neutering would help this.

chasing mode

Tonight we had a mishap where I accidentally let him slip free while getting out of the car. His lead slipped underneath my foot in the car park at the training field. He charged off chasing cars along the boundary fence. Very hair raising how fast he does that. Managed to get him back and calmed him down. Tried some relaxation walking and it seemed to work. You circle towards and then away from the distraction.

I decided to not let him off again as some people had arrived for a meeting at the club. It just felt a bit busy. So I worked on name recognition and calm to the passing traffic.

This afternoon I did 20 mins relaxation walking at home with no fussing.

Grey the art buff

I'm running a photographic show at a local gallery for a couple of weeks, so rather than leave Grey at home I thought I would give it a try taking him with me. The gallery is on a pier at the harbour, so I can park my car with the hatchback open right next to the gallery doors. We had little mooches up and down the pier with bits of training for passing cars coming to park, people on bicycles etc. He has calmed down spending time in his crate in the back and has had chews and frequent trips out to keep him occuppied. We then had a couple of nice runs on the beach where he got to kick up his heels. He's still a bit barky at some people arriving, but he did imprive lots the more he got used to it.

Relaxation walking

I did my first session on my own today of the relaxation walk where we have to walk in circles at a slow pace round an obstacle. I set up two chairs in the back yard and walked round, sometimes changing direction. We walked for 20 mins at a slow and steady pace. I had expected him to react to this as he had at Thursday's training session. But he didn't and we plodded round with no ground sniffing, no lead biting etc. I'm supposed to do this 3 times a week as a minimum, but everyday if I can.

We finished off with a little round of his known cues like: touch, sit, down, go round etc.

I need to think of 2 new behaviours to teach him that I can add into this.

Photos of Grey's bite from the beginning

Grey's bite at 16 weeks old.




Grey's bite at 27 weeks old after baby teeth have been removed and the adult teeth have come through. The issue hadn't righted itself and required further treatment. The adult canines are puncturing the upper palette and he is clearly overshot.






After he'd worn the brace for a couple of months and had had an adult tooth out:





Latest photos after the brace has been taken off. He's now 11 months old. Not sure it's looking too great. The front teeth have come through in more of a jumble. His lower canines still seem to be impacting on the upper gum. His teeth are a bit discoloured in parts where the acrylic plate was.

Training diary / March 16th p.m.

Palm Bay playing field.
4 month old pup in the distance and a man with a kite.
Let him watch the pup for a while. Reinforced him to look at me. Released him and he ran off to the kite man then came back to me fast.
Worked the long line with 3 x check ins. Refused 1 x recall. Just about to do another and he came in. Played with the toy 5 x. No bouncing off me. Back to the car. He struggled a bit and tried to back out of his collar. Managed to calm things and get into car.

Training diary / March 16th a.m.

Botany Bay.
40 secs for the 1st voluntary check in. 3 x voluntary check ins.
Worked the long line. Played with the labradoodle pup. Came away nicely. Ran back and came away again.

At home:
recall
up into the car
played fetch with the toy.

Training diary / 15th March p.m.

Botany Bay field top.
3 x voluntary check ins.
3 x good check ins on the long line.
Played with his friend the same age GSD. Called him back and he managed that.

At home did recall from outside, 'in your bed' and name recognition.

Training diary / 15th March a.m.

Out to Botany Bay. Tried out a flexi lead in case that was safer around other dogs. Not sure about it really. He was good on it, but it can give your hand a bit of a jolt and I can see how it's an issue for other dogs and your dog if the handle is dropped. I'll keep it anyway, as it might come in useful for something.

Interrupted play with other dogs x 4.
Recall on the line x 2 good.
Threw the toy on the long line x 4.
Had to settle him down to calm down and look at me when distracted by a dog in the distance.
Responded to name 5 x.

Article: On common bite faults

Interesting Article in PDF format to download. States the case for neutering of genetic faults and consequently refunds from breeders.

Grey's teeth issue clarified

Here's the letter from Grey's veterinary dentist. He had to have both milk and adult teeth out and have a plate fitted. The procedure was costly and unpleasant for Grey. Hopefully through selective breeding programmes this would be erradicated for future pups.

17/12/08

Ref your dog ‘Grey’ – Slovakian Pointer born April 2008.

Dear Miss XXX,

I am writing with a report on the dental problems and associated treatments we are carrying out upon ‘Grey’.

I fist saw him on 22/8/08 as a referral from you usual veterinary surgeon, who had noticed an abnormality in Grey’s teeth. I found that his lower temporary canines were erupted ‘inwards’ and as a result the tips were contacting the roof of the mouth. Also, the front part of the upper jaw was tilted downwards, resulting in the upper incisors being tipped slightly backwards, into the mouth, rather than being vertical. The tips of the upper carnassial teeth (large premolars) were catching on the gum of the lower jaw when the mouth closed, causing some gum recession. One final point was that some of the temporary teeth had small areas of missing enamel, the result of either an hereditary problem or an illness as a small puppy.

At the time I extracted the lower temporary canines to prevent damage to the roof of the mouth, and in the hope that the permanent canines would erupt into a more normal position. The enamel defects, being in temporary teeth needed no treatment, and we opted to monitor progress of the gum recession and upper incisor positioning as the permanent teeth erupted.

I saw Grey again on 19/11/08, at which time his lower permanent canines had erupted in the same plane as the temporaries, and were making deep indentations in the roof of the mouth. Additionally one of the upper incisors had erupted out of alignment with the rest of the incisors, necessitating extraction. Several incisors and premolars were either very slow to erupt, or had not erupted at all. At the time this was not causing a problem, although it might in the future.

We fitted a type of brace in the mouth, under an anaesthetic, to cause outward pressure on the lower canines each time Grey shut his mouth. At present this brace is still in the mouth, and the lower canine teeth are slowly moving into a more normal position, and we hope that when the brace is removed, Grey will have a functional, pain free bite, whilst at the same time retaining all four canines.

I do feel that the multiplicity of dental abnormalities must have a mainly genetic component, since there are so many abnormalities in one mouth. One could speculate that a breed with small numbers will have a small gene pool, and abnormalities more likely than in a breed with larger numbers.

Yours sincerely

Training diary / 14th March p.m.

Took a trip up to the top field so he could meet some other dogs. Did 2 x recalls away from other dogs that he'd gone to say hello to. The recalls were really nice. On the way back we stopped off in the old town to try out the Newtrix Collar to see how he was on it as I'd been given the ok for him to meet other dogs and that we'd need to do that on a head collar so we could go somewhere without the car next week. He had a nice trot around the old town as much of it is pedestrian and there isn't much going on on a weekend. But he does seem to be better about traffic as well.

Training diary / 14th March a.m.

I had forgotten to write this Saturday morning up, so it's what I can remember. I said hello to a woman in the field who was just leaving as we arrived. He refused a recall and then I was just about to call him for a 2nd time and he came. He did this the next time too.

Training diary / 13th March a.m.

Dogs were already in the field when we arrived. Grey barking lots. We waited, but eventually decided to go to another field. Did some calm training in the car first. Once released he was a lot more zoomy and on edge. I got tangled up in the line and was pulled off my feet and hit my head when some geese flew overhead. Won't do that again.

Training diary / 12th March p.m.

Barked in the car on the drive to the field. 50 secs first voluntary check in. 5 x voluntary check ins. Last 3 stayed around. Worked 'this ways' on the long line. No pings. Refused 2 x recalls on the line. Collected him up and waited. He easn't able to look at me. Waited. Got him to look at me. Then 10 x CTs for response to name. Threw toy 4 x. He wriggled away when I was putting his lead on. Did an instant recall and scattered food on the grass. Was this a bribe? Anyway, I got hold of him!

Training diary / 12th March a.m.

Barked in the car all the way to the field which is 20 mins drive away. But did calm down once we got there. Waited for calm before getting out of the car. I realised I had forgotten his harness, so couldn't do line work. Did 5 x voluntary check ins. 10 x respond to name. A woman arrived at the field with two little dogs. Grey dropped to greet as usual. I took hold of his collar before the woman came into the field. Grey started frustrated barking and rearing up. He carried this on while the woman went right over the other side of the field. We left the field and went to the car.