Marble

[quote name='Hobbit']Marble, it sounds like you are doing good with her. It also sounds like she is ready to do advanced things. She may be just challenging you, because she's at that age.[/quote] thanks for the confirmation :) she does have some huge long teeth, they are as big as my brothers dobermans teeth.......very sharp and painful. the little mutt just started growing again.....maybe i could teach her to vaccuum and wash dishes, she loves trash maybe she could take it down to the can for me........yeah, she does probably need some more challenges, it's still very hard to get her to concentrate although she is improving somewhat in that dept. i need to be creative and think of some more things for her to work on. do ACD's ever grow out of this stage? :onfire:

I've heard so many conflicting views on the alpha roll or putting them on their back that I've been very cautious about doing it. I've heard that with dogs of unknown backgrounds (like Dresden, she's from the pound) that it can be very traumatic for them, and that with some dogs ( like shepherds and rotties etc) that the alpha roll can turn into a huge power struggle and be a potentially very dangerous thing. What I have heard no conflicting opinions about that I have started doing is haveing the dog on a twenty or so minute down stay, "they" say that doing this every other day is the best way to reinforce your dominance without a power struggle, I usually lift up the sofa and put the leash under the leg closest to me :).........Hope this makes sense.....

yeah, when dresden started losing her puppy teeth she lost one or two and then all of a sudden she lost like six or so in a week, seemed lik every time she and lady were playing i'd see a little white thing on the floor and find a tooth.

hey, I did not explain the treat thing right, i only give her treats when i'm working with her outside on coming, and not every time. and every so often i'll make her and lady do something, like a down stay or a shake or whatnot and then give them a treat. she doesn't get that many........but i do see your point and how that would be true if i were giving her lots of treats all the time. thanks for your help :) i appreciate it...

Hello and welcome, can we please please see pictures ? :) Your dogs sounds awesome. I wish you could talk to a thick headed friend of mine who thinks he is going to get a Great Dane or and Irish Wolfhound "to have a dog he can wrestle with", I've talked to him a bit about this but he does not want to listen.......

But do you all think I am handling these situations appropriately? I do make her sit every time I pet her, every time she goes in and outdoors, every time I feed her, every time I give her a treat, every time she jumps etc. She is a sitting professional :) And I've been working on her with staying and longer down stays (which of course she hates :) ) and also working with her on leash etc. She was really polite yesterday twice in a row and we almost passed out.....I was all excited about this obedience class at a local kennel club but it's really far away and it's on day when I can't go, the only other ones I've found have been at PetSmart and I've talked to the instructor before and am not impressed at all. The biggest problem is that she knows just about everything I've taught her and just likes to decide when it is to her own advantage to be obedient. I know this because if I have a treat she'll do any of the things I've been teaching her.

Okay, I have a question. You all know how challenging Dresden has been, she is just now actually showing some improvement. Now when she was little enough to sit in my lap, she would growl at me if I shifted her around. Whenever she growled I'd tell her No and move her around several more times till she knocked it off, which was usually pretty fast. Now last night she was lying down and I went to move her onto her blanket and she growled at me, I put my hand around her muzzle and very firmly told her no and moved her some more. Now last night she only growled once and after I disciplined her she started licking my hands. My questions are: Am I handling these situations with her well ? Do you all who have had pushy dogs think she is likely to keep doing this or get worse (she's only about nine months old) ? And, do you think she is pulling this every so often to test me ?

All I have to say is Amen to Wildbunch and Hobbit, and today I was outdoors and ENJOYING Dresdens deepening bark, it IS a lovely sound. She and Lady were alerting me to an invading yellow lab from the south....

yeah, me too, i grew up with seven brothers.......that was too funny.

hey- thanks for the idea, i'm going to try it and see what happens, it seems like a logical solution........appreciate the advice :)

okay, i know this is sort of a goofy question but i'm going to ask anyway. every tiime i am using the computer dresden comes flying up to me and jumps up and slaps her big feet across my arms, the keyboard and everything else, every time she does this i tell her "off', make her sit and then praise her for sitting........every time anyone is sitting on a sofa anywhere she runs up to them and jumps on them, smacks them with her feet and grins like an happy little wacko. i have told everyone who comes into the house to tell her off, make her sit and THEN pet her........but she still jumps all the time, she's much better about not jumping on standing people, although not anywhere near perfect but she just refuses to stop jumping on people who are sitting, using the computer, reading (peacefully and she comes out of nowhere like a freight traing......). anyway, i don't feel like she's still being malicious and am fairly certain it's a playful thing, but it's still rude and annoying and i often wonder if the pawing thing is one of her sneaky ways of pushing for dominance.......all that to say does anyone know of a good way to teach her not to jump on seated people ???

hey, i don't have any brilliant answers for you but i have been watching dresden grow and the first thing to grow is her rib cage, so she gets all bulgy looking there and the rest of her body gets all long and skinny looking, then her legs get longer and finally her head grows to match and she's proportionate again. i'm not saying it's just her growing and there are many people here who are more qualified to answer your question, but maybe part of it is she's going through a growth spurt again ? just a thought.

He sai tous not that it explains anything, but this is supposed to be "He said to us"....... i thought maybe it was Thai......:)