[mojomoo]

I’ll start the phases over again with her by herself and leave the other dog at home while training her. It looks like I have to stop, back up, switch directions more and sooner like every 5 feet or she forges ahead. She knows the heel but can’t get the hang of walking and heeling on a loose leash. Her mother does very well on leash except she pulls at other dogs too, her tail is down or in the middle and the other ones is always up? so her mom is a bit reactive too but not as extreme and I think she feeds off of the other ones behaviour. I seem to have alot of control in the house but not outside, maybe because they know I have strict rules in the house and sense that I ease off outside? Everyone must get along and listen in this house or this many animals just wouldn’t work. I’m giving this my best shot with her as soon as the weather gets better again.

[mojomoo]

I have no advice for you but so sorry you are going through this! I used to have a wolf/chesapeake retriever/german shepard mix, quit the combination! The mother was a chesapeake the father a wolf/german shepard of my dog and she had aggression issues to teenagers and actually bit 2 kids. I was lucky back in those days (17 years ago) that no one sued me, she also bit one other dog. If I had her now I would of did things alot differently and there’s more help for issues like this now than back then. She lived to be the ripe age of 14 years. I’m interested in what they have to say about your topic, and good luck with your beautiful dog

[mojomoo]

I swear subconciously I chose this dog to learn more patience and I’ve been more patient with her than any other dog I’ve owned. i think she’s gotten worse since I rescued her mother, the older 6.5 year old female. She barks at me now when she doesn’t get her own way like having to come in the house when I leave she will bark and not want to come in but she knows I will get the leash and make her come in. She hates the head halter and acts out more on walks when she wears it, but I put it on her anyway, she also barked at me for putting her in a down position at the door when my mother came over because she gets too excited. I stick it out and don’t let her get her own way but she’s really testing my sanity!!
There’s no sleeping with me and never has been, no free feeding (both dogs and the 6 cats,lol, have feeding times and no one is allowed to take over anyone elses food) I ignore her banging and banging on the door to come in until she’s quiet and I want to let her in, I don’t pet any of them when their demanding it. She’s always been terrible to walk and has been dog reactive since I can remember and yet I’ve socialized her and she has doggie friends.
The older female I have is dominant over her but she can test her limits by being rambunctious and the only way she will stop is if the older one snaps and growls a warning. This is what I find with her, if I’m very strict and mean business she obeys and knows when I mean it. It’s funny though, out of all 8 animals the oldest male cat is top boss over all of them except for me.
I know she is very restless and needs something to do and I would like to put her in activities but she has to get over her dog reactivity first.

[mojomoo]

The newest addition Roxie is doing great! Her and Dakota are getting along really well, so far Roxie seems more passive and subdued, walks good on a leash still so it’s still dakota that needs the most work. Roxie needs more basic obedience like sit, stay, come, down, she likes to bolt out the gate so she needs some work, also still housebreaking her. She’s a very good dog and why in the world they would get rid of her I will never understand.

[mojomoo]

Thank you for more helpful info and video, I really appreciate it. I made a hasty decision today, spur of the moment kind of thing and rescued her mother. My dog was fine with her but I think it was a bit overwhelming for the new one. How on earth now will I walk 2 of them. I couldn’t pass her up, the breeder was selling her due to the fact she can’t have pups anymore, she is over 6 years old and no responsible breeder would get rid of a dog for that reason. Now I have different issues to deal with, this dog lived on a farm til now and every noise is something different to her and she won’t go in the living room because she’s timid of a rug. I think I may have went way over my head with the newest addition but if things don’t work out the BMD rescue will find her another home. I’m extremely iffy about the whole situation but I will get her spayed and see how things go, okay enough of that now!:)
Back to my own dog, I won’t stop training her and will take the time to give her some alone time with me as usual and work on commands and I will find out what commands if any that her mother has. I will read everything over that you posted to make sure I got it all, wish me luck

[mojomoo]

A little update: She is doing ok with the heeling but we still need to do alot of work. I remind her by putting my leg out in front of her so she stays by my side. Classes are going really well, she wasn’t allowed to greet the other dog til they both were calm and once she gets her sniff in she follows commands well and can seem to ignore the other dog more. There’s a dog that hangs over the fence barking about 20ft. from class and she ignores him but yet we can be walking and another dog comes into view at about 50ft. and she gets all excited and very vocal! I can get her in a sit but she sure voices her opinion. It surprises me that the other dogs so far never really take notice of her behaviour, do other dogs know when it’s excitement and she doesn’t mean any harm? What’s so frustrating is I can walk by cats on the same side of the sidewalk and she is interested a bit but not reactive but other dogs, geesh!

[mojomoo]

Good video! I have to work on the heel more than I realize in the yard then on our walk. She starts an obedience class tomorrow but I wonder if it’s too early yet for getting her to heel when she meets up with the dogs in class, I can guarantee the “heel” will go out the window. It’s getting easier putting the head halter on her, her confidence is back, and she’s back to pulling her stunts again,like bolting to sniff the ground and refuses to move her head until she finally gives in with the pulling on her nose towards me, her heads up when walking again and shes as proud as ever. I truly like her zest for life and her being confident but she could bring it down a notch or two. I’ll keep working on that heel for sure. Why do you have to live so far away!lol

[mojomoo]

Today was an ok walk. I put the martingale and halti on her and when she sniffed too much or pulled ahead I put the noose around her nose. She’s still showing me her top teeth when I put it around her nose but not being aggressive so she has to deal with it. We past a kid with his dog on the same side of the sidewalk (we had no choice he was there before I knew it) she did some struggling and head throwing but I got her to calm down and we proceeded our walk. I had much more control but I know she hates the halti with a passion. Will she start getting negative towards other dogs with the halti? or will she learn that I’m in control?

[mojomoo]

I think I could get her to heel with the halter on, she will heel with the prong (without distractions) I’ll try to get her to walk more behind me since she knows the command “back up” really well. I know this will take some time and consistency 🙂 When I add a dog distraction I could use my friends dog next door that she plays with alot. Yesterday I asked the lady if my dog could meet hers and she said ” Oh no, my dog is intimidated by big dogs.” OK, I guess it’s her choice but…. not helping her dog any. I also notice when she isn’t able to meet the dog she sees she puts her nose to ground and intensly sniffs in excitement, any input on that body language?

[mojomoo]

Well I’ve been putting it on her without the loop around the muzzle for a few days (finally not raining here so we can walk more again!) mainly still using the prong but have both on her and today she was very excitable in the beginning of our walk and pulling alot actually and we seen a couple of dogs, she did her dance and whine so I put the loop over her muzzle. Her whole demeanor changes, head down, tail down almost depressed then she puts her nose to the ground and doesn’t want to move her head. Afterwards I let her run off leash on the school grounds to get some energy out (she really needs to run!!) then she walked nicely after with just the prong. I’m going to continue putting both collars on her and have the head halter for backup when needed, sound okay? Also started her on salmon oil to see if it makes a difference with impulse control, how long before I see any difference if it does help?

[mojomoo]

gentle leader. I could try putting it on her a few days without the loop on the muzzle and then slipping the loop on for a minute and then taking it off and keep doing that on and off for a week with good treats. When she gets more used to the idea I’ll use it again for a walk. People think she’s the most well behaved dog when we are out walking (she automatically sits at crosswalks now) and is happy to see and be around everyone and everything but when she sees dogs she goes ballistic but I know she just wants to meet and greet and socialize so I do want her to always associate other dogs as a good thing. We walk alot so if I can get this issue under control more it would be such a relief. I’ll do what I said above and keep you posted on the progress.
Also, about the pack structure at home she does sit before I throw her ball etc.. she has to wait for me to go in first through the door, she is allowed to sleep on the love seat but can’t half the time cause the cats take over,lol so she mostly sleeps on the floor beside my bed, she waits patiently for feed time and is usually laying down when I give her the food (the cats will take over her food if I don’t stop them) she has no guarding issues. She can be very excitable and rambunctious still. She does demand attention though which I try really hard not to pet her when she does that. I’ll stop rambling on now!

[mojomoo]

I did notice with the head halter that I had more control but she becomes so depressed when i get it out and I even tried conditioning her with treats etc.. She lets me put it on her but lowers her head, won’t look at me and shows her top teeth when I put the loop around her muzzle. She had never shown her top teeth before so I run my finger along the loop around her nose and every time I did that she showed top teeth. No growling or anything, just head very low,her muzzle wasn’t wrinkled up like she would bite. Does she hate it that much? and should I continue trying?

[mojomoo]

Thanks for responding! It has always been a challenge with her getting her to calm down when greeting dogs and she has mostly gotten her way since she is strong and pulls me to them. I have tried the easy walk harness, head halter, slip leash, martingale, prong collar… you name it I’ve tried it but she still pulls and only when she wants to greet dogs. maybe I should just start turning her in the opposite direction until she can learn to behave? If it’s an older dog she still whines to greet them but she knows better than to act like she’s the boss. She has mainly grown up playing with older dogs and they have always put her in her place so maybe the younger ones she does feel more assertive?
I will read what you suggested. This is her main downfall, she is a bit suspicious of men but I can seem to control that. Thank you so much again for responding and I think your training is great!