Ferdi and Felix are starting to figure it out! (Aggression)
I got a wonderful behaviorist to come out a few times and she has been working with me with the aggression between Felix and Ferdinand...she thinks it is more fear aggression than anything else. Anyway, we've been working with them, putting them in situations together where they would usually get all stiff and suddenly fight, and little by little we are seeing less fights, and less attempts to fight, and when they DO fight the durations are much less intense and a lot shorter. Today, I had Ferdi on his lead, and Felix came in the living room (a trigger for Ferdinand) and Ferdi went to lunge at Felix, but the training collar calmed him right away and he went to sleep on my lap! The training collar is amazing...it looks really dreadful, but he responds beautifully to it, so no pulling, attentive behavior, no fear...he actually seems to like that he knows I am in control, which is what the behaviorist said...she thinks he believed he needed to be in control because I "needed" protection due to my emotional state of mind since we lost our twins. He was doing his "job" to protect me, and since Felix had gotten off to a bad start with him he would get aggressive in the places where I tend to be...kitchen, living room, bedroom....so, the collar is helping him to know that I am the one in charge, and he seems a lot less tense as a result. We all love our walks, and I have these two big happy dogs that never ever pull on the lead, are calm, and happy. This is not to say they never squabble...they still do...but it's looking like there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel, and I have to say that my behaviorist is the most wonderful, caring, and intelligent trainer EVER. Ferdi and Felix just love her, and so do I! So....now, to work on the sheepie brothers barking at our Bassett hound. They just love to tag team the old guy who is very tolerant, but just looks up at us like "WHY?" with those blood shot eyes of his......we are working on it...and it's getting better too. They are starting to spend more time licking than barking...they both seem to think the bassett needs a bath. often. On a fun note...my sheepies have discovered the joys of jumping...yes...jumping...on our trampoline! They jump together, in a perfect enclosure of wrestling puppy delight. it is soooo funny! I'm sure there will be many more adventures in this sheepdog journey...thanks for listening! |
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what a pleasure to read this upon wakiingtoo early here, excellent happy news.  in fact, you reminded me of me sheepie giving his new lil lab brother licking baths. he would look at me like wth is going on, we are not cats.  |
I don't know if you watch the Dog Whisperer. One show was two GSDs who fought. They were considering getting rid of one dog......the stable one  Like your trainer, Cesar came in and pointed out it was the upright who was causing the problem. In this case the male GSD was unstable and the bitch was correcting him because the human couldn't understand what was happening. Once the upright took control of the crazy male, the bitch relaxed. Yes, you went thru a terrible emotional period and your pups caught that. Now that your feet are back on the ground, it's time for you to regain control of your pack. Sounds like a good trainer, you are lucky. I know a lot of people don't like Cesar Milan, but his "I train people and rehabilitate dogs" hopefully points out it's not the dogs......it's their clueless owners. I was clueless once so completely understand. |
| I'm glad things are looking up at your house. It is so stressful for everyone (human and dog) when all that tension is there. For what it's worth - Chewie loves to bathe Simon (basset) and Harley (basset foster).....  Harley actually loves it....but he also likes to be vacuumed! |
| I'm so glad that things are looking up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! keep up the gooooood work |
| Thanks! We still need to iron out the fact that Ferdinand is so possessive over my bedroom. (where he sleeps too) We'd like to have Felix in there with us, and it seems that Felix would like that too...However, bedtime usually comes with a lot of exhaustion, and I just haven't had the strength to deal with potential "issues" popping up just as I'm falling asleep. I think that would be too much for my husband too. Once we have ironed out every other spot, I'll get to the bedroom during the day I think...but for now, Felix get's to sleep with my 11 year old, who is totally delighted to sleep near such a fuzzy friend. Who knows, maybe, in the end, that will be just the way it is. But, I need to know that there are no terror zones in my home. Yesterday, we took the boys and Felix and Ferdi to a ski area. The older boys and my husband skied all afternoon while my 6 year old and the dogs did some sledding and romping. What great fun for all! Of course, I noticed some new mats as a result of major snow wrestling between the sheepies....the snow was so deep that they would leap, disappear into the snow and leap out again....and then disappear! The snow was about 5 feet deep...something I wasn't even willing to go in as it would have been over my head in that area.....but the sheepies seemed to LOVE it! They were also impressive with the skiers....they didn't attempt to chase them as they whizzed by, but just cocked their heads in confusion...like "what the HECK is that???"  |
I forgot to log in....the above is from me....  |
| That sounds like an awesome day!!! I would love to see sheepies romping in lots of snow.  Not gonna happen here though. |
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