//A question Tigerlily - How long has Buddy been herding baskets and does when he started to herd them coincide with when he started to improve around dogs? //
SORRY I NEVER SAW THIS BEFORE!!
You know, i am not sure, how long he has been herding baskets, it was a lil while til WE realized how much he LOVES laundry baskets, but, i am not sure how long we had Buddy, til we gave him his very own laundry basket, BUT it was pretty early on. He had a blast with it, head-butting it all over the yard.
for a long long time, he only had the one (1) basket.
then we gave him TWO, and that is when he began to do what looks like herding to me, the way Buddy groups the baskets together in various areas of the house, or various areas of the yard. This was either his first spring with us, or his first summer with us.
Now, Buddy has 3 indoor baskets, and 3 outdoor baskets.
Buddy's re-activity to unknown dogs is not caused by inactivity. He is a pretty active dog, and we spend much time keeping him busy. I am pretty sure, he's had baskets for the bulk of the time we've had him, def from his first summer with us, he's been herding baskets.
that was more than 3 years ago. He's still dog-aggressive,
he's just much better. Controlled better, like diabetes or something.
but, there is no doubt in my mind, if one IS working with a dog with tons of unspent energy, that ANY task they try to do, will be made much harder if dog is boiling over with unspent energy.
Like i've often posted, on multiple threads, and in my frequent correspondence with Tx_cowgirl,
i began to see dramatic visible difference in Buddy about other dogs,
when i began to use doggie calming signals. IT WAS LIKE A LIGHTBULB MOMENT FOR *ME*.
I'd bet, that Tx can vouch for this moment, as she was the one coaching me and teaching me how to do it,
and i bet Tx clearly remembers our shared excitement over the breakthrough. It was a "first" for Buddy,
and it was clearly, distinctly related to my giving Buddy calming signals...as no matter what i'd tried before, i'd failed at getting Buddy to walk by dogs without reacting.
I stood witness to the big change
. I stood witness, to the first time, that i ever ever successfully walked my lil gangsta dog past other dogs and had NO reaction. MY HEART WAS POUNDING, I COULD HARDLY CONTAIN MY WILD EXCITEMENT and JOY, but, i did my best to hide that,
as it seemed to me to wrong move, to go crazy gagga nutz while trying to get THE DOG to be calm!!
Which was also the first time i'd ever tried using doggie calming signals. OR, it was one of the first times i'd ever used calming signals.
so i don't think there was a laundry-basket herding connection, cuz he'd been herding baskets for quite a while by
this moment, <-----which i *think* was the second year i had Buddy, not the first year.
Prior to using doggie calming signals, (which do not work EVERY time for my dog, but DO work pretty darn often)
i had wasted an entire year
on using "Look At Me" only. This prevented reactions, but did
nothing to desensitize my dog to actually looking RIGHT AT his 'enemy'.....using only " look at me" did NOT help my dog learn how to calmly look right AT other dogs.
I feel there is huge difference, between
~Preventing reactions
~Interrupting reactions
~
Desensitizing dogs to items/creatures they dislike or fear.
to ME, it is 3 different methods/approaches. I feel we who work with dogs with issues, DO need all three approaches, or methods, too. A
ND anything else we can find along the way, too!!!
. Her getting 'physical' with us gets that some of that urge out, and has helped her bond with us more - my non 'people' dog will now curl up next to me on the sofa. Rough and tumble, pushing, tug, jump up-push off (our own game), running, and some box training have made us equally as interesting as other onlead dogs, some wildlife, and other occurences that would have ended up in a nightmare situtation. She can /down-stay/ in high drive, she can /stay/ in high drive near another (on lead) dog - not a chance of anything close to that before christmas, she was deaf with her back to us when spotting a dog 300 yrds away.