I have many questions so I will probably use this forum to ask them since I cannot find the chat area if there is one. (It is faster) My name is Mona and I have a 8 month old Shetland Sheepdog (better known as a Sheltie ) He is my second Sheltie - my first Sheltie boy passed in March of this year. He was 14.5 years and was the hardest thing I ever went through. That was what I called my second son and his name was Magic. Forever in my heart that boy. Worse thing I believe I ever had to go through in my life besides losing my father.....I digress...

I decided only 4 months from his passing to get another Sheltie. Here is the big difference for me now. I am retired and 15 years older than when I had my Magic and do not remember him being like the one I have now so it is a bit rough at times with him, however I am determined to get him to act right and trained correctly. I have taken the free Management in the house course here and loved it, and now am taking the BO class with Mr Frawley at the moment. I love his calm teaching and how easy I can understand what he is saying.

When I first got Rocky about a month after having him I had to take him to the vet and I just broke down because I did not think I could handle him but that was in July and here it is November and he is still with me. It is a work in progress every single day with him. My biggest thing the most aggravating thing is his constant jumping jumping like a kangaroo and he is a high jumper too. It is bad so I am trying everything I can to stop this behavior. I find some days are just exhausting with my medical condition (s) but I love him and am determined to get him to obey and not try to do the things I do not want him to do. I have cornered off one room where my desk is and he does not have free roam of the house. I knew that from the get go as he chews everything he gets his hands on.

I can have 50 chew toys and he will (try) to chew my journals or my papers or whatever else he can get in his mouth - So I know I have a lot of work to do and welcome all the advice given to me in here - I welcome it with open mind and heart as I have opened my heart to another Sheltie. I pray he improves some of his bad behavior issues. He is 8 months old already and I got him at 4 months so in 4 months time he is still jumping and pulling me on that leash. He has already fell in the pool 2 times just this week even with me holding him on the leash!! Thank God I am right there to get in and get him. I had taught him how to get to the stairs and was happy to see him swim to the steps the first time he fell in. He just runs around the deck and has lost his footing twice now. I may have to corner off the pool area as I cannot jump in when the water gets really cold.

If you got this far I appreciate you taking the time to read this and look forward to meeting and greeting all of you furbaby lovers like me. Thank you so much for all you do here in Leerburg. I love this site.

Ms Mona

Yikes can someone fix the photo to flip it to its right position please (Adm)

Good morning Ms. Mona,

Welcome. At 8 months it is still often two steps forward one step back in training but it gets better with persistence, consistency and the maturing of the dog.

In the house, if you use a trailing leash, you can step on it. Sometimes it is easier to step on the leash than chasing and it serves to check the dog. Of course with a coincidental command.

You can easily train the basics in the house. Sit stay in one room and release and call to in another. Long down stay in one room while you do stuff in another. All kinds of stuff.

Lots of spontaneous short duration command work. A quick come sit reward sequence and release. Or whatever variations you want to do. Strong compliance in the house can set the stage for better and quicker results outsice, I think.

Yup. Lots of truly good stuff on the Leerburg site.

Welcome.

Thank you so much Mike A and nice to meet you. I appreciate your tips there. I call his name and he does not come either not always that is ... so you are right patience and consistency is the key. I am in the BO class now taking notes and look forward to the day Rocky can do the things I see Eds dogs and other trainers dogs sit while there are all kinds of distractions around them. I thought to myself how in the heck do they do that I pray this will also be the case for Rocky down the road. My Magic well to be honest I never stuck to correction training and I suppose that is why he barked as much as he did when people came and went from the house. It still was hard to say goodbye to him and the worse thing I ever went through. I still cry at times about it. It is so hard to let them go. My dogs are like humans to me better than some humans actually if you know what I mean by that.

Look forward to hearing more from you and others. Thank you so much

Ms Mona

Welcome Mona!

I had a Kerry Blue Terrier ,Rocky back in the 80s.

Excellent advice from Mike.

His "strong compliance in the house can set the stage for better and quicker results outside" should be tattooed backwards on every dog owners forehead so they can daily read it when looking in the mirror.

His 'trailing leash" is sometimes called tethering because it can also be use by "tethering" your end of the leash to you via your belt or whatever.

The pup learns to follow you no matter what you do.

Random treats to reward this behavior.

I wish I had something to add, but all I can do is say YES!

Mike and Bob tell you true!

PS

Sorry ... I failed at turning the photo .... will try again tomorrow.

Thank you Bob. I cannot hook the leash to me due to me having a bum back. After 3 failed back surgeries and the risk of having another one I do not want to take a chance of clipping his leash to my hip. That would be disaster for me should he take off - he is quite strong to be honest. Just pulling on the leash right now is tearing up my back. Tonight I put his leash under a piece of bed post and he was good with that while I was cooking. He is super hyper for real and jumps and pulls like mad. I am praying these courses will help me out here. So far I see I have been doing a few things wrong already.

Thank you so much Connie I appreciate it

 Quote: Mona Marie

Thank you so much Connie I appreciate it

Sorry ... I can't fix the picture.

Nice-looking dog!