I'll make sure to take notes on Sat.

I've been looking for a trainer since November. Most are just too far, one guy recommended to take Suzie to a dog park and let her loose there "with only a few dogs around". I would love to attend Michael's school, but the only applicable classes are at least a week long. Can't leave this zoo for a week.

Whoever is tethered to me gets to follow me around the house. Maybe make it part of our sessions? Out of the crate - 1-2 turns around the house - obedience - 1-2 rounds - back to the crate? Outside it is just plain pulling, maybe it got a little better...

How much 1-1 work with her would you recommend?

Well, we were going to get a male when we got Suzie instead. Monty had been in the shelter for a month. They usually kill the dogs after that time. It was a shame to leave him there. There was a majestic blue pitbull there, some GSDs... at least we didn't get that one of those... Managed to get 2 dogs out of that shelter anyway - I called the rescue groups and found a lady who pulled out the guy we liked but couldn't take home. I am sure with professional help and enough effort we could handle 3 dogs, especially if my husband gets more involved. I'd rather do dog training than go to clubs or whatever.

Ana,
Have the real issues started after Monty came into the mix?

We had a setback after a fight back in November 3 days after Monty came in. We forgot to lock his crate, he got out and started playing with Connie, they kind of bumped into Suzie and she put on the show. Connie was in high drive, turned around and smacked her. Very stupid accident. Suzie did not get all the way back to her original state as when we got her, but she does not trust Connie. She is getting better around Connie, I just don't want to screw this up again. Resource guarding/lunging were there from the start.

I decided to upload this clip that shows a very typical situation in our house

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wmh43Z7M_k even though it is not very flattering. At 1:00 mark Suzie starts parading in front of Connie's crate. For several days after the fight the level of aggression was much higher - snapping, barking, lunging. She has been gradually improving. I do hope this will go away eventually because this is about where she was several months after we adopted her and she got better then.

How big is our leadership problem? I managed (almost) not to correct her this time. Monty does not get corrected - he's new - just ignored.

We did informal heeling with markers all the way along our evening walk yesterday with very good results. Suzie actually did better than Connie and stayed focused on me almost all the time.

Ana, are you working on a 'leave it!' command? (ie stop what you are doing right now)

I want to reiterate that I don't have multiple dogs, but I do have a dog and a 7 year old child that require some management to get along nicely.

What I observe in that video is that you allow her to approach the crate and linger there. And I know this was probably for demonstrating the behavior. Have you tried to physically walk between her and the crate and push her back away from it? I mean walk into her firmly so that she's forced to back off. She needs to get the message from you that bullying Connie when she's in the crate isn't acceptable.

If you have been correcting her with a prong collar when she's focused on Connie, she may be associating the pain of the correction with Connie, which is not what you want (obviously). You want her to know that you are making the decisions re who's in charge of the pack.

As an aside, she has very nice focus on you, even with Monty bouncing around.

We need to work on 'leave it'. That's the best we could do right now.

It is difficult to recreate this scenario so I let her go at it for the purpose of demonstration. I'll try walking into her the next time she does it, it might send a stronger message to everybody.

I corrected her with a prong a couple of times back in December after watching the Aggressive DVD. It did not feel good. I only use prong for pulling and trying to phase it out now. The problem is that whenever Suzie pulls too hard with a flat collar she chokes and gags. Could be some damage from before I got her. It almost never happens with the prong.

I would be surprised if she didn't, the treats are K9 Magic + cheese and she hasn't eaten yet.

Hi Ana,

I know this isn't specifically an answer to your questions, but (and I think this may have been suggested earlier) you should consider covering the dog's crates, or at least putting a visual barrier in between them. If Connie and Suzie are not comfortable around each other (regardless of whether this is a phase or a forever situation), it can't be helping the general anxiety level to have them crated in such a way that they could actually touch each other through the wire of their crates - they deserve actual privacy from one another in order to feel safe and calm when they're crated. Once you combine that with better leadership on your part (eliminating even the possibility of one bullying the other from outside the crates), and a groundwork of simple obedience (leave-it, watch me, down stay, etc), you may find that all the dogs are less on-edge around each other.

Like Lynn, I agree about Suzie's focus on you - she clearly has a desire to please, use it to your advantage!

~Natalya

Big dittos from me.

Even a large piece of cardboard slid between the crates. I still do think that's an anxiety-triggering setup as it is.

And what Lynne says -- great suggestion. Handler between her and the other crate, and a "no" along with a knee firmly directing her before she ever gets into any kind of focus mode.

Cardboard! Why didn't I think of that!!! There might be some in the garage. Thanks!

Edited by Ana Kozlowsky (01/27/2010 04:03 PM)
Edit reason: grammar

We went to see the trainer yesterday. His approach is to have several commands that are not negotiable and 'down' command is the most important one - it puts the dog in a submissive position and reinforces the handler's dominance.

This is the trainer's evaluation of our dogs:

Suzie shows dominance, aggression and fear and has to be corrected for aggression, for example, when she is trying to bully Connie it is appropriate to step between them and push Suzie away. She is not an extremely fearful dog and will get over the corrections if we are fair. We need to comminucate better with her - make it very black and white. She is very stubborn and we need to work on her 'down' and 'leave it'. Her nerves are not bad at all - not great, but definitely not a nerve bag.

Connie is a typical Border Collie - very excitable and smart. Lightest pop on the leash or simply a verbal 'no' is correction enough for this type of dog. She did a perfect 'down' and was amazing.

Monty is going to be stubborn, probably because of Husky/Cattledog mix and has a good temperament.

The trainer said our pack structure is not too bad and if we do a good job it is very likely that Connie and Suzie will be able to leave in peace. What we need is better communication and training with distractions. The next session is scheduled for next Saturday.