Jenny, you have come a long way with this dog!

I just started a different protocol with Chula, who is reactive when she hears specific dogs barking.(this is when she's in our house or in our fenced yard).

What I had been doing when she would go ballistic was call her to me and do a quick marker session. She's very food motivated so it's easy to redirect her like this. The problem was, she really wasn't getting any less reactive to these specific triggers. (It's not all dogs barking that set her off; it's one or two small, yipping dogs that she 'knows' and does not think highly of )

So, yesterday I decided to try something different. She heard the yipping and immediately did her best Cujo impression, and I distracted her momentarily and rewarded for a good 'Watch Me!', then I waited right next to her.

Sure enough, the yipping started again, and before Chula got a bark out, I marked and rewarded for the quiet. I waited again for the yipping, and again, marked and rewarded before she got a chance to bark. I did it a couple of times and she settled down with a marrow bone and did not react the next time the yipping started.

I think if I take this approach it will reduce her reactivity to specific triggers. I'll let you know if it does...

 Quote: lynne barrows

So, yesterday I decided to try something different. She heard the yipping and immediately did her best Cujo impression, and I distracted her momentarily and rewarded for a good 'Watch Me!', then I waited right next to her.

Sure enough, the yipping started again, and before Chula got a bark out, I marked and rewarded for the quiet. I waited again for the yipping, and again, marked and rewarded before she got a chance to bark. I did it a couple of times and she settled down with a marrow bone and did not react the next time the yipping started.

I have been making good progress with "Look at that" and "Watch". And Jethro does understand clicking for Quiet to interrupt a barking fit.

I wasn't doing real corrections in terms of teaching No and I thought maybe my training program was lacking and Jethro might stop reacting altogether if I just gave him the right correction. Well, my research tells me that correcting for reactivity doesn't work with Jethro. We are back to the slow, but accumulative process, of clicks and treats for Leave It, Look at That, Watch, Quiet, and Settle. And a redirect of ob exercises or play with a tug, depending on my energy level and the situation we are in.

I guess I thought I could teach him to stop reacting if he really understood how much I did not want him to react. Didn't work out that way. We are both a lot happier doing it this way, and I just have to maintain what was working, however slowly it seems we are improving from day to day.

Jenny, I just read over this thread again and I think Ana had a really good point in her post.

You post a lot about all the work you do. I'm not getting down on you about it, I admire your commitment to training your dogs. But do you ever take a break and just do something with them that doesn't involve desensitizing and obedience training?

The reason I ask is that I bet you already have a lot more control over Jethro than you think, and he might suprise you. I get the feeling that he may be a little stressed from constant training. Desensitizing is good, don't get me wrong, but it can also be a little confusing to the dog if its done in every situation, every day.

I'm not saying to just throw him into situations that he can't handle, but I bet it might be helpful to find a way to be with him and just do something fun and physical outdoors.

Is there a hiking trail nearby that you guys can just go for a relaxed walk? Or a feild where you can play and be silly without being on a constant lookout? Few commands, no need for "watch me"?

I'm thinking just a fun outing, where you are unlikely to run into any problems would be really good for both of you. Just finding a way to chill out and be together, using the OB that you already have to manage any situations that pop up.

Trust me, I'm speaking from personal experience here. I am the queen of constantly testing my training skills, but I found that when I made a point of having these fun outings my relationship with the dog dramaticaly improved and the trust between us really blossomed.

Its possible. My husband thinks so, too. On our walk this morning I made more time for random hanging out, and we played on the field together.

I think a lot of my training drive is motivated by a past image of Jethro circling and barking at a woman as she held her small white dog in her arms and screamed. Not an incident I want to repeat. Ever. That said, it isn't going to help Jethro if I carry that memory front and centre everywhere we go. He is an awesome dog and gets lots of compliments for how well-behaved he is. We do have fun together, and I will practice being more relaxed and less driven to solve all of our problems for ever and ever TODAY.

Hmm. Another life lesson taught to me by my dog.

Sometimes its easy to slip into micro manage mode when you have had a moment when you are scared by your own dog. I can completely understand that.

I think its better to look at those situations and take them as experience. Nothing really bad happened, right? Everyone involved survived with all their limbs.

Now you know what needed to be managed. This is where the art of dog training comes in. Is this situation one that you can train for or is it a management issue for life? Maybe both. Depends on the dog and the circumstances.

One of my favorite Leerburg forum members is Steve Strom. He has given me some of the most constructive advice out of anyone, and its always so simple!

Here I am, freaking out about some weird new behavior, coming up with a complicated plan of action to deal with the *problem*, and he will post a reply along the lines of "tell her to leave it" or "teach her to lay down".

When I catch my breath, and take a step back, I can see he is completely and totaly right. I follow the simple advice and it immediately gets better.