Aaron.

Since this whole mess started I've been working harder on her "touch" command and have added, "watch me". I got my boyfriend to drive us through the park today after we had gone for a long walk and had a good play session and she was tired. When we would go by someone, she would start to stand up so I would hold my hand out and tell her, "touch" to distract her and then tell her to "down". By the end of our 6th circuit of the park she would only pick her head up, touch my shoulder and whine. I've decided that I can deal with that for now but I will still be working with her on this. We are going down to MA to see our breeder this weekend so I'm sure I'll get some more great suggestions. I'll keep you posted.

Good news! (Finally)
I've been doing *alot* of work with Sierra and her issues with people passing us while she's in the car and we are finally having some success. I contacted a behaviourist and on her suggestion, everytime we see a person on the sidewalk ahead, I throw a treat back to Sierra (high value and only used for this exercise). Theory being "I get a great treat when I see a person on the sidewalk."

It's taken awhile but yesterday, we passed a person but because I wasn't paying attention at the time, she nudged me on the shoulder like "hey mom, there's a person, where's my treat?" The next person we passed, I waited to see what she would do and the same thing happened; nudge, nudge, where's my treat?

After a few miles and about 10 more people, she went and laid down in the back of the car. Wow! Never expected that. It may have been the wrong thing to do, but I threw a handful of treats back to her. I was so thrilled I had tears in my eyes.

We still have an issue if the person with a dog passes the car but she doesn't sound like she's going to crash through the window and eat them anymore. I'm confident that we will get this under control soon too especially if she is laying down; she won't be able to see them.

Sorry this post got so long but this has been a very frustrating few months for me and I can now see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Congrats. I'm glad you had such progress.

 Quote: Debbie Martin

It may have been the wrong thing to do, but I threw a handful of treats back to her. I was so thrilled I had tears in my eyes.

GREAT news!!! I don't think it is EVER wrong to reinforce good behavior - so you did perfectly fine in my book. Great job and I'm really glad it is paying off!

fantastic!!!!!
Well done.

 Quote:

It's taken awhile but yesterday, we passed a person but because I wasn't paying attention at the time, she nudged me on the shoulder like "hey mom, there's a person, where's my treat?" The next person we passed, I waited to see what she would do and the same thing happened; nudge, nudge, where's my treat?

After a few miles and about 10 more people, she went and laid down in the back of the car. Wow! Never expected that. It may have been the wrong thing to do, but I threw a handful of treats back to her. I was so thrilled I had tears in my eyes.

Great Job!

Be thankful you don't live in a big city, Sierra could get rather pudgy!

Good Job!!!

I would have thrown a handful of treats to her too!!

**Warning; Full-blown bragging coming up**
Well, my boyfriend and I drove from Toronto down to NY, then MA and then back to TO this past weekend and I was so proud of my girl Sierra. She did not have *one single outburst* the whole trip.
We passed alot of people, and quite a few people passed our car when we were at the rest stops, and there were even a few people with dogs. Not a peep out of her the whole way (although there were a few times she ran to the window). Ok, so we still have a little work to do.

Tammy, We do live in a big city (Toronto) and she was getting a little pudgy but now that it's cooler we'll get weight off easily enough.

Fabulous!!!! Good job, Debbie!