I transferred a couple of the vids to my iPhone . . . works for me. Now I've gotta get back to watching them - again.

That was ingenious.

I've seen a couple of folks watching them on iPads too, but the iPhone is even more "always with you."

Connie, I wish I could just take your experience and knowledge and put THOSE on my iPhone! :-)

I don't know how ingenious it is but since you generally don't need a great deal of detail to watch these vids it works pretty well!

George, total thread hijack? Or did something happen?

To the OP, it seems like a " the way we live with the dogs" problem. It absolutley sounds by your description that they can easily co-exist, you just have to put in the time. I have a pack of dogs. I can tell the people that don't by their posts, lol.

Growling happens, puppy corrections happen, it's NOT perfect from the get go, YOU have to show them how you want to live, it's training! and time consuming at first. Watch and see what the triggers are and see which dog is causing the fuss. I'll go to whatever degree of correction that's needed for the dog causing the problem. They all live easy lives because there's ZERO confusion on how it works here. They eat good, they go to work with me, I train them , I teach them house manners, I exercise them etc.

All I ask in exchange is NO fighting or nuisence barking. They understand what I'm asking so you need to do whatever you need to do to help the dog understand. If you had no problem for 2 yrs it's probably a rank thing with the younger dog, not definite but probable.

Without seeing the behaviour first hand, ANY internet advice is subject to be the wrong advice.

I actually met a RT, really nice female, nice temperament,social, mid level drive and of course no training, the owners didn't seem to care that they had a maniac dog but it was hilarious to watch the dog taking them for a walk in a busy store.

Al and Tiffany - Sorry. I didn't know that topics were owned by the person who started it. Is there a way to delete my posts?

Okay, so now that I have addressed the few issues that have been commented on, what is next?

What should I do in the event we come across another dog on our walk? What is the appropriate correction or action on my part? I always look straight ahead and attempt to walk briskly past the other dog, but she will completely focus on the other dog and try to lunge toward them - despite my giving her the "leave it" command (before she gets too focused) and trying to direct her attention to me before she notices the other dog. Fortunately, where I live we very rarely come across other dogs during our walks, but it does happen sometimes - and of course, sometimes I visit family (far away in more developed areas) and as the human population increases, so does the dog population...

Any more suggestions? I know I need to reinforce basic obedience at home with no distractions, but there will probably be a few rare instances in between now and when she is ob-solid and ready for distractions and I would like to know what I should be doing in those situations.

Thank you everybody for all the help so far!

 Quote: George Tate

Al and Tiffany - Sorry. I didn't know that topics were owned by the person who started it.

Yes, you hijacked another person's thread. My bad for not noticing (because your post started at the top of a page; it looked like a new thread).

You can start another thread and just link back to this one as background.

 Quote: tiffany aiche

Okay, so now that I have addressed the few issues that have been commented on, what is next?

What should I do in the event we come across another dog on our walk? What is the appropriate correction or action on my part? I always look straight ahead and attempt to walk briskly past the other dog, but she will completely focus on the other dog and try to lunge toward them - despite my giving her the "leave it" command (before she gets too focused) and trying to direct her attention to me before she notices the other dog. Fortunately, where I live we very rarely come across other dogs during our walks, but it does happen sometimes - and of course, sometimes I visit family (far away in more developed areas) and as the human population increases, so does the dog population...

Any more suggestions? I know I need to reinforce basic obedience at home with no distractions, but there will probably be a few rare instances in between now and when she is ob-solid and ready for distractions and I would like to know what I should be doing in those situations.

Thank you everybody for all the help so far!

Have you read any of the desensitizing threads here? This doesn't sound like humongous reactivity, but the protocol is the same.

Let me know if you need me to hunt up a few. Use desensitize and (separately) desensitizing as your search words.

Also, work on focus away from that distraction; get each dog's focus on you bulletproof without distraction so you can gradually introduce the distraction(s).

Just want to add that structured exercise, a load of time spent with you (standing tall and being the pack leader), and lots of short but frequent basic ob sessions are going to change the way the dogs see and react to you.

I would go back and re-read page 1; make sure you really internalize the missteps (everyone has a past filled with them) before now. Then I'd start my one-on-one ob and focus work with each dog. This is going to get you to the point where you are able to be what Al is to his pack. I think you're not there, and that you have to separate these dogs and do everything else suggested on page 1, but you can do it. I'd grab a notebook and start a training and exercise log. That sense of accomplishment is matched only by the increasing peace and lack of anxiety in the home.

Did we ask you about marker training? Are you familiar with it?

Thanks again for the fast response, Connie. Although, I am not seeing a great deal of anxiety at home between the two dogs. As I said, the scuffles have been over food or toys, but I never leave toys out, I play with them one at a time, and at the suggestion of members here I now separate them at feeding times.

I have taken to heart all of the advice given thus far. (Believe me, I do keep referring back to page 1) I know that I need to work with both dogs on basic obedience until they are solid. I love keeping notes, but I am unsure of what to log into the training/exercise book. What sort of information do you track in yours? Something like: date, length of session, commands worked on, progress notes...those sorts of things?

You did mention marker training previously, and while I am familiar with it I don't have any first hand experience in training. However, the marker training ebook is next on my list to read.

I do realise that I need to solidify the basic ob without distractions, as I mentioned, but my primary concern is what to do when I face an unavoidable situation of meeting another dog during a walk. Do I correct her? If so, in what way? Dominant dog collar? Regular collar sharp correction? Electric collar? I don't foresee this being a recurring or even frequent problem, but this past weekend I was in a situation I wasn't sure how to handle. (I was visiting my father in the city for the weekend, and we passed a dog in the very early morning -actually didn't expect to see anybody else so early, but...- and I tried to walk the dogs past in quickstep, but I wound up having to drag them past.) As I say, at home this is not really an issue, but should I visit my dad or grandparents it is more probable that I will meet other dogs on our walks. So this is what I was hoping to get some further advice on. (Obviously, it would be ideal that they don't meet any strange dogs until ob is solidified, but in the cities it is, well, unavoidable in most cases.)