My love for animals, especially for dogs and horses make me use an open mind and to have the desire to learn. With that kind of passion anyone will and can go further than any expectations they had at the start of a relationship with an animal. It is a 2 way street, man and animal have to dispose of will, trust and love towards each other to make any kind of relationship work.

I always welcomed and enjoyed a good challenge. Ziva fall in my biggest ones. I think Ziva being a living creature oblige me to have affinity with her in order to fill the gaps that were wrongly diagnosed at the biggining. As a skater I had to self-evaluate my mental approach to training if I wanted to get out of the rut I was presently in so I could progress....this way of thinking made me such that now I very seldom think that it is impossible to reach any realistic goal. I once thaught skating to a legaly blind 6 y.o. little girls, Sarah MacDonald....No coaches wanted her. Of course she was no competitive material....but her desire of wanting to skate was a magnet to me. I remember Sarah starting by following the rink board, then counting the strokes, then one day her first 1/2 rotation jump came....I cried from joy to see her face light up like never I seen it on any child. That 1/2 rotated jump was more rewarding than any double axel and triple jump I successfully tought in my career.

This being said, I will repeat myself here, I could not have done any of these progresses and give Ziva the chance to show her true self if I would have tackel this challenge alone. All the desire and determination in the world would not have sufficed to make it work.....Ant the journey is not fisnished...lots of work and learning is laying ahead but now I have the strengh and love for Ziva that will contribute to stick to my dreams. And new ones will take birth in my mind and heart and Ziva and I we probably never feel satisfied with having accomplished only one lol.

I do not know what to say about what David and Willie wrote about me except that I am more than happy to make them proud and not regreting to have what started with a landing a hand to a weekly team work and investment that developped into a friendship.

We are all dog lovers on this webboard. I am sure all of you, at one time in your life with one dog, have come accross challenges and learned from your mistakes and due to aknowledgement of your mistakes gave you the thirst to learn and become the either dog handlers or trainers that you are today. God bless you for sharing your knowledge with me.

My flaws of the weekend were that I did not work the heeling commands in the hallway, did not play tug 4 times a day but only 2.....But on the other hand Ziva was handled by my husband more often than me as he wants to get involved more in her upbringing....I think he sees that Ziva and I have a SPECIAL relationship and that he wants a piece of the cake.....I am willing to share lol.

On a technical note: I am not sure that my technique using the DD is accurate....that is something I must talk with Willie on our next meeting. I use it in a kind of slow manner going upward directly above the dog's head....by adding pressor slowly I take the air out slowly as well....My reasonning on this is it gives the time to Ziva to rethink her behavior and chose to act correctly....that way she is concentrating on the lack of air and the drive goes down.....Am I correct here?

It is 8:30, I played tug already with Ziva for she was full to the brim with drive and digging out the irises....now it is time to feed her and go for our first 4km migrating.

Enjoy your day and I will be back to read any suggestions on how to use the DD.

Cheers

Thanks Carol....with Photobucket it worked....here Ziva 2 months ago at 6 months of age.

She's beautiful!

yup Bob, she's a beauty...I keep telling her that it won't change a thing though lol

 Quote: David Winners

I was initially concerned, as we all were, for the safety of Solange in handling Ziva. This changed with our first video chat. Ziva is just a spoiled brat with a hard head and a tendency to use her mouth. She is not an aggressive dog. She is not a nutter. One of the first things Solange did during that first chat was straddle Ziva, with no response from the dog. Soon after that, Ziva came over and mouthed Solange's arm. She was playing, albeit in an unacceptable way, but it was play. It was apparent she was not a fire breathing dragon. On a scale of 1 to Logan, she's about a 5. She does challenge Solange, and put on a display at times, but for now, I believe Ziva to be in very capable hands.

Ziva just has bad manners and a stubborn streak. She is also very smart, and independent. It will take some time, and I'm sure she will continue to test Solange over the next year, but I am confident Ziva will be a well mannered member of the family in short order.

P.S. as far as the alpha roll, I would strongly advise against it unless you just have no alternative. I try to avoid a fight at all costs, but if a dog repeatedly brings a fight to me despite my best efforts, I'm giving it back. Seriously JMHO.

I'm having trouble with the system today -- Been trying to thank David Winners for his very informative post & congratulate Solange once again ... Sometimes one Serious Message to a recalcitrant beastie will get The Point across, after 100 minor corrections have failed to register

David had send me links on marker training to share with Remi who has no back ground with marker training and seems curious and interested about the subject. In an email to David I was telling him an episode that took place yesterday and how marker training foundation became handy and helped to control our dog in a situation where all stimuli seem to hit at once lol.

Yesterday we took Ziva to the lake where there is a wakeboarding activity on one side of the lake....it is on a cable that is operated at a distance by a guy and it goes back and forth. The wakeboard cable is electric so you can imagine that it makes a high pitch sound and attached to that, there is a person going full speed on the water. Bang on high level distraction.

Anyway....we had Ziva on a 6 feet line attached to the trunk of a small tree and the line was attached to a 4 meters leash on her flat collar.....

I turned my head for a sec to answer a question that my step-son was asking....she went full speed running for this wakeboarder and once came at the end of the leash, the leash snapped.....she ran till she got to her goal...which was the starting dock lol.....by the time I got half way there she was running back following the guy on the water on his return......We cought her and leashed her again....she got pretty excited...every time she would bark and get agitated I would say "no talk" (I am working on that with the barking at home)....as soon she would shut it up I would mark it and reward it....it took about 15 marks for her to sit then lay down and only follow the movement with her head not wanting to run after it nor barking.....then later on, after about 20 min of this kind of activity and movement she did not pay attention to it.

I wish Remi would have seen this, I think it would definitely grasp his attention to see a dog going coocoo to the point to snapp the leash and run like mad to a 5 min later laying down to the same stimulus.

Yesterday was all experiment for us and new experiences for Ziva, the water, the boats, the wakeboard, the people laying like sardines on the beach, children at play in the water.....enough for her not wanting to napp but it turned out pretty good....we have to repeat these kind of outings so she can managed it better each time.

Cheers

" ... high level distraction. .... we had Ziva on a 6 feet line attached to the trunk of a small tree and the line was attached to a 4 meters leash on her flat collar..... I turned my head for a sec to answer a question that my step-son was asking....she went full speed running for this wakeboarder and once came at the end of the leash, the leash snapped .... "



This did turn out pretty good, and I'm very glad for you.

But my heart started pounding when I read this. Not because something terrible happened (it did not), but because it so could have .... because of management in public.

Proofing is done much more gradually than this, especially with a powerful dog like this.

PLEASE don't tie out this dog in a public place (or, in fact, use a line that can snap).

You are doing great, Solange, and nothing can take that away, and I don't want to. I just want to say that this dog (like every dog who is unproofed in public) needs to be proofed starting at a very safe distance (where all stimuli are not coming at the dog at once), on a regular 6-foot lead, not a 15 or 18 foot line, with the handler and not a tree at the other end.

Please believe that I am saying this with the utmost respect and good intentions. As I said, you are doing a great job. But management is Job One.

I'd say the same thing even if this had been a dog without this history.

Yes Connie....I agree....I am learning as we go along as well. I had put her crate by the tree and my towel by her as well....Solange and Ziva in the shade and the boys a little further in the sun.....I did not think that it would have gone to that extreme in a second flat. As we walked from the car to the area we chose to stay (a bit further than the crowd) she was curious about the environement but not acting up....I mean she was not jumping or pulling on the leash. I think that if I would have had the line in hand that would not have happened as I would have been able to react as soon as she would have given me signs of high drive and having so long of line/leash was asking for trouble.......It was definitely badly managed by our part. Thank goodness, having me sitting by her side she settled laying next to me and all was fine.

A young family came and took place beside us....she could have reached them if she would have wanted to.... she looked at them and only payed attention to them when they came and ask questions about her. She then tried to jump....(boy that is the hardest thing for her not to do, jumping on people), I told her down, she rolled on her back enjoying a belly scratch from them.


That put a side, having a good foundation on marker training made this situation resolved in to time.

Yesterday I was invited by the French military dog handlers to view the training of one of their new dog, a Dutch Sheapherd of 2 years, on tracking. How they start by getting the drive up in the dog teasing him with the bumper in a playfull way but not having the dog getting it. Then they would drag the bumper in a straight line and having the dog following it its nose down and then let him have it as a reward. Then dragging the bumper while the dog is sitting its back to the track with his handler and then having him follow the track.....then instead of dragging the bumper having it touch the ground in spots (in a straight line) so the sent is not there the entire line while the dog has its back to the tracker. Each time the bumper is left at the end of the line and the dog has it as its reward.

Ziva liking to have her nose down on our walk.....This weekend my husband and I will try that. I am curious to see how concentrated she will be with the exercice.

On pack behavior Ziva is doing great. Having people over 24/7 is defenitely a change in her routine and she enjoys it.....attention, communication, play, and spending longer hours in the garden in late evenings.

With the dog next door she still react to it but stop barking to look at us coming toward her and even sometime meeting us half way in the garden and following us willingly back to the house. She gets mark for that and given a load of 2 to 3 treats with a party. So far so good.

From the other side of the street from dogs barking in their yard, she sits now not reacting neither pulling on the leash to get at them. She get praise loaded with 2 treats for that as well. The other dogs are getting better as well from her being calm. One owner (the one from the Welsh terrier female) that was the more reactive to Ziva passing by told me yesterday that I am training her dog while training mine. I don't mind doing the work but the results would be faster and more positive if she would participate.....but hey I don't have the desire to educate every dog owners in the village lol.

Ziva shows desire wanting meeting leashed dogs on our walk with a bow or a full lay down in a playfull manner. But it is not all dog owner, especially when their dog weigh less than 10lbs, that want to have them interact. They all see her so HUGE and of course a huge puppy is not as cute for some then a small puppy. But I am please with some of the results.....now I am working to have her sit before having the ok from the other person to have the dog meet. Of course I chose the prospect and make sure I ask how their dog behave with other dogs and I can see from the dog's body language and face what are their intentions. So far we have met only very small breeds.

Ziva still likes to dig. I left her one hole. But her reaction to me coming over to her hole is no longer this high pray drive dog wanting to eat my feet but a dog that bows and wants to play. She caps her drive so much better now that we play tug on a regular basis and that she has started obedience. And I also believe that since that her rank in the pack has been established in a very clear way 2 weeks ago, she is happy complying to our demands and that has contributed to a different behavior as well.

At feeding, I now open the house side door that leeds to the garage side door (there is a distance of 4 meters approximately) She sit or lay down in a stay in the house door way with the line on and the end of the line by the garage door close to me. She stays there the time I fill her dish and aske her to come. She then sit facing me and wait to be told to come in the garage and sit waiting for the "OK" to start eating. With that I am working the stay command and the recall. It is working well.