teagan is settling in well, and she and luc are doing well "together" (tails wagging and some sniffing if they pass in the hallway (teagan heavily controlled while doing so), otherwise they are totally separate).

she completely ignores the cats, which i'm pleased with, but i'm still following ed's advice and using the crate.

i've noticed, unlike luc, who seems to not notice little animals (or big ones....once he and i startled a deer on a backpacking trip, he didn't even see it....there was an interesting blade of grass ), teagan definitely notices them. on our run last night (and i run the dogs on a no-pull harness rather than a prong) when she saw a squirrel, she sped up and lowered down a bit into a stalk mode. she did the same thing a couple of times when she sighted small dogs ahead (but not for every small dog). we actually had some people with a jack russell puppy unleashed who we went out of our way to avoid (into the road) and it ran out after us. i got in between but teagan went for it (and as i've said, she's strong as an ox) she didn't get near it, but she did try.

she is wagging her tail, so people say 'oh, she wants to play' but she has an intensity about her that makes me wonder this. i've watched videos of SchH bitework where the dogs are wagging their tails so i don't want to assume that tailwagging=friendly play.

she's fine inside, though i am heavily controlling her access and she's crated.

but questions for outside (assuming i'm not being unfair about her small dog intentions) - i'm doing the following:

-not allowing her near small dogs or other small animals
-obedience training her (i have a feeling her decent heel is just natural, as she doesn't know other basic commands like sit)
-groundwork/NILIF

i'm thinking it might make sense if i correct her if she goes into stalk mode (or hopefully, as she's going into it)? just to say, 'not yours'. i don't think she's bad for having this reaction but want to make sure she knows she has to defer to me, including when she displays that specific behaviour. does that make sense?

Absolutely makes sense. The sooner you can catch the behavior as it starts, the better. Don't let her fixate. A casual look is one thing and is normal, fixating is another thing and needs to be corrected.

thanks!

on another board, there was a discussion about leash-reactive dogs and how you shouldn't correct them when they got upset/aggressive towards another dog entering their space (negative associations) but should use positive reinforcement instead.

but that's more of a defensive aggression than a 'i'd like to get you' behaviour that teagan seems to be displaying, or so it seems to me. i figured i should treat that behaviour the same way you're supposed to when integrating dogs and cats, i.e. correct.

Ditto on what Sandy said. My dog has an intense prey drive while out on walks and if he sees critters (not dogs or cats, but small wild furries) he WILL go for them without thinking. He wears a prong so he is both controllable (he's 95lbs) AND so I can correct with a "leave it". The prong helped immensely to teach the leave it with rodents - even though he knows "leave it" SOLIDLY when it comes to ANYTHING else (like food on the ground), the prey drive is stronger than comprehension and we needed to up the ante with our training.

I know you're working great OB too, but remember you can work on "watch me" too - it'll help refocus her...

Is there a reason you don't want to run her with the prong on? The more chances she has to drag you around, the slower the learning process will be... (but you already knew that )

~Natalya

i get what you're saying about the prong, i've started her on that and while she still tries to pull to investigate, it's night and day in terms of control.

i've worried that running with the prong might result in unfair pulling/jerking. though, i really was debating it and may try it. i thought doing the runs w/teagan would be junk runs b/c she's big, and not in same kind of shape as luc - but our 5ks? she starts off a bit slow but after that - i'm getting in GOOD tempo runs, better than what i can do on my own, she MOVES it, and she does continually try to cross me and go to my right, the best way to stop that is to be running right at her head to block her off. she's in far better shape for a dog of her size than i expected, which makes me wonder how much of it is flab vs. muscle.

i think i'll test the prong on runs though, not only b/c of the control, but so i can correct her when she does go into her stalk/prey drive mode.

 Quote: jennifer mullen

i get what you're saying about the prong, i've started her on that and while she still tries to pull to investigate, it's night and day in terms of control.

i've worried that running with the prong might result in unfair pulling/jerking. though, i really was debating it and may try it.

If the dog heels well (as you say she does) and you can easily establish and keep a good rythm together, I don't see why you couldn't avoid unfair pulling... When I run with Oscar the lead is never taut unless I'm guiding him around obstacles, so he hardly feels me around his neck (unless he lunges for something, in which case, he pretty much corrects himself!). I've also learned to run with at least one very steady hand (just like when riding horses). I would think that you'd only encounter issues if you were constantly reining her in from wandering, but she sounds pretty good. The crossing in front of you (or behind) I've been able to correct with just a gentle pull AWAY from your body with the lead...

 Quote: jennifer mullen

i thought doing the runs w/teagan would be junk runs b/c she's big, and not in same kind of shape as luc - but our 5ks? she starts off a bit slow but after that - i'm getting in GOOD tempo runs, better than what i can do on my own, she MOVES it, and she does continually try to cross me and go to my right, the best way to stop that is to be running right at her head to block her off. she's in far better shape for a dog of her size than i expected, which makes me wonder how much of it is flab vs. muscle.

That's great! I can't say as that my dog raises the pace ever on me (he's pretty casual when we're just going up and down the sidewalks) but I can imagine what fun it is to have such a challenging (speed wise) running partner.

I'm so glad Teagan is working out for you. I've struggled with the same "should I, shouldn't I" get a dog questions, and I still haven't settled on what would be best in our particular situation... but I know SOME day I'll get another - I only hope I can make it work as well as you seem to be doing!

Cheers,
~Natalya

well, it's early days yet, but hopefully things continue to work out and go as well as they are....luc still growls when teagan comes in from a walk, but otherwise they're quite peaceful.

i ran her on the prong tonight and it was WAY better. a nice controlled run, rhythm was pretty good. i'm not sure i'd categorize my correction to move her from crossing my body as a gentle pull but she did great on the prong. she was even better with the small dogs she saw, i distracted her quickly, and there was only a few we saw tonight.

i will say though - she doesn't like the prong when i first put it on. i'm working on groundwork and pack stuff and she's a lot more determined in this regard than luc ever has been. tonight when we went out the door for our run and i was getting her in place she reared up (did that yesterday too when i walked her with the prong) and pawed at my shoulder! err... i corrected her for that. she's got spunk, i'll give her that. i don't know, it's probably bad, but secretly i'm pleased she does have that determination. she's not going to be allowed to be rearing up and pawing at me, don't get me wrong, but - i think i respect her more b/c of it.

oh, and she decided on our walk this evening that she DID REMEMBER that she knew the sit command, which was great. she apparently doesn't yet remember the down command (i suspect she does know it if she knows sit), but we'll work on that, as well as heeling. since she can't wander off to check things out as easily on the prong, she started the delightful habit of diving down long and surfacing up sharply. so we need to work on not doing that. i'm not going to have a tonne of time tomorrow as i'm going to the shiva for my friend's dead babies, but we'll get it.