i guess the positive is, she missed, and if she'd really been trying i'm sure she would've connected.

we've been doing so much better w/leadership and her listening to me too! i wouldn't let her in the vestibule (i was leaving the house w/a friend) and she went for me when i tried to take her out of the vestibule. then she stopped, glared at me - i glared at her - when we broke our glaring i took her by the collar and removed her. so she did calm down enough to do that. i'm going to keep her dragging a line at all times in the house, i'd stopped that, but will go back to it.

we've got the e-collar, but i'm just having her wear it to get used to it now. the trainer who helped us before is happy to hear i've gotten an e-collar for her.

overall, she's been doing well at the new house. she is having increased issues w/territoriality, which i think i've mentioned, but i'm working at redirecting her and that's going pretty well (though when another dog walks by....hooo boy). last night while i was shovelling i had her out front on a long lead - she behaved pretty well. anyone who went past, she'd move forward and watch, but she wasn't growling or anything. a few people walked along the sidewalk, so i went and stood with her, the people who went along the road she moved towards them and watched, and had pretty forward body language, but she's showing improvement in the no growling etc. i worked w/her while i shovelled as well.

we did have a dog incident earlier this week....actually, maybe late last week. i had the dogs out in the side yard (i'm not using the backyard until it has been thoroughly disinfected) to go the washroom after i got home from work, when one of the neighbourhood dogs came running at us, off-leash (obvs.). it wasn't being aggressive, so i didn't take it out, i just said no and blocked it. luc immediately went to sit behind me, and sat there totally happy and unconcerned. teagan tried to attack it, and then when she couldn't (i had a good hold w/the traffic lead) started snarling. the dog then moved forward (but didn't actually try to connect) and gave what i can only describe as an 'oh YEAH?' to teagan, who got even madder. the owner was running along from up the road, yelling 'my dog is friendly', so i yelled back 'yeah, my female isn't!' and then he screamed COME! and the dog left while teagan struggled to get it. i did the no! and corrected/blocked her, and since i haven't finished trimming all her nails, she managed to scratch through my pants quite a large scratch which bled copiously. obvs. she wasn't trying to though. i didn't realize i was bleeding until luc started licking my pants....ewww....don't lick my blood! teagan did calm down shortly after being taken inside.

wow, what an exciting week you must be having!

weirdly, the thing that bugged me the most was luc licking at my blood. when i was calming teagan down inside, he kept following me around trying to lick my pants until i told him to sit.
....if i ever die in my sleep, i'm totally going to be partially eaten when i'm found (though, on the bright side, at least luc won't be hungry....hehheh).

Yeah well we wouldn't want the dogs to go hungry now would we Jennifer!
Maaaannn, Tegan is nver going to give it up is she. She's a good dog. I know sometimes you just want to relax, kick back and let things run at status quo, but dogs like Tegan will let you know when your slacking off on the job.
She'll always probably be challenging the rank order of things. As you, say not seriously but just pushing the envelope to see if that top slot is in question. And for my money those kind of dogs are the best, good dog Tegan (psst, don't tell her I said so).
What I really wanted to say in all this gibberish is that I think your doing a grand job with Tagen and that if moral support is worth anything, myself, and if I my speak for others, all of us are here for you.

I stand and applause this and your continued success.
Randy

well, keeping the dogs well fed is my number one priority....

you're absolutely right. 'alpha wanna-be' and 'testy, status-seeking dog' describe her so well. and, to keep looking on the bright side, my reflexes are WAY faster than when i first got her!

thanks for the kind words! i've said it before, but hey - at least she's not boring. i have a feeling having someone else there changed the dynamic a bit as well.


ps....well, i might mention to teagan i'm not the only one who thinks she's a pretty good dog....but i'll have to make sure it doesn't go to her head. hee.

Never fear, I dont think Luc was tasting you, probably just cleaning...you know they like everything kept tidy and "sanitized" :wink:

thinking of it as an altruistic act on luc's part (helping me clean up) is so much better than the alternative! LOL.

....the thing that really sucks is, i have a couple of races where i'll either be running for a long time (possibly 30 hours) and one where i'll be away - the dogs have to have someone else look after them. my brother has said if i do the race in alberta (i'll go out there the week before to do some altitude adjustment), he'll look after the dogs (my mother is going to be doing some basecamp hiking in the rockies starting two days after the race, so she'd probably just come out a bit early and crew for me), but everytime teagan gets testy....i mean, he's willing, but - it makes it harder. i know my mother loves teagan, but even - she was joking when she retires she'll take luc hiking, but not teagan. like i said, she loves her, and she's walked her when i was with her, but she doesn't want to handle her if i'm not there....i initially wanted to take the dogs to alberta with me, but my mother refused to handle them (b/c of teagan, mostly) during the race (24 hours). and i don't want to have them be dog sat in a facility....either of them. we'll figure it out i guess.

Well Luc is trying to clean your wound. That behavior is very normal in dogs. I've seen dogs clean other dogs' ear. It seems like she wants to be the beta if she could be the alpha.

"if she could NOT be the alpha."
I was correcting my mistake.

oh good....i'll stop looking at luc so suspiciously then

i think she makes a good beta....luc certainly isn't going to challenge her for it!

i got her a kong ball last night (she's amazingly hard on toys) and she was really excited by it. we played with it the whole night pretty well, except she growled at me once when i went to pick it up, so there was a time out period. it's MY ball and i only play with her with it if she shows manners....she was very polite for the rest of the night whenever i picked it up....she loves balls, anything for me not to take it away.

ughh, and i didn't mention, but the first vet visit, where the vet was kinda weird and backed away as soon as teagan entered the room, and was obviously uncomfortable with her, she said teagan has a stain on one of her lower canines. the vet has since been good w/teagan w/her HD, but i don't know why i never FELT the tooth before - i did last weekend. it's not a stain, she's missing tooth there - apparently it's something called a carie. it's not horrible, so i'm not running in, but i'm cleaning it regularly and when we do her teeth i will see if it can be filled or if the tooth should be pulled. i feel weird everytime i tug with her though.