Hello from Somerset, England

[yecartmannew]

Hello to everyone.

I have been lurking for a little while and feel I should now introduce myself!

My name is Tracey, I have a hubby, 3 teenage kids, 2 grown up Step Kids and a 1 year old Step Granddaughter.

The other members of the family are Bambi, a 14 year old terrier mix. She is a very laid back, well behaved little lady who once we got over the puppy stage of chewing up anything she could get her teeth on (she destroyed my house!) has never given us any trouble (behaviour wise). The only thing to watch out for with her is if you don't want her to get wet, don't walk her near water! She adores swimming in everything from the sea to the dirtiest stinkiest stagnant pond she can find. We also have Gizmo, who is a monster in a cute suit! he is an 11 month old hairless Chinese Crested rehomer who we have had for 2 months. He is a fantastic dog, loads of personality, and bordering on Genius, however he is also a hyperactive nervous wreck who 2 months ago was afraid of his own shadow. He hadn't had much socialization apart from with the other family dogs, and few rules. He is very definitely my dog, and won't do a thing anyone else tells him too!

We had a doberman cross who we lost in February at the grand old age of 17, who we had as a rehomer at the age of 2. He to was a nervy dog, but settled to become the most fantastic dog ever. I am drawn to the ones with personality, the bright ones that I can work with. Bambi is a super dog and I love her with all my heart, however she isn't the sharpest tool in the box. She is really hubby and eldest daughters dog, they chose her and although I do everything with her I have never really had the same bond with her as I had with Corby and now and getting with Gizmo. (I know that sounds really bad, but I feel I should be honest!)

I stumbled across NDT in the first few days of Gizmo joining our home as I found out after we got him home that he suffered from seperation anxiety, which I quickly realised was general anxiety about everything. He is now very much better in only a short time. His seperation anxiety has eased considerably although he still hates it when I leave, and his general anxiety is getting better. Cresties do not take well to being re-homed as they tend to be 1 person dogs and 2 months is no time at all, so he is really still settling in generally, but NDT seems to be helping.

I have a few specific issues which I will post in the relevant sections later.

Anyway, sorry for the essay, nice to meet you all, and if you managed to get all the way to the bottom, thanks for listening!

Tracey

[rudy]

Hi Tracey,

Welcome!

I think "opportunity" dogs are The Best kinds They give us the best opportunity to develop a strong and unique bond with them.

I have a particular fondness for dogs who are "all dog"... which is probably why I have ended up with the 2 dogs I have.

Rudy is my shy one. He's a 12 1/2 yo cocker. We call him the delicate genius. I got him at 4 yo and he was an emotional mess - scared of everything all the time. I wish I had known about NDT then... but I did the best I could which looking back wasn't so bad - we spent every available free second outside, I encouraged his prey drive, played a lot of fetch/tug, and used food to encourage social contact with people. He always loved other dogs, so we made some good happy easygoing dog friends for him. That dog is SMART and full of personality which makes him tough and fun. I love him like air.

A little over a year ago I woke up in the night and looked out my backdoor and looking in at me was a Cocker! I thought I'd accidentally left rudy out (yeah right...) but it was Lou! Someone must have dumped him. He is very young and has a really strong work ethic. He is my fear aggressive dog: a year ago he would chase down and catch anything that moved and bite the heck out of it - bikes, cars, kids, adults, strollers, dogs, cats, squirrels... He had this AWFUL shrieking bark, his body weight would shift back toward his hind end and he would crouch a little and then ATTACK. Just hearing human voices would set him off.

I started NDT with him in Feb. WOW! I don't hear much shrieking anymore (much more pleasant big barks), I can recall him off of anything, any trigger. And if new people are quiet and ignore him (no talking, looking or petting) he is quiet and calm (most of the time - he has issues with my mother in law which if I'm honest, I don't mind so I'm part of that problem). He still gets charged from other energized dogs. And front door greetings are still, well, ugly. Imagine 28 pounds of blond cocker body slamming a glass door while making a terrible racket...that will be our Final Frontier. So he isn't fully healed up yet. He is a remarkable dog. A few days ago Lou ran for 18 min w/ me at a heal dragging a leash, in public with some distractions; I can tell him DOWN and he drops to his belly and stays regardless of what I do or where I go. I can tell him to down from about 30ft away now and he'll drop. NDT ROCKS.

I don't do any pushing with Rudy, my older dog, but he is always around when I'm work-playing with Lou and just by observing the NDT Rudy's
touch-shyness has improved. Recently a vet gave rudy an injection in a joint and came out to tell me what an amazingly good dog I had. I said, "You must have me confused, my dog is Rudy the cocker..." The vet said, Yes. Rudy". LOL

NDT is the best.

[yecartmannew]

thanks rudy.

rudy and lou both sound like great dogs.

Gizmo is completely different to any dog i have ever met, and i have been around dogs all my life!

I have always used my own methods with dogs which have never failed me, and always ended up with good results. I have visited friends or family with dogs who have an opportunity and when i have left they have said wow, how did you do that? My nickname at work is Dr Dolittle as I work in the countryside and it is always me who deals with the wildlife from fledgling birds flying in through a window by mistake to deer in the garden.

I am by nature a very calm person, and although I have always been very interested in different methods of dog training, none of them ever were completely right, i always saw holes in the theory which didn't sit right. Therefore i have developed my own style which, by putting my ameteur dog psychology learning to use has evolved into a combination of positive reinforcement, dominance training and i hate to admit a tiny bit of negative reinforcement (house training being a good example - i am ashamed to admit being in the rub their nose in it and put them outside camp. (not for the first stages, but for that tricky stage when they have learned it, have been clean for a period and then revert back to inside accidents).

discovering NDT has been amazing as most of the problems i had with all the other methods are answered by NDT. It's like a lightbulb moment, however I still have questions, mostly because i am not sure i am doing it right. anyway, life is a learning curve, gizmo has settled to a manageable level (however he still has endless opportunities) and we will all get there in the end!

Tracey