Hello! I'm new!

[TandOka]

Hi I'm Tasha and i have a 19m old GSDxNorthern Inuit girly called Oka. We live in the UK.

I found NDT after searching for "how to control your dog off lead" amusingly finding an article with almost the exact same title written by Neil. I read this and several other articles and thought "wow, really? these people are crazy" but saved the page and forgot about it.

I've been clicker training Oka since we got her at 8 weeks, she is smart - too smart - and learns very fast, except, it seems, recall She loves trick training and is extremely attentive when doing this.

BUT this all falls apart out of the house. Dogs and wildlife hold 1000 times more interest than me. Oka loves to play with other dogs, but also she has this thing about going and "submitting" to them - laying on her belly, baring her belly, also licking thier teeth continuously....if she is told off by the dog she will back off circle round and do it over again, and again ...

She is a strong dog, weighing in at 1/2 of me, and after i was dragged down the road but my 8m old dog i sought a +ve trainer to help....It was suggested i use tug as a distraction....which worked....twice!! She clued in that the toy=a dog and so i lost her even more. Incidents including running across a road, jumping up at people (as they pick thier little dog up) have left me feeling miserable, embarrassed and feeling unimportant to this dog i waited over a year for.

I perserved for months and really got no where. I found Susan Garrett - and through some of her ideas (5 minutes tug a day - let the dog win!! (what?! really?)) i started to see flashes of what my dog could be like but it never stuck around.

So a week ago i again found the article i had orginally read and then read almost the whole of Neils site . I thought "what harm can it do?" Oka has not been off-lead in 7 months, things can't really go down hill!

Monday night i started pushing, by Thursday evening i was getting pushes with 2 paws off the ground! Oka is really into this , I took a tug out on a walk and tugged after we saw a dog and she was so much calmer despite the fact she could have turned round to see it.

This morning after our Foster Dog got excited about the postman Oka came and leant against me and stood whilst i massaged her... i can't say "its working!" but i get a little bit of hope that maybe this is the right way for her.

(pre off-lead ban, click to embiggen)

Hope to bounce idea's off of you all!

[Sang]

Welcome aboard! If you stick with it, NDT is going to change the relationship between you and Oka forever. Believe me.

Definitely don't be shy about throwing questions out there. We're all here to help each other, so no question is too small.

Again, welcome to NDT and the group. But most importantly, welcome to a new Oka.

[TandOka]

Originally Posted by Sang

Welcome aboard! If you stick with it, NDT is going to change the relationship between you and Oka forever. Believe me.

Definitely don't be shy about throwing questions out there. We're all here to help each other, so no question is too small.

Again, welcome to NDT and the group. But most importantly, welcome to a new Oka.

Hi Sang, and thankyou!

It's been another week (making 2 total) and Oka is charging to me for a push, and still pushing whilst i go backwards....i'm assuming this is good progress.

I become more confident with it as i go on, tonight Oka slept touching our foster dog for 30 minutes, then even more amazing; with her head on me for 45minutes.

I think this girl has been trying to show me NDT for a while, when she gets crazed by other dogs she will jump up at me, blissing out when i groom her....lots of little things.
i've noticed her doing things with our foster (who has his own set of issues) which interest me. it's like a reasonably balanced dog teaching the unbalanced one how to find a level plain.

I've been a clicker trainer since i got her (except the past 2 weeks) and i have read that many NDTers don't swing with clicker training. Oka is not so into the tricks, but she LOVES service dog tasks, closing doors, helping with washing, and recently sound alerts (which she has since communicated on her own accord, despite not finishing the training). Now do service dog tasks, create a parody of the 'group mind' ; socials being completing a task for the good of the unit ?