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Demoting Digit!

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yesterday he bit me bum! but that's a long story and i'm off out now!
 
D-Day + 36

Digit bit me bum! I know, let me start at the beginning but…

He did! He bit me bum!

On Friday I met Jack and his dad in the beer garden of our local. The two boys had their usual introductory spat, then settled down to see who could blag the most crisps from passing punters.

Then the man with the boxer from the day before arrived, let him off, sat down with his friends and COMPLETELY IGNORRED everything that happened from this point on!

Boxer approaches Jack – Jack growls and barks at him. Boxer comes round the table to Dij – ditto.

So, I immediately marched Dij off to the side of the garden, barking all the way (him, not me!) Put him behind me to wait for him to subside.

Boxer follows

(man –Nothing)

So Dij is behind me, snapping and barking at the intruder, when one of his snaps comes a little too close to my ass! Eeeeee-ooooo-ouch!

I ignore this completely, as there is no doubt at all in my mind that this is accidental, and continue trying to calm Digit. With lots of repetition of the phrase ‘good QUIET boy’ when he complies.

Boxer has wandered back to man, who at this point puts him back on his lead!

Jacks dad has gathered up our stuff (dropping my phone in my pint as he does so!) and retreated to the santuary of the inside.

All that remains now for me is for us to get past the boxer.

This takes several attempts, so to avoid repetition just re-read the next 2 sentences around 15 times!

With a firm with me, we set off past the boxer towards the back door, Dij shoots off a volley of barks. Smart about turn back to the edge of the garden, tuck Dij in behind – Good quiet boy.

Whilst explaining to the people around me that, yes I could drag a whippet past the boxer if I wanted to but, no that wouldn’t be teaching him anything and, yes he really does have to learn and, no just because he’s the one barking does not mean this entire incident is my fault and, yes the man with the boxer really shouldn’t just let him off then ignore the resulting fallout and I’m sorry that their peaceful drink is being disrupted but they’ll just have to wait this out like I’m doing!

Eventually Dij got the message and we were able to pass the boxer without comment. Good job I’m not easily embarrassed!

Today - Bum still sore, juries out on whether the phone will be rejoining me in any meaningful way!

Ooooo think I might have done a BIG BAD. Saw Jack at the pub with his Uncle and we was getting on great then this nosy boxer dog came up and we didn’t want him to, so we shouted at him but he wouldn’t go away. And Anty took ME away instead but the boxer still kept coming and his Uncle didn’t do nothing so I was shouting and showing my teeth and how well they click together like this snap snap snap. Then one of the snaps didn’t go snap, it kinda went snummmmff and I think it might have been Anty! (I really really hope she didn’t notice!)
 
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Oh dear !! I can't help it !!! (w00t) :lol: :lol: (w00t) thats real funny ! :lol:
 
D-Day + 47

Bless me father for I have sinned, it has been 11 days since my last confession!

11 days of hard work and perseverance.

Dij has had a real play at reasserting himself as pack leader. The pulling on the lead and barking at other dogs reverted to almost pre-training levels. After taking some advice from the dog school people I stepped up his door control at home, making him walk behind me down corridors and enter/exit rooms 2nd at all times. And he didn’t like it one bit! Even wee’d up my sofa! My new chocolate brown leather sofa of loveliness! Still, at least he’d nailed his colours to the mast – a very transparent play to reassert his dominance.

However, he was a little star at dog school again, so much so that other people are asking me why on earth he’s in this particular class – I keep pointing at Archie the terrier, spinning on the end of his lead and barking at everything and saying ‘coz when he’s not making a liar out of me – he does THAT!'

Dij had his first taste of camping last weekend and absolutely loved it. The first 2 days he was still testing me, pulling on the lead across the beach. Until he realised that I really was going to stop in my tracks every time he did it. Took me a long time to get to where everyone else had set up the windbreak though!

Took him in the sea and he thought I was absolutely crazy – but he started to respond again to me being the one to decide if dogs need barking at or not. He now makes a really funny whiney yodel to let me know that he thinks something dangerous is happening, and that I need to sort it out! Which is definitely an improvement.

It feels like it’s all starting to come together now. Dij is voluntarily hanging back when I move from one room to another, waiting for me to go through first and most of the time out walking I have a dog on a relaxed lead in my hand.

And finally I’m started to see a real difference when we encounter other dogs. Yesterday I met up with her friend and her dog Lucy to do some introductions – and they got on brilliantly. Even when Dij got a little over-personal and Lucy told him off, he didn’t retaliate. Best of all, we were in a really busy park with loads of dogs about. When we sat in the outside café bit, Dij had nothing whatsoever to say about all the other dogs patiently waiting under tables, not even when they walked out within 3 feet of his nose! Then later there was a real watershed moment. We’d walked up the river valley away from the busy bits and Dij and Lucy were happily running round together. I rounded a bend, and there was Dij, nose to nose with a lab-boy on its lead – tails wagging having a friendly ‘ay up’! This is exactly the sort of situation that usually gives rise to problems:

Boy-dog? Check!

On lead? Check!

Coming across unexpectedly? Check!

Best not get too cocky – we got dog school tonight!

Wooo-hooo! Anty’s got her own kennel! It’s really really big but it packs up into a really tiny bag and I’m sooo good at helping her put it away! And she lets me sleep in it too – brilliant!

And there was sand and running round in big mad circles and I was a racing driver and Anty was the chequered flag lady and I zoomed around vvvvrreeeeeeeou! And we played fingo flango then – Anty! Waddaya doin? Look, the sand is nice and warm and dry and the sea is….well, NOT! Waddawe wanna go walking into the big wet for? Anteeeeeeee!

 

Didn’t like the water in Norfolk it tasted kinda funny so I wouldn’t drink it even though it was hot and I was panting….and Anty went and bought some Milky-Milky yaaaaay Milky goodness! and I had it every day and I did drink that!

 

Met a new lady dog when we got home. She’s called Lucy and she liked me (except when my nosy nose got a bit too nosy!) and Anty let me go off-leadin and it was alright coz I could just play and let Anty worry about dangerous stuff!
 
D-Day + 47

Bless me father for I have sinned, it has been 11 days since my last confession!

11 days of hard work and perseverance.

Dij has had a real play at reasserting himself as pack leader. The pulling on the lead and barking at other dogs reverted to almost pre-training levels. After taking some advice from the dog school people I stepped up his door control at home, making him walk behind me down corridors and enter/exit rooms 2nd at all times. And he didn’t like it one bit! Even wee’d up my sofa! My new chocolate brown leather sofa of loveliness! Still, at least he’d nailed his colours to the mast – a very transparent play to reassert his dominance.

However, he was a little star at dog school again, so much so that other people are asking me why on earth he’s in this particular class – I keep pointing at Archie the terrier, spinning on the end of his lead and barking at everything and saying ‘coz when he’s not making a liar out of me – he does THAT!'

Dij had his first taste of camping last weekend and absolutely loved it. The first 2 days he was still testing me, pulling on the lead across the beach. Until he realised that I really was going to stop in my tracks every time he did it. Took me a long time to get to where everyone else had set up the windbreak though!

Took him in the sea and he thought I was absolutely crazy – but he started to respond again to me being the one to decide if dogs need barking at or not. He now makes a really funny whiney yodel to let me know that he thinks something dangerous is happening, and that I need to sort it out! Which is definitely an improvement.

It feels like it’s all starting to come together now. Dij is voluntarily hanging back when I move from one room to another, waiting for me to go through first and most of the time out walking I have a dog on a relaxed lead in my hand.

And finally I’m started to see a real difference when we encounter other dogs. Yesterday I met up with her friend and her dog Lucy to do some introductions – and they got on brilliantly. Even when Dij got a little over-personal and Lucy told him off, he didn’t retaliate. Best of all, we were in a really busy park with loads of dogs about. When we sat in the outside café bit, Dij had nothing whatsoever to say about all the other dogs patiently waiting under tables, not even when they walked out within 3 feet of his nose! Then later there was a real watershed moment. We’d walked up the river valley away from the busy bits and Dij and Lucy were happily running round together. I rounded a bend, and there was Dij, nose to nose with a lab-boy on its lead – tails wagging having a friendly ‘ay up’! This is exactly the sort of situation that usually gives rise to problems:

Boy-dog? Check!

On lead? Check!

Coming across unexpectedly? Check!

Best not get too cocky – we got dog school tonight!

Wooo-hooo! Anty’s got her own kennel! It’s really really big but it packs up into a really tiny bag and I’m sooo good at helping her put it away! And she lets me sleep in it too – brilliant!

And there was sand and running round in big mad circles and I was a racing driver and Anty was the chequered flag lady and I zoomed around vvvvrreeeeeeeou! And we played fingo flango then – Anty! Waddaya doin? Look, the sand is nice and warm and dry and the sea is….well, NOT! Waddawe wanna go walking into the big wet for? Anteeeeeeee!

 

Didn’t like the water in Norfolk it tasted kinda funny so I wouldn’t drink it even though it was hot and I was panting….and Anty went and bought some Milky-Milky yaaaaay Milky goodness! and I had it every day and I did drink that!

 

Met a new lady dog when we got home. She’s called Lucy and she liked me (except when my nosy nose got a bit too nosy!) and Anty let me go off-leadin and it was alright coz I could just play and let Anty worry about dangerous stuff!
 
>My new chocolate brown leather sofa of loveliness!

But at least wipe offable. ;)

>The first 2 days he was still testing me, pulling on the lead across the beach. Until he realised that I really was going to stop in my tracks every time he did it. Took me a long time to get to where everyone else had set up the windbreak though!

Isn't it a right pain to do need loads of patience but sooooooooooooo effective.

I first used it about 12 years ago with my Giant Schnauzer when he went into his bossy stage. Couldn't have a dog of his size 29" at the shoulder and nearly 10 stones in weight and ability dragging me around. I had some prat at a dog training class yelling at me that I'd never be able to control a dog like him on a flat collar that I need a check chain and no it wasn't a choke chain. He did this repeatedly getting redder in the face whilst I stood there not saying anything at all. :(

The trainer then came up to me and said that he'd been surprised that Barney had worked for me with no problems and that I didn't need to change his collar.

Keep up the good work. :thumbsup: Have fun at the dog school tonight.
 
am really enjoying dog school - is totally different from last time i went. i must have been 17 and was taking my brother's dobe, as he 'couldn't be bothered' :rant:

the dog trainer lady was so scary she had me in tears - seriously!

and she was all into choke chains (you weren't allowed to join if you didn't have one) and if dogs weren't behaving she'd 'string them up' (grab them by the skin on either side of their neck, lift them up to just below eye level and bawl in their faces) :(

my mates brother was ordered to get a collar spiked on the inside when he took his dog to classes. :rant:

am so glad there are trainers that use kinder methods.... i really couldn't go to a class where you are expected to bully your dog into submission - it's just cruel!

I'm all for everyone finding a method that suits them though. This Jan Fennel thing is working for us, but I'm sure other people have good results in other ways :thumbsup:
 
Yes thank god training methods at some, hopefully most classes have changed. The behaviourists changed the way that we look at why our dogs do what they do, then there is clicker training, target stick work.

I'd read John Fisher's books and could find nowhere that actually trained dogs in a kind and effective way, using brains instead of macho methods.

So used to train my dogs myself from books and I read loads of them. I found agility training great fun. Whippets can be good at it.

It's amazing to think that before trainers like Fisher came along people had never really thought about who has the right to go through a door first and how dogs function as part of a pack. About the placement of dog beds, who gets fed first etc etc.

Shame that those who first wrote about that kind of thing get little credit for their work nowadays. But I suppose that's life ain't it. Not much about life is fair. :(
 
D-Day + 52

Another week gone by and Digit is learning all the time. We had another camping weekend with other K9ers but sadly this time the weather wasn’t so kind.

The first day Dij was a superstar, playing nicely with big Blue and little Blue (sometimes a little too nicely ahem!). I kept him on his lead around the absolutely enormous pony (sorry, greyhound!) as by the time William arrived, there were too many dogs in the kitchen for him to cope with. A few grumbles on both sides, but nothing major.

The next day all had been going brilliantly until little Blue landed almost on top of him in the afternoon – and Dij wasn’t happy about it at all. For the rest of the day Dij and the littl’un had to be separate (or Dij on a lead) to stop him shouting the odds. Sunday they were in the garden again under strict supervision. There was a fragile truce for a while, tested to destruction by little Blue bouncing up and down snapping playfully at his neck and ears! At least little Blue was playing; Dij had a sense of humour failure and pinned him to the floor with some ferocious barking. However, the good news (and there had to be some!) was that although it sounded horrible, Dij really was just telling little Blue off – all bark, no snap! I really do think he’d been storing up the indignity of the day before and had been waiting for an opportunity to shout about it! And after little Blue had been told off to Dij’s satisfaction, they went right back to playing happily together! Funny boys!

Dij was a total sweetheart with the tiny puppy with no name, and took a shine to Jazzy too – but his heart belongs to big Blue, a real holiday romance!

Stayin in Anty’s kennel again but was a bit scary this time. The wind was all howly and the kennel was all flappy and fally-over.

There was hundreds and billions of dogs, but big Blue was the best…we went running round the garden and he was Dr Who and I was the Masked Avenger and little Blue was the sidekick and we rescued him from tangly-leggy monsters and certain death coz we were SuperWhippies!

And people kept saying ‘stop that boys!’

Didn’t want to eat my tea coz there was more interesting tea – everyone had betterer tea than me, so I ate up all the leftovers! Willie didn’t leave his dumplings though – Hmmmph they smelledid scrummy!

 

Got a bit cross on Saturday, too much people and dogs and stuff going on and I wanted some space and some peace and quiet but I didn’t get any so I grumbled at them all … apart from big Blue coz he’s great!

Barbeque goodness! Funny time of day to have it though – in the stormy dark. Anty Tina kept filching me sausages (shhhh don’t tell Anty Tanya!).

Yaaaaay!
 
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LOL Dij sorry you've got no chance of Willie leaving his dumplings you'll have to get Anty to make you some.

Willie says he's sorry if he scared you but its not his fault he just kept growing :teehee:

He would have liked to pleay but there just wasn't room with all those big people kennels in the garden
 
Poor ol' Dij. He was a good lad. certainly had some "fun" with big blue (hmm, maybe best not mentioned eh).

Credit to Urchins hard work.

Can we keep up the Demoting thread anyway?

a chortling good read if ever there was (readers voice)
 
well digit i think big blue is really missing his mate! and aunty tanya doesnt mind you having the sausages coz you were such a good boy :wub:

hey dij mate , blue here when you coming back ? great to make a new mate , i was feeling a bit lost coz my mummy and family are away and im staying at aunty tanya`s too, but you helped me , thanks mate, see you soon :thumbsup:
 
Dij really was just telling little Blue off – all bark, no snap! I really do think he’d been storing up the indignity of the day before and had been waiting for an opportunity to shout about it! And after little Blue had been told off to Dij’s satisfaction, they went right back to playing happily together
Well in the doggy world he is perfectly entitled to be in charge and put littler whippies in there place fiercely (but without teeth).

Quite so Dij and well done for being proper :thumbsup:
 
little blue is an insane iggie who thinks he is bigger then big willie lol! but then again his big mate willie would stick up for him ! but a big welll done to dij for coping with him and making a new friend in big blue :huggles:
 
Blue, Blue I love big Blue

He's my mate, and he loves me too!

Whatever I do

Blue doo's too

My beautiful, dutiful best mate Blue!

Put it away Dij!
 
well an update on big blue dij, he is staying a bit longer as his mummy is ill at min so i get lots more cuddles!!!! so if you want to pop back to see him he is here for you dij! :wub:
 
D-Day + 59

For the past week I’ve been running Digit off the lead, but with a muzzle. He’s been being such a good boy with other dogs that I feel it’s time to start letting him do social stuff again. My rationale for the muzzle is; because I now anticipate problems with other dogs I must be giving the message that there is something dangerous about them. So for a few weeks I will run him in a muzzle, then I can relax and we can break the association together. And I’m pleased to report it’s going very well so far.

The most we’ve had is 2 barks at a miniature schnauzer – but then they do yap just like a squeaky toy! (And when I told him to come back he did.)

I’m also playing hide and seek with him again – if he runs too far ahead to see me, I bugger off and hide! He’s learning quick not to let me out of his sight! There was a hairy moment on Wednesday though when I turned a corner to find a man walking towards him with a chain lead in his hand. When he saw me he stuffed it back in his pocket and shuffled away furtively.

I took him over to my cousin’s at the weekend to spend some time with his lurcher, Whisper. We’re all off camping together so I thought it would be worth doing some work before we go. They have met several times before and hated each other but this time it’s gone very differently. When I arrived I gave Whisper the clearest Alpha signals I could muster – and she gave Dij the same. For the first time he accepted it! It’s as if he’s happy that his Aunty is bigger than Whisper, so it doesn’t matter if she’s bigger than him! As long as they aren’t given food together all is amicable.

Took him too a country fair on Sunday. He behaved like a true gent with all the dogs he met (apart from one particular greyhound bitch who he treated to his Lothario act!) He even won himself 2 rosettes, 2nd in handsomest dog (the only sighthound the judge pulled out all day!) and 4th best condition

Then he developed a keen interest in racing, barking furiously at the lure every time it sped past. Finally he twisted out of his collar and chased it down. Luckily the race had finished and the other dogs were galloping back up the field.

Although Dij’s behaviour around dogs has improved almost beyond measure – I’ve discovered a new danger area …. LIVESTOCK!

This weekend he has herded sheep, stampeded cattle, bothered donkeys and worried horses…………I can feel a new project coming on!

Hateyhateyhatey HATEY! Nasty. Horrid. Blue. Face-cage. Gerritoff-gerritoff-geritoff.

Can’t even sniff properly. When you stick your nose in a nice poo, as you do, to see who’s been in the park it all sticks on the end and you’re still sniffing poo when you don’t want to be sniffing poo and that’s not nice – but it’s ok coz Anty’s got something handy to wipe it off with. Whaddaya call it? Drousers? Brousers? TROUSERS! That’s it!

 

One-nil, one-nil…..one-nil one-nil!
 

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