Belated Happy New Year

Its quite a while since I took the camera out on a dog walk, but we only had Custer and Jaja today and there was two of us so I gave it a go.  Here he is doing a 'very' rare recall, but then there wasn't anyone else about so he might as well.  I would like to say there was some improvement 3 (or is it 4) weeks into the CSJ calm herbs but I really do not think there is, I cannot recall ANY evidence of calm behavoir at all.  I even tried some A.Vogel flower essence on advice of a friend, they dont work either.  We have made another friend on our morning walk though, another rare soul who is brave enough to walk with us, and her dog a Springer Spaniel called Alfie, who takes no notice of Custer at all so is a nice calming influence.

Back to today... here is another photo of Custer 'attempting' a fairly 'bright' look, this does not happen so often.  It was a good walk in all fairness, we went to the beach and it was just full of folk, so we put the dogs back in the car and went elsewhere for a quiet walk.  We only saw two lots of people, one with small dogs that Custer is fine with, and the other we managed to hold his attention with the ball so all was well.  Would have been a good walk all round accept at the end when he point blankly refused to come back, not for another ball, chicken, cheese, ham.......NOTHING, so we were out quite sometime.  "Daddy" is much braver than I you see, I do not let him off lead now without him being on a long line I can stamp on! so I do not have the problem, and he is back on lead as soon as I am near others.

Jaja had a great time too, this is him having abandoned the ball he got first and Custer now trying to find it.  Hard to believe our Lurcher Puppy is to be 11 this year, nobody tells him that though, he can run around with Custer (who is 2 at the end of February) with great ease.

Wonder if Custer will show any signs of calmer behavoir when he gets to 2? I have a bad feeling it is more likely to be 4 year old though......

Was a big day on Sunday

Whoops, after such good intentions to keep up with this blog, life went and got in the way I'm afraid...

Anyway, time for a Custer update!!! He is still here..........

Above is Custer on his new bed, very nice double duvet with paisley cover from charity shop.  This was to replace his CRATE!! Yes, we got brave and finally after nearly six months we took it down, it was big enough to take over most of the room and we had hoped it would not be for quite so long.  So far (5 days in) its going okay.  Custer does have a habit of stealing his Daddy's shoes to sleep with whilst I am out with Jaja, but he isnt chewing them, and (so far) has not stolen anything else.  When I leave him with Jaja  (again, so far) he does nothing.

The walking thing is still a bit up and down.  Each 'down' has a bad effect on my confidence though so does tend to set us back somewhat, which is not good for either of us.  Our 'downs' are his reaction to submissive dogs, he will dominate and is rather noisy about it.. now I know it is NOT aggression, Custer is NOT an aggressive dog - this was proved when we were set on by a stray and I had Custer behind me and submitting.  Problem is of course the other owner does not know this, and despite the fact I am never so far away, and do step in immediatly I still get 'what for' over it.

We have made some progress this week though, Custer has a new friend - a flatcoated retriever called 'Sam' I hope to get some pics one day to show you.  Sam told Custer off twice for his dominant behavoir and now all is well, they get on great - also after initial fear Custer is now good with Sam's owner too.
Today I had a meeting with a dog walker I have known a few years on passing, she is rather experienced and despite having heard about Custer until today we had not met with her dog 'Scout' - this was an interesting meeting as she had already told me not to worry as Scout could handle unruly dogs and there would be no problem, Custer immediatly went to dominate Scout who totally ignored him and calmly removed himself, this was quite fascinating for us to watch.  Apparently if the dog in question (being Custer) is not aggressive Scout will try reassure him, they too ended up playing well with Scout only 'telling him' about playing too rough. 

So, at nearly 6 months in - there is such 'slow' progress going on - it really is not easy by any means, BUT there are days when it goes well, before hand there was not any days that went well.

Oh I forgot, I have now got Custer to enjoy playing ball - he just went through the motions before, now he loves it, I can even get him to ignore 'some' dogs when we play, often he does not bother with smaller dogs at all.
We still do evening walks for them both, his lead walking for Daddy is fantastic - long way from that first day, and he walks on just a collar and lead for him, I still have a double sided harness as due to the damage he caused to my right arm I cannot hold him in that now.
I try to walk away from as many dogs as I can and if I do not know the dog I will change direction, or walk in a lot of mud to avoid any trouble - just work with the dogs I know - rightly or wrongly this works for me, but if I dog runs to us - I will let go, if its a confident dog with a dog savvy owner all is well.

I think thats all for this time's update - better not make anymore promises about my next one.

Bad Blogger

Oh my, nearly a month since my last blog post!! So sorry.  Just have not taken any photo's and hate to blog without, so I just dragged out an old one so the page was not bare.

I would like to say things are better - but then I would be telling lies.  Things have not been better!  But after a rather bad morning walk I bumped into a lady I know from dog club who recognised Custer's behavoir and offered some advice.

We have now started 'clicker training' my new book has only arrived today 'click to calm'.  Meanwhile I have been teaching Custer all about the clicker and yummy treats, also been working on some heel work.  I do have him responding to the clicker, and walking with me really well off the lead (were its quiet).

However, the lunging at dogs is still going on - and he is not too keen on certain people either.

With other dogs he is friendly every time, and only wants to play - I have now found on our morning off lead walkies if I run off he will follow me, so recall is now happening, just wish I could stop him from going in the first place.

I also watched some great video's by kikopup which were fascinating - learning some of her 'catch words' is also helping.

I will try not to leave it a month till my next blog post, and hope to be able to talk progress.

Custer the Gundog

Yes, this is of course in the place were I have my dreams, not 'quite' a reality.  These photo's were taken the other week at gundog/puppy training school, when 'Daddy' decided he would have a try just to see if it was Custer that was just naughty or me that was just useless.
The verdict was it was Custer who was naughty!!! This was however the class we found Custer had a great interest in the 'dummy' though, which gave us hope (we are always searching for hope).

I have spent all last week, every day (and most of the week before) training Custer in a quiet place.  I have taught him to walk with me, find the dummy and retrieve.. At today's class you would have thought I had actually spent the entire two weeks with Custer locked in a cupboard, his behavoir was nothing short of appauling, and very embarrassing to say the least.  I really do not 'get it', yes there was distractions in class and a lot of retrieve, but he just reverted back to the dog we brought home from rescue 3 months ago?  I know I shouldnt but I am so disappointed.

Totally, back to the beginning yet again tomorrow.  I now have to teach him 'LEAVE IT' as he clearly had no idea what that meant today.  I have 2 weeks to try drill this into him for next class, as there is no class next week.
This is what we aim for one day............... wonder if we will ever reach that day? of course these dogs have been with their owners since pups, and are well bred gundogs.

Unlike our Custer who is a rescue Labrador, on his fourth home - with no training before us, and one bad home we know of.  This week I was trying to execute the flies in the kitchen with a rolled up paper, I had enough of them and the plot was lost! well.............. I ended up having to live with the flies as Custer was in pieces, the rolled up paper had sent him over the edge, he had seen that before and not after flies, the sight of him so scared brought tears to my eyes.
Then, there was yesterday............... in the kitchen........... Custer going totally beserk and barking like mad at the unit base? this went on for sometime, I was convinced we had mice, OH had to go remove the cupboard base to see what was behind it, the culpret for all this fuss??............. was a garlic skin, Custer attacked it with venom, especially when it strayed menacingly towards his Dad.

He still wont let poor Bailey in the car, so we now get him out and put Bailey in, then all is well.

Just as I think things are going quite well, things seem to go backwards? I really don't remember this happening with any of my rescue dogs before, this one really is 'Unique'.

At the Park

Walks have been a bit different for a few days as we have had 'Daddy' at home.  So, as there are two of us Custer has been coming to the beach with Jaja and Bailey early mornings, then late evening walkies in the park.  Not as much training as he was having with me, but we are 'trying' to work on his recall and socialisation.  This week he met up with some pups I have known since they were tiny, they used to play with my Alfie too.  Here is the very handsome 'Fella'

Fella, and his sister 'Tilly' are littermates, they are Irish Setter x Collie, not a mix you would choose I know but these are the most adorable well behaved pair, and belong to the one lady.  Here is Tilly with Custer and Jaja, it was a warm night so after a quick game of ball they were quite tired

It was so good to see Custer making friends, him and Fella did have a bit of a grump at each other to start with, but as their owner is happy to let them work things out all was well in no time, they had a great evening together.

There is still a lot to learn about Custer.  Today's puppy class was another learning curve for us all, Arthur is very tuned in with the dogs and has pointed out how much fear Custer has, and how hard it is to train him because of this.  We 'may' have finally found a focus though, seems Custer is very interested in the gundog 'dummy' so we have ordered a few - had to be a 'few' as he wont give it back, so that needs some work this week.  We have always believed in being able to get anything off our dogs, so far with Custer we have, but the 'dummy' he refuses to part with - needs work, so as soon as they arrive we will be working on improved 'retrieve' he was getting there with the ball quite well, so should be ok.

Another hot week

Sorry its been a whole week since we checked in.  As you see, its just so hot here (not what we are used to) the once green grass of the park is no more.

Custer is now having a walk around the park in the morning, after I have take the others out and then another in the evening, either to the park or the beach.
Its so warm for them there is not an awful lot going on really.  I rarely have my camera with me, as with having Custer loose most of the time full wits are needed to be sure he is not mis-behaving, and if we see an on lead or older dog we have to get him back asap.

Custer is getting to know some dogs in the park, he has made a few friends but they do need to be able to cope with him, and few can.  I think he managed to upset a lady with a Labrador this week as we didnt see her again, whoops. Custer was playing, but he does play nip like a puppy and needs telling by another dog to sort this, the Labrador did this but the owner did not like it.

Today he met a super play mate, weekend now as the OH is not working we take them all in the car to the beach, easier for me with just the one walkies.  So, earlier on we were there - we met a lovely what we thought to be 'young' dog for Custer to play with, I thought he was a Pointer, but apparently he was Vizler x Labrador, and FOUR YEARS OLD.  Also played like a puppy, so both large dogs and a great time was had.  Its all quiet here now.

I had been very worried there was something not right with Custer, he tired so easily.  OH said it was just due to him never having had the exercise, but I was worried there was something a miss...
Well, he is now getting used to exercise, recovering a lot quicker and if he does not get enough running time, usually when its just too hot he is a total pest! so thats a good thing.

At Puppy Class last week he was pretty good, better off lead than on - Arthur is happy that he is just improving in general so thats the main thing.  At dog club on Wednesday not so good, he just fights on the lead (with us, to be off it I mean), when its his turn to do things he is great - but rest of the time is a tussle.  Just been told the hall is being refurbished, so no club for a couple of weeks now - not sure we can go after that either as OH starts a new job, which is very early to rise, and he wont be back till after 7pm in the evenings.

Hoping for an end to the severe heat soon, so the dogs can have more fun and running time.

Play Time

As I mentioned in another entry, one of the ways we used to teach Custer to stop 'dropping' in the driveway and wanting to go in the car, was to lead walk him to the park in the evening (had to be evenings when hubby was here to heave him off the floor).  To enjoy walks we took some toys too, now this is a first for Jaja, we have loads of photo's of our old Labradors playing with tuggies, occasionally Jaja would grab one end briefly, but he has never played like this.  So good to see them play together.

As you see, being the boss and the tallest Jaja does tend to win the game most of the time, although Custer is younger and a lot stronger he is also very respectful to Jaja.
It was this day we then met up with one of the dog walkers with a few dogs and Custer had a great play with a big chocolate Labrador, this was our first time playing in the park with him, and it went very well.

See how Jaja likes to remind him who is boss?  Not bad from a pup who was for ten years bottom of the pack.
So, yesterday Custer and I got to the park on our own which was fabulous - our second successful outing, during which we met another dog walker 'Jo' from Power Paws she had a few dogs with her, and 3 lovely German Shepherds who were very good to Custer who had a great time with them.

Last night was dog club night, and went very well.  Okay, Custer is by no means perfect but at least he can join in now and is much calmer, he is still reactive to the hyper dogs I'm afraid, but hopefully will get calmer in time.  Hubby was very pleased with how he did.

This morning we had another great walk on the park, met up with 'Jo' from Power Paws again, today she had a German Shepherd called Ruby who Custer loved to play with, they had a great time, played some ball, not much as its a hot one today.  I also ran into a lady I met at the fund raiser when we had just adopted Custer, she was amazed at his progress, we chatted for a while - best bit was during this chat were was Custer? laid down by my feet!! I was so pleased, I did have to check him from bothering other dogs, but only gently and he stayed with me.  He is still on a long line as I dont have that total trust just yet, and the park as too many exits to roads, so need to be able to stop him if necessary, only had to do that once though, and that was due to him bothering a dog who did not want to be bothered.
He has also taken a telling off from a little dog today - doing well with the little ones, more dogs are starting to see him as the big harmless lump that he is, which is great.

I did 'of course' forget the camera (again) must try do better at that.  Do wish it was cooler though, its so hot for them all, even my first early walk with Jaja and Bailey on the beach was too hot for us all.  Will be another park walkies tonight and in the morning.

Saturday we are planning our first trip with them all in one car, going to the beach - should be interesting.

Hot Day at Puppy Class

Yes, I know - sorry about the strangely attired woman at the end of the lead - Its a hot day, all I thought of was how to keep the sun off me, not what I would actually look like!  Here is Custer looking like a well behaved boy no?  Well, actually no he was not, he had hurled himself to the floor and refused to move, this is how he stayed for the first 15 minutes.  Then our trainer for the day (who was Nick, as Arthur was away) got out the tennis balls...

Looking good, he is sat up now and all is well... or not! "Next, throw the ball" he says, so I throw the ball and off he goes, to the shaded area with said ball.  As its a gundog class, you do not take the ball from the dog, he has to give it up......... that was a long wait.
After that, Custer did actually manage some lead walking - I wont say heel work as it most certainly was not that.  Then, it was time to practice recall........nobody thought this would be possible, but it seems left with the alternative of me or a stranger Custer did actually prefer me as an option, even 'Daddy' didnt think it would happen, as he had the camera poised for Custer disappearing into the distance, but no.. this was a run back to me!

Last night we took them to our local park, 'Daddy' is practicing taking Custer out without the car, as he now will NOT walk with me in a morning as he wants to get in the car, so we are trying to teach him lead walks are fun too.  I took some great pics of him playing with Jaja, which is a first for them both - sadly was just too amazed to take photo's later on when he played with a very large Chocolate Labrador as bolchy as him, very rough playing but they both had a great time.

Needless to say we have not been out today as yet, I took photo's of Custer laid in the drive refusing to move.. so you will get to see those soon too.
Its off to the park again soon...........

WOW!!!

Its Saturday today, when normal folk take it easy and perhaps enjoy a lay in after the weeks early mornings.  Not when you have dogs though, its very hot and threatening to be the hottest day yet - its up early and get them out.  Despite being early it was still too hot for Jaja..

..and Bailey, who I also walk each day (Bailey is not my dog, he belongs to a friend).  The photo did not do this justice, but before this point Bailey had been in the ditch and rolled in all the mud, amazing though he arrived home clean (ish)

The 'second' best bit about today's walk, was Custer did plenty of socialising with some new pals - at one time we were not sure this was ever going to happen, here they are all cooling off in the stream..

Custer is good with the smaller dogs too , this is little Ben - he likes people more and was looking to me to see if I had any biccies, we see Ben often on my other walk its my friend Sylvia that gives him Biccies, he thought it might be me..

This little chap was a lot of fun, he arrived with more mud on him that Bailey having visited the same ditch on the way, and was only too happy to find a pal to run around with..

But, the very best thing about today's walkies was Custer is 'FINALLY' learning recall, this was the first time he came back from playing with some dogs he ran off with, then he did it every time on the way back - Okay it might not be 100% yet, and still needs a lot of work, but having just celebrated (I think) our 8th week with Custer we are very impressed, its a start.  This is Custer running back to me after I called him..

He does still need an awful lot or work, he is in dog years a teenager, so being very stroppy on occasions.. like if I want to take him out without the car he will not budge, just throws himself at the floor in the driveway and I cant move him, have to tie him to a long line and go inside.  So, that one needs work which is a shame as the rest of the time he is pretty good.
Now he has had a good walk later on this evening we plan to just lead walk them to the park and around there, another first for Custer. Tomorrow is puppy class, but looking like another hot day so maybe not doing so much again.

So.. how did puppy class go?

Unfortunatly, us silly hooomans have forgotten the camera of late.  So, no camera for yesterday's Puppy Class which was such a shame.  You may have read that Custer lunges at every dog he see's, we have never been totally sure of his intentions.  
We arrived at class yesterday (its in a field) and one of the Labrador Puppies ran over to welcome us, I had Custer on the lead so was a bit wary, but confident in the trainer so I totally relaxed and let it happen, Custer was happy to see the pup and did nothing.  We usually then try to walk him around and calm him down, but instead took him up to were the other dogs were, it was a very very hot day so everyone was pretty chilled, Custer lay down by the water bowl and 2 of the puppies climbed over him, I was a bit worried but there was no need, he was totally fine with them, he really does think he is one of them it seems.
Not much went on in class as it was too warm to do a lot, but of course Custer threw himself to the floor during 'heel work' and Arthur said to walk away and leave him, so I did - first couple of times he did come and find me, but after that he mooched around doing his own thing, so was left to it.. he didnt bother anybody or any of the dogs.
At the end of class 2 of the pups were playing in the field and Custer went with them, total puppy play although he is an awful lot bigger than them, but nobody bothered.  He was also good with one of the older Labradors and one of the nervous cockers in class.

Our trainer has said it is going to take a very long time, and he may never be 100%.  But we have learnt an awful lot about Custer in the last few days.

This is Custer after this mornings walk.  Remember he was afraid of the water? well, not anymore.  As it is very hot, and this was at 8.30am today - the other dogs were straight in the water, so he went in too, my OH had to drop the lead (or choose to go in with him) and Custer had a great time playing with Jaja in the water, sorry we had no camera today.  We left him off the lead for the rest of the walk, he came back to the whistle (which I worked on yesterday) and stayed with us, played with an irish setter pup on the way back.  Only downside was when he went back to the black ditch (as you can see) and is very smelly just now.  I have had to wash his harness, lead and collar.  So, there is a lot of hope that one day he will be able to go on the walk with our friends, thing is he is recalling ok for the OH, but not me - so a way to go yet.

We have also found Custer is very sensitive to moods.  Last week I had some troubles, and anxiety - he was appauling in behavoir.  Now, today we are both happy and smiley and so is Custer, just shows you how dogs do respond to our moods.

Here is Custer doing lap dog...

he does like to sit with his Daddy.

So... this is a good blog again, seems they are getting more frequent.  It does take time to sort out a rescue dog, we are now in week 7 of life with Custer, and only just starting to work him out.

We have now concluded Custer is a v. large, sensitive PUPPY.

When Custer met Grandma

When the OH's Mum and Stepfather announced they would be visiting this weekend, I was in a total panic.  So far Custer has not been too good about letting people in the house, and he is not fond of everyone he meets.  Not to mention we dont exactly have 100% control of him as yet.

As you can see above, I need not have worried.  Custer totally adores his Grandma Nora, she is to date his favourite person in the world.  He was indifferent to my father-in-law, but that was okay.

Is this the face of a stressed dog? his behavoir was better than it had been since he arrived with us.  Was just as well really, as from 5am he had been a nightmare, we had arrived at the conclusion despite what we had been told this dog 'NEEDED' more exercise.  This is him just 'next' to his beloved Grandma..

So, last night off we went armed with several feet of rope to the beach to begin a tough course in 'recall training', this was not to be though - the tide had just gone out and we had never seen so many jelly fish, which all look very appertising to a Labrador.  (Do you know how much it costs at the vet when your Labrador eats a jellyfish? we do, Alfie has done it).
Not to be defeated, we walked back to the car and set off to the tennis courts to try there, alas no.. too many people there playing tennis, and it was raining! We had to make do with a long walk around the park, which was fine for the boys as it was somewhere different.

My next blog post will be our 'successful' walk today - it needs a post of its very own, but as a sneak preview here is Custer from this mornings walkies......

Oh, and Custer featured as today's dog on Yellow Dog here https://www.facebook.com/YellowDogUk?fref=ts

Today was a good day

I remember when we were close to loosing Alfie, recording the days for when 'the bad days were more than the good ones'.  With that logic, here is hoping that the good days for Custer will get more frequent.
I am having to be far stricter than I have EVER been with a dog, but this morning I did manage to get Custer past a cat (on the other side of the road) without being dragged into the road.

We are just back from our regular evening walkies, when OH takes the lead.  Usually we have battles with every dog we see - Custer lunging to get across the road at the dog, today we did 4/4 with no lunging.  We were walking on air.  Okay, we still cant get past one on the same side of the road, but as OH pointed out, for the last four weeks we couldnt get past anything in the same town without a huge 'kick off'.

I was writing my success blog post in my head as we walked in, all smug - told Custer what a 'good boy' he was and life was good.
Then him and Jaja just had quite a 'set too' which is a first.  Jaja has been on his case since he arrived, but usually plays happily with him, and Custer wont even go to get his dinner without fetching Jaja first.  So, that is a bit of a backwards step, maybe we let our guard down too soon? who     knows..........

I had a smug moment this morning too, the elderly couple who have watched me battle my walks each morning from their bus stop gave me a thumbs up when Custer crossed over and sat nicely for a  treat - they can see the progress.  Its just very small when out though.

In the house (with the exception of this evening) things are usually good, few problems and no raised voices.

Fingers Crossed for another positive post.

We are usually at dog club tonight, but our trainer has just been for a new hip so no club for a couple of weeks.

He is STILL here

Amazing as this is, Custer is STILL here.  Though I confess, last Sunday was a close call for him.

I have spent the week doing 3 training sessions per day, usually quite short but 3 per day.  Sometimes some of that time is just spent at the end of the driveway learning to 'sit' quietly and watch the world go by, I think Custer still needs time to get used to the world outdoors.

I would say that dog club on Wednesday was pretty much like the week before, still trying to lunge at the other dogs most of the time.

Today was gundog training day, despite having worked so hard all week I really did not feel I was making that much progress.  However, my trainer and another respected gundog chap both said I had done well and there was a marked improvement from last week.  Cant say I could see it myself, I felt I was still spending the hour being dragged around, and still came out feeling like I had done 10 rounds with 'Tyson'. But those watching said he was doing much better.  One lady who was also training, asked if I had a different dog? so although I could not see any progress others could, so I suppose that is something.

I must say I have NEVER met such a stubborn dog.  Even my Mum who also knows her dogs could not believe it when she visited yesterday and Custer was determined to dominate her at all times, she now understands how when I say it is a running battle from getting up in the morning, until bedtime I am not exagerating at all.
One of the professional dog walkers on my walk (with the other dogs) wonders if the effects of his castration might kick in eventually, we 'suspect' he was only neutered in early May - so may yet have another 2 - 6 months for hormones to settle down.

Another of my neighbours was telling me she had a similar battle with a rescue Goldie, took a year but turned to the best dog she ever had............ could this be Custer?  I keep thinking back to my late Labradors, so different to him. Our first boy Tigger was such a dream, and the best Labrador ever (really must do a page for him), Tess of course was very timid, Alfie was difficult to begin with but not dominant with people, very loving and until his early demise was coming on really well (he has a page on the right, the most handsome dog ever).

We have been back from dog training about 3 hours now and he has just woke up, I do think I am more worn out than him though.. I could sleep on a clothes line just now.  Must be doggie tea time I think.

Will try keep the blog updated more, but little to day all week really was just most of the same.  I also keep forgetting to take pictures.

One more thing though, we took the dogs out for their evening stroll last night and it rained very heavily, we all got totally drowned.  Custer is frightened of the rain!  Have you ever seen the like? a Labrador who is scared of water?

Week 2 of Puppy Class

Don't be deceived by what you see in these pictures - OH only took the good ones.  This was not my best ever morning at Puppy Class.  Unfortunatly we started off with a bit of an 'incident' that has resulted in a few injuries for the OH, due to severe behavoir by Custer.  Followed by a HUGE battle of wills between the two of us.

So, not the best way to start a training class.  Here is our super trainer Arthur doing some further assessing...

He believes, what we have is a VERY big puppy, who has already gone through some pretty severe treatment and as a result now rebels against any form of discipline.  Of course nobody can have a dog this size ruling the roost, so not an easy task at hand.  We cannot allow him to get his own way at all, but have to find ways of achieving this.  It is going to be a very long road ahead.

Yes, quite an impressive 'sit and stay' but it does not last long believe me!  At this class Custer spends the majority of his time trying to eat the stones on the floor.  That is when he is not lunging at the other dogs.  What the aim now is to 'try' to get him to focus his attention on me - I think that is my homework for class, though I can't really see me managing that in only a week, but I suppose at least 'some' attention on me would be nice.  Thing is I have this cracked at home, just not at all when outside the front door.

I confess today is really not a good day, I am finding it very hard with Custer and his behavoir - I know its going to be a very long road ahead, but never have I had a dog so stubborn or so difficult.  Custer is my 8th rescue dog - at one time we had 5 dogs living here at once who were nowhere near as much trouble all together.
Lucky for Custer today his Dad is very determined not to give up on him - not as sure as I am today, but then my old arthritic joints are not so fond of the pressure they have been put under today.

The Boy Did good

This was the boys the other day, getting quite close and both chilled about it.  Last night, Jaja decided to play with Custer, first time he has played in the house at all for many a year, Custer was more than happy to do so, but just finding it hard to work out Jaja only plays on occasion, he doesnt make a habit of it, but we did think after less than 3 weeks together this is a great start.

Tonight Custer went to dog club again, he was a bit stressed to begin with and sought reassurance from us this time, instead of just 'going into one', we calmed him down and had him focused on the ball (and maybe just a tweeny bit of liver cake) for the whole hour.  He managed a walk up and down the hall with no problems, even when one of the Collies shouted at him.  He is a bit tired now though.

Walkies I have mastered on the whole, but he is still lunging at other dogs - at least he is not doing it with people now. 

Still not sleeping so well, but it has been hot and sunny from 4am - weather has now changed again so maybe this will settle him down.

This is how he wants to greet Daddy after work now, we are starting to think we just have a giant puppy on our hands.

Another Day in the life of 'yellow dog'

Custer's new coat arrived, unfortunatly its too big, and too hot for him - and he is not keen on things over his head on a good day, so not going well.  We do have our badges and car stickers though to still promote the concept, and the yellow ribbons.

Further to my last post I discovered Custer is not hurling himself at random people, its little old ladies he does not like, especially one's with grey hair.  So, I have managed to sort this out now with a  'firm' LEAVE command now I know what the trigger is.  He is totally fine with children, teenagers, men etc its just older women he has a problem with.

It was two weeks yesterday since Custer came into our life, I would like to say the time has flown but it has been a tricky time - but I have to say Custer is doing great, for such a short time he is learning fast, and his own sweet personality is in there somewhere, just needs coaching out.

I just got back from our evening walkies with 'Daddy' and 'Jaja' and its the best walk I have had so far, with just a half check chain and ordinary lead, no halti, no harness - the boy did great, I even got him passed two dogs with a treat (ok they were on the other side of the road, but still a plus for Custer) and escaped an old lady who charged over to fuss the dogs, eeeeeeeeeeek!!! that was a bit scary, but I got him out of the way with treats whilst 'Daddy' and 'Jaja' allowed the fussing thing.  No lunging or barking.

Tomorrow is a big day, as we go to the gundog trainer and his puppy class - sure he will be fine, so its a very early start tomorrow as its so hot here I need to walk Jaja before taking Custer to training.  Just hoping he is as laid back as this tomorrow...

When suddenly it got hot

Cor, who made it so hot so quick? certainly not helping our new routine thats for sure.  We should be walking Custer and Jaja now, instead we are 'hoping' it will cool off in an hour.  The boy is a bit of a lightweight it seems in the heat, so is Jaja who is currently even more bad tempered than usual as he is too hot.  Before you think I am a typical Brit complaining about a bit of sun, our house just cannot handle it, many have cool houses in summer so thats fine for escaping the small amount of hot weather we get, mine however is just a total hot house with no air and excrutiating heat as soon as the weather turns over 20 degrees.

I walked Jaja and Bailey on the beach today, which is how I got so muddy (see below pic) - I went from our velvet trail across to the sand through mud that I thought would have dried up, got that one wrong.  But it was cooler for the dogs nearer to the sea, I say nearer... still cant actually get to it.

Custer did very well on his walk with Daddy today, he met a little dog called 'Oscar' who he lunged at and it went for him, what did Custer do? he rolled on the floor on his back and the two of them were then friends, hopefully this is a lesson Custer will learn about socialising.

We also learned today there may well be another story to Custer's background.  My hairdresser is also of the dog owner set, one of her customers took in a dog a month or so back she collected from "A PLACE" were he was not being cared for, the owners had him tied up in a small yard day and night.  We are to verify this story hopefully this week.  Would explain a lot about his behavoir if this is the case.

Not easy to do much in the way of training today, we did a short lead exercise and some ball play, teaching retrieve - not mastered it as yet, but Custer has stopped running off with the ball now, so its a start.

Here we are after that having a lesson on 'sit quietly' I thought it was a good one...

Not every day is easy

Well, its not quite so easy when there is just one of you!  Custer was of course less than pleased that Daddy escaped to work whilst he was watching me prepare my breakfast, he had quite a good night, just awoke the once to bark like blazes at goodness knows what at 1.30am, keeps us on our toes - and they do say sleep is over-rated.

I took Jaja and Bailey out first, then with great confidence, after all I managed fine last night - got Custer hooked up in all his collars etc, came out the house introduced himself to the neighbours and off we went, or so I thought............................ we got less than five minutes down the street and down he went, I'm afraid despite my best efforts after at least ten times of dragging him up for him to plonk back down on his back on the floor I lost my rag, which as we know is not going to help anything!! I marched back toward the house ready to take him home never to set foot outdoors again... but then crossed over the road and decided to calm down and continue the other way.  There was about another ten episodes of plonking down, on the way back I did try a few games, chase the treat etc which did work for a while.  I was out about an hour and a half with him, but cant say we walked too far in that time.

I went home and had a large cuppa, no valium in the house though I was in great need, my poor nerves were frazzled.  At this point it was time to do some research on the web, I concluded that Custer must be scared, after all I found out today.. or sort of found out there is some doubt about his age, he is not 16 months thats for sure, might be 14 months or younger, we simply do not know.  So, we can also assume his history might be in doubt too, so we do not really know what on earth we are dealing with.  The history of a rescue dog is always a big help, or should I say the 'TRUTHFUL' history.
Armed with this new knowledge, or lack of it - I set about researching what to do to help, majority opinion was a harness, I do not have great faith in those really... so managed to locate one with a different style, set up to help the rescue or fearful dog.. perfect, I am of course now totally broke, what with this, his new coat, his new leads, collars etc... but have opted for one of these http://www.xtradog.com/shop/harnesses/fleece-dog-harnesses/new-style-xtra-dog-walking-harness-large-size.html

I spent the rest of the day playing ball, find it and fetch - also putting on his collar and short lead walking him around the house, and around the back entry, to try rid the 'fear'.  Seemed to be a very long and tiring day, luckily after 5pm Daddy came home early.. Custer was very pleased to see him..

This meant it was walkies time again, I had explained all the above to 'Daddy' - and also that I was in that much pain for all the lugging about of 'Mr Hefty Legs' it was his turn, I joined them and took Jaja too.  Not ONE problem, no fear... no throwing himself at the floor (well, only the once) trotted along nicely for Daddy!!!!
As much as I am loathed to use the word 'dominance' I do feel this to be the case, that or simply 'leading Mummy a merry dance' which was not so merry from were I was standing.

Oh yes, also today while I did try to salvage some work I had on.. Custer was into everything, and winding Jaja up, and generally being a naughty pup.  You would think after about 22 years of rescue dogs I would remember the first few calm days, before paws are under the table and the true personality arrives.  Now, I am trying to catch up on the days chores etc, and were is the pup himself? 

SNORING LOUDLY ON THE SOFA!!!!

What? Its day 4 already?

What we got to day 4 with Custer already? how on earth did that happen, and it has gone so fast.  Well, actually with the sleep deprevation it has pretty much all rolled into one Custer experience.

Not that much to say today - which can only be a good thing, right?  I think the boys are both still pretty tired from their big day yesterday.  It was also another long night, Custer didn't do too badly really, aside from being a guard dog so he went totally nuts at 4am when some drunks went loudly passed the house.  Then, Jaja had a poorly tum, so we were up at 5.30am and 7am with him. Custer was good and slept mostly on his own bed though, probably would have had a quieter night if Jaja hadnt been so unsettled.  Lets hope so as 'himself' is back to work tomorrow after the bank holiday so its a 6.30am start to the day, could really use some sleep for that one.

Custer's walkies went fairly well today, this morning with his new Daddy he only sat down 3 times - we have now concluded he has not been walked on a lead before, as is showing typical puppy behavoir with the sitting down and not liking the collar, halti or anything over his head.
I took him for the later walkies, he did superb.. I noticed he was getting a bit aggitated so we stopped for a cuddle and that helped.  All went well until 'little miss idiot brain' and her collie came from the park on a long line, saw me asking Custer to sit, wait and be good but still proceeded to let the dog run toward us, so Custer went nuts of course, I then had to wrestle him back, thanks for that 'Miss idiot brain' next time maybe think, and 'give a dog some space' - maybe have a read of this website, 
http://www.yellowdoguk.co.uk/ and learn that NOT all dogs want another in their face, they may well be new rescue dogs that the owner is TRYING to train.  Luckily, after that we settled back to the route home - I did have a relaxed lead aside from the incident time, so things 'were' getting much better.

Custer and Jaja did have a long relax on the sofa together today, the growls and teeth from Jaja are getting a lot less. although another incident earlier when Custer thought barking loudly at Jaja would be a great idea did not end so well, I did have to intervene with that one, most of the time I try not too.  Poor young pup has an awful lot to learn.

Yes, that ungainly sight above is part of the Lurcher, just to show he was on his back on the sofa so not the pose of a stressed dog is it?  Poor Custer just wants to be his friend.

Just the three of us tomorrow, see how we get on.  Feel awful as I do have to leave Custer in the crate first thing while I walk Jaja and Bailey.  But we have left him for a couple of short periods to test him, and he has been fine so far.  The neighbours are good too, as we have warned them, and they are fine - which is always a good thing.