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
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.
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?
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.
So, today somebody thought it would be a really good idea to take the dogs to the beach, including Custer - as of course you cannot improve (or start) a recall without being off lead right?
I 'really' hope my dog trainer is not reading this as he specifically did say DO NOT let him off lead.
It started off quite well, Custer was having lots of fun and staying with us. It was pretty early and the weather was a bit chilly and windy so nobody else was on this part of the beach. We had our Jaja and of course Bailey the Retriever I walk, and everyone was having a great time...
..That is of course until Custer got some sort of scent in his nose, and off he went!!! at quite a speed.... my OH still thinks he is at least 15 years younger and can of course still run as well as he could then (or is that 20 years?) so he went after him, till they were both dots in the distance...
Luckily, before things got 'too' out of hand, Jaja (he is a Lurcher, so can run) decided Custer had gone too far and took off, what had taken Custer a few minutes to get the distance took Jaja a matter of seconds, he got infront of him.. turned him around and brought him straight back to me!! Had to be seen to be believed, some minutes later the OH followed (a bit worse for wear).
It is quite obvious this dog has never had the freedom, but then he had never been out on a collar and lead either. It is also obvious that we need more training.. or a very long line attached 'next time' which of course we should have had this time.
Its puppy class tomorrow, and it will look like I have done nothing at all. But Custer is walking great on the lead until he see's a cat, dog, hedgehog, person... and in the house he is 80 % well behaved so in three weeks we have done quite well considering. Hoping to have pics tomorrow of puppy class, depending on the weather, as we had torrential rain forcast for today that didn't happen, so see what tomorrow brings.
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.
Custer had his first day at Puppy Class today with Arthur Telfair here http://www.dogtrainingsouthport.com/upperaughton/ it was an early start as due to it being so warm out I had to walk Jaja first, and be at class for 9.30am. We did take the camera to record the event but for some reason the battery had decided not to charge, so sadly no pics this time. Just the one above which was Custer when we got home around 12.30pm, he was a bit tired by then! As was I.
It was outdoors which was good for Custer I thought, he did okay with the dogs he met - still lunging away at them, but did not show any aggression this time, I think the relaxed atmosphere of the class was a big help to us all. I felt more confident knowing nothing could go wrong with the help from my OH being there and from the dog trainer, and the other students are all training their dogs the same way to 'focus on them' and not the other dogs, so that helped a lot too.
Of course Custer has no focus at all! aside from lunging at other dogs and trying to eat the stones on the floor, but he had a few lessons on how to walk on the lead, as this early class is for 'heel work' and I had some lessons on how to teach Custer to focus on me a bit more. Having spent an hour or so being dragged around a field, I am not sure who was more tired - but we had plenty of encouragement and I do feel there is 'hope' that one day Custer will become a joy to own and walkies will not be so much of a challenge each day. I am to do more practice in a quieter area, so I think I have that one sussed for the week, and I hope to show some improvement by next week.
It is now teatime, and Custer appears to have recovered nicely... see how he found this 'cling film' inner to steal and run off with earlier....
Will be interesting to see how the evening walk goes, I have also been taught to just concentrate on his actual walking not the 'sit and stays' while I am out, just one thing at a time - makes more sense of course.
Still have the evening to go, but so far another positive day - thats two together, pretty good going.
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...
Didn't manage a blog post yesterday as it was dog club again last night, so ran out of time. Not the best of events either. Custer was a nightmare yesterday. I think despite my best efforts I was too soft with him, and things got worse very quickly. Whilst I was out lead walking yesterday he started barking wildly at two seperate ladies for no reason at all, other than he 'felt like it'. At dog club he spent the entire hour lunging, barking, growling and carrying on. We are both exhausted by his behavoir.
I have had to become a drill sergant today, which is NOT what I had in mind. We are also in need of another v. large crate, it has already cost us more than Custer's adoption fee, in halti's, leads, harnesses, yellow dog stuff etc - so I have been trying to borrow one, but seem nobody I know has a crate that is 48" or more.
Today's walk was a 'challenge' I did mange to have no repeat of the behavoir towards people, but an awful lot of control was needed. I found it interesting that men are looking at me and smiling (I think I remind them of some sort of dominatrix) and women are looking at me in total horror, not understanding that a dog THIS size has got to learn to behave or somebody will get hurt. Every single 'sit' command he objected too, I would walk on and go back to the same place until he did it, then lavish on the praise at which point he would then refuse to move... The strangest thing is I am having no problems with him in the house, just outdoors?
I know I will look back at this day in time and smile, but today I am finding it really tough going - I just wanted a Labrador I could cuddle, not one I have a daily battle with and have to order about continually.
I miss my boy Alfie so much, he too was a challenge for the first 12 months, but nothing like this. We were saying at dog club last night, Alfie never ended up in the naughty corner! Anyone who doesn't know this is my adorable boy Alfie http://custersfirst.blogspot.co.uk/p/alfie.html
Lets hope tomorrow is a better day...
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...
Sorry for absence, been a long four days... Custer and his family have been fund raising for Woof Beginnings, who raise funds for small needy dog rescues. We managed to raise just over £500 which when banked will be donated. The monies raised from the dog show is to be donated to Freshfields our local animal rescue, and our friends at Husky Welfare.
The last few days have been VERY tough going for us all, as nice as it is to have good weather, heat is very tiring for us and the dogs, and the stall was so busy my helper Sylvia and I had barely no time away from it, which sounds good but six hours without a toilet or food break is hard going, and eyes in the back of your head from the 'unpleasant people' who try to steal, or win prizes by dishonesty which is of course STEALING from charities in my book and is also difficult. We REALLY need some more help if we are to do this again later in the year.
I think Custer was ready to drive us home at one spell...
As even the largest of crates is still a bit on the small side for him...
But he did enjoy his small training sessions to stretch his legs, with Daddy...
My favourite thing of the whole weekend was watching this talented man and his gundogs, I only got to watch two displays as I could not get a break from the stall, but I was totally captivated by what I saw, I have always loved to watch a gundog work - it is after all what the breed is for. I was lucky enough to have a quick chat with Arthur Telfair (dog trainer) who kindly came to have a look at Custer and has told us we have a tough time ahead but he is a nice dog who can one day become a well behaved nice dog, I am hoping this will be with Arthur's help, he has a great website here with lots of information about how he can help with dog training for dogs like Custer, and gundog work.
http://www.dogtrainingsouthport.com/
Just look at those two (above) should have seen them work for him, and no fear either which does make a nice change to watch.
The money raised from the fun dog show is to be divided between our local animal rescue 'Freshfields' and our friends at 'Husky Welfare'. The rest of the monies raised which was around £450 will be banked this week then donated to a couple of rescue's registered with Woof Beginnings.
By 6.00pm last night the dogs had enough and were ready for home please...
On the whole though, Custer did very well and was certainly a very tired boy last night. So tired we had our second full nights sleep since he arrived which was nice! He has also been pretty quiet today so far. Poor Jaja found it all a bit much today too, he was happy to have a gentle stroll on the beach this morning with Bailey, then come home to sleep on the sofa.
To close, here is Custer doing some obedience work in the ring with Daddy, he can 'sit' at least.... hopefully Arthur is going to teach us some heel work so walkies will be a bit less fraught as that is one of the main problems we are having. A VERY strong dog with no lead training, and a streak of stubborn.
