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'.
Today's pictures have no connection to the topic at all, they were taken last week while OH was off and we took the dogs to the beach each morning.
Alas, once he went back to work I then returned to my routine of taking Bailey (above with Custer) and Jaja (below) to the beach first thing, and then Custer to the park.
I 'was' enjoying my park walkies, often it was so quiet I had a chance to do some training with Custer without distraction, but then somehow we got walking with others. Must admit alarm bells did start to go off, I should know by past experience that daily walking with others rarely ends well, as everyone has their own opinion on how to (if at all) train dogs. Often you can end up walking with someone who has the most lovely timid dog, who is always good with other dogs.. and an owner who simply 'assumes' your dog to be the same. This scenario is fine, until the other owner then decides your dog does not need correcting or keeping in line? as of course, the brief hour or so they spend with you gives them all the information they need to form a judgement.
(yes, this has happened to me before with my last dog too)
So, after 3 days this started to happen.. instead of leaving the walk (which I should have done) Custer was enjoying playing with the ball and other dogs, so I did and said nothing (anything for a quiet life) but Custer was becoming a bit on the unruly side, which is fine for a dog who is submissive and good with other dogs, but NOT for a dog like Custer...
I should have taken more notice of the 'tuts' and grumbles when I did correct him - why people find the need to do this I dont know, if they dont like the way I train my dog, dont walk with me.
Sure enough disaster was waiting... along came a small breed puppy, now I knew this was not going to be good with Custer, he will either try to dominate or play, neither of which is good with a very large Labrador and a small puppy. I grabbed the line he was on and told him to leave, owner and puppy headed straight for us, the chap with us announces to the now apprehensive puppy owner 'Its okay, he's fine with other dogs'?? erm.... excuse me? he knew this how? after a couple of meetings? so he let the puppy off lead, headed straight for Custer who of course then lunged at it........... due to the line he was on, total disaster was averted, BUT this could have been worse. The other walkers did not even see a problem with this incident? They did not seem to realise what could have happened.
Very upset by this I was ready to leave by the next exit anyway, and was realising that I had lost control of my own dog (again).. when worse was 'almost' to come.. along came some more walkers with two very very LARGE dogs, one of which was a new rescue dog. Now, this time I knew exactly what would happen, they headed straight for us.. this would have been total disaster and one of the dogs would certainly have been hurt.
This time I took charge, leaded Custer up and marched out of the nearby exit, leaving the other walkers still appearing to see no problem at all?
Is it just me? are other dog owners totally unaware? can they just not read other dogs? or is it simply people who feel the need to take charge of a situation they know nothing about, making it ignorance.
The annoying thing is the same people are in the park at the same time every day, it is not a large park so I simply cannot avoid them. I cannot go earlier as I take the other two out, and later there is another set of walkers who have been there on the park since time began, and I know their dogs are certainly not suitable for Custer to upset.
So, today I came back from walkies number one in the car, put Custer in the car and took him to the beach too - I thought it would be as quiet as earlier, I got that one wrong - of 3 directions to walk in all 3 of them were full of dogs, owners and children. So, I picked the quieter of the three routes and went for it. As it happened Custer did very well, was easily distracted from the one dog we came into contact with, I only let go of his line once so he could play in some water, but that was fine. Hopefully I will get back control again, and one day we can mix with others....... but not on a daily basis. The beach is good, seems most people there are happy to walk with their dogs on their own, and do not see the need to interfere with others. Also when the weather gets better (which is worse to most people) that cuts down the walkers, especially on the beach as it gets a bit muddy and folk dont like that.
One day I might be able to walk them all together that would be good, and a lot easier for me. BUT, Bailey although a lovely boy, does have his dominance moments and does have to be watched with other dogs, he is very friendly but will take up an opportunity to dominate given the chance and with him being so large too, I do not feel I can manage both him and Custer just yet. Especially as they are still competing a bit, see they look like little angels above dont they? but Custer wont let Bailey in the car without a song and dance each time, and that's with OH to yell at them - not something I want to deal with, especially not whilst driving.
Jaja is no problem at all at any time - but, he was adopted by us as a puppy born into rescue, we took him at 14 weeks with no baggage to sort out at all. All I have to watch out for are rabbits, but he can be called off them, which is very impressive for a Lurcher.
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.
