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  1. #1
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    Nervousness and Rally

    Gigi off late has been a nervous wreck. her confidence is not great. I posted over a year ago that she grabbed a neighbors hand when she decided to pet her approaching from the back. After that i shut her down for 6 months from public places and now she is back to being her self. She listens and when strangers enter our house after the usual barking does not bother them once we tell "leave it" . She did develop some anxiety projected from me anyway. Her leave it real good and she is very good in all the basic obedience and some hand signals i have associated with commands for far off control.

    We were in out and about and the trainer she has worked from puppy was their. She said gigi has alot of the Shepard nervousness and recommended rally. She is great off leash at home, dog park[very rare outing] she is a lab-shepard mix. As winter is here, she will go to doggy day care on Wednesdays to get some energy out.

    We are going to rally to get her confidence back i guess. when we walk which we do a lot of she will always fear the jogger or runner going by . As soon as they pass us she will giddy up and move on fast.
    she used to extremely confident before and not is not so . any ideas on what happened. she is 2 1/2 now. When on leash she is not sure . Is it just me ?. We camp alot and she is so used to being out and travelling. she camped 30 days this summer and then again she is very very loving with us, our friend and people we introduce. Not with strangers. But on leash she seems nervous and scared.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Any training you do is great. I would not take a dog like this to a public trial though. Not only does she seem like a dog that could not handle it well (nor would she enjoy it) but with her history it's a liability and unfair to others.

    You might look into nosework vs. rally. Some dogs that lack confidence (my dog, who is different than your dog, but is still sensitive) because of the stopping and starting. If you have a big dog, there is a ton of stopping and starting involved in rally and it's easy to disconnect from your dog if you don't know the signs. If you know the signs well and can focus on your dog, that is helpful. Nosework is often used to instill confidence in dogs and it's something they do relatively independently and they know how to do it. That is something that reactive and nervous dogs can actually trial in because judges stand back and other dogs and people are not close. It puts a dog in new places and gives them something to do, a job, which is something that can work well for Shepherds. And, all dogs can smell. Nosework just creates some structure around it. It's a very popular sport for dogs that are not good in trial environments around other dogs and lots of people. Tracking is another sport you can look into but it's harder to find instruction and there is more work involved as well as a requirement of fields to lay track.

    Dogs change a lot from puppyhood to 2-3 years old. I always say that a dog becomes who they are by three, sometimes 2, especially for females or faster to mature breeds. Often, a dog's personality is less about how they were raised and more about their genetic make-up. It explains why some dogs are fearful despite good upbringings and why some dogs are happy, confident pets despite having awful lives. Did you know either of the parents?

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    In RAlly-O you and your dog trial in the ring alone. But you probably train with others and there could be many others at a trial. It can be noisy and smelly and I was a mite disconcerted to find watchers and waiters with their dog sitting right at ringside during a trial. Agility too. People running trials always discouraged this but people crept in closer anyway. Nosework sounds good but we trained with other dogs milling around close by for it too.

    So from me, no good idea about training but I do highly recommend Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed." Gigi sounds like a dog who would benefit.

    Control Unleashed - Creating A Focused and Confident Dog - Dogwise
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  5. #4
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    The trainer said she will be with 2 dogs that were very nervous at start and now have progressed good.As gigi issues are all during walks especially with me.
    she said gigi will be get her confidence back. She has worked with gigi from 12 weeks old and was very surprised that gigi has got scared as she was never did that a puppy or all through her training for over a year. She always been the nosey one.

    snowshoe : When i did hand signal and distraction training. She was offleash in a environment with dogs and people all around. toys and sqeakers being set off by the trainers with cookies on the floor.
    in the middle she had to focus and do sit.stay and front . then i would put her in stay and weave through people/dogs and call her to me. Strange i trust her offleash to control then onleash. she gets a bit unpredictable sometimes when spooked. Once spooked she gets a little crazy. what spooks her is something new she has not seen.

    off late the 4 dancing led skeletons decoration, balloons of bright colors always visual as she grew up with 2 kids so no amount of noise does anything to her.
    We lost our guniea pig and my kids got a new one he is a baby and very very active. we put him on the floor and leave it works great !.

    I will update what she does.
    Last edited by silverfz; 10-23-2018 at 02:10 PM.

  6. #5
    Senior Dog Jeff's Avatar
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    I would have to see the walking issue with joggers. I mean Hemi is 7 and a half. Joggers jog by he kind of speeds up and likes to get in their scent zone and smell them, if they are running up behind us, he keeps and eye on them, enough so it is annoying to me but meh not really a big deal. You can see his nose working. I never considered this to be a problem. I mean after all your out for a walk, walks are for exploring your surroundings. Not for being in perfect obedient heel all the time, you never going to have your dogs full attention and perfect walk the entire walk time.

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  8. #6
    Senior Dog
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff View Post
    I would have to see the walking issue with joggers. I mean Hemi is 7 and a half. Joggers jog by he kind of speeds up and likes to get in their scent zone and smell them, if they are running up behind us, he keeps and eye on them, enough so it is annoying to me but meh not really a big deal. You can see his nose working. I never considered this to be a problem. I mean after all your out for a walk, walks are for exploring your surroundings. Not for being in perfect obedient heel all the time, you never going to have your dogs full attention and perfect walk the entire walk time.
    Chloe does the same thing about speeding up and getting in their scent zone. I always joke it’s because I’m not running fast enough for her, but it’s basically just curiosity. I agree, I’d have to see what the OP’s dog is actually doing, but given the incident with the neighbor, it might be different in their case.
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  9. #7
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
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    I will go pro the next time i take her out. its around 30 and windy so one walks or runs anymore. Just me and her!
    Gigi will keep a eye and as they pass she will giddy up and run in the other direction. She does no do this when people run from behind us and go by. Only front approach

    I will work with her as she is not 3 year and too early to quit on her. genetics is a large part i understand but she could be the best she can be.

 



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