Days like these..

It's days like these that are so important during dog training!

Today during our short walk we met our neighbours. One month ago this would have been catastrophy! Lisbeth would have gone crazy jumping on people and afterwards starting to chew on the leash and the only possibility for me would have been to go away. Today the meeting was not perfect because she also started to jump on the people but was easily distracted by some treats on the ground. But it was possible for me to talk to our neighbours. And after a while Lisbeth calmed down and at the end she  was even laying down. This was out of imagination some weeks ago. There are still so many things to work on but days like today make sure that we are on the right way!

What's new

What are things that have changed in the last days and what is planned for the coming weeks...

We are trying to stop the biting on the furniture for attention. Some things that help are paying no attention, and going in another room. She normally stops biting and its possible to change situation. Another idea is to put a lot of toys next to places she is normally biting at and giving her attention when she decides to chew the toy instead the unwanted thing... Sometimes it helps sometimes not.

We have started to explore things. That means I am driving to places with some interest like train stations, car sellers, underground garages and Lisbeth is allowed to sniff and explore the place and then we are returning home. I think we like it both...

We have started some cavaletti training and are going to start tracking soon.

I still beleave we are on the right and I hope I can report a lot of progress in the next months!

Visitors today

There are so many things to post about but I try to keep it short.

Lisbeths bladder infection is gone and we hope that we do not have to meet the vet soon.... It's definitely clear that all her infections and parasites were the result of permanent stress in the past. Long lasting stress have severe impact on the immune system which resulted in Dermodex, tapeworms and bladder infection for Lisbeth.

Anne-Lill reminded me to be patient. Live had changed for Lisbeth and it takes a long time for the whole body to rebuild after chronical stress. It's now 4.5 months that Lisbeth is staying with us and things are getting better.
Today we had some visitors but Lisbeth did quite well. She still shows signs of stress and needs some extra care but it is getting better. We made a short walk in between and sometimes she needed some time out on the balcony and she got a frozen kong in the beginning. But we managed to have a good time...

Couch is dead - again

Yesterday was a little bit exhausting for Lisbeth.
We again did some everyday training, beeing aware that this was a lot of stress for Lisbeth and planning a lot of nothing for the next days.
The morning walk was just normal but when I returned at lunch time there was another hole in the sofa. My hopes of repairing it are disappearing now!
Stayed at home after lunch making some home office. The beginning was ok with Lisbeth just lying in the sun. But since 1,5 hours she is very stressful. I think it's time for her too sleep but at the balcony she is just trying to escape and in the flat she is again starting to chew the whole furniture. Tried to ignore it and went to another room but nothing helps!
She looks very stressed. Panting a lot.
Would love to have a magic bullet for situations like that. Giving her a frozen Kong now. Hoping that it is getting better afterwards....

Joy and anger

On Monday when I returned home from work I was absolutely mad about this stupid dog. Knowing that there is nothing elde to do then ignoring. There is only one little peace in my flat I really love - that's my sofa.
Its easy to ignore Lisbeth's chewing on our furniture because there is nothing special about it. Everything old and without any value. Except the couch. It's a 2nd hand couch but really comfortable and expensive. And as you might imagine on Monday when I returned back home there was a huge hole in the sofa. It took me about one hour, calming myself down and feeling comfortable enough for a short walk.
But on our walk something special happened giving me back some joy after a day full of frustration. I made a stop during our walk again sitting down on the ground for some minutes. And guess what happened?! Lisbeth did the same and layed down after a while looking relaxed and comfortable! It was the first time! I was so proud about this progress. Even if this is normal live for most dog owners it was a special moment for me!!

One more time office training

Today was our third time of office training.

We started the training with a short walk. I'm proud of Lisbeth she is doing quite good. No reaction to any bike or walker. YEAH!
Only short reaction to a dog healing. She deffinitely don't like when dogs are not communicating with here then she feels unsecure.

She also was perfect when we entered the office and greeted my husband. He got the instructions to go down on the floor and calmly greet, I used a lot of treats and it was a perfect welcome scene. No jumping at all. Then we walked around on leash to have a sniff and then she got a chew. I think it would have been better to leave now but I tried to wait a little bit and help her to fall asleep. She got treats whenever she was close to her place but she was not interested in resting. She started wandering around searching for shoes to chew on....Before giving here the possibility to get attention for doing something wrong we did a short cllicker session and then she got a 2nd chew but still not showing any signs to fall asleep. So I finally got the message and we left the office. And of course back at home se immidiatly fell asleep!
It's going to take a lot of time until Lisbeth is ready to be an office dog and maybe she will never be... But I'll give it a try!!