Getting a guardian puppy - any chicken<-->dog communicables I need to worry about?

[Geena]

Fortunately, we have lots of boxes for her to demolish.

If she really likes to snuffle around in the grass, you might want to try doing some tracking with her.

 

[chickfused]

She's really good with it. We went for an off-trail hike in the woods, and she didn't really want to be there. (She did, but would have preferred to be home.) She led the way home with her nose, step for step, every branch we climbed over and everything. I've definitely been thinking on this, how can I get her to build on this skill kind of thing.

 

[chickfused]

The flirt pole is a sanity saver. I can wear her out so fast with it that even when she has the bitey landsharky herding zoomies she's 95% manageable. This has been an ordeal y'all, but we are doing so well. She's learning restraint nicely. I can put a treat down, tell her to wait, and walk away (back to her) for 30 feet and then let her have it. And 95% of the time, she's good about it. She's now walking by the cat food bowl (though not without a lot of soulful eyeballing) and today we practiced "chill" a bit. I've also started dropping treats randomly in the grass and telling her to "find it" in the general area for scent work. She seems to enjoy this game.

Haven't had any aggressive snapping/biting of real note after about 3 lessons like trainer guy taught me how to get control of that mess. She still tries occasionally, but it's very much half-hearted.

She visited with 4 of the chickens this morning on her long lead (20 ft.) with no real show of interest in them at all.

 

[chickfused]

We haaates it. But we're cute!

 

[chickfused]

Copper was an amped up crazy puppy this morning, and she actually (following commands, down, flank, ok (which means you can go at the chicken slowly to move it along) and everything!) helped me herd up a loose chicken while in that state! I really didn't want to grab or restrain her, I've slowly realized her aggression trigger is frustration. So I had to figure out how to get her to work with me in that mode. Man, if I ever get this dog down pat, she's going to be the best farm partner I could have ever wanted. We're making a good bit of slow, but steady progress with the impulse control exercises. She's also beginning to understand what "no biting" means and I think (it's early days) both the aggressive biting and mouthing are slowly fading. Going to focus solely on these things for 2 weeks.

I spent some time talking to her breeder last night, and she helped me gain some insight into the breed. She confirmed that English Shepherds, because they are bred to be independent workers, will be the boss unless you take it away from them through thorough, patient, and consistent work. So that's what we're doing.

I've read about an approach called "Nothing in Life is Free" which is a force free method of establishing that order of things, and have been applying it. Every single time she wants anything, she has to do what I want first. Go through a door? Sit and wait. Have a toy, sit and wait. Up the stairs? Wait for your cue to climb. Want to play? Drop it when I ask, then sit and wait until I initiate play again. Want some food? Shake hands or give me a down. Want to go in that direction on a walk? Only if I want to. Want pets? Better lick me first. Literally _everything_ she wants has to cost something a touch. This is slowly helping I think. She checks in with me all the time.

 

[chickfused]

It was a 3 steps forward, 2 steps back kind of day. She was bitey and snappy and messy and chased my littlest cat with intent twice. BUT, I got her stopped, while she was off the leash, through obedience and force of will. 2-3 weeks ago, that wouldn't have been the case. I think it's my fault - I didn't keep her on her schedule today, and she didn't get enough naps. (No work schedule on weekends.) I'm mentally exhausted. I think she was too.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

It was a 3 steps forward, 2 steps back kind of day. She was bitey and snappy and messy and chased my littlest cat with intent twice. BUT, I got her stopped, while she was off the leash, through obedience and force of will. 2-3 weeks ago, that wouldn't have been the case. I think it's my fault - I didn't keep her on her schedule today, and she didn't get enough naps. (No work schedule on weekends.) I'm mentally exhausted. I think she was too.

I hope you can figure all this out. Maybe try a training class to teach her common cammands then try teaching her how to be a guardian.

 

[chickfused]

I hope you can figure all this out. Maybe try a training class to teach her common cammands then try teaching her how to be a guardian.

She knows basic commands and is doing very well with them. According to many local folks, she's actually very advanced for her age. We're working on more advanced subjects like: "No biting/mouthing", "Who's the Boss?" and "Calm Your Ass Down So You Pay Attention". All is well.

The nearest class is 45 minutes away, and we're still working on getting the travel nausea sorted. Once that's done, then we'll undoubtedly seek some formal training and dog socialization. She's made one doggy friend...ish. I had a doggy playdate scheduled for her today, but it got rained out :\

 

[chickfused]

In an unrelated, or perhaps related, note - I just had the best cat & dog interaction ever. Normally she loses her mind, but at a distance of 20 ft. the cat came walking up and we did "leave it" a few times to keep her from amping up. She listened, and the cat came walking closer. I had her sit until he was within reach of her lead and she calmly walked over to him, and then I told her to down. Normally at this point, she wouldn't be listening to me (especially at 20 ft.), but she did. The cat allowed her to lick him twice, and then walked away. The dog remained (relatively) calm the whole time. This is _fantastic_!

In other news...I can't tell if my dog is housetrained? She never seems to go inside, but she also doesn't have any cues at all to ask to go outside. She has never pooped inside ever, and has only ever peed inside when I tried putting her in the bathroom for timeout before she learned to crate. (I think this was anxiety peeing). And she still occasionally pees at the threshold to the outside door, which may also be excitement about going outside. I can still lock her in the barn for 6-7 hours with the door shut overnight (I do pick up her food and water about 2 hours before bedtime) and no accidents. Is my dog housetrained? I...never had the opportunity to actually train her? I'm so confused.

Edit: We are usually inside for 2-3 hours at a shot and then I let her stay outside for a couple of hours by herself (This makes her happy as she spent full days alone as a pup with the birds except for a couple of love and wellness checks during my breaks. She's pretty independent and has been since a very young age.)

 

[NatJ]

In other news...I can't tell if my dog is housetrained? She never seems to go inside, but she also doesn't have any cues at all to ask to go outside.

Some people have the dog ask to go out (wait by the door, or bark, or ring a bell that hangs by the door.)

But some people just let the dog out on a schedule, and the dog does not ask to go out. As long as the person lets the dog out often enough, and the dog doesn't have diarrhea or a bladder infection, that can work just fine. It just causes trouble if the dog needs to go out more often than usual, and doens't know how to ask. (But that would happen anyway if the dog was inside while the person was at work.)

From what you describe, I would probably consider her almost housetrained at present (since it sounds like she still pees at the door sometimes.)