Recent content by hiero

Realized I wanted to add something. If a cat is mature, and strong-willed, teaching avoidance behavior is a more delicate situation. We had one rescue cat, Sprocket we called him. Great cat. He was aggresive with dogs, and would immediately approach and intimidate dogs several times his size. I...

Great advice, and wonderful stories! However, I will note that you said your brother's cat did not respond to "clotheslining". I may not have said this, but negative training does not work well if you are not the cat's SO (human or humans). Cats are not so single-buddy minded as dogs, but they...

The only Tollers I have known were a beautiful pair at a local trail area which serves as our local "dog park". They were a bit stand-offish, but well-mannered, and I thought they were beautiful. Back then, a couple of years back, I was just beginning to consider other dogs, as our old hound was...

Time did not permit me to finish my last post! Life intrudes! Their training has proceeded well, I think. EVERY experienced trainer/breeder I contacted said, in some variation: "better to separate them". The way it was said that I like best was "they wind each other up. they will be jealous...

Just an update on training progress, and a thot or two. First, I think, based on reading and the little experience I have with them, that all the herding collie breeds share this in common . Seems to me to be stronger in them than the other shepherd types. But they all have it. In the working...

Well, a working herding dog has to do a lot of thinking on his own, just to respond to the critters they are working with. Yep, it is different! I've gotten some really great comments and thoughts by going to a Yahoo group for working English Shepherds. One of the thoughts is that a lot of...

Foxhill ES! Yes, they are who I tried to open contact with. I left, if I recall, one message on FB, and two emails. I got no response, and after that many attempts with nothing back, it would fall into my rule book as "rude" to try again. If you think I should try again, please say! I am...

Around here (I'm in the NE - Mass to be exact) I would NOT focus on shelter dogs. Because around here the "shelter" dogs get adopted too quickly, and you can not judge a dog personality closely enough in just an hour or so in the extreme setting of a rescue agency. You can get SOME idea - but...

Beagles? VERY self-directed and independent. VERY. Scent hounds - baying rather than killing - yeah - generally. But very independent. Great if you want to work as the breed needs you to work. Like bloodhound types - probably want to keep them on lead and follow with them. Requires you to be...

Oh, I hate FB, but I do use it. I love the concept, but FB has no regard for privacy or online security, and that is OT, so I'll shut up! There is an ES breeder in central Mass who holds semi-annual meetups. They are on FB, and I've tried a couple of times to get a message through and get a...

I started out appending this to an old English Shepherd vs Aus Shepherd vs Border collie thread, but decided it really was worth a thread of its own. So, got a nice cup of yer fav beverage? Good, 'cuz this is gonna be a long post! This is about Amy and Andy, who got adopted, for the 2nd...

Wow. Sounds like an escalating situation! The kind of thing that does not make for good predictions! :eek: I think your key here is changing the cat behavior, more than the dog. Nice to change both, of course, but you gotta work with what you got. I would try to teach the cat to stay out of...

Just thought I would toss in an anecdote for the thread. Last August we adopted a bro-sis rescue pair. We've been adopting strays and rescues exclusively for our dogs for a few dog generations now. Never had any noteworthy eating issues on move-in. Until these two. I swear, the female went...

Don't know if you've made any progress. I imagine you might not find one particular "light bulb" idea that will fix things for you. The behavior sounds too complex for that. But, this post might give you some ideas: the recall game Or this one: Emergency recall Past working the very...