Tuesday 24 March 2009

Tessa

I had a cavalier King Charles that used to lunge towards traffic - used to frighten me to death. I'm afraid to say I never did get her over that. The funny thing was though she only ever did it when she was on the lead and when I used to walk down the road here - which is a quiet village she was often off lead and never looked at a car going past. Very odd. Maggie was the opposite and used to shy away from traffic. I got her over this by taking her in the car to busy places because like you we don't get much traffic here. So I'm not sure I have any advice for you on the car and bike issue except maybe if you take her to where there is a lot of traffic and sit her down near the road and distract her when cars are passing with treats. I'm sure she will get better.

As for recall - Peter is the best person to give you advice on this. He will probably want to know how old she is - I can't remember. I do remember though Maggie being great as a puppy and then when the hunt instinct kicked in - fairly early if I remember - I lost all control. To be truthful it was a battle up until the last few months when I now feel more confident with her re-call. Maggie wasn't interested in treats - especially if there were pheasants around. If she got into that hunt mode - I put her back on the lead and did some basic training like asking her to sit and go down - just to get her focus back on me. My only other secret weapon is her ball as she will do just about anything for a play with it. So even now I keep it in my pocket and it comes out if she has come back instantly to recall. Her reward is a chuck or two of the ball and then it goes away again. I'm sure Peter will have some better advice - but it worked a treat for Maggie. So if there is any toy Evie likes best of all - take it away from her and only take it out when you are playing with her - this way you will make it more special and then you can start using it as a reward. Hope that helps. I will look forward to Peter's advice though as I'm sure I will have the same thing again with Elsa.