Today

Alright, so I've had a chance to think about the pooch and I do believe we can work with her and keep her for the rest of her life. She is SO intelligent (which is part of the problem) and has the memory of an elephant. I believe that if we work with her consistently she will be a dream dog for us. I also have to accept that there are some things I will NEVER get to do with this particular dog.... things like going to hospitals to visit patients, off-leash playing, agility/flyball competition. But, there are LOTS of things we CAN do with her so I guess it's okay. Our first attempts at re-training her have been based on us re-establishing our leadership with her. We've gone back to the "nothing for free" rule: If Nika wants something (everything from food to a pat on the head) she must do something (like sit, watch, roll over, etc.). This has helped already in one day so we need to just make this a way of life, I think. The next thing we are doing is teaching her to pee in one certain spot of the yard. This is going to take awhile, but again.... consistently wins! I need to re-read the books "Mine" by Jean Donaldson and "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennel. Then, (and this is the HARD part) I need to DO WHAT THEY SAY!!! Wish me luck :-) Over the next couple of weeks we are also going to begin her socialization training. Here are my ideas:

• Tailblazers pet store once a week to play with Mya (the Berner)
• PetLand once a week to just be around all the smells and noises (different day than Tailblazers)
• Once every couple of weeks to Lenka's to play with Speedo (hope this works... have to really think through the initial introductions)
• IF we get some extra money (what's THAT look like? LOL) I'd like to put her in another obedience class like Step Two at SPCA or something along those lines.

I think if we can get her around these other dogs in these controlled environments her dog-aggression with get better.

Should be a fun summer with all this training ahead.

BRING IT ON Lisa