Dutch Shepherd Forum

*Editing this to include all of her future updates. Instead of clogging up the forum with a new thread each time she has an improvement, I'm just going to add her developments as new posts to this thread. Not sure if the Behavior subforum will be the appropriate place for it now


So. Initially Nami has shown no drive for toys or play in the month that I've had her. She is afraid of toys if I toss them around or away from her, but gradually she's improving. At first I couldn't toss or roll any toy around her, then I could gradually move from rolling a rubber kong toy to tossing it lightly across the room. These are all indoor responses. She still has no desire to play or run around outside. Tonight I drug out my cats "DaBird" toy and she immediately started chasing it around. Basically her AND the cats were chasing the thing. I've never seen her show such interest in a toy before. It was honestly exciting to see her get so engaged with a toy. I'm wondering if maybe shes been introduced to a flirt pole before?


Sidenote:
One day when we were outside she showed an unusual interest in my boyfriend's yard gloves. She doesn't nip or bite at you like a mali/ds pup would, but the moment he put the gloves on she immediately started attacking his fingers and wanting to hold on to the gloves. Coupling that with her reaction to the cat toy, I'm wondering if she comes from a breeder that focused on producing "working" dogs? She came from a shelter in NorthCarolina and I'm not at all familiar with ANY of the DS/Mali breeders in that state.


If I had a third arm, I would have loved to catch the action on video. Rather amusing to see the dog and the cats so focused on one toy.


added today:
Short clip! She was worn out by the time I thought to grab the camera. She doesn't pull at it anymore. Originally she'd snap at it then take off with it. Now she just snaps at it and releases it immediately so that I can go back to flicking it around.
https://instagram.com/p/3KNvjhmUMb/

She could be showing her past, indeed. But who knows?

A friend elderly father brought home an older mal (whose seller said had no sport/bite training) and everything was fine until Old Pops put on his Carthart coat, the typical tan-colored ones. Dog went right for the arm and splat went the old man. (No command, so why she'd do it...but still she made an immediate association with that coat.)

My last adopted DS showed signs of her past training (we'd been told "something went wrong" in her attack training, but no details, just warnings). We had some surprises.

I'm hoping to use these little tid bits that she's giving me to draw her out of her shell. A dog shouldn't be afraid of a squeaky toy, tennis ball or any other toy for that matter!

For whatever reason she is, though--and very lucky to have someone with the patience and understanding to help her. Your heart must have swollen when you saw her finally enjoying something.

Oh you have no idea! Well maybe, but still! To see her get that engaged! and with the cats there participating along with her! She completely zoned in and just went bonkers for it! I was worried that I would have difficulty getting her exercised properly. So far any amount of play we have falls short of wearing her out. The only time she has ever been truly "tired" is when she has been stressed out and that's no way to wear a dog out! Our walks are limited because shes so spooky outdoors. Now I have something that I can get that tongue lolling in a proper worn out fashion!

Keep us updated!

In addition to a response to the DaBird toy, we finally have some outdoor interest in a baseball! While I was at work tonight, my boyfriend caught a video of her interacting with a baseball while outside. This is somewhat of a big deal because she doesn't seem to fancy the outdoors yet. She tends to do her business, then wait at the door until you let her inside. We're doing a lot of moving around and cleaning out/reorganizing the whole place. In the process someone unearthed a softball. Nami has took it upon herself to claim it. The boyfriend shot this video while I was at work tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z1rVS1 ... e=youtu.be




She, um... kinda disregards him in the obedience department. >_> This is his "first" dog. He's had dogs in the past, but was too young to have any sort of hands on involvement in their training. He's working on it though! and he has me as a coach. Not my first rodeo, so it's kinda fun watching how he interacts and reacts to her and her to him vice versa.

We've been working on her going outside more often and playing with toys. With the help of a softball and now this new (but soon to be retired) tennis ball, I'm working on her getting over her fear of objects being thrown around her inside the house and now outside. She doesn't want to spend much time outdoors, but with some toys and working on her recalls; she is gradually getting more use to the idea of playing outdoors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4TvmvtqaEk

She's actively chasing after and wanting to engage the ball, so long as I keep it to tossing it into a roll across the ground. A big improvement over the dog that bolted into her kennel the moment I tossed a fluffy toy across the room. The same dog that only wanted to stay outside long enough to do her business.

aaaand we are actively chasing after THROWN balls Well.. in the video it's more like a lump of rubber, but once upon a time it was a ball. She found this in the backyard and we sorta just ran with it. First as a kick ball, then tossing it around became a thing until she would go bonkers for me to throw it. as they say, RELEASE THE KRAKEN! Most people would be excited that their dog is actively listening and taking well to their OB training, but nuuuuuuu! I'm more excited about the ever growing crackhead, feigning for something to chase response.


https://instagram.com/p/3mlnUOGULA/?tak ... elatedarmy