Miss Xena got her CGC!
Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 2:56 pm
Well, I can't believe it! My little wild child got her CGC this weekend! We went to four paws kingdom doggie campground and had a great time! We tried out a little agility, some Rally-o, had fun retrieving and swimming, and playing with everybody. Everybody admired the Dutchies. They were totally made over. 
I learned a lot about my girl. She loves small dogs. She is very tolerant of them, even the snarling lunging ones. She will lie down if they are afraid to approach and even roll all the way over with paws in the air until they are comfortable. If they still are attacking and lunging, she kind of smiles abut it and just holds still waiting for them to get over it. They can even be jumping up on her~ no reaction. BIG dogs are a totally different story. I know that she is reactive to them and thought it was fear based, (lunging, barking, fur up). But it was very clear when we were at the dog park that she is just terrified. She sticks to me like glue (if only I could get that kind of "heel" on command). If a dog runs up, she yelps and dodges. If they stare and don't back off, she does her snarl and lunge thing (she only did that once and the other dog was really staring at her with a stiff stance, so I made sure they were not together after that). She finally came to the conclusion that other big dogs were not out to get her and was able to greet a few and at least play with me near them.
We learned doggie massage and she loves that! Her CGC went well, but I would not have passed her. During the 3 min. separation she got anxious and whined and barked for me. Also if you walk a big dog straight up to her she will react (luckily we were with a Corgi). But, they passed her anyway
At least i know what areas we need to work on!
Thor only stayed one night, but he proved to be a great ambassador to fearful dogs. He just is really good at putting them at ease! We had people scheduling visits with him to help bring their dogs out of their fearful states. Xena is good with fearful dogs too, but she doesn't make them relax like little Thor can!
All in all it was a fun weekend and we are going to have to visit there again soon!
I learned a lot about my girl. She loves small dogs. She is very tolerant of them, even the snarling lunging ones. She will lie down if they are afraid to approach and even roll all the way over with paws in the air until they are comfortable. If they still are attacking and lunging, she kind of smiles abut it and just holds still waiting for them to get over it. They can even be jumping up on her~ no reaction. BIG dogs are a totally different story. I know that she is reactive to them and thought it was fear based, (lunging, barking, fur up). But it was very clear when we were at the dog park that she is just terrified. She sticks to me like glue (if only I could get that kind of "heel" on command). If a dog runs up, she yelps and dodges. If they stare and don't back off, she does her snarl and lunge thing (she only did that once and the other dog was really staring at her with a stiff stance, so I made sure they were not together after that). She finally came to the conclusion that other big dogs were not out to get her and was able to greet a few and at least play with me near them.
We learned doggie massage and she loves that! Her CGC went well, but I would not have passed her. During the 3 min. separation she got anxious and whined and barked for me. Also if you walk a big dog straight up to her she will react (luckily we were with a Corgi). But, they passed her anyway
At least i know what areas we need to work on! Thor only stayed one night, but he proved to be a great ambassador to fearful dogs. He just is really good at putting them at ease! We had people scheduling visits with him to help bring their dogs out of their fearful states. Xena is good with fearful dogs too, but she doesn't make them relax like little Thor can!
All in all it was a fun weekend and we are going to have to visit there again soon!
)