Re: Bad relationship

[cjane]

Kerry – I agree that giving him too much freedom in the house would not be a good thing in the long run, but the ‘bonding effort’ was supposed to be intense but short-term.

Mudgie – sounds like you did a terrific job with Elsa, and I take great encouragement from what you achieved.

Izzie – I think Dree’s instant down is meant for emergency situations. If the situation can be avoided by just recalling him, or the other dog is known not to be a problem, or if it was a false alarm, then putting on lead may not be necessary.  The idea (I think) is to get him to stop in his tracks and pay attention to you, difficult for a dog in flight but obviously achievable.

Dree – I’ve started practicing an instant down, just on the long line or lead and when I have his attention.  Also tried a couple running/playing in the field ie on the move.  He’s a bit slow to react but we’ll work on it.

CJ

PS ‘best place to be …’ I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read this thread starting when I first joined the forum.  The theory is totally understandable, achieving it in practice is the problem.