To you, "Anonymous" who posted: "good way to kill the life out of a dog....":
Nah, I can assure you that he will still have plenty of life left in him. Just a little bit less bark and not be so frightening to small children.
I do not wish to remove his spark. And I seriously doubt I will.
He will just not have so very far to the calm state. Now it can take up to 45 minutes for him to calm down enough to Chill out. My goal is to make that 5 minutes.
He can play and be crazy, when I say he can, not only when he wants to be.
Soo update on today:
My dad had him today and said he was perfect, just a bit barky. and that is what I plan to remove with this regime.
Fajsty is a bit "Dazed" when mummy (me) is not around. The good thing is that he didnt pull in the lead so much with dad, which means my training of that the past few months must have had some effect.
When this "calm" regime is over I think I will induce a "no pulling" regime if it doesnt occur as a byproduct of the "calm" regime.
What I want is a dog I can bike or rollerblade with anywhere without the lead, go to the beach with, without worrying that he will run off and scare some poor sod or chase an innocent dog for hours. Go to picknicks with him and have him loose lurking nearby while we eat, not having to worry that he will chase anyone who tries to come near.
This I will achieve, not so much with the tasks I do but by spending more efficient time with him and bonding more. Also by being clearer on whats OK and what's not.
This is something I will have to work hard on, given my aspie-traits.
It will take time, but I will do it.
Consistency is king
The people listed are just ideas, but I will try to stick to them as I need to do progress, for my sake and for Fajstys. We dont want to look bad on the 3/3-2009.
If by then the dog-meets are better and I have become clearer in my actions (not so easy for a semi-aspie-person) we will start putting some effort into the walks.
Although Lamp-posts and other "extremely important smells" will be treated as people. No greeting until calm.
This will probably be the most difficult one to keep.
So, word of the 2 weeks ahead:
No fun until calm!
The hardest part will be when he sees my father or my mother.
But its good training, as she said: if he cant be calm and keep himself composed indoors with people he knows, then how could he outdoors with fun new potential playmates?
It will be heartbreaking to hear him cry for dad but I agree with what she says, her logic makes sense.
He should be able to Sit and Stay even though someone comes through the door.
Next post will contain a photo.
Havent updated for a while.
Fajsty has a new friend, a little Jack Russel by the name of Muffin/s/ but we call her Muff. She has limitless energy and can play with a bone on her own for an hour. She wakes her family up at 5-6 AM because then its time for the morning walk.
She gets at least 2 big walks a day, not too much mental exercises but she doesnt seem to be too bright so best to start slowly.
We have walked one eveningwalk and one morningwalk togeter, both 90 minutes long. Fajsty was exhausted after the long morningwalk, he's not used to that...
Have a new cat, a black one. Can post pics of him too.
He needs to eat alot. He's very thin and slightly dehydrated so it's important he drinks. . .
