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Lucy.

2K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Purley 
#1 ·
Lucy arrived here on August 16th, which means she has been here four weeks today. What a difference! My granddaughter showed up for lunch today with two of her friends. They hadn't seen her since she was shy and wouldn't come to anyone. She was jumping all over them. I had to speak to her very strongly because I don't want her to think that jumping up on people is OK.

She starts her obedience class on Sunday. She is pretty good at sitting, and walks well on the leash, whereas when I first got her she had never been on a leash before. There are only five dogs in her class.

I am not sure if the one Malamute is going to be allowed to take the class. I spoke to the woman yesterday and they have had a trainer in - she apparently didn't work out. The woman says the dog is very dominant. I told her she had to leave the dog in her vehicle while she registered, but she said she couldn't do that or the dog would wreck the car!! So I said she could use one of the pen/crates in the building - but again, she said she couldn't do that because the dog would tear the crate to pieces. She said she told the vet this when she had the dog spayed (its 2 years old) but they put the dog in a pen and she went crazy and broke a tooth. (I kind of wondered what on earth she expected the vet to do with a dog while it was getting spayed - stand there and hold it??) Apparently they live in the country and have a large area with a 6 foot chain link fence, but the dog pushes on the fence and bends the chain link and makes holes in it. They tie the dog up and then its fine!! She told me that she was outside her house with another dog, the Malamute was inside the house and forced its way through the door and jumped on the other dog. She said it didn't bite the other dog; didn't break the skin, but it took her five minutes to get her dog off the other one!! I must admit I wasn't keen on my 10lb puppy being in the same class!!

I have emailed the trainer and he says he will assess the dog before the woman registers and decide if the dog can take the class.

This is the best photo I have of her. I should have got my husband to hold her because you can't see her eyes. And I had to fiddle around with the photo with Irfanview to get it looking like this even!
 

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#2 ·
What a difference a few weeks makes! Was it Lucy I had a small bet on, that you would be having to control her bounciness within a month or two?

I do agree about the problem of big, disruptive dogs in class. I stopped going to one where a foolish woman kept letting her lab-x loose, whereupon he would bounce all over Sophy - not an ounce of harm in him, but not an ounce of self control either, and the little giggle and "Oooh, sorry, I've done it again, haven't I?" from the owner was annoying me as much as the dog was annoying Sophy.
 
#3 ·
Yes. That was shy, timid, frightened Lucy you were talking about. That is the Lucy that is getting her own way with the toys around here - she plays tug of war with a piece of old fabric - Tyson at the other end - and she always wins! Tyson will let her poke her nose in his food once there are just crumbs left. Sam snaps at her, which is fine by me. She should leave Sam's food alone!

You should have spoken to the instructor and had him or her tell the man to control his dog or he would be asked to leave the class.

There was a woman in my agility class and she kept taking over -- telling people what to do etc. etc. I spoke to the instructor and said it was annoying me -- that if she wanted to instruct the class instead of him - I would change classes. He spoke to her and she mostly stopped. When she interfered again, he told her in front of the rest of us. That shut her up for good!!
 
#4 ·
You should have spoken to the instructor and had him or her tell the man to control his dog or he would be asked to leave the class.
I think the instructors were as annoyed with her as the rest of us, but it was so obvious that she and her dog (and her children) were in desperate need of training that they were doing everything they could to keep her in the class. I can see their problem - it is the most difficult dogs and owners that most need the training. People like me who spend hours every day playing with their dogs, talking to their dogs, cooking for their dogs, reading about dogs, chatting on forums about dogs, are probably a slightly lower priority for trainers who have seen too many dogs abandoned in rescue because their owners' couldn't cope.

I am so glad Lucy has come out of her shell, and that you are all having fun together now.
 
#5 ·
I'm no expert but it sounds like the malamute has separation anxiety and not dominance issues. Also sounds like the poor woman has no idea how to deal with it. Hope she's able to find the help she needs.

Glad Lucy is doing well! Hope you both enjoy your class. Cosmo starts his tomorrow night. Hopefully we don't piss everyone in class off since we're likely to be the disruptive ones. :)
 
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