Blake is still kept separate from the others unless I can pay 100% attention to them all, and me usually holding on to him to control his movements. But when everyone is settled in the sitting room, all is nice and peaceful. :-)
In the garden he is now always on lead, unless I have him out on his own (which he gets to do about three times a day when he can run and play to his heart's content, and of course clicker training too.
Skye is a little grumbly still if Blake wants to sniff her, though she has had a few more waggy tailed hellos with him.
Flash is still quite cautious, but in the last couple of days also a couple of waggy tailed and friendly greetings with him. Again, just being around Blake is fine, but when Blake goes up to him, Flash occasionally "smiles" at him.
Jesse is much better again since I upped his thyroid medication again. I have booked an appointment with his vet Rachel next week to officially discuss the meds, and see whether I can increase it a bit more even possibly. He is definitely more relaxed (and I also haven't seen him lag on walks since then, nor lip lick which could indicate that his mouth is not dry anymore, another hypo symptom) and even went up to Blake a couple of times through the gate. He also doesn't worry anymore when Blake whines or barks on the other side of the gate.. which really unsettled him at first. I am still ultra cautious with Jesse, but he is definitely happier with Blake, and apart from a couple of grumbles, he has been ok (though wouldn't want to test this without holding on to Blake).
I am doing various bits to help.
- Feeding all the dogs alternatively with Blake on one side of the gate and the others on the other side, feeding them really close together. At the start Jesse was very unhappy with this, and now he can cope well with even really close feeding even if I drop Blake's treat near the gate. His body language is definitely much more settled and he rarely looks uncomfortable now. I do this at least three times a day, often more.
- Doing individual clicker training session with all of them, including Blake, to keep them mentally stimulated.
- I verbally praise any nice interactions I see which is starting to help.
- I encourage Jesse to lick my hand through the gate when Blake approaches the gate teaching him a calming and alternative response to growling.
- I encourage Jesse to pick up his toys when he gets worried, again an alternative response and something that is comforting and calming for him.
- I play with the dogs (especially the spaniels) near the gate with their toys and Blake plays on the other side of the gate with his toy. This encourages bonding by doing things together. Again, I can see improvements as there is no negative body language usually.
- Blake is always on a harness (unless I am out) which allows me to manoeuvre him around without him freaking out - something which is impossible by using the collar. In fact, that was one of the incidents when I tried to stop him from going through a gate by holding his collar, he freaked and Jesse went for him. This hasn't happened at all now since using the harness at all times. All is much calmer this way.
So we are making progress, but it is tiny baby steps. I think one of the problems is as well that Blake is still entire, and once neutered things will be more chilled I am sure.
It is much easier now that Blake knows to wait at the gates until I tell him to go through, that I can lead him by the harness without him freaking out and that he knows to wait when I ask him to.
Exercises I am teaching him so far:
- Name game - the first thing I taught, and he responds nicely to name now. I continue to practice it when we are in situations where he is more distracted
- Hand touch - getting quite good, starting to work on duration now
- Recall - getting quite good, have introduce the whistle today (three pips)
- Down - have just started this with toys first, and with food today. It is very hard to free shape him for positions as he doesn't offer them, so I have started luring the down
- Sit - I very rarely see him sit on his own accord. I am at the moment not sure whether that's confirmation or whether he needs a chiropractor. But today I got him to sit really well via the down position rather than from the stand. I have had no success so far getting him to do it from the stand as he will just walk backwards, but he does it well from the down. So that's what we are doing until he can do it from the stand too.
- Food follow - hey, I have to start competitive heelwork at some point. LOL So I have started with the food follow over the last couple of days and we manage three or four steps now.
- Flat high hand target for heelwork - only just started.
- Heelwork statics - getting him to do the back end turn into the heel position. Started just a couple of days ago and he's got the hang of it.
Here are some pictures and videos over the last week:
Blake is so much for confident on walks now, and he has even learnt to scan around him whilst still walking rather than having to stop and watch. LOL
I am using lots of treats to get him to respond to various situations, e.g. when he spots cats, when he is worried about something etc. and it is starting to pay off.
And here are a couple of videos I took - he is one happy bunny LOL:
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