Despite spending the last year genning up on small dog breeds, pups, training and the importance of socialisation I have gone against everything I know is sensible and taken in a 6 month West Highland Terrorist.

Willow needed a new home as her owner had got 2 pups and once they hit 6 months she couldn't cope with them both. I told the lady we were willing and able to get around most 'issues' as long as she was honest with me, and Willow was well socialised as we have 2 kids (5 & 8) and are out and about a lot...forest parks, walks, beaches, picnics and we go caravanning A LOT. She assured me she was well socialised and very quiet. Well. It turns out she was so poorly socialised that she barked and foamed at the mouth Kujo style when we took her out at just about everything (except cats ) a dog, a person, a leaf... Once, even at a mere dot in the distance that she thought may have been a dog but turned out to be a black bin bag.

Anyway, turns out the lady had never taken her out ("she's a wee house dog") and believed she was socialised as she got on with visiting grandchildren and her daughter's dogs.

We rang dog trainers and none recommended bringing her to puppy classes as it would be 'throwing her in at the deep end'. So we got a one to one trainer and it has really made a huge difference but we still have a long way to go.

We've had her 3 weeks now and we take her out to meet as many dogs as possible everyday (trainer reckoned she should meet at least 4 dogs everyday for several months if she were to have a chance of being socialised). I have taken to shamelessly stalking dog owners. And I resent people who walk for pleasure - how dare they not have a dog so my dog can avoid an ASBO!

She no longer goes into a barking frenzy when she sees another dog (well mostly, a Patterdale set her off the other day) but she does get awfully excited - pulling on the lead, and wee whines until she gets to the dog. If she gets to the dog quick enough she's great but if the dog is walking toward us away on up the road she'll have got herself so giddy that her wee cries will have escalated to a bark (cue me waiting behind bushes and jumping out only when a dog is close like a weirdo ).

If she barks I turn on my heel and walk her away from the dog until she settles so she is learning bark = no meet dog, quiet = meet dog. I tried using this tactic with the pulling and whining but it just resulted in her going absolutely ballistic like she did in the early days so I felt I was expecting too much, too soon from her.

Should I try to correct this or is it too early days for her? What about a Halti? Or do you think it an unnecessary 'quick fix' at this stage considering she's young and coming on OK gradually. Will the pulling and whining decrease as she becomes more and more desenstised to other dogs in time, without the need for the Halti?

Also, I should mention she used to react the same way with people but this has settled somewhat and I am able to distract her, as soon as we see people, with a firm 'heel' and a treat (when I say 'heel' she walks close by me and looks at me so focus is on me rather than what is likely to excite her). This might work for a couple of metres when she's sees a dog ahead but then it gets too much for her and then she's off ahead of me and to hell with the heeling and the treating! That's why I thought a Halti or something similar might help - with more head control could I get her to focus on me rather than the dog? Otherwise she is great on the lead, walks by my left side and doesn't pull unless she sees something that excites her.

We are also doing the Tillington ttouch massage (I've no idea if this is useful or hokum but might as well try) and have ordered a Thundershirt anxiety coat as some reviews said this took the edge off excitement so aided training.

Since I've rambled this long (sorry!) I might as well ask while I'm here - am I being selfish trying to 'mould', for want of a better word, her into a lifestyle she's so unprepared for? Would she be better off in a similar home to her last where she's "a wee house dog"? I can't help but think that had she been in a rescue centre they probably wouldn't chosen us as a good match for her.

I'm not sure I want to hear the answer to that last one, truth be told; re-homing her isn't really an option. We are her 4th home - breeder, elderly lady who had her, then her daughter (she lived there while they tried to re-home her), then us. Not fair on her. She really is a wee dote. Besides we've had many rescues over years with various health and behaviour problems and never considered re-homing them. But then I think I'm putting my needs before hers.

Anyway, if anyone has actually made to the end of this spiel more power to your elbow and thanks for reading. Thanks in advance for any advice and/or reassurance you can give me.

Well done you for the good work, if turnings not helping wi the pulling a halti may be an idea, I've no experience of them but have heard good things, it may also be worth trying food rewards before changing her collar, cheese is a fab one (in moderation) and keep it just for good lead walking.

Now she's more socialised can you contact a doggy crèche or day care see if they do coffee mornings or similar (mine do), it's less likely to be puppies, but more socialised, calmer dogs.

Thanks so much for your reply. Yep, she does love her cheese. I tend to treat with plainer kibble type treats when passing by what now seem to be 'low-level stimuli' (just making up my own terminology here ) like birds, people, leaves, bin bags and save the big guns (chicken and cheese) for interactions with dogs.

Should I use 'heel' and high-value treats over and over as we approach the dog to keep her focused on me ? (if I can, that is - sometimes she heels, takes the treat and then takes off like a rocket, having her cake and eating it!). Should I be really full on on the entire walk up to the dog, firmly saying heel while really waggling the treat in front of her face, over and over, basically forcing her to focus on me? (I'm not just directing that to just you Bazaar, just anyone at all, don't want to think I'm treating you as a free one to one trainer )

Also, to confuse things, I found that she responds to 'quiet' said in a deep voice if barking at the gate at home and this does seem to help to prevent the whining turning to a bark sometimes on walks. So am not sure whether I should scrap that and just go with heel - treat - heel - treat. Or do I use 'quiet' as well? I know I'm asking such silly questions but I like to be clear in what I should say/do as consistency is so important. I don't want to confuse her by giving her too many commands.

We're short on daycares round here but I just got off the phone this minute to a trainer who has a class with older dogs on Thursday night and she's willing to let me bring Willow along to see how she gets on.

We had a good day today on our walks so am feeling positive about trying her in the caravan this weekend. Have booked a site down the road from us so if she kicks up a trade one of us can bring her home while one stays with the kids (don't want them missing out) before we get evicted. Fingers crossed!

I'd keep dog related pulling and walk related pulling separate. Ie if she sees a dog and pulls to get to it, stop make her sit, and when she calm treat her and move on, either to the dog or keep her sitting until they are past. Then for walking it should be heel, treat, heel, treat, heel treat etc etc. walking to heel is one of the hardest ones to teach, I find it easier on a flexi lead, but it depends on the dog, as I said haltis are meant to be good, but is worry that it's just diverting the issue, not treating it.

That's brilliant, thanks. I'll do that. Holding off on Halti for now. They're rather monstrous looking so am happy to try other things first. Some people tend to perceive dogs wearing them as aggressive cos it's over the muzzle. Willow's rep around the dog park is bad enough with some of the others. Oh, I see those pensioners quickening their pace to hip clicking speeds in a bid to get away from us. And their dogs have a look that says '*sigh* not that little sh*t again'.

Oh she sounds so similar to my dog when I first had her. Can I recommend the wonderful BAT book by Grisha Stewart? A lot of what you've been advised is in there along with lots of practical exercises.

I do think you're on the right lines based on my experience and if it helps to know, Molly is now so much better after 6 months of concentrated effort. I have been so lucky to find a dog behaviourist who has experience with reactivity. We did one to one training too and a slow controlled exposure to dogs. I'm not sure about the dog daycare myself, do you have any trusted dogs you can try your dog out with.

We have found a safe distance from dogs on lead using a local park and our behaviourist's own dogs. We walk towards them, for each time Molly is calm when she looks at the dog we click and treat. If she reacted, we walked backwards to her safe place and began again. Out and about, we do the same thing. I've also taught her to sit when a dog comes past, a sit is harder for a dog to lunge from, and lots of high value treats. We use liver cake only for this exercise as I hugely believe that it's something to 'jack pot' treat on. Molly now looks at me for treat when she sees a dog which is a massive deal.

I do use a halti on Molly. We made the mistake of using a harness to stop her pulling so badly as I had a shoulder injury and operation over Christmas. Molly seems to associate the halti with training and being good, the harness with lunging (our behaviourist said she was the worst case she had seen). What I strongly recommend is that if you do decide to use a halti, you ask your trainer to help you fit and use it.

Here is the BAT website
http://functionalrewards.com/

It's early days yet, I think you're doing the right things but this is going to take a lot of time and a lot of patience. Don't fret it - you'll be rewarded in the end

Just a couple of thoughts; I'm not much of a fan of using treats very much. I want the dog's focus to be on me and not the treats although I do use them sparingly.

I'm not suggested you let your pup loose among strange dogs, but just to bear this in mind - dogs being pack animals will chastise a dog that's not being polite. Wherever possible, let your pup be around older, calmer dogs that will put her in her place (but obviously they should not be allowed to actually fight).

I'm not a fan of Haltis. If your dog has any anxiety at all, then don't use them, as they can add to the anxiety rather than help.

I would suggest going back to the trainer and asking their advice. They know your dog and will be able to advise accordingly.

I would like to add that we're aiming to wean Molly off the halti, I think used right they're fine and we've always had supervision on this from a very qualified behaviourist but I feel that for us, it's how to eat an elephant, one bite at time. We are now working hard on loose lead walking around other dogs.

Can I ask if you use a clicker? Treats and clicker combined is how we've got through this. I don't ever use one without the other or I reward with play (although I don't feel it's suitable for lead reactivity as it seems to ramp up Molly's exhuberance even more!) I'm not entirely sure about doggy day care but you know your dog and you've made some really wise decisions so far. One other thought was keeping a blog. We did this and it does help to see how far you've come at the most difficult days.

Thank you so much for your reassuring post, Shadow. Well done you for getting Molly on the right track, glad she's making good progress.

Thanks for the link. BAT looks good so think I'll get Mr T to get it on his Kindle tonight when he gets in from work. Although just want to check it will help in Willow's case now that she's no longer showing fear - just excitement when greeting - so her reward for not barking is to walk toward the trigger (and greet) rather than away in the cases of the dog in Grisha's videos? I suppose I can just take the same principles and apply them to Willow's case. I definitely like Grisha's ethos.

No we don't use clicker training. We got a clicker and read up on it before we got Willow but as we wanted the kids involved in the training too and they had difficulty getting the timing right (we talked about training with the kids and did role play with them with Mr T pretending to be a dog to see what the kids would do in that situation if he were a dog. Kids had a ball, Mr T looked ridiculous but the kids' timing was awful! ). They were used to verbal commands and praise with our last dog so we went with that. Is a shame because clicker training seems to be very effective.

Today she did much better on her walk when meeting dogs. Yes, she still pulled in a bid to get over to them quicker (but I didn't quicken my pace to let her have her way) but definitely not to the extent as usual, no whining, crying or panting and certainly no barking. Often when she meets the dog she has a sniff, has a play and then lays down on the grass or comes over and looks at me, ignoring the dog. All that excitement and then its 'right I'm done with you, bored with you now.'

I did heed the advice here and on approaching a dog I made her sit when she started pulling....but she didn't settle so I couldn't move off to reinforce settled behaviour as it was not forthcoming. Nope, she started yapping and whining so frustrated because I was stopping her getting to the dog. I know, I know that its a slow process as it was with correcting the barking at the start and if I stick with it she'll learn not to pull too but it is so much harder without the trainer with me, asking the other owners to wait while I work with Willow. When I'm on my own often the dog and owner are long gone by the time WIllow settles so she can never get her reward and is just so frustrated.

We did pass one dog though that she couldn't get to and she was great! I told her to heel and she did, looking up at me as we walked on and she didn't look back at the dog at all as it passed. Whoop!

PS Hope your shoulder's OK now.

I walk my friend's lurcher every day. She goes after every cat, pulls towards every place she has ever seen a cat before, barks and lunges at every dog, motorbike, leaf, postman etc. After two years she hasn't improved at all. Control is difficult because I am walking her with my own dog at the same time.

The only thing that seems to work with Lucy is getting in front of her to block her view of the target, making her sit and holding her face so she is forced to look at me, whilst I repeat the words ''settle down'' in a calm but serious voice. When she calms and focusses on me instead she gets lots of praise. This technique works with that particular target but has to be repeated every single time she spots a new one. I've come to the conclusion that she will never change now. For me, walks just have to involve being hypervigilant of any possible lucy perceived threat and getting her back on her lead on the field if any dog with a ball turns up. It's a shame really because she only chases them once and does a sort of fly past with a bark. Once that is over she will happily just mooch along with the other dogs, but as I can't be certain of the new dogs reaction to her behaviour I can't risk a fight developing.

Just back from a particularly stressful walk with her where I had to battle to keep my temper and remind myself that she was just doing what she always does and getting angry with her wouldn't acheive anything. She's a rescue who spent her first 3 years stuck in a conservatory never being walked or socialised.

The breaking her view advice above is great, I've seen a few trainers have success with that.

Op have you watched any Victoria stillwell vids? She's very much the calm, positive reinforcement type trainer your emulating, I find her programmes good for ideas, such as the one yorkisgal recommended above. You don't need to do everything she says but it's good to watch and see he successes she has,

Just to clarify about the day care, wasn't suggesting you put her in, but that you see if they have coffee mornings etc where temperament tested dogs can socialise under the care of their owners

Thanks Wolfsheadish. Good idea. I've arranged to meet up with a friend and her 2 Cavaliers. They're placid but playful so just what Willow needs. And she can get some off lead play with them. Anyone else I know who has dogs are as anti-social as Willow - it's amazing the amount of people who have 'barkers' and 'cross dogs' - so don't think Willow would benefit from that. One lady I know offered a 'playdate' (hate that word!) with her Schnauzer but she uses a Pet Corrector (can of pressurised air which makes a noise which dogs hate when her dog barks - which he does alot apparently) which she thinks will sort WIllow out too but I think that's a bad idea as Willow needs her socialisation to be positive not negative.

Yes, I know what you mean about treats. Funnily enough our last dog responded better to praise than treats - and she was a lab! At the moment I'm using a mix of praise and treats with basic obedience. Plain treats for 'heel'. Tastier treats for passing dogs and exciting things she can't get to. Getting to meet a dog is reward in itself so I don't usually treat that (that's what trainer said to do). Honestly, it's hard to know if you're doing right for doing wrong!


I did ring her there. I was reluctant to as she's more of the pack/top dog school of thought but she was the only trainer I could get (my area is dreadful for trainers and classes) and I wasn't aware of it at the time. Don't get me wrong I am so, so grateful she got Willow where she is but I do have some misgivings about her so thought I'd come here first.

Anyway I did ring her and told her about the pulling. She said she likes Haltis as she works with German Shepherds mostly and they work for her. She does think I should hold off though and try heeling and treating to distract on the walk up to a dog for 3-4 weeks to see how she gets on. If no improvement she'll review. She said that although getting her to sit is a good approach she thought that Willow is still too exciteable and will just get more frustrated. She hopes that with continual exposure to dogs the edge will be taken off the excitement and we can then introduce better commands like 'sit'.

That is so sad! Poor Lucy. And poor you. And she's not even your dog?! You're a good 'un. I'd have probably dropped the friend.... (kidding!)


Yeah the trainer said I was to turn if she barks when I can but if it's an area or situation where that is difficult I was to hunker down and block her view. But she wanted me to shout at her and poke her at the side of the neck (she says this is what the mother would do ). Anyway I don't do the poking or shouting (I can't shout anyway - I sound feeble).

I have Victoria's book 'It's me or the dog' and am using that for basic obedience but it didn't really cover this issue. I did check out her forum though but didn't even realise there were videos . Will check them out - she's very good. Thank you.

Oh, and I knew what you meant about daycares...I live out in the sticks in N. Ireland and we really don't have any great facilities for dogs in this area unfortunately....which is a shame cos I love the sound of a coffee morning. Ha, I may start my own when I get Kujo tamed! I even have to do a 20 mile trip every morning to walk her as there's nowhere closer where I'm guaranteed to find plenty of dogs.

I'll also see what Thurs brings. The lady sounds good and very positive which gives me hope. Well, more hope. I have hope. I know she's doing well (famous last words...).


Thanks again to everyone for your advice and reassurance.

She does a tv show: it's me or the dog, there's always good advice on there, check out you tube.

Sounds like your doing well (I agree a out not hitting/poking the dog) but it takes the patience of a saint to train and untrained adult! Keep it up!