# Just have to brag a little



## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

That's wonderful to read, brings a smile to my face. You must have been SO proud to see that! Lets you know that all of your hard work is definitely making an impact on Riley. 

It will be such a relief for you when you don't have to feel so tense around other dogs, you know?


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## Wendy427 (Apr 4, 2009)

Way to go, Riley!!!! We're all so proud of you!!!


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## HoldentheGolden (Aug 21, 2011)

Congratulations! I'm happy for you and Riley


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

kdmarsh said:


> That's wonderful to read, brings a smile to my face. You must have been SO proud to see that! Lets you know that all of your hard work is definitely making an impact on Riley.
> 
> It will be such a relief for you when you don't have to feel so tense around other dogs, you know?


Oh yeah... proud and absolutely stunned!
For a while now, he's been able to walk past most dogs - at a distance of about 15 feet - without reacting. But for him to be THAT close to one (and for him to have been surprised by it, besides) was a huge test!

If we can get to a point where he'll reliably react like that every time, I'll be a happy camper!


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

LifeOfRiley said:


> Oh yeah... proud and absolutely stunned!
> For a while now, he's been able to walk past most dogs - at a distance of about 15 feet - without reacting. But for him to be THAT close to one (and for him to have been surprised by it, besides) was a huge test!
> 
> If we can get to a point where he'll reliably react like that every time, I'll be a happy camper!



I hear ya. I have no grand delusions of Flora ever playing with a bunch of dogs, but to have her behave calmly around them would be great. Unfortunately, it really depends on the other dog!


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## Bentley's Mom (May 19, 2011)

What a good boy Riley. Cookies from mom are way better than any other dog


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

kdmarsh said:


> I hear ya. I have no grand delusions of Flora ever playing with a bunch of dogs, but to have her behave calmly around them would be great. Unfortunately, it really depends on the other dog!


Yep, I feel the same way with Riley. He may never _like_ other dogs and may not care to interact with them. I'd love for him to get to that point, but I'm not really counting on it. If we can do it, great! If not, that's okay, too. Like you said, right now I'm just focused on getting him calm and confident enough to happily ignore them.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

Bentley's Mom said:


> What a good boy Riley. Cookies from mom are way better than any other dog


Yep, and I'm glad that he agrees! He has it figured out -- he knows that seeing another dog means that he gets a treat. (He can spot another dog fifty yards away and he's looking for his cookie. lol.) 
But for that reaction to hold up when the other dog was THAT close shocked the heck out of me!


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Maybe, too, you were not aware of the dog, so you were not all tensed up ready for a reaction. Great job on all of your training, and good boy Riley on making your mom proud.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

DNL2448 said:


> Maybe, too, you were not aware of the dog, so you were not all tensed up ready for a reaction. Great job on all of your training, and good boy Riley on making your mom proud.


Ya know, that probably does have a lot to do with it. If I had _known_ that he was about to get that close to another dog, I'd have been SO nervous.
It's been a long time (almost a year, I think) since he was that close to another dog. And that last time wasn't pretty!

I'm really glad this happened with a little dog, too. He's so much better with the little ones. I don't know if he'd have been so good with a bigger dog.

And it showed me what the next step needs to be. I'm going to gradually decrease the distance I keep between him and small dogs when we're out walking and see what happens.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

Yay!! Congrats, I know that this has been a long work in progress. Good work (both of you! )!


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

Good job. It's so nice to see all the hard work finally pay off!


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

It just makes me so happy to see that he's starting to conquer his fear. I'm so happy for him! 
If we can build on this, he can get to a point where he'll really love his walks again. He always has, but I'm sure that being wary and feeling like he has to be 'on alert' every time we pass another dog has taken some of the joy out of it for him. It's so nice to see that he's getting over that and he's starting to relax and have fun again.


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## Angelina (Aug 11, 2011)

Kudos to you and Riley!


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

So when I WANT to encounter other dogs... we don't! Figures, doesn't it?

I want to encounter some of the small, calm dogs in the neighborhood so we can work on getting a little closer, but our walks yesterday and this morning were completely uneventful. It's been raining off and on here, and apparently people don't walk their dogs when it's raining. 
Maybe we'll have better luck this afternoon.


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

Hurray! It feels so goodwhen you can see the progress so clearly.


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## Lisa_and_Willow. (Dec 18, 2007)

It is a win-win for both of you. His progress means you will be less stressed and you being less stressed will hopefully increase his progress.

Well done to you both!


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

Lisa_and_Willow. said:


> It is a win-win for both of you. His progress means you will be less stressed and you being less stressed will hopefully increase his progress.
> 
> Well done to you both!


Exactly. I think we've been feeding off each other since the first time he went after another dog. At least now, I think we've both turned the corner and are starting to do it in a positive way!

Still haven't had any luck with trying to walk him closer to small dogs. I swear, no one walks their dog around here when it's raining! It's been nothing more than a drizzle and we've seen exactly two people over the past two days.
One is an older gentleman who walks his big old black lab no matter _what_ the weather is like. He's a calm, extremely friendly dog, but he's HUGE. Riley's... _okay_... with him, but I do see a little wariness at times. So that, combined with the fact that Beau is on a Flexi and his owner is an eldery man... probably not the best place to start!

I did see one of our nicest neighbors this morning, walking his little Puggle. Riley's fine walking by her and I know this guy would be more than happy to help me with Riley. (He's commented several times about how much better Riley's doing.) But unfortunately, he also had his friend's little dog this morning and I'm not sure about that one. We've only seen that dog a couple times and I think I'd rather start out with dogs that Riley sees frequently and doesn't react to.

Maybe we'll have better luck over the weekend. Though, it's supposed to rain off and on all weekend, so people will probably be hibernating. :doh:


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## Summer's Mom (Oct 20, 2010)

Your progress is great!!  inspiring and must be so liberating for you.. If i was anywhere in your part of the world we could work together :

Summer's been doing better too.. her shyness was more towards humans, and tonight we dined at an outdoor place and she spent the night being an ambassador for the Goldens.. people stopped to pet her and comment on how golden retrievers are the best dogs  Some hard work goes a long way!!


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Way to go, Riley and mom! I agree that the element of surprise didn't give you time to get all nerved up. You'll need to work on deep breathing and staying calm for Riley.

And here's your happy dance::artydude


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

Summer's Mom said:


> Your progress is great!!  inspiring and must be so liberating for you.. If i was anywhere in your part of the world we could work together :
> 
> Summer's been doing better too.. her shyness was more towards humans, and tonight we dined at an outdoor place and she spent the night being an ambassador for the Goldens.. people stopped to pet her and comment on how golden retrievers are the best dogs  Some hard work goes a long way!!


Oh, that's great! I'm happy to hear that Summer's doing so much better! I know you've been working very hard with her, too. 

He's shy with people, too, but he really picks and chooses. He can be all interested in one person and he'll shy away from another (or growl, if they approach us.) I can't figure it. I haven't been able to figure out what it is that puts him off with some people. 

And yes... liberating. That really is a good way to put it! Every time we used to get ready to head out for a walk, I'd catch myself looking at the clock and thinking, 'this time of day, we're going to run into this dog or that dog.' Now, when I catch myself thinking that, I can immediately say, "Yeah. So what?" It really IS liberating! 
There's only one dog that I go out of my way to avoid now, and it's because of that dog... not Riley.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

Penny's Mom said:


> Way to go, Riley and mom! I agree that the element of surprise didn't give you time to get all nerved up. You'll need to work on deep breathing and staying calm for Riley.
> 
> And here's your happy dance::artydude


LOL. Thanks! 

It's getting much easier to do. I'm starting to trust him more and more everyday. 
I just have to figure out how to trust him and take the next step without getting too cute. Don't need a setback now!


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## Adriennelane (Feb 13, 2008)

Way to go, Riley!


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Riley*

Riley

So PROUD OF YOU!!!


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## ebenjamin85 (Apr 13, 2008)

Nice work Riley!!! Not reacting to other dogs has been tough for me to train so I applaud you!


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

He's still doing really well! I'm almost afraid to say it, but I truly believe that we're finally back to square one, now. We can walk by just about any dog and he completely ignores them, like he used to before he got reactive. 

We passed within about four feet of a "teacup" Chihuahua puppy the other day. (At least I think that's what it was. I've never seen anything so tiny, so that's my best guess.) Riley couldn't have cared less. He barely glanced at it. Maybe he didn't realize it was a dog - I don't know... LOL.

Passed the greyhound yesterday. He's a pretty reactive dog, too, and has always put Riley on the defensive, immediately. Not anymore. He watched this dog for about two seconds, decided that he didn't need to worry about it and went back to sniffing the grass.

And today... Oh my, did he make me proud! We ran into one of the dogs that he does NOT like. (The dog that first sparked his reactions, in the first place.) We had nowhere to go. The woman was just standing there with this dog and her other one (a boxer.) And to make matters worse, our assistant property manager was sitting right there in a golf cart. I had two choices - turn around and make it look like I was afraid to walk Riley past, or trust him and keep going. I decided to trust him and he was an absolute angel! He glanced at them, I just told him "nevermind" and he looked straight ahead and just kept walking! Couldn't have cared less! And this other dog was all puffed up, eyeballing Riley, too. I was so proud of him, I could have burst!




ebenjamin85 said:


> Nice work Riley!!! Not reacting to other dogs has been tough for me to train so I applaud you!


 
I really think it has to be one of the harder things to overcome. We've been working on this for a little over a year now, and we're finally getting it!


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## Bentley's Mom (May 19, 2011)

Oh Riley, what a good boy. We're all so proud of you and your mom's hard work. Now you can relax and enjoy the walk. That's so exciting.


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## bbuzz (Aug 8, 2010)

Big congrates to you and Riley!! The hard work and persistence has paided off!! Bring on the happy dance!!


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## C's Mom (Dec 7, 2009)

I am so proud of you and Riley and can so relate to the stress of having a dog reactive dog. Like your situation, Mr. C seemed great with other dogs and then one day boom! - we were in it up to our knees. 
I, too, have had to work hard on slowly desensitizing him to other dogs (though in our case Mr. C is not interested in food) and it has paid off. He can now play with female dogs. I even monitor how he plays with dogs. If he gets too excited I reign him in. He even played with a male flat coat retiever a few times but I must admit that my heart was beating fast the entire time. It is so hard to relax and yet I understand that is it vital that I do so. Anyway, keep up the good work.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

C's Mom said:


> I am so proud of you and Riley and can so relate to the stress of having a dog reactive dog. Like your situation, Mr. C seemed great with other dogs and then one day boom! - we were in it up to our knees.
> I, too, have had to work hard on slowly desensitizing him to other dogs (though in our case Mr. C is not interested in food) and it has paid off. He can now play with female dogs. I even monitor how he plays with dogs. If he gets too excited I reign him in. He even played with a male flat coat retiever a few times but I must admit that my heart was beating fast the entire time. It is so hard to relax and yet I understand that is it vital that I do so. Anyway, keep up the good work.


That's great that he can play with some other dogs, now! You're doing a great job with him! It's amazing when you finally start to see the time and hard work pay off, isn't it? There have been many times when I've been tempted to say that Riley's just who he is and came close to giving up, figuring that he'll always be reactive toward other dogs and it's just something we'll have to live with. Luckily, I think I'm just a little more stubborn than he is. lol.

And oh yeah, I can relate to the rapid heartbeat at times. My heart was pounding yesterday, walking past his nemesis! It wouldn't have been bad if the assistant property manager hadn't been right there. The last thing I wanted was for Riley to act up in front of her! Especially since I think the other dog's owner was standing there on purpose, to see if he would. It would be just like her to do something like that. I seriously could have burst when Riley walked by like an angel! There was a day (not too long ago) when he would have barked and lunged. He certainly earned my trust yesterday. Not that I'll let my guard down just yet, but I see now that he has it in him.


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## C's Mom (Dec 7, 2009)

I hear you Deni. I don't think we can ever let our guard down - perhaps one day. It makes walking them more stressful to be sure. Admittedly, there are days when I wonder what I got myself into but, like you, I'm not going to give up. 

Just recently I spoke to the Vet Tech who put him in their adoption program and he told me that he didn't think I would ever get my nervous boy out and walking which speaks to how far my boy has come. We have walked the same morning route for nearly two years and he still gets nervous but I keep plugging away. I think the dog reactiveness was a surprise to us both. 

How old was Riley when you first noted the dog reactiveness?


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

C's Mom said:


> I hear you Deni. I don't think we can ever let our guard down - perhaps one day. It makes walking them more stressful to be sure. Admittedly, there are days when I wonder what I got myself into but, like you, I'm not going to give up.
> Just recently I spoke to the Vet Tech who put him in their adoption program and he told me that he didn't think I would ever get my nervous boy out and walking which speaks to how far my boy has come. We have walked the same morning route for nearly two years and he still gets nervous but I keep plugging away. I think the dog reactiveness was a surprise to us both.
> 
> How old was Riley when you first noted the dog reactiveness?


Wow - you really have come a long way with him! That's fantastic!

I saw the aggressive reaction for the first time just about a year and a half ago, so he was right around 2 1/2. 
Before that, there had been about a six month period where he was very shy around other dogs and didn't want much to do with them, after being literally tackled by an Irish Setter who charged the sidewalk in our old neighborhood. He just wanted to play, but it scared the wits out of Riley. 
After that (for about that six month period) I could stop and chat with someone walking their dog and Riley would just stand there. He seemed a little uncomfortable, but would still take treats so I kept at it, thinking that he was going to get used to it and would see that other dogs weren't scary. Then, one day I looked down and saw him snarling at this dog as I was chatting with her owner. I wasn't real sure how to handle it, so I ignored it and we quickly moved along. I think that was exactly what I _shouldn't_ have done, because that's all he needed. He catches on way too quickly (especially when I don't want him to) so all it took was for me to show him, that one time, that reacting aggressively toward another dog got him what he wanted - away from the other dog. From that point on, he'd bark, growl and lunge if another dog came within twenty feet of him. Any closer than _that_ and he acted like Cujo.

It did make walking him real interesting there for a while. That's when I started using the Halti, to make sure that I had control, no matter what. I'm tempted to stop using it now, but I don't want to get too brave. Especially if I have to deal with people around here who might try to provoke him. Better to stick with it and be safe, rather than sorry.


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## C's Mom (Dec 7, 2009)

Around 2 1/2 is when my boy started with his dog reactiveness too! I've read here that this is the age that it could start. I wish I was better at reading his signals back then perhaps I could have prevented this.

Last night we had a bit of an incident. There is this little dog that comes through the park that is very dog reactive and we owners always put our dogs on their leads the second we see each other. Last night Mr. C was turning the corner off leash and there was the little dog. I immediately called my boy who was running in the dogs direction. Mr. C got close but ran off to the side when I called him and then ran back to me. I'm glad he came when I called him but wish he hadn't run up to the dog when he saw him. More work to do.

I'm sorry you have to deal with jerk owners who would go out of their way to provoke Riley. I just don't get some people.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

C's Mom said:


> Around 2 1/2 is when my boy started with his dog reactiveness too! I've read here that this is the age that it could start. I wish I was better at reading his signals back then perhaps I could have prevented this.
> 
> Last night we had a bit of an incident. There is this little dog that comes through the park that is very dog reactive and we owners always put our dogs on their leads the second we see each other. Last night Mr. C was turning the corner off leash and there was the little dog. I immediately called my boy who was running in the dogs direction. Mr. C got close but ran off to the side when I called him and then ran back to me. I'm glad he came when I called him but wish he hadn't run up to the dog when he saw him. More work to do.
> 
> I'm sorry you have to deal with jerk owners who would go out of their way to provoke Riley. I just don't get some people.


Yikes. That had to have gotten the heart rate up! It's great that he came right back to you, but it still had to be a little scary. 

Riley acted up a little bit this morning, too. We were walking past this newer dog that he's only seen a couple times, at a distance. I think he's a cattle dog, or a cattle dog mix. He's not reactive, but he's real bouncy and seems to be hyper-alert, which usually makes Riley nervous. Well, we had just gotten past them when the other dog marked a tree and looked back at Riley as he was kicking at the ground with his back feet, like some dogs do after they take care of business. For some reason, that set Riley off. He growled and did a little lunge. Bad, but not NEARLY as bad as he used to react. The lunge was very half-hearted. It was almost more of a hop than a lunge. I had him on a 4' leash and there was still a little slack in it, so I think he was just posturing more than anything. I didn't like it, but at least it was still better than it had been.
I don't think we'll be ditching the Halti anytime soon, though!

I wish I had done things differently, at first, too. I really think that my doing the wrong things, initially, took a hiccup and made it a full-blown issue. Ah well... live and learn I guess, right?

And yeah, I don't get some people, either. I didn't want to think that it was intentional, but I know darned well it was. Had it been anyone else but this woman, I wouldn't suspect that. But with her... oh yeah, it was intentional. At least she's usually easy enough to avoid, and Riley was an angel when it counted, so I'm not going to get worked up about it.


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