Daiquiri is getting very good at this. When she first arrived she always made the choice to ignore me when she went into defend mode. But now when I call her off she always makes the choice to come to my side. She used to always make the decision to defend but now she chooses to remain calm majority of the time. She almost made the right decision to not bark at the neighbor kids today when they were running but as soon as I reminded her she calmed immediately back down. She does choose to remain calm more times than not now.
When Daiquiri met the first person outside of our family she did much better than I had expected. It was even a tough situation for her. I had her put away before the company arrived but little did I know when I went to get her they had followed me and were just on the other side of the door. So when we opened the door it surprised both of us. She charged and barked but when I called her off she came back to me. At that point she decided it was safe to just sniff to check him out. I was really proud of the little girl!! I did not see fear but her guardian instincts come on strong. I have a dog that reacts out of fear and Daiquiri's posture has no fear present. She is still learning control of those instincts but I could not ask for more. Daiquiri is just an Aussie doing her job a little over the top. Exactly what I wanted :-)
Daiquiri also came to me with resource and space guarding issues. We worked really hard to nip the space issues in the bud from day 2 so this has really not been an issue here. I can see it is still in her thoughts but again she chooses to behave. Daiquiri does not get nasty when Ariel is getting her loves, mostly just stays back. However every now and again she will squeeze herself between Ariel and myself. I give her credit though because she seems to know when I will be OK with it and never gets nasty toward Ariel for staying there. She is learning that I do have more than one hand to give love with!
At our house all toys are mine and I rule them at all times. We also have a rule that we buy no single toy, meaning if I buy a Nylabone I buy three never just one, always one for each dog (same goes for tennis balls, stuffed animals, etc.) so that each can have their own at the same time. Of coarse toys get lost outside and under things so there are times there may only be one laying around. Rodeo and Ariel both know they are not to take a toy away from another dog. They know the consequence if they try - they all lose the privilege of playing with or chewing on my toy. They can sit there and watch the other one but better not take it away. It only took Rodeo about two weeks to get this when he arrived so I knew it would be much easier with Daiquiri. To this point we have not really had a chance for learning in this area as it has not come up. But today with the new Nylabones she was certain she needed Ariel's along with the other two. Of coarse Ariel let her have it but I intervened, took it away from Daiquiri, gave it back to Ariel and handed Daiquiri a different one. Still yet Daiquiri did not want hers, she wanted Ariel's but again Daiquiri made the right choice!!!! She did not chew on hers but chose to lay there and watch Ariel. She got up a couple times looking intent on getting that bone but each time she made the choice to lay back down by her bone without me having to remind her. I was VERY proud of her!!! She gets things so easily!!!
I know taking the toys away from all of them for one's behavior seems harsh but it has really worked for me. The ones who already know how the system works only have to suffer thru the new one messing up a couple times before there is an understanding among all of them. We do not have fights around here over toys, I just won't tolerate it. Rodeo used to get a toy to take on the couch then sit and growl at Ariel if she came within two feet. It was amazing how quickly he understood that he lost the toy the instant he did that. No dog likes to lose their entertainment like that!! I do not mind if they share a toy nicely so long as no one ends up guarding the toy or being a bully over it. Disclaimer: I do not push it with high value items like their food or pork raw hides :-)
Overall I could not be happier with Daiquiri. She is just so much fun. She has quickly stolen my heart. I can see how bonded she is to me now. She makes me laugh on a daily basis with her silly tactics. I love to watch her interact with my sons. She knows to be gentle with them. Her frisbee training is coming along. I see improvement each time but we still need to pull some drive out. It is in there but not quite as intense as I need it to be. I know it's there because I see glimpses of it. Once we get that to come out all the time it will be on!! In the off chance she decides frisbee is not for her no big deal we will just have to find something she loves. Maybe freestyle dance or herding.
One fun story...the girl makes me laugh daily. Daiquiri likes to steal wash clothes out of the bath room to bring in the family room to toss around. So here she come with one shaking it back and forth to kill it. As she did this it flew out of her mouth and hit the couch where a beam of sun light was hitting. The wash cloth had knocked a single dog hair into the beam of light. She saw it, gave it the eye then "grrrr....", snap and caught the darn hair. Then it was back to silly fun with the wash cloth. I laughed so hard at her :-)
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