Since Paige arrived in June, I've been watching her with other dogs. She's very friendly - too friendly really, boogering off to say hello has been an issue - but her body language has been lovely.
A few months back I decided to see if I could bring her on a bit, reward the right things, a bit of gentle guidance here and there, with the goal of her becoming my second teaching dog.
Opi is my main girl - when it comes to working with aggressive dogs, scared dogs, people etc she's fab; her body language is beautiful, and she can read other dogs wonderfully and calm them down - just the other week she was set upon by a fearsome Jack Russell and despite this little thing hanging off her neck, she remained calm and used her body to calm little Poppy down. Poppy wasn't her friend by any means - but she did stop attacking so her owner was able to grab her. That's the mark of a brill teacher in my eyes.
Paige isn't that skilled - yet - but she is well on the way. Today she had her first session - a little viszla girl, fear-aggressive like Poppy but nowhere near as bad, just a bit of lunging and barking when dogs get too close. Paige came into the lesson halfway through; I wanted to work Molly with Opi first to get her back into the swing of it (we've been unable to meet due to weather for 2 weeks). Paige is the 'next step' - she's a fair bit more springy than Opi so more of a 'trigger' for a scared dog.
What I've been working on is her not losing her springiness, but toning it down a bit around other dogs - and I must say, she's come on so, so well. The only times she bounced today were when she was tied up - I tend to start that way so I can walk the owners through the exercise first - and then when I specifically asked her to do it. The rest of the time, she was perfectly calm and controlled, paid great attention to me and only overstepped Molly's boundaries once - and backed away when she was then told off.
This is a milestone for Paige - her self control used to be shocking, and certainly with River she is not above retaliating if she's told off.
I am so, so proud of my girl and forsee a very helpful future for her and the dogs she will help :) Depending on how she is with being bathed I may consider putting her forward as a PAT dog (Pets as Therapy) - however as bathing is a requirement before every visit that is kind of a big point (and is why Remy is not a PAT dog).
