Swiss Lick Swissies

Week 5

Friday, May 29th, 2009 | Indigo

It was cautious canine class time again last night!

Indy and I got to class a little early, so we were in the area where the basic obedience class is held. Lots of noise, distractions, people and dogs. It never ceases to amaze me that both of my Swissies get very excited when they see a beagle. Perhaps they think it’s Alex reincarnated. But wait–they got this way when she was alive, too. Cute.

When “class” began, I started off by firing off my questions. It’s great that we’re noticing when she’s nervous and how she reacts, but I needed to know what more there was to do about it. We’re trying for check ins, but is that all we do?

Bottom line is yes, unless we want to try acupuncture or medication. I’d try the acupuncture, but the meds are not something that I feel is necessary. In their eyes, it’s a slow process. The idea is for Indy to look to me (or Dan) when she’s nervous and let us handle the stress. And it takes a while. From that perspective, I have seen an improvement. She gets better every week. It’s just not the confidence building class I hoped it would be.

We did more of the same last night, but emphasis on the more. We met more new people, interacted with them and their dogs. We hit different areas of the building to try and get her to check in when she was nervous. And we found a nice man to do the treating exercise. He was a smart one and didn’t make eye contact at all, and it worked well. We saw him walking his dog a bit later, and she was very interested in him.

So again, not a loss. She’s getting better. It will just take a while. My only complaint at this point is we’re not doing any agility, and it was advertised that we would. But there’s an agility club in there at the same time as us, so it’s not going to happen. I’ll finish this class and see if we can get into a class somewhere.

Happy Friday!

Tags: Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Swissy

2 Comments to Week 5

SwissySara
June 10, 2009

As soon as I read “confidence building class,” I thought, “Indy should do agility!” I’m glad you’re looking into it. While it sounds like she’s not quite as jumpy as Indy, Thea is also quite cautious, and our agility work has done wonders for that! Even though she is scared of most of the equipment initially, she has learned that I won’t ask her to do anything that would hurt her, and she’s doing great in class! It sounds like Indy could do well with that too.

SwissyHugger
June 10, 2009

I remember hearing that you had Thea in agility! I’m glad to hear it has helped her. It gives me hope. I had a place nearby I was going to try, but they are only offering therapy training. I’ll find something in July!

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