Whisper

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roosmith
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Re: Whisper

Post by roosmith » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:37 pm

Helen,

Fireworks was ironically one thing she did ignore and like I say she was much better, however it went off and it was very loud to be fair, followed by a massive flash. It was just because she was outside and close.
Vivaro named Stewart however ex '96 4wd 2.5TD owner.
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helen&tony
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Re: Whisper

Post by helen&tony » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:38 pm

Hi Roo..
Well...that's fair enough :lol: :lol: ...but that's why we train ours with guns...close....The next bash will be New Year, here...lots of fireworks ad guns going off...We sleep through it! :roll: :lol: :lol:
Cheers
Helen
In the beginning there was nothing , then God said "Let there be Light".....There was still nothing , but ,by crikey, you could see it better.
Bob
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Re: Whisper

Post by Bob » Thu Nov 20, 2014 11:59 pm

Flippen Ek, Helen. :shock:

That's full on 'Training'. :lol:
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helen&tony
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Re: Whisper

Post by helen&tony » Fri Nov 21, 2014 5:23 am

Hi Bob..
We live in a hunting area, and there are guns going off every Saturday and Sunday...not close, but there's often someone letting a gun off...our neighbour's grandson sometimes looses off the odd few shots when he comes over, so we make sure the dogs don't get scared...no point in a pack of dogs that run :lol:
However...it'd difficult to train dogs with guns because they have difficulty holding them! :lol:
Cheers
Helen
In the beginning there was nothing , then God said "Let there be Light".....There was still nothing , but ,by crikey, you could see it better.
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Re: Whisper

Post by BigPanzer » Mon Jan 19, 2015 6:07 am

Hi,

Its been a couple of months since I wrote about Whisper. As I have said in the past, we are in this for the long haul and she is going to need it, but the rewards are there.

We are lucky, we have a traffic free green outside the front door. SWMBO and I have been letting her off with the mutts out there and she is loving it. We kept her on a long line for a few weeks - not a light nylon line intended for dog training, but a heavy (cotton mix) line one would normally use for a pony. This is too heavy to snag her back legs when she is running and possibly do her damage and it also slows her down sufficiently to catch her if there is a problem.
Now we are able to let her run free and have confidence that she is not going to go where she shouldn't. I think this is because she knows we have cheese in our pockets and if she can still see us then said cheese is within sight!
Her recall is coming on well. If she hears either of us (she definitely has "terrier ears") she responds quickly and returns to whichever one of us has a hand in the pocket. When she gets a few feet away she will stop and go into a sit. She is also starting to respond to hand signals for "wait" and "sit", but quite a bit more practice is needed here!

I mentioned the rewards. She has a tendency to drool quite a lot and when she has been running this turns to froth. When you combine this with the Staffie grin this tall, strong and almost black dog running straight towards you, teeth showing and foam flying everywhere can look very Hound of the Baskervilles and extremely intimidating until she does an emergency stop 3ft in front of me, sits and the tail starts going. (Wheres my cheese?). My heart goes out to her and I can't help thinking what she could be capable of if she had been treated properly and trained as a young dog.
When I see her lying at ease on the sofa with SWMBO and Lady (and sometimes Kam if there is room - we need a bigger sofa) then again my heart goes out - to all 3 of them.

We are still having a lot of trouble getting her on a lead. I think she has had a very bad life as far as leads are concerned and she has a lot of tiny scars which combined with her obvious fear makes me think she has been beaten with one. SWMBO can get her as far as the edge of the green on Kams lead (it smells of him and she likes Kam) but any further and she starts to panic. We are not pushing it - this is something that has to be taken at her pace - but until we can get her to be reliable on a lead it is a problem.
Given time I think we might be able to get her to behave like Kam. He is better off lead than on. It took me a long time to do it, but he will walk "to heel" or "with me" (allowed to sniff, but stay close) or "go be a dog" (run free). One very interesting thing that we have tried in the last few days is walking around the perimeter of the green with Kam on a spare lead, me holding Kams normal lead in my spare hand and SWMBO walking a few paces behind with Lady on a lead. She will walk very happily just behind self and Kam, round the full perimeter of the green, occasionally coming close enough to sniff Kams spare lead. It is almost as if she knows that a lead means walkies and cheese, but can't quite bear to wear one.

One thing that has surprised me is the number of local dog walkers we have spoken to who have said they saw her on TV and asked after her. We really don't want too much attention because when she eventually is ready to venture off the green on a lead the last thing she will need is well meaning folks wanting to say hello to her.

What more can I say? She is a problematic, pain in the a**, delightful, affectionate, droolly and very lovable enigma who is desparate to please but terrified of the world mutt who just wants to feel loved and safe. I wish we knew something of her past, but I'm glad we don't and we both love her very much.

Peter
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helen&tony
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Re: Whisper

Post by helen&tony » Mon Jan 19, 2015 8:21 am

Hi Peter...
How strange, I was only thinking of Whisper a day or two ago...I'm glad she's getting there...We had a bit of a time with our lurcher "Willow", as she had been beaten and starved, and one leg had been "gloved"...but after about 9 months, she had settled...We got her at 9 months, so she was only a pup, and , frankly, I more or less let her do what she wanted....as long as she comes , then I felt she needed to be who she wanted, after her initial experiences....The hardest thing was getting her to stop tiddling in the house, that took 9 months!...but she sleeps on the bed with us, and she's a loving dog...and believe it or not, bosses any other dog!....our Wolfgang is a very large GSD, and she used to grab his collar and walk him round the garden....We also have a GSD bitch...Helga...who also does that with Wolfie!....but whilst Helga tries to take No.1 slot, she won't usurp the old lady of the house!...Willow is the old Matriarch!....I guess your Whisper will be the same...namely find her feet and forget all her past, and just fit in as a big family friend. Somehow I think rescue dogs find the home they need rather than the other way round, and the family finding a dog they want! We've had 3 rescues, and 2 were problem dogs, and one was like you say...better off a lead, and even in public places where she should be controlled on a lead, police had commented how superb she was, but on a lead she was a hard task!
Very good luck to you with Whisper...she'll be a great pal! I'm afraid the 2 GSDs were bought as pups, as they are guards, and we have had our hands full with the house restoration!
Cheers
Helen
In the beginning there was nothing , then God said "Let there be Light".....There was still nothing , but ,by crikey, you could see it better.
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Re: Whisper

Post by BigPanzer » Tue Jan 20, 2015 5:24 am

Helen -

Interesting thing about dogs and guns. A few months ago I had a large scale model tank in for repair and mods. Within the turret it had a 9mm blank firing pistol to give a bang and a bit of a muzzle flash (it sounds nothing like an 88mm, don't know why anybody bothered to fit it)

Anyway, when I removed it Kam was sniffing around (nosey, as usual) but as soon as I had it in my hand he ran. I put it down for a few hours then picked it up again, only for him to vanish again. I tried again, same result. Then I put the mag in it (empty) and cocked it. He had his back to me when I did this, but he heard it and ran to hide behind the sofa, a shaking terrified wreck and he wouldn't come out for ages.

Nobody knows his history (he was found one morning tied up to the gate of the local dog pound), but to my mind there is something slightly disturbing about any dog who is so familiar with both the sight of a handgun and the very distinctive sounds of a mag being inserted and the slide being worked.

By the way, I converted the tank to fire electrically detonated squibs (stage maroons). Much more realistic! I gave the blank firer back to the owner of the tank, not because I wanted to but it was his property.

One thing I forgot to put in my Whisper update - the Xmas tree. SWMBO was complaining before Xmas that her crate was in the place where the tree normally sits. I jokingly suggested that she put the tree on top of the crate, not thinking she would do it. Guess what? By the time I got up the following morning there it was.
"That's going to fall off" I said. Almost before the words were out of my mouth Whisper shook the crate a bit and down it came. She was trapped in there by a wall of plastic branches (I hate plastic trees, but SWMBO loves them) and baubles, all illuminated by mains fed wiring. God knows where the fairy went, but we did find some masticated bits much later.
You can guess at Whispers reaction, but you would be wrong! We cleared the wreckage away and within a couple of minutes out she came, not looking too unhappy and proceeded to let go with the biggest widdle I've ever seen all over the carpet. It seemed like there were pints of it!
Quite content that she had punished us she then wandered into the garden for a dump.

Peter
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helen&tony
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Re: Whisper

Post by helen&tony » Tue Jan 20, 2015 3:00 pm

Hi Peter...
Strange that Whisper has that sort of reaction...handguns aren't allowed in the UK nowadays, so where did that aversion come from????....when they were , the only firing permitted was on a range....As I said, there are a lot of bangs round here, mostly weekend hunters....I'm not keen on hunters at the best of times, as there's no need to shoot animals...Bulgarians shoot any old protected species when nobody's looking...we had wolves locally...less of them heard now...and they are definitely protected!...But....this morning, on a dog walk , there was a large bang...very similar to a shotgun bursting...We rather thought that's one idiot that won't be taking any more pot-shots at animals :evil: ...
Our youngest makes me laugh...we've had her from a very small pup...but for some reason she is petrified of hoovers :lol: ....we have to put her in the garden!...however, one of our old dogs years ago loved to be hoovered to remove moulting hair!!!!!...daft critter loved it!....and I've heard of a few dogs like that!....
Cheers
Helen
In the beginning there was nothing , then God said "Let there be Light".....There was still nothing , but ,by crikey, you could see it better.
BigPanzer
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Re: Whisper

Post by BigPanzer » Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:34 pm

Hi Helen,

Actually it was Kam I was referring to about the handgun aversion, but re-reading my post I didn't make it very clear. The only reason I can think of is that at some time he belonged to a rather naughty type of person.

In years gone by I used to target shoot quite a lot. In those days handguns were legal and I owned 3 (not at the same time) - a .22 Colt Woodsman, which I grew to dislike because of its tendency to eject hot cases towards my face (I'm left handed), a .22 Ruger with the heavyweight target barrel and a .38 S&W revolver with MOD markings. Horrible thing, the only way I could hit a barn door with it would be to sit on the latch.
I also used to shoot smallbore and fullbore target rifle, skeet and clays. Trouble with clay pigeons is they take a lot of plucking!
I used to be a member of a club that had the use of the ex-MOD range at Starcross, but I lost all interest in shooting when the range discipline deteriorated to such an extent that things could have got dangerous. Never had much of an interest in hunting, to my mind the only reasons for shooting an animal is if you need to eat it or if it is dangerous to life.

Re: wolves, there was a fascinating TV program on a few weeks ago - The Snow Wolf Family and Me. A guy went to the high Arctic and spent some time living with and filming a pack.

Cheers

Peter
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Re: Whisper

Post by philpdr » Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:53 pm

Good to hear things are going well.
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