Sitting still in public

You know? My friend has showed some dog massage stuff at our last seminar, I thought was great!!!
She showed us some dog massaging techniques that are relaxing and which are creating more bouncy energy!
So I do that a lot now, just relaxing and sitting and petting my dog, massaging him!

Toffee sits with me and relaxes and as long as he can sit/lay with me it's all good. For example at a busy beach people are playing ball and Frisbee and kids running.. he just watches and puts his sandy self against me. Off-leash pretty much the whole time. Even a brave seagull won't get chased if we are in relaxing mode. Same if we are at a trial, as long as he can sit against my legs and no strangers try and pet him and I am sitting with him it's all good.

Totally different story if I try to leave him in a crate or car or anything :rolleyes2:
 
I love reading everyone's responses...interesting! I think part of it is personality, part of it is age, and part of it is experience.

Bentley is typically a lazy dog, but we never really took him out to places where he just sat or laid down. His outings were always walking outings, so he's not sure what to do.

danisgoat said:
This got me thinking....maybe you could freeze their dinner inside a kong. Then you can bring the kong to the concert and your dogs can sit there and work at their dinner while you enjoy the music.
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That is a really good idea!

We will definitely keep going as I think it's good for the dogs to meet so many people and other dogs (luckily the noise doesn't bother them at all).
 
I was privileged to sit in on formal puppy evaluation for litter of 6 pups. That was some eye opener. Pups were 7 and half weeks, and yeah, it was evident which one of them going to be what. Sure you can do a lot with training but their basic personality is going to be same no matter what. Two pups were recommended for high performance homes, rest for pet, some with kids, some for therapy dogs etc. It was done using CARAT methods which seems to be proving very accurate. Rest of it is training. Still high energy dog will be high energy dog and you will need lots more training to get it rest for couple of hours outside with all distractions presented as opposed to laid back personality which can be happy couch potato no matter what...
 
Marlowe says "Sitting still? What's THAT???"

We live in the busy downtown core of our city and Marlowe sees a lot of people and dogs on walks and at the dog park but that doesn't stop him wanting to meet more! Unless I really tire him out (such as by letting him run around a dog park for an hour or more on a very hot day), I can't just sit with him at a cafe or park; I end up just tethering him to me and ignore his pulling while I sip my tea. Fortunately, he is not vocal so I don't have to deal with barking.

He is not quite 18 months. I expect he will settle down as he grows up but he is such a busy, busy dog that it's hard to imagine!
 
Just to clarify - I can trust Buffy at pretty much any outdoor situation, except a concert. She has been to several outdoor picnics and the beach and lots of family events outside. Just really loud noises freak her out, like the Thursday dancing and concerts in the square. I'm not that into summer outdoor concerts, so I haven't bothered to bulletproof her on them yet. There are some things that just improve with age and maturity....
 
Diana said:
Just to clarify - I can trust Buffy at pretty much any outdoor situation, except a concert. She has been to several outdoor picnics and the beach and lots of family events outside. Just really loud noises freak her out, like the Thursday dancing and concerts in the square. I'm not that into summer outdoor concerts, so I haven't bothered to bulletproof her on them yet. There are some things that just improve with age and maturity....
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awww, I think she's doing awesome from what you're saying :D

I just don't take my little guy to those places that I know will be too much, like concerts or fireworks, for him lol
Plus there is always idiots in my experience at those places who insist they are dog people, who won't leave Toffee alone. They stare right at him, stick their hand in his face and expect him to sniff it, when he doesn't they STILL come into his space uninvited and Mr Mr backs up and barks, which promotes the idiot to press his suit to want to pet Toffee on his pretty head, while standing over him... lol Idiots NEVER take hints! I give said Idiot a treat to give Toffee, what does he do? He stands ramrod straight and says sit sit sit... before he is giving him treat THEN wants to pet him *sigh* because he doesn't want Toffee to dominate him... doesn't believe in treats... and I only asked him to give the treat so Toffee knows good things come from Idiots, too... but noooo.. my fault that didn't work out! :lol:
 
Bailey has loved the summer concerts in the park since he was a puppy. He and my husband go and have a great time. I used to go, but I found sitting for too long in those folding chairs got to be uncomfortable. Katy on the other hand is not so crazy about strangers when she has to sit. We found at the Whisker Walk she does well when she's moving and interacting with the environment, but not when confinded to one spot. So she stays home with me while Bailey and DH go off to listen to the tunes.
 
Toffee's Mom said:
awww, I think she's doing awesome from what you're saying :D

I just don't take my little guy to those places that I know will be too much, like concerts or fireworks, for him lol
Plus there is always idiots in my experience at those places who insist they are dog people, who won't leave Toffee alone. They stare right at him, stick their hand in his face and expect him to sniff it, when he doesn't they STILL come into his space uninvited and Mr Mr backs up and barks, which promotes the idiot to press his suit to want to pet Toffee on his pretty head, while standing over him... lol Idiots NEVER take hints! I give said Idiot a treat to give Toffee, what does he do? He stands ramrod straight and says sit sit sit... before he is giving him treat THEN wants to pet him *sigh* because he doesn't want Toffee to dominate him... doesn't believe in treats... and I only asked him to give the treat so Toffee knows good things come from Idiots, too... but noooo.. my fault that didn't work out! :lol:
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It can get over board and we have to intervene for his saftey, but for the most part, Bailey can handle the people who want to meet/greet. DH calls it meeting his fan base because the same people seem to come back week after week like he's a celebrity dog. However, Katy would be on the therapist's couch. That is why we decided not to even try it with her yet.
 
Toffee's Mom said:
ces that I know will be too much, like concerts or fireworks, for him lol
Plus there is always idiots in my experience at those places
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After reading this I was thinking how lucky we are because every person who came up to us at the concerts was so nice. They came up to us because they either had shelties of their own, or had had them before. They were very nice and approached calmly. Even the kids approached calmly and asked (or their parents asked) permission first.

And then we went Sunday. Can I just say that some people are idiots? Our dogs were laying on the blanket chewing their bones when a lady and a jack russell came up behind us. The dog started barking and growling, so Bentley jumped up and was barking and lunging (the dog was too far for him to reach). I corrected Bentley, got his attention back and got him back working for treats (not even paying attention to the other dog anymore). But of course it had caused a bit of a scene so people were watching. Then, the lady comes up right behind us to talk to a friend and her dog barks RIGHT at Bentley's back. Thank goodness I was holding his leash because he spun around barking and growling and lunging. I know that this behavior is not appropriate, but he wouldn't have done it if the owner hadn't allowed her dog to sneak up on him. She didn't even notice but everyone else was staring at our dog who looked mean and aggressive. I was SO mad. We eventually just left because I wasn't having fun anymore. :mad:
 
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