I am walking Sascha (a 110# Rottweiler) and at the top of the block a neighbor has her dog tied to a leash in her front yard - and the leash lets her madly barking dog get within 3 feet of the sidewalk. That dog is barking, so Sascha starts barking and pulls at her leash. I yell NO in my loudest voice, and she stops, and then I yell SIT and she backs up and sits between my legs. The neighbor comes out and takes her dog into the back part of the yard, I praise Sascha and turn her around and go the other way.

I am so very, very glad she is such a good dog. I could absolutely not have held her if she had pulled harder on the leash or kept pulling after I yelled NO. And she was sooo good, just sitting between my legs, pressed back against me and not barking or growling while this dog kept barking at her.

Honestly, if you are going to have your dog outside of a fenced yard, at least tie it up so it can't get near the sidewalk. We now have neighbors with a 3-1/2 year old daughter and 1-1/2 year old son and she takes them for a walk and stroller ride at just about this same time every day. And Sascha gets walked every day between 5:45 and 6:30 p.m., depending on who gets home first. Our schedule is no secret to this neighbor, as she has seen us and heard her dog barking at her front door when we go by every day.

By Alberobello on Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - 06:39 pm:

I don't have a dog but i imagine it would be like having a very naughty child, how do you control them? LOL I mean it must have been hard to train her, but it certainly paid off. Good for you Ginny! and your dog!

By Andi on Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - 06:43 pm:

I totally agree with you. When we made the decision to get a Rottweiler we knew we needed to have a well traind dog. As soon as we adopted her at 7 months we took her to a trainer so we would have off leash control. If she is charging at something we yell...NO, DOWN and she lays down.
Even with her being so well trained, I never walk her without the leash. I do have to admit...she listens to my DH much better than she listens to me.

Way to go Sascha, what a wonderful dog you have!

By Karen~moderator on Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - 07:06 pm:

Sounds like she is well trained! And Kudos to you, Ginny. Animals respond to the tone in your voice, and apparently she detected no fear or anxiety, just authority.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - 07:24 pm:

Good job, Ginny! Jasmine is starting to be able to ignore dogs who are walking past my house. She wants to run to them, but now she knows better.

By Reds9298 on Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - 10:44 pm:

Speaking of well-trained, *good* dogs....my oldest Jack Russell, Riff, who has always been a good dog but let's just say 'hyperactive' (LOL) has been so good with dd since the beginning. BUT, Sunday dd(10mths) reached over with great curiosity and grabbed his penis! Dh and I thought for sure this is it and jumped over to them. He simply jumped back and took off, no negative reaction at all! We were really proud of him and thought 'That must have been the ultimate test!!' Haha!!

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - 11:08 pm:

Jack Russels are notoriously hyper, and lots of fun. And I respectfully suggest that you don't risk that particularly activity again - I'm sure you won't.

The ultimate test, however, is food. And no matter how good Sascha is, we feed the cat first before feeding Sascha, so that the cat doesn't come around trying to stick his nose into Sascha's dish. She is very protective (read aggressive) about her food. If I had children in the house, I would not allow them near her while she is eating (which takes all of 5 minutes twice a day).

By Imamommyx4 on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - 12:50 am:

I've seen my old dog let dd as a baby pull bones out of her mouth. But as much as I trust my dog, I do not trust her enough to be alone with my dd where she has open access at her. What I mean is, our dog would sleep beside dd's baby bed and growl at visitors who came in her baby's room. She would follow dd around the yard when she first started toddling and bark at dd if she thought dd was getting too far away from us. But as a defenseless baby, I would not leave dd on the floor with the dog and go off in to another room.

By Imamommyx4 on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - 12:53 am:

I'm tired. That had nothing to do with this post. I got off on another tract thinking about dogs.
sorry.. I need to go to bed.
You have every right to be proud of Sascha.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - 11:07 am:

Ginny- you are right about JRT's! I agree that ultimately you can't trust an animal, but our other JRT lets dd pull food out of the bowl while eating and doesn't care a bit. (Of course I don't encourage this, I just caught her one time) BUT...dh and I both started putting hands in food bowls while our dogs were eating when they were just puppies and neither of them could care. We wanted to train them that way.

This has really gotten off track.... Ginny, you have a such a good puppers!!

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - 04:48 pm:

Deanna, while I wouldn't trust Sascha around a child (or the cat) when she is eating, I have a story that I still cherish, almost 40 years later. I had taken my not quite walking oldest son to my parents' house, so I could take care of Mom (who had a really bad case of flu). Midwinter. And my dad comes home with this full-grown Doberman whom he found "lost in the street". Dad brings the dog in, gets some dog food from the corner store, and goes back to work. I soak the dog's feet in warm water to get out the salt that had gotten into the cuts from the ice on Chicago sidewalks and streets, and put down some food. I turned away to do something and glanced over just in time to see my dear Donald playing mudpies with the dogfood. My first thought was - Oh god, I've lost my child! Then the dog (who became Prince) sat down, tilted his head, and whimpered. Relief and Good Dogs all over the place.

Unfortunately, Sascha's first owners didn't food train her as you do. Scott is working on that now.

By Jelygu on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - 06:20 pm:

What a well behaved dog! You should be proud!
And that other story is sweet