I have 4 dogs and I want the dogs and Teddy to get along. They do well but I want to be sure as I don't trust the dogs judgement. I have a Jack Russell named Murray who thinks its great fun to chase Teddy and the cows, luckily for me they all just run from him. Teddy is more curious about them then anything and has not shown any signs of wanting to kick or bite them. On the other hand my Rottweiler, the problem child as he just wants to be with me, freaked when Teddy put his nose down to sniff him and reacted with a air nip! Lucky it didn't connect because I think Teddy's nip would have been a lot harder! The Lab named Willy and Kelpie named Rat really don't pay him much attention.
Teddy was great with putting on the halter, and then I lead him through the back paddock snaking back and forth about 7 times the whole length with the dogs running loose around him. I used the carrot stick to indicated every time I wanted Teddy to stop by simply crossing it in front of his chest. Three times and he had it down pat. All the rest of the time I would tap it on his chest and he would stop so I would give him a soothing rub on the forehead and let him have a think about it. Then about half way through I didn't even have to touch him with it before he would stop every time.
It really came in handy as Murray decided in mid stride that he would stop and sit right in Teddy's path. Teddy just stopped in time and looked down at him while Murray thought he was as clever as a stupid dog playing chicken with a horse can be!
It was a very good lesson for us all. I felt like we had achieved a lot and Teddy was certainly relaxed. He got into my space on two occasions but just a tap and he was fine. He also quickly understood that he wasn't to go ahead of me - as long as I was at his shoulder he was fine. And he was!
Told you he was a genius!
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