Wee update on our lurcher girly

J

Jingleballs

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Rowan has been with us for 10 days now and is doing really well!

Only 2 minor accidents in the house both of which were my fault - she's a bit of a fair weather girl and you literally have to force her outside to do her business when the weather is bad as she seems to think that bad weather is a good excuse to poo on the carpet!

She's been left alone several times from anything from 20 minutes to 2 hours with no issues - we have decided she is much better when left if she is out of the crate and given she's not proven to be destructive when alone, we've been leaving her with a frozen kong and a robust chew treat or treat ball to keep her amused and the run of the house.

No complaints from neighbours re noise and we've been sneaking back home and listening outside for 5 minutes and there is no sound from her but the second your key is in the door she comes bounding to the door squeaking with excitement - we suspect she's just curling up and going to sleep on the couch or bed based on the warm patches we've found - again this is totally fine with us! She does appear to be quite a whiney dog - sometimes will squeak and cry for no apparent reason and we now think that is just her character.

She's getting off the lead now in enclosed areas to play and her recall is fab - I've been doing some clicker training with her and she's so clever -can't wait to start some agility or canicross training with her!! She's not a huge fan of walks and prefers her off lead play time.

The only other thing we've noticed is that although she is brilliant with small dogs, she's unsure of larger dogs and can bark at them and lunge a bit when she sees them although I think it's insecurity rather than viciousness and hopefully with more training she'll get better at that.

Oh and she's scared of cats - the neighbours cat likes to pop into our kitchen sometimes and Rowan did not like that at all and promptly ran upstairs.

Sorry no pictures as I'm in work but will try and post some later!
 
So glad you are making good progress with your rescue, I have followed your posts from the beginning, its good you didn't give up when things went a bit wrong at the beginning.

The squeaky cry that you describe is just like my lurcher, we just say she talks! I have 3 other dogs, not lurchers but she is the only one that talks when I come downstairs in the morning or if I have been out somewhere.

I would say respect for cats is a good thing, no cat chasing!!
 
Er, where are the pictures??

Glad to hear things are going well. Mine was/is similar with other dogs but it is all to do with nerves and she is ok off lead. She does not like Labradors (especially black labs) but she is getting better all the time. I think you just need to socialise, socialise and socialise and try and avoid getting tense when she reacts. I had to work a lot with mine on the "Sit, watch me" and then treat when we saw other dogs across the street. Now I know her and what triggers it and what works then it's a lot easier - she is fine off lead and, if she does get 'loud' with others on lead i try and let her say 'hello' (in the right doggy way) if that is the orther dog is not of a similar nature to her (otherwise, we just get a lot of noise!!).

My rescue is tonnes better now and we do flyball which has really helped her confidence with other dogs and people.
 
Sorry for the lack of pics - here are some more recent ones!

rowan4_zpsacb881ee.jpg


Rowan5_zps95c258a4.jpg


I'm still waiting to hear back from the agility club to see if they have any slots.

All still going well with her - she had her first overnight at my folks and was an angel - slept in her crate all night :)

She's still fine being left - we've checked with the neighbours and they haven't heard a peep when she's been left alone.

Just going to order her a new martingale collar and fleece from santa!!!
 
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