Comment on my video please.

awwww they look soo happy together)))))

And I can just picture him sitting his head on peyton,,awwwwwwww...I like the name Jax too))

My gsd is not real food motivated,,hand her something and sometimes she acts like your poisoning her)...Toys,,oh my gosh, she turns into a raving looney bin,,especially her frisbees,,All my other dogs have been more food motivated vs toy, not this one, so it's a whole new ball game, (no pun intended)...soooo take advantage of that ball, frisbee, tuggie, whatever,,I do ))

Glad to hear it's going well, he is definately a winner)

We've had a big day today.

We worked on getting in the car about 20 times. That's fixed, he gets in fine now. Doesn't quite have his car legs yet, but that will come in time.

I took him to the public dog park to see how reacted with other dogs. First thing, everyone ran up and sniffed him, he was ok until someone tried to hump him. That wasn't ok with him. After the initial meeting though he did fine, didn't really like any of the dogs so he just stuck to chasing his ball. A few growls here and there but nothing bad. He ignored the frisbee.

We walked through Petsmart 3 times today. He spooked at a pair of yacking yap dogs, other than that he did pretty well with the distractions.

The grocery store reactions are all but gone. He does fine with all that now. A good example of how relaxed he is, was comment I received from a stranger walking into the grocery store. He said as he walked by, beautiful dogs, I said thanks we're being social today. His response was, "one of them looks more into that the other". He was referring to Peyton who's out front and center, Jax was laying at my feet nice and quiet.

We had a toddler come up to him today no talled than he was. The todler was calm, he approached slowly and she pet him on the head. Neither seemed afraid, so he's good with small children.

I raised his distraction level a few notches and he failed at the busy street city bus test. He's surprisingly good though at speeding cars so there's some middle ground in there.

We worked on sit and leave it today and added stay. More work needs to be done. I kenneled him a few times today to see how he would react when I wasn't home. He seemed ok with it.

Jax and Peyton are big time play buddies now. A lot of teeth and wrestling but no yelping or growling.

We met quite a few people today. When I say we, I mean Jax Peyton and I. Everyone as usual oohs and ahs over Peyt and Jax was pretty much an also ran. Most people said beautiful dogs, but Peyton stole the show.

Jax approaches new people very cautiously. Not afraid but moves slow. Peyton goes bouncy bouncy bouncy and everyone she ever meets is her long lost friend. It takes Jax a couple of minutes to warm up. Then he sits quietly and begs to be petted from all strangers.

We've walk miles today and some of it has been intense. I'm exhausted with it all and all the dogs are sound asleep at 7:30 and I'm soon to follow.

It's all good at the end of day 2. Progress is being made.

Day 3 is going to be all about training the basics and finding his motivators. He has one bad habit and that's pawing for attention. Not sure how to fix that one but he sure loves to put his paw on you. I've been moving his paw down with the off command since day one. No improvement there.

Day 3 started like day 2 ended. Playtime with Peyton. They both drank from the same water bowl this morning and at the same time so they are building some trust. I'm still feeding in separate rooms just in case he has some food aggression. Peyton wants to stick her nose in everyone's bowl to see if they have something that she should have instead.

He's shy around his food. Approaches it cautiously, if I walk away, he leaves his food and I have to re-engage him with his food bowl. I can pet him when he's eating, no signs of food aggression there. He's just not that into food.

He rarely leaves my side. Whatever room I'm in, he's there. If he's eating and I walk away, he leaves his food to come with me. He has a very high social drive to people he trusts, and apparently not a high social drive to dogs. Peyton is the opposite, dogs first people second. He's not compulsive and obsessive about either unlike Peyt. He is however fairly obsessive with me.

Whoever had the dog before me used the word no as a command. I try never to use no, but instead another command for the correct action. If use the word no to him, he completely shuts down. I guess I could use that in an emergency but I have to be careful here as he's a HIGHLY sensitive dog.

This may be a younger dog than I thought, he hikes his leg to pee, but sometimes squats instead. He's making eye contact now when he uses the bathroom. I think he's starting to connect the dots that going potty outside gets him praise.

He's a highly sensitive dog and I just used that to my advantage. When he put his paw on me I yelped and he took his paw off but didn't back up in fear. A few minutes later he came up to me again and pawed the chair next to me, not me as usual.

We went for a morning walk today and yesterday some automatic doors spooked him, we walked by them this morning, they opened and he didn't even flinch. The flooding appears to be working and he's becoming desensitized. This is important because I live in the very heart of a big bustling city. He was picked up as a stray in a little country town about 50 miles from here but it might as well have been another planet.

NOt sure that squatting means age. I have seen plenty of older dogs do both and I have a little female that hikes like a guy every time.

Glad your targeting the issues and jax's is connecting the dots..lots of fun and good postive vibes going on.

Kudos on your choice and the way you went about it !!!

Maybe he is so focused on you because he can't believe your real and is afraid if he blinks you might go away and it will all change again.. I feel so badly that dogs have to go through this because of how they have been let down by the people before them.

So much for the peace and quiet.

Peyton ran across the room full blast and pounced on Jax and wrestled him to the ground, then ran off, Jax chased her to the bedroom and pounced on her. They chased each other around the house as fast as they could go. Peyton and Jax are now playing like "Blackey" and Peyton did in that first video. Yes!

The doggy vibes are very good this morning. I've found Peyton a play buddy for SURE and Jax is surprisingly just as intense as Peyton at full out play. It's a good match on several fronts and this even makes it better for all.

I'm not going anywhere and neither is he. I'm as committed to Jax as I was and still am to Peyton. He's part of "our permanent family" now, period. He's getting equal treatment to Peyton and I love and treat them both exactly the same.

Just taught Jax down, he's got it.

Another interesting thing, he watches me in the mirror. Peyton does that now, but I had to point it out to her the first time. Jax picked it right up on his own. Same eye contact just my reflection in the mirror when my back is turned to him. He's been out trying to find those airplanes flying over my house this morning.

I'm thinking now, he didn't know what training was. He didn't have a clue what I was telling him was something I was trying to get him to do. I see him now trying to figure out what I'm trying to ask him to do. I'm training him to learn to train and he's catching on I think.

I think that is wonderful.

great going!! A couple of comments from the peanut gallery, things that I've found over the years,,just my observations

I have alot of friends with borders,,they do tend to be more sensitive in my opinion, than the aussies, they also do tend to be much more handler focused, in MY household, I"ve found my male dogs to be much more biddable, and really into "me" very velcroey, the girls are but tend to be more independent about it.

The girls are more like "i don't have to be attached to your leg, but I know your every move",,where the boys are "attached at the hip"))

I have seen ALOT of borders shut down with a mere harsh word, (again that sensitivity factor),,I never use "no" either,,I use either a "leave it", or redirect to something else..

squating, heck no indicaton of age either,,,my 10 yr old aussie will stills squat on occasion...this was an interesting observation,,,when my male gsd was alive, that aussie never ever lifted his leg outside if they were all out together,,BUT if the male gsd wasn't around he sure would) now that I have just the male aussie and the 2 females, oh yeah,,the leg lifting is a macho thing he is now a full fledged leg lifter outside)

It sounds like Jax is a pretty stable tempered dog, which is a GOOD thing,,alot of borders I think, can be much quirkier than the aussies..Aussies are just "clowns" they love showing off, they love being the center of attention and always seem to have a grin on their face,,,the borders take things a tad more seriously and are more handler focused in my opinion.)

You're not in the peanut gallery at all Jynx. In a way Jax is a chazhound dog. Everyone has contributed their time to guide my decision, so Jax is "our" dog.

Jax is more sensitive that Peyton. Someone too harsh could ruin him. That won't happen here though. He wants to do the right thing all I have to do is be able to tell him. He's an easy going dog.

Velcrowy is a good description. Peyton will hang out in another part of the house, coming in from time to time, to check in. Not Jax, he's either playing with peyton or hanging out with me, usually me. Actually, it's very nice to have him by my side.

His focus has improved for whatever reason. I had a hard time at first but now it's right in line with what I saw that first day. I suspect it will get even better over the next few weeks but even if its no more focused than today, it's completely workable. I have his attention and he meets me pupil to pupil in a stare.

I think I said way back somewhere in all this, it wouldn't surprise me if he was self aware. Sure 'nuff, he saw himself in the mirror for the first time today and gave it that border collie head cock as he looked at himself in the mirror. He's a very "perceptive" dog.

This is a new chapter in all our lives and so far it's working out better than I could hope. I think some people get dogs and try to make them fit, I tried to find a fit and just happened to find a good dog.

Anytime we bring a dog home, it's on a trial basis (HATE that but it's reality) and having Peyton complicated matters. Seeing them romp and play, lay in the bed together, drink out of the same bowl etc, solidified my decision. I "guessed" he was a good guy and Peyton thinks so too.

Jax is an asset not a liability and I've seen nothing that contradicts that so far. He's not on a "trial" anymore, Jax has his permanent home with me and his Chazhound friends.

Sit, leave it and down.

YouTube - Sit leave it and down

Tested for food aggression this morning, I didn't see any with both eating side by side. Peyton wanted to bowl surf and I stopped her. Not sure if I wasn't there that Jax would just give up his food bowl. The test I'm dreading is the bones test. There could be a real problem.

Last night, Peyton was eating in another room and jax would not eat in the kitchen. When I walked out, he came with me. I put his food bowl 10 feet from me and even then he would take a bite or two, then comes over to me. Bottom line, is I have to be where his food is, or he won't eat. Apparently, I'm more important to him than food. He's pretty thin and needs to fill out some.

Yelping when he paws me continues to work. He's not 100% yet but it's 80% better. He starts to paw, then stops himself. A few more days and it should be a non issue.

He didn't know anything on day one. Now has all the concepts of sit, down, heal, leave it, come and knowing his name. Today, I'll add stay and drop it, then move to an area with more distractions.

My goal would be to have him fairly solid on all these in the next 4 days in the house and in one more week, fairly solid with minimal distractions. If I can get him "close" we may even start CGC classes in 10 days. That would be a total of 6 weeks from knowing nothing to CGC. From what I've seen so far, I think it's completely possible.

My old boss said even the best of friends will fight over a bone.

Victor and Pepper both are Chazhound dogs as well.
I like to start training as quickly as possible too. Sounds like Jaxs is moving right along.

sounds good,,something I forgot to mention, and you reminded me with his pawing,,I know you said it's starting to diminish,,but I'd be trying to turn that into a 'good' behavior, as in have him "touch" things,,redirect that pawing,,to "touch" something,,my dogs all like to paw at me for attention probably,,I've turned it into a touch game,,it's funny, they will run around "touching" stuff, vs pawing at me or I use it as a high five type thing...

Training should boost his confidence! Agree that each dog's pace is different.
I would table stay and work on that when he is more sure your not going evaporate if you get distance away from him.

IT should all be 50 percent of the fun for him. IF your working on something for an hour that is much too long. I like lessons that are very short.10 15 minutes tops..but done often, a few times a day. THings that keep his ears up and his tail wagging. Maybe just do the things he has now and not push new until he seems more at ease.

Of course not an hour at one time. It may have just seemed like 2 hours.

I took Peyton out of the equation yesterday and spent several hours just one on one with Jax. It was the first day it wasn't raining since he got here. A couple of things struck me, he is possibly overwhelmed with the uncertainty of all this and is even reserved in his play time with me. You'd be hard pressed to get Jax too excited about anything right now. This may be the fact he has not settled in yet.

He's a follower not a leader and rarely has a mind of his own but instead seems to wait for my cues. I think I could walk him a 1000 miles and never feel a dog on the end of my leash. He's a very very comfortable dog to walk now and unless he spooks he never ever hits the end of the leash.

I think back to when Peyt arrived. At the same amount of time, effort and methods, Peyt knew everything except Photoshop. She did her commands "snappy". Now at day 4, I don't even have a 100% reliable "sit" and the ones I do get are often slooow to develop.

Jax has not done anything wrong, he hasn't done much at all and the few things I have taught him takes an inordinate amount of time to learn. Like all dogs, he takes hand signals better than verbal cues. But is taking longer to tie the two together than Peyt did.

It's not all slow going. He and Peyt are rough and tumble play buddies now. He's completely comfortable with her and her with him. This is the most animated I have seen Jax which gives me hope there is a real fun loving dog in him somewhere. I think Jax takes life too serious until he figures it's ok. He's cautious, and not what I would call a bold dog at all.

We've met quite a few strangers and invariably, once they spend some time around him they all say, wow...this is a really good dog. There's nothing not to like about Jax. He's a friendly, slow moving, not threatening, well mannered, subdued dog. I just wish I could get him to live a little, feel free to be himself, have some confidence and a sense of security. Hopefully, this will come in time and we have plenty of that, Jax is not going anywhere.

Above all else, I want him to be well balanced and my goal is CGC. Not for me, but for Jax. I ran him through a series of CGC tests yesterday and here's where I think he would score. This is Jax in a nutshell. He is a really really good dog with only some confidence issues. The only way to build that confidence is with time...

Test 1. Accepting a Friendly Stranger - Pass
Test 2. Sitting Politely for Petting - Pass
Test 3. Appearance and Grooming -Pass
Test 4. Out for a Walk (walk on a loose leash) Pass
Test 5. Walking Through a Crowd - Pass
Test 6. Sit and Down on Command Pass- Staying in Place - fail
Test 7. Coming When Called - Pass
Test 8. Reaction to Another Dog - Pass
Test 9. Reactions to Distractions -Fail
Test 10. Supervised Separation - Fail

My goal for another dog was two-fold. A play buddy for Peyton, he passes. A companion dog for me, he passes. If Jax didn't change at all, Peyt and I would be happy. Jax is just "kinda" happy right now and I'm still convinced at day 4 as the day he came home, he's a really really good dog.

Oh, I told my Mom, I got another dog. I told her that I looked at close to 50 dogs. She said, "You look at 50 everything."

Mom's right, I'm a careful shopper. Before I buy a pair of shoes, I have to look in every store at the mall but I get the right shoes in the end. I'm convinced I got the right dog for us because he "fits" like a comfy loafer around here.