Let's talk skills!

[PWCorgi]

What is one skill that your dog has that you love? What one skill do you wish they did better?


Frodo:
-He can ride crated in the car now!! He used to not even be able to ride in the car period unless someone was holding him. Now he can ride in a crate quietly!
-I really wish he could conquer mat work. I know that I need to work on it with more diligence, but he can be so frustrating when working on duration behaviors like mat work.


Siri:
-Her mat/bed work is stellar. Last night she was able to hang on her bed while new people came over, and while we had a strange dog in the apartment. And she truly relaxes on the bed.
-Her crating behavior is awful. She is a whiner. If I take her somewhere and try to crate she whines and then starts screaming. If I open the crate door, she treats it like a bed/mat behavior. If I close the door, she comes undone. She is a dream when crated in the car though.

 

[*blackrose]

Both Abrams and Cynder are reliable loose in the house. It is soooooooooo nice not having to crate them while we aren't home. They're able to move around, drink water, and do whatever strikes their fancy (even if all they're doing is sleeping, at least they have the choice to do something else!). And if I do need to confine them, neither one minds.

They're also both bad in the car, although for different reasons. Cynder doesn't settle well and will pant/stand/dance the entire time, even on day long trips. It's not annoying on short trips, but on long trips...drives us all batty. Abrams settles very well and lays down/sleeps, but whenever we stop he stresses/barks at people. We're working on it, but it's slow going. If I could crate him in a crate with a cover over it I think that would solve all of our problems, but a crate his size won't fit in the car, unfortunately.

 

[BostonBanker]

For both of my dogs, their crating behavior is phenomenal, and I try hard not to take it for granted. I am sure fate will punish me with a terrible crater someday. Neither needs to be or is crated in the house, but I can drive anywhere, toss them in a crate, and walk away. They will be quiet regardless of what happens around them (Meg needs to covered if dogs are going to be within touching range of her crate, but Gusto doesn't even care if dogs put their nose to his). I drove Meg 17 hours to Cynosport, put her crate in the middle of a huge room filled with other crates and dogs, tossed her in, and walked away without an issue. They don't bark if they see/hear other dogs running. They don't cry when people walk by.

I can't really think of any life skills I wish were better for them; they are nice, easy dogs to live with at this point. I do wish their skills transferred over to other people better; they are great for me on leash, but tend to pull and bark at strange dogs with other people.

There are plenty of agility skills I wish were better with both. Distance skills for Meg, although we are done with gamblers for life, so at this point it doesn't really matter. Speed on the contacts for Gusto.

 

[amberdyan]

Hugo's skilllz
- He's pretty much amazing when it comes to walking/hanging out downtown. Will ignore other people (unless they reach for him and then he dissolves into a love puddle) and just chill out at my feet if we're sitting or stopped chatting. Even once did not lick a child's ice cream cone when she shoved it in his face to see if he wanted some. He just looked confused. He will also chill in the yard on a tie out if we're all hanging out out there.
- He naturally sticks close off leash. Will actually panic if he can't see me.
- Careful around children. Loves them, will maybe lick their face/hand and do serious wiggle butt, but will not jump or be wild and knock them down.
- Largely fearless. Loves women, children, men, men with beards, people missing limbs, people in crutches, people in wheelchairs, people with weird accents, the man that walks downtown carrying a mannequin etc. We're doing some training to see if he would make a good therapy dog.

Nooot so much:
- He jumps on people he loves when they come in the house (except for me). It's mostly our best friends (who are our neighbors) that he is madly in love with. If restrained from greeting, will scream bark.
- He will pass another dog on the street without pulling toward it, unless the dog pulls toward him. Then all bets are off. Must sniff butts.
- Will catch and attempt to eat mice/rat things at the dog park if I don't carefully monitor him. It doesn't look like hunting, but he will run up with a bloody mouse in his mouth. Not a fan.

ETA: Oooppss, didn't read that it was suppose to be ONE skill...

 

[Slick]

+ Leo is my do anything, take anywhere dog. People are constantly commenting on how well behaved he is. He has this perfect mix of mostly ignoring other people but then being super relaxed and friendly if they initiate contact with him. I can keep him off leash in populated places and never be worried that he might be unfriendly to someone approaching him or on the flip side approach someone who is scared of him.

I played at a casual ultimate frisbee tournament yesterday, and left him off leash the entire day. He just chilled on the sideline when noone interacted with him, gave cuddles when someone initiated, played with some of the other dogs there, and stayed right by the field the entire time without ever even attempting to wander off. This makes me so happy

- I wish he was a little less obsessed with other dogs and that his leash reactivity went away completely. It's getting a bit better as he ages, but he still can't calmly pass a single dog in close quarters on leash without becoming a lunging growling machine. He is super dog friendly and if given the chance will greet them calmly, he is just overstimulated on leash, so DOES NOT appear friendly to those poor strangers walking their dogs.

 

[k9krazee]

Crossbone:

Good skills---
*He is phenomenal in a crate and can be crated anywhere, anytime
*He is great in public / walks well on a leash, doesn't bark at anything
*Is great with anyone/anything who comes in the house
*Decent off-leash
*Manageable prey drive - he calls off things reeeeally easily
Bad skills
*No touch dog In public
*He doesn't settle well. Paces and paces and won't lay down ever.

Pox:
Good skills:
*LOVES people
*Great in the crate
*Confident, outgoing, not afraid of anything. Likes adventure.
*Good settling and cuddling skills.....after lots of exercise
Bad skills:
*He's a barker
*Terrible on leash
*No recall
*Bad with restraints/nail clipping/etc
*Chews everything, jumps, mouthy
--hopefully we'll be remedying a lot of these things haha

 

[Samsonyte!]

Wilson

The good
-he has an AMAZING stay and recall. I can put him in a down stay during agility while other dogs are running to move equipment and he does. not. budge. He also can be off leash anywhere and stays close and comes back to me when I call him 99% of the time
The bad
-Well. Aside from everything is SO SCARY. I could really go back and work on heelwork. Especially on my left.

Sam
The good
-Well he's perfect. He loves anyone and everything. Takes new situations like it's nothing. He's just a good dog.
The bad
-What is recall? I work on this non-stop with him and there's still places where I would never let him off leash and even in familiar places he often gets distracted on his way back and goes to do something else. Also the teeter is his worst enemy

 

[teacuptiger]

Roxie is UBER skilled at giving kisses and being the happiest happy dog EVER, lol.

She's also quite the accomplished beggar, even though she doesn't have Beagle eyes like Buddy did. So, I mean, she's a whole lot easier to say no to, but she's come along way in her begging skills since we first adopted her.

 

[SpringerLover]

What is one skill that your dog has that you love?

Bailey: memory of a fox. Or something with a really good memory. Sometimes it bites me in the ass but most of the time I love it.
Gabby: focus. Dear god do I love the pay out I'm getting from the effort I put in.
foster Diego: stays. He is SO GOOD at stays. Probably because it's the only thing we could work on for months.

What one skill do you wish they did better?

Bailey: riding in the car. She was TERRIBLE as a youngster, got better as an adult, and now she's okay but... she fidgets A LOT even on short trips.
Gabby: barking at the door. Which would be super easy to work on, but I work on it once or twice and then stop again. People come into my apartment so infrequently and knock even less, so I forget about it until she alert barks and won't stop!
foster Diego: walking on a leash. I started working on it before his surgery and then when his exercises was restricted to very short leash walks, I stopped caring as much. Now we're trying to revisit because he got REALLY BAD.