Jackson Update
We've made some wonderful progress with Jackson, who's now 5 months old. He now walks nicely on a leash and goes for walks, shows little shyness except for people we meet, and lawnmowers. I've been using a Gentle Leader on him, which Doug calls "the lobotomizer", and it really helps.
He's warming up to having company in the house, too. I just tell everyone to ignore him until he comes to them, and have treats ready. He's not in their laps (like Emma) but he allows patting and ends up asleep at my feet. Last night we had several groups of people coming and he and especially Em tend to bark and she jumps. We put the Gentle Leaders on them without the leash and it worked like magic. I don't know why, but those things really work. After he and Em settled down and gotten comfortable with the people we took the Leaders off and they were fine. Jackson warms up more quickly now, takes treats gently, and allows some head scratching.
Today was a big day. We went to the dog park for the first time. At first there were no other dogs and he did lots of exploring. Emma is one big muscle and runs really fast. We call her the Golden Bullet. Jackson, on the other hand, lumbers. His butt wags back and forth and his loose skin goes side to side like a too-large sweater. After we'd been there for a while another couple showed up with a 7 month old male, Smash, who was about the same size as J (Shepherd, Rottweiler mix). Jackson was very shy at first and retreated to us with his tail down. Emma had great time playing "chase me" with Smash and eventually Jackson joined in, albeit slowly and lumbery. He seems so far to be a close working dog, content to run around but not too far, and touch base with his people often, which I consider a very good trait. When we're around the house, he follows me and lays down as long as I stay on one place, often with his head on my foot.
All in all, very encouraging.
He's warming up to having company in the house, too. I just tell everyone to ignore him until he comes to them, and have treats ready. He's not in their laps (like Emma) but he allows patting and ends up asleep at my feet. Last night we had several groups of people coming and he and especially Em tend to bark and she jumps. We put the Gentle Leaders on them without the leash and it worked like magic. I don't know why, but those things really work. After he and Em settled down and gotten comfortable with the people we took the Leaders off and they were fine. Jackson warms up more quickly now, takes treats gently, and allows some head scratching.
Today was a big day. We went to the dog park for the first time. At first there were no other dogs and he did lots of exploring. Emma is one big muscle and runs really fast. We call her the Golden Bullet. Jackson, on the other hand, lumbers. His butt wags back and forth and his loose skin goes side to side like a too-large sweater. After we'd been there for a while another couple showed up with a 7 month old male, Smash, who was about the same size as J (Shepherd, Rottweiler mix). Jackson was very shy at first and retreated to us with his tail down. Emma had great time playing "chase me" with Smash and eventually Jackson joined in, albeit slowly and lumbery. He seems so far to be a close working dog, content to run around but not too far, and touch base with his people often, which I consider a very good trait. When we're around the house, he follows me and lays down as long as I stay on one place, often with his head on my foot.
All in all, very encouraging.