July 28th 2008 9:21 am
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Gigi has made some new HUGe gains of late.

Yesterday she seemed to actually enjoy her bath. She's still scared to DEATH of the hose....but she DID bravely allow my daughter and I to wash her with a bucket, rags, and our hands. We tryed to make it pleasant as possible. She really love it. I didn't have to have a huge grip on her, though we did keep the stream of cookies coming.

OUr game plan is twofold really.

One we'd like to be able to have her over some of this fear before winter comes, to make indoor bathtime easier.

Two, we'd eventually love to be able to come within a 20 foot range, with the hose, without her being scared out of her mind.

Husband thought I should be using the hose a bit yesterday. I didn't agree (due to how fearful of it she is). After two weeks of bathing as we did yesterday, we'll try to gently introduce the hose.

In the meantime, I'll let her near the hose daily.....pretend she's a horse, and work on desensitizing her - but not actually using it ON her. That should help - I hope!

Another big deal ! G bravely allowed husband to pick her up. That wasn't a possibility in the previous months. We needed to be able to do this in the case of emergency or other extreme situations where you might need to lift your dog! Way to go G!!!!

I was able to take her to the petstore in the middle of a busy day yesterday! while I was browsing the horse section, she layed down as she calmly waited!!!! Another HUGE step! She was terrified when I first started taking her in public!

Another big deal...........though she will stand slightly allert, until I refocus her, she doesn't want to mess with the yard rabbits. Before she'd about knock me over trying to *get* them. she's such a good girl. She merely needed to learn how I wanted her to behave.

Our obedience lessons.
After realizing she didn't know stop stay, nor would she cooperate when she got loose from me, I"ve been working on basic obedience. (due to her being a several year old dog with MINIMAL socialization - a group dog obedience class just won't work yet) So we are working on our own in the yard.
She loves to work with Mom, though she's smart and wasn't it to be a whole lot funner. After the sit and stay command, and I've said Gigi Come! She lingers, and I can see her thinking. *how can I make this more fun and show mom how athletic I am?!!!*
When she comes, she BLASTS, running for all she can, then comes to a dead stop right in front of me. Kind of what I want, but not quite.
Occasionally she runs right past. Not so good.

I had to show the husband how good she is doing, an d made the terrible mistake of giggling at G's swift come to mom. Now she thinks it's great to make mom giggle. Bad mom. *blinks*

I'm proud of her, and we continue to work.

We've only had one bad incident on our walks in a month. She will now ignore dogs in yards, birds, rabbits, dogs BARKING at her....she just still doesn't behave if we walk past another walking dog. I'll keep at it. She's come such a long way in every other way, that I know there is hope.

Anyways, I dont' have time to proof read.....but I need to get her latest accomplishments logged!

Go Gigi. Man she's come a LONG way in 5 months!!!!