This is my first time on this forum as a visitor and I must apologise if I am a bit long winded !
I bought the book by Jan Fennell a couple of days ago and am 3/4 of the way thru. I can see the point of her excercises but my problem is that I am not sure if my 2 yr old labbymix bitch Polly thinks she is higher in the pack than me. She doesn't bark much or get over excited (just licks quite a bit asa geeting), she's never destroyed anything (not even soft toys!), she leaves our 2 cats alone (would like to play but the cats don't). She doesn't pull on the lead and lets me go out the door first. At feeding time (not always just after I've eaten) she lies quietly on her blanket till I tell her to go ahead. She mostly does what I tell her to in the house, in our big garden it's 9 times out of 10 but outside in the fields and woods (not on lead) it's only about 7 times out of ten and she's more interested in sniffing for mice or whatever than me, toys or even sometimes treats. I go to training school with her and she's fine there.
What really bothers me is that she has started trying to attack motor scooters and they drive past when we are out walking - country lanes and woods (they're not really allowed there but do it anyway). Fortunately I can hear them coming an put her quickly on the lead. She will sit or lie down but jumps out at the scooter as it drives past. Is she trying to protect me as in some of Jan Fennells cases ? I will try giving her a treat as the scooter drives past but I would love to hear what your opinions are.
Thanks for your help
Carol Schaefer,Germany

I really dont think you need have any worries about your dog being higher in the pack than you.

What i am seeing from your description is simply a dog who perhaps needs more training out and about - it's called "generalising" the training. Many dogs are well behaved indoors, or at training club, either because there are no distractions or because that is where they are trained. But not so many people take the time to train out on walks which is where, IMHO, a large proportion of the training needs to be done.

My main bit of advice would be to go back to near basics and practice whatever you think needs brushing up on - she will need lots of incentive at first as she will be used to sniffing.

Consider where you take her (try to keep it a bit boring at first) then up the distractions, and always reward her for paying attention.

I have read one of Jan Fennells' books ..... I will say one thing, i was in fact concerned about the advice she gave in a newspaper to the owners of a BC. The advice was to ignore the dog basically, as in the books - but the BC was crying out for action and interaction because it was left to its own devices and was desperate to be worked in some form. So i really wasn't too impressed.

Good luck with your dog :)

Lindsay

To be honest with you I dont think she has a problem in general, she seems like a perfectly well behaved young lady :-),
As for the chasing, this is just a dogs instinct, as long as you can hear them coming, put her on lead and make her sit camly and treat her, you could also do well to teach her a instant down incase of emergency.