As most of you know, I have a new dog, Visa --- I don't know if everyone saw, but I'm keepiong her forever now.Our agility screening is next week and then next weekend she is taking a herding instinct test. I emailed my boss' sheltie's handler and asked when her next handling classes are, so that I can show Visa myself. I'm really excited about everything.
Unfortunatly we had a little bit of trouble this weekend. Some friends and I went camping and we took all the dogs. Visa and Lucky were playing outside the cabin. They were being supervised by my friends, and I left the room for just two seconds. In that amount of time, a little boy rode his bike down the rode and Visa jumped on him. She didn't do it aggressivley -- she LOVES kids, and her last home let her jump all over them and the kids, so she thinks it's okay. The boy didn't fall off the bike, but Visa scratched his bum really deep. Her nails are not long, but when she jumps, sometimes she will push her paws forward, not upward, so I can see how it happened. The boy's father was furious, and said we should shoot Visa. He said that it was a bite attack, not a scratch. My friends watched the whole thing, as well as some other campers up the road. They said Visa was happy, wagging her tail, and she just jumped. The man got all of our information and went to take the boy to the hospital to get stitches (it was a very superficial scratch, there is no way it required anything but some antiseptic wash and a band-aid). He is calling conservation to have Visa destroyed. Visa's breeder has gone through troubles like this and she said that she won't be PTS. She said the worst they can do is slap a dangerous dog label on Visa.
I've been working with Visa to get her to stop jumping, and all it's taught her is that she can't jump on ME. She's been to several trainers and none have helped, so I'm taking her to a different trainer. She's a bit oldstyle, and from Germany, so her training methods are different. We're going to work on a few things and see how it goes. I wouldn't say she's a good trainer for most dogs, but Visa has been to other trainers and their methods haven't worked. If the training isn't going well, we can always stop and try something else. It would be nice to get to know her anyways because she will be Visa's schutzhund trainer. As well as this, I'm going to try and address some insecurity issues (the vet said she may be able to help), and get her drive into check. She goes into drive when she is confined or onleash but sees another offleash. Her shyness is getting much better. Today is our garage sale and she has been an absolute doll. She hasn't avoided a single person, but gone up to them nicely, and when they pet her, sometimes she will stretch her legs and back out, which tells me that she is relaxed and comfortable. She has also been doing a downstay SO well. I'm so glad because the agility screening will test her basic obedience skills, and she didn't really know anything when I got her (except to stick her head through a hoop when you threw it --- not exactly basic obedience though lol).
On to pictures now...Visa LOVES the beach. She will chase the waves for hours on end. She just chases them and barks at them and bites them. She's so silly. And she loves swimming, I bought her a Chuckit Flying Squirrel because she had a hard time seeing the sticks in the water, and she just goes after this thing constantly.
Visa and my boss' dog, Taboo. Speaking of Taboo, I think she got her CH this weekend! She only needed three more points and her show was yesterday. My boss' other dog just got his MAD yesterday too!
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I'm so sorry to hear you are going through all of this when you are just trying to work with and help these dogs. Visa is absolutely beautiful, and I truly hope that nothing comes of that incident with the boy. It's such a shame that some people are so callous and overreactive, immediately labeling a dog as dangerous and needing to be put down. That is just awful 
. I am sorry about the incident with the kid riding his bike 
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