[Julie Miller]

I also need to mention that Wish is not a fan of other dogs. I feel that this is one of her triggers, as well as loud noises. She is not a fan of thunderstorms, but does not go run and hide. She will look to the other dogs in the house, as well as my husband and I for a reaction. None of us react and then she will go about her business.
She has a couple of good dog friends and that’s it. I took her to a local dog training facility for puppy classes. Their regular program was to hold the class and then let all of the puppies play in the ring, loose. Wish would curl up in the middle of the floor and not interact with the other puppies. The instructor would sit with her and then finally we would take her out.
She is reactive on leash. If a dog gets in her face, she will lash out. She has never made contact, but I am very good at keeping her away from other dogs. I’m not sure if she would actually bite or not.

I started sheep herding lessons, to help build her confidence. She loves it and is very good at it, too.
I don’t want to give up on agility. She is my second agility dog. My first was a high drive, fast Lab. She is 14 & 1/2 and has been retired for a few years.
I have stopped entering trials, but have taken Wish to b matches and fun runs. If I can run with her rope toy, she will engage, run confidently and seems to enjoy herself. If I can’t run with her toy, she will walk slowly through the course, jumping some obstacles and avoiding others.

[Julie Miller]

I also have a large area fenced in, at home. We do 3 sniff walks all around the property 3 x a day. No toy throwing or playing, just walking and checking out new smells (deer, rabbit, fox etc).
Then we also take other walks, during the day, around the property and throw toys and engage in play.

I will, however, try to get her off of our property at least once a week for a sniff walk. We do have agility class once a week and it’s also on a large property where we take a nice long walk, before each class and herding lessons once per week where she gets to run loose on the farm. She absolutely loves that!!

She loves sniffing. 🙂

[Julie Miller]

I also have a large area fenced in, at home. We do 3 sniff walks all around the property 3 x a day. No toy throwing or playing, just walking and checking out new smells (deer, rabbit, fox etc).
Then we also take other walks around the property and throw toys and engage in play.

I will, however, try to get her off of our property at least once a week for a sniff walk. We do have agility class once a week and it’s also on a large property where we take a nice long walk, before each class.

She loves sniffing. 🙂

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