Perfect Dogs!

Zoey is horrible when it comes to meal time.  She thinks it is her job to clean up everything someone may have missed.  She tends to forget anything she was taught when we are sitting down to eat...

Well...
 
First off Gizzy is a very high anxiety dog who will freak out at anything new or different.  That alone is enough to drive almost anyone crazy who doesn#%92t understand that this behavior is not necessarily aggressive but is more so done out of fear.
 
She goes crazy at the sight of any new dog, I#%92ve been calling it aggression for a long time but just recently leaned that it is not aggression at all.  She growls at any new dog but the second she is allowed to sniff the new dog she becomes a submissive licker.  Try explaining to someone who is clueless  that a growling dog with it#%92s hair raised and teeth showing is only trying to be friendly to their poodle…Hardly anyone believes me when I say she#%92s not going to bit, that#%92s just her way of greeting other dogs.
 
Next, being a herding dog she is a non-stop runner.  If given the chance she would run all day.  This is not good for her with her HD and arthritis.  Her vet bills are already almost more than I can handle but how on earth do a keep a hyper dog from not being so hyper.
 
That#%92s another thing; she has so many health issues. If I didn#%92t work for the vet I take her to I would have no idea how to handle her.  It#%92s hard to explain to people why I take my dog to the vet so often.  She needs to go and I take her every time I#%92m the slightest concerned about anything.
 
I'm sure theres more but thats just a tase of living with my dog.

OMG, where to begin. Russell is very high-strung and highly distractible. He's fearful in groups of new dogs and that means no more dog parks for us. He is still a submissive urinator with people he doesn't know. He's totally food obsessed. He's pretty well-behaved at home but when we bring him to friends and family's houses all wastebaskets and kitty litter pans must be on lock-down and no bowl of snacks is safe anywhere. People simply do not believe that he is calm and attentive at home. My MIL calls him her "ADD granddog."

Conrad:

• seperation anxiety
  
• slight leash/barrier reactivity (but with a large dog, even slight is pretty bad)
  
• general squirreliness
  
• mouthy when playing
  

Marlowe:

• distress barker (OMG LOUD!!!)
  
• selective hearing disorder (heh)
  
• still not 100% housetrained (slow and steady wins the race, right?)
  
• smells like a frito no matter what I do!
  

And I don't trust either of them any further than I could throw them off leash.

She goes crazy at the sight of any new dog, I#%92ve been calling it aggression for a long time but just recently leaned that it is not aggression at all. She growls at any new dog but the second she is allowed to sniff the new dog she becomes a submissive licker. Try explaining to someone who is clueless that a growling dog with it#%92s hair raised and teeth showing is only trying to be friendly to their poodle…Hardly anyone believes me when I say she#%92s not going to bit, that#%92s just her way of greeting other dogs.

 
This is interesting.  My dog, Isis, who is large, growls at every dog she meets, and then, if their people allow their dogs to stick around, she goes into a play bow and will engage in non-stop play.  It's hard to get by that initial "greet" though.  She loves playing wtih all dogs.  I have wondered what this means. 

smells like a frito no matter what I do!

 
LOL, I love that smell, just like I love a mild doggy smell! 

lol the most embarrassing thing coco does?  she tries to follow strangers home!  i kid you not!

when we have guests, she wont leave them alone, bringing them toys, trying to be cute etc.  and when they leave, she runs to the door, no matter how much i call her, scratches at it  and cries for them!

everyone always laugh and says she's a useless watch dog!

oh yeah...she finds poop...her own, and it has to be fresh, a gourmet delicacy!    

Where do I begin?!  I think my biggest problem is Copper LOVES people and other dogs.  He will go Crrrraaaazzzzyyyy when he sees another dog, jumping, play bowing, Aussie butt wiggle (Anne knows what I'm talking about []).  He constantly wants to play with them.  Somedays it's fine, and then other days, OH MY!  [&:]

Well Crusher is still convinced that he is a toy breed.  That way he can sit in your lap and no one could possibly get mad at him.  Is hard to get mad anyway with his big fluffy tail waving madly in your face because he thinks he's getting away with something.

Onyx is skittish as all heck.  She will do laps of the house even after 2 hours of running at the park.  And to top it off we don't have carpet so she is slipping and sliding the whole time so she makes a hellish racket.

Scout is still a little leash reactive towards dogs. Sometimes it's as subtle as just an alert body stance, and sometimes it's barking and lunging.
 
Scout is also quite fearful of new things that she doesn't like - a new halter, a sweater, etc. She has no fear of loud noises or big scary looking objects. But when I try to put a sweater on her for the first time (with the best happy attitude I can pull together, treats, and everything), she gets dramatically depressed and fearful. It's very hard on an owner to see your dog look at you fearfully..... so I try to minimize these events when I can. I take her to a groomer to get her nails done because me trying to do it seems to damage our relationship. I am going to buy a Sporn halter for her tonight, and I am dreading her reaction to that....

She goes crazy at the sight of any new dog, I've been calling it aggression for a long time but just recently leaned that it is not aggression at all. She growls at any new dog but the second she is allowed to sniff the new dog she becomes a submissive licker. Try explaining to someone who is clueless that a growling dog with it's hair raised and teeth showing is only trying to be friendly to their poodle…Hardly anyone believes me when I say she's not going to bit, that's just her way of greeting other dogs.

Where to start? I guess this is as good a place as any - Presley does this with people sometimes too but that's very rare, more so with people of Asian ethnic backgrounds for what ever reason. She doesn't show teeth aggressively, she just has a SEVERE under bite so when her hair stands up and she growls (which sounds more like a bird cause it is high pitched most of the time) it looks ferocious to people who don't know her...

The number one thing has come out recently - the complete and utter lack of listening and obeying commands with other dogs around. Not sure if it's because she is now 1 but if there is another dog around, it's like I don't exists.

Well, here goes, but I want to add their best qualities too!
Tookey's Worst: far too snippy and snappy, has actually bitten my husband moderately badly; guards food and pillows (when he wants to hump them!); can be too barky at times.
 
Tookey's Best: when you're upset, there's no better comforter in the world. He's been my best friend longer than my DH.
 
Gracie's Worst: still chews a toy (kids) now and then (Baby Jesus from our Little People manger has a couple of teeth mark on him now  . . . can't be good Karma!); gets a little rambunctious with the kids sometimes, bumping into the little ones and knocking them down; still tries to escape and won't come back when she's called; pesters Tookey too much; pulls on leash, but is getting better.
 
Gracie's Best: she's always happy, she adores the kids, she's very smart.
 
Of course, most of these issues we could address if we worked harder on them. We have, but just haven't been so consistent.

We have two issues. The first is noise and that's as big as 15 issues. Any time someone walks past my house (fortunately on a dead end) or another dog comes around - and there are lots of dogs in our neighborhood who are free to roam - or when someone comes into the house there is a chorus that is deafening. I have been working hard on this - for ages. I can get them to be quiet pretty fast when thwy are barking at anything but someone entering the house but it's pretty bad.
 
The other issue is the baby gate. Four of the girls jump it now. (From 5 pounds to 9 pounds and it's 32 inches tall.) The big problem with this in my house is that I have to keep two of the boys separate when the girls are in heat although fortunately none of the boys jump it - yet.