Finally~ Bailey learns "FETCH"

It's been close to one month & a half since we brought Bailey home.. The first few weeks had been close to hell... Progress is good, albeit slow... The sad news is, Bailey is no longer allowed in the house. This is thanks to an evil aunt's backstabbing, Bailey now sleep outside in a cage. When she moved outdoors, I had few nights of sleepless nights, getting up & going downstairs to check on her; wary of dognappers nowadays! Altho I did put some locks on the cage! Call me paranoid, Better safe than sorry... Well, I am only really thankful that Bailey adjusted really quickly to outdoor living.. She only whines when she gets put pack in her cage, other than that she'll be seen taking her beauty nap... I understand the fact that Bailey's role in this family is clear, she is our future Guard Dog. She will be staying outdoors someday, but she being evil-ly manipulated to stay outside really angers me... :-[

As for her nipping problem, progress is still slow... She bites under certain circumstances, and at times can be utterly sweet! She'll come and lay down quietly by my side! As i told a Forumer on puppy.com.my, I'd give good money to know what goes on in their furry head!....... Well, one of the amazing wonders she did last month was chewing off our bathroom water tap handle which is as hard as brass... Don't ask me how, I found the sharp pieces of shards all over when i was cleaning her soiled newspapers and I became frantic after seeing she had threw up twice! I called up a Vet suprressing my hysteria and tried to explain the situation calmly. The Vet told me to observe if Bailey is still vomitting or not, if she is, she'll need to take an x-ray! I rushed home at lunctime to check on her and she looked absolutely fine! Funnily, I fed her her lunch & she ate like no tomorrow... And after a couple of days she was just fine... WHen I finally brought ehr to meet the Vet, she was amazed... Even the Vet went asking around some GSD owners if theirs chewed water taps? None of theirs do... Geeee

I think I have treid ALL the nethods recommended on Forums, Websites & Books, I cant say they are effective. So happen mine happens to be what they call a "Hard Dog", so it can take hard corrections. Up to-date I have invested in a LOT of Dog Training books. The equation i can sum up is 80% patience, 10% method & 10% time... For anyone looking for a good read on Dog Training, I highly recommend "Divine Canine" by The Monks of New Skete. I finished it in two days!! Good stuff!

I've always thought teaching FETCH to a dog was easy peasey... How wrong! Most the time they cant be bothered! :-> Ha Ha... Well, I was very amazed at Bailey for one day I decided "Ok, Today I'm gonna teach FETCH "... So i took the Tennis ball that Thanny gave to me (Thanks Than! :-) ) , threw it, and probly the way it bounced, Bailey took off after it, I ran together with her to the direction of the ball and she took the ball in the mouth! I praised her and ran, she following excitedly after me, and me praising profusely! I threw it again and she ran after it & brought it back again altho she dint let go of it! Phew! Some dog! But at least she got the idea~
To date, im glad that my dad sayangs her a lot, or at least cares for Bailey. I was midly suprised when he devised an air-cond system for Bailey, as the afternoon are getting pretty Hot.. We have something call "Cold Ice" for grapes, so dad had a few packs in our freezer. He told me to put 2 packs on top of the cage's roof before i leave for work... Not bad at all...