[LynnS]

At 8 months (Happy Birthday Bella!), we have been through puppy 1 and puppy 2 and are now working with a private trainer until we figure out what class we want to do next. Bella has been exhibiting some on leash aggression towards other dogs. It was suggested by the trainer that instead of testing her limits with regards to meeting other dogs on leash, our focus should be to get Bella to have her attention on me when other dogs approach. I know this is a common sense approach but I had no idea how fast we could actually teach her this. So through a series of progressive excercises involving strange dogs (trainer had 4 different dogs out over a period of several sessions- one at a time of course) I have Bella trained that when she sees another dog to automatically watch me for what to do next (with lots of treats of course). We got to the point this week that a dog apprached her with in 1 foot from behind and she did not even pay any attention. Good Girl! Next we are going to take ths excercise over to the tennis courts (the sight of balls being hit or thrown back and forth is the most exciting thing she has ever seen!) The other great excercise she has learned is a recall that ends in her sitting in front of me at attention (straight front?). The trainer is pretty impresssed at how quickly Bella learns - I do not think she has worked with many Rotties though. She also suggested that Bella might have a lot of fun in a Rally-O class - I don't know much about it but it sounds fun. i owe alot of this to you guys on the boards...I do not think I would have been so vigilant about her training if I had not read so much about others experience.