Brag!!!!Ozzie's big day!!!

[mccoy]

WoooHoooo!!!

We took Ozzie for all that remember the
trouble we had out of him a few months
ago to a local festival they have in town once a year...and let me tell you
he made his Mommy proud...

The festival has the whole town at a stand still because of the crowd people
from all across the U.S. come to it. The
Shriner's put it on for the crippled children and burn victims.

There was the biggest crowd I have seen
there and we loaded up Ozzie proudly wearing his American Flag around his neck and headed to the parade. The boy was the center of attention never showing "ANY AGGRESSION". 80% of the people that came up to us could not beleive he was a Rott so well natured
they thought those were killer-dogs??:(

But he made me so proud!!!! There was a
9 month old baby that wanted to pet him
french-fries in each hand never even licked the fries.:) And when the baby was done petting him he kissed him on the end of his nose....I would give anything to have gotten a picture of that.

May not seem like much to everyone but
for those that know the time and heartache I have went thru with him it
was a real thumbs-up for him....I love
this dog and have finally been able to
see the rewards of my hard work...:)

Special thanks to you Storm and WorkinDogz we would not be hear today with out your help...Going for his CGC
next month trainer says he's ready...
Wish us luck I will be posting pics real
soon...Thanks again!!!!

[Soapie&Buddy'sMom]

Congratulations! Fabulous job! Your training certainly has paid off in spades, well done!

[Elijah's Mom]

Way to go Ozzie!:) We need good public relations for our Rotties......I love to hear stories like this!:D

[LORHEL]

Wonderful news. Thats BIG! I'm glad Ozzie is on the road to success...:)

[WorkinDogz]

Congratulations and continued success to you both, mccoy.

The road ahead will still contain many bumps and detours...and "just when" you think all is well; there will be a set back or a revisiting of the same behavior you thought you *cured*. :(

You'll always have to be on your toes and ready to reinforce *the new*.......because the *old* behavior is likely to rear its ugly head from time to time.... but DO NOT get discouraged!

That's what reconditioning is all about......it's NOT a cure; its a means to condition an ALTERNATIVE ROUTE the dog can take. They don't always choose to take that new route though!

Remember....when stress or unsureness is present in a situation for a dog....they 99.9999999% of the time fall back on their foundation. Which is why you hear all the time that it's important to lay a strong initial foundation (in training. You can't change genetics and strength of nerve; but you can work WITH it...no matter how weak it may be!)

SEMPER FI!! <~~ very important phrase for owners who have found themselves reconditioning dogs!

You've worked hard and it's paying off! Congrats! :)

[SRipplinger]

What a wonderful story!!!:D Especially about the baby with french fries -- I love it
Congratulations !!!:)

[mccoy]

We made the local news....
Rickie's sister called this morning and
said they were talking about all the crowd being there and showed a shot of
Ozzie decked out in his flag.....

WOOOOHOOOO!!!! She said the newscasters
were talking about the nature of this
dog, one of them came over to pet him.
He was doing his part with helping one
of our friends campaign for County Attorney...

I think in the shot he was wearing the
flag with everybody's campaign slogans,
stickers, buttons and such on his bandana. This is really a good thing for
the breed so many people could not get
over "His being a Rottweiler"???

Mostly the idiots who thought he was suppose to be eating them..

[Storm]

I am so glad for you guys! Wishing you continued success with all your endeavors.:)

[Caesarsmom]

Congrats, mccoy!!! That is super news, and so glad Ozzie was the center of (positive) attention. We need more of that for sure.

I did a similar thing with my male a number of years ago. It was at a 'Boat, Sport, and Travel' show, and our club was asked to be ambassadors and give an obed demo, then be available to speak to the public. I had the only rottie in the club. A very small child began screaming with delight at seeing my Caesar, and grabbed him around the neck, hugging him tightly. Although I don't have kids, Caesar saw many of them at our training classes, and I was sure he'd be okay.....but he did look at me as if to say, "can you please peel this kid off me!" As you say, many people were surprised that a ROTTWEILER could be so gentle and trustworthy in public.

Once again mccoy, kudos to you and Ozzie.

~Cris