Use what works for you, it sounds like you are making steps in the right direction. Let me ask you about her diet. Do you feed her often or just once a day, Does she get snacks? Is she food oriented? The thing with dogs is to determine individual quirks (just like people) and be creative about dealing with them. It sounds like you really need to take charge. She is a big dog and dogs are opportunists and will sense weakness and will take advantage of it in a heartbeat. I have two recommendations for you. One is to bring some food with you on your walk. As soon as she alerts to something stand between her and the thing she is alerting to, put her in a sit position and reward her with food if she is being good. The other suggestion I have is if you can find a relatively deserted place where you can walk her really really fast and for about 45 minutes before having her in public, if you have no place like this nearby, try playing really hard with her for a good hour before taking her on a walk - a tired dog is easier to train. Last resort, dose her every morning with a little rescue remedy about an hour before taking her out - it does not take much to calm them half a dropper should do it. Keep up with training and dont let her take advantage of you. I have a mastiff mix - very stubborn fellow, and if he had his way, we would never go for a walk, he would only be driven around in the car all day (unless of course it snowed) that is the only acceptable time to go out in his book. If I dont test his self imposed limitations, or correct his crankiness he would be living a boring life and is personality defects would get worse. Be strong use your warrior self and dont baby your dog. Be the alpha and take charge. good luck

Sethramesh, oh I'm happy you saw my post. :-) Most dogs don't like the halter kind of "collar." I've heard this time and again and it was true for my dogs too. I think they except the Easy Walker much better and folks I've heard from who've tried it loved it... but I haven't tried it myself but intend to get one. The method of training I described should work well with any type of collar... but I remember my daughter's Lab/Boxer as a puppy and man oh man what energy! Had those been out then I'd have definitely gotten my daughter one. Please keep us posted and let us know how this works for you. I teach dog and parrot training and I love feedback. Cutter, thanks! Yes it's very important to set ourselves and our dogs up to succeed, and training is so much more fun that way. I'm with you on not liking jerking... it's not good for me and it's not good for my dog. I end up at the chiropractor's office... and eventually, so does my dog. Shelties are really sweet little dogs. I used to have a pair of them. The only thing I didn't like was the shedding. Wow can they shed. Have fun training your little girl that way. Have you gotten her yet?

We have a big dog pillow on the floor near the patio door that Sawyer really likes for watching squirrels out in the back yard. We have another big dog pillow at the foot of our bed for Mabel. Sometimes she sleeps on it at night, instead of on my foot. And Sawyer has another small pet bed in my DD's room that he uses when he's tired and she's not quite in bed yet. I do use a matelasse coverlet on my sofa all the time, so that two doxies, fresh from exploring the backyard can be on the sofa without making me crazy. I wash it at least once a week and I have a couple extra ones, including an old red/black flannel duvet cover that I use for winter. When we have company, I toss the coverlet in the laundry and pretend we have a nice moss green sofa that stays perfect, even with two dogs. I guess I'm kind of 'over' the whole thing of trying to decorate with dog beds. It's sort of like when your kids are little....There's no reason to make the whole house a big kid play area, but you cannot completely pretend that your rooms look company-ready all the time. We let our kids play in the living room, but they had to pick up the Barbies, or Legos, or Action Figures and put them back in their toy boxes in their rooms at the end of play. With the two dogs, anyone who walks in will see the dogs, so having a big tan dog pillow in a corner shouldn't be too big of a deal either, but we don't have 'dog stuff' all over. I close all the bedroom doors when we leave in the morning. That way, dogs only have the run of main living spaces while we're gone. And we spent a lot of time housebreaking, teaching dog-door use, and putting a kabosh on any furniture chewing, (I did lose one armchair cover to Mabel 9 years ago) so that they can stay inside. I have to know that my dogs could get outside to safety if my house caught fire while we were gone, or if something happened that prevented us from getting home for some reason. Red Here is a link that might be useful: Her Favorite pillow

Only an idiot would do this and I speak from experience. Many years ago, I hopped on my son's bike and took my Afghan hound for a run. Bad move, a very stupidly bad move. She bolted, I was thrown from the bike and had a major concussion. It was like a soap opera. I had amnesia. To this very day I can't tell you my name...just kidding... but I lost three days of my life. This happened on a Monday night and two days before I had bought a room size braided rug at John Wanamakers for the new house we had just moved into. After my fall, I walked into the living room and gasped..where did this rug come from? So , no a very bad idea. Another tragic story concerning dogs and accidents.....my very best friend from age 13 and a big animal lover too had a mastiff who weighed 160 pounds. About four years ago she took the dog out at midnight and the dog pulled her over and she smashed her head on the walk. She was unconscious for a few hours, came to and her husband took her to the hospital. Over these last years her condition deteriorated into Parkinsons and a year ago she was put into a home and last month had a feeding tube put in. She is flat on her back and cannot speak. So people , be careful with your dogs.