Roscos first day of school...

RoscosMom

Rosco started school today with a trainer here in Florida that is very experienced with EBT's (thank goodness).  He has been there for three days now and doing great.  We sure miss him though!   I thought I would share his first day of school photo with everyone.. It was a huge hit on facebook in comparison to everyone's photos of their kids starting school

Jmallar

Awwwwww

philsergeant

I know his ears are up.... but not on that first day! for sure!

mbgood

He looks like he has the typical first-day jitters! Hope he is making new friends during independent choice play (that's my educator-speak).

RoscosMom

He is doing fantastic!  The trainer is extremely pleased and has been sending us videos of his progress.  The picture was so funny because his huge ears are always up but when I would say "Roscos going to kindergarten" he would put his ears back, lol.   He is loving it and has been successfully introduced to two other dogs and is playing well with his new friends. 

DianeWright

RoscosMom, video...we want to see the video's!

RoscosMom

RoscosMom, video...we want to see the video's!

Okay I will post some when I get home!  Today he was introduced to two intact males and it went well (he is not fixed).  The trainer is very happy about his temperament which is awesome.  Basically they were running around the property having a pee-off on every tree or bush they could find.  Rosco is officially lifting his leg now too, a proud mommy moment

mbgood

Rosco in your profile picture does appear to have some big wonkin' ears--what a cute boy!

philsergeant

Well, I've check this thread three times now.... that video has gotta be special as it's takin a looooongs time a' cominnn'

RoscosMom

Haha okay they are coming!  He sends us rough videos every day, some are really rough since he is holding his phone while taking short videos.  Here is a pic of my hubby with Rosco and Baby Girl (our pit) taken today when we went to visit.  I will try to upload a video right after. 

RoscosMom

Alright, what is the trick on uploading videos?  I select the file but it keeps timing out when it is uploading and giving me a script error. 

RoscosMom

Alright, hopefully the video isn't sideways I can't figure out how to
change it if it is, we took this video from our vehicle when we drove
up.  Part of his training is to keep him under control when he has a
different agenda (which is always).  He knows our vehicle and of course wanted to come see
us but he sat there like a nice boy while the trainer went from vehicle
to vehicle opening doors and causing a bunch of distraction.  Ignore
the love bug mush on the windshield, we live in Florida and they are
swarming right now! 
>-

RoscosMom

Ugh.  Didn't work.  Help?!
~X(

RoscosMom

In the meantime here is another photo (because I am his mom and mommies LOVE photos). 

philsergeant

You have good reason to be a proud Marmy!  That B&W photo's great too.  In order to post Videos you need to start a You Tube account (easy) and post the video up there... (you can limit who views it) and then copy and paste the URL of that video in your comment.   Type "how to upload videos" in the search bar at the top of the page here.

RoscosMom

Ahhh gotcha.  I will work on that tomorrow and see what I can figure out, thanks for the info.   We are really proud of him, he's doing fantastic.  It is scary to watch him walking him off leash near a highway or make him stay there but we trust the process and know his trainer knows what he's doing.  The transformation has been amazing.  The best part is that he gets a lot of socialization with other dogs too and lots of attention.  We couldn't be happier with the experience.  It looks like he will be graduating a week from Monday 
=D>

philsergeant

To be honest, I would NEVER trust a trainer, or even God, to give me the belief that a Bullie can be off lead near a highway....EVER... Their instincts are just too highly developed to be able to ignore seeing a rabbit [or a piece of paper blowing in the wind that LOOKS like a rabbit], a bird or whatever on the other side of a highway and then the unthinkable disastrous happens. NO amount! of commands will make a Bullie "SIT" when that primaeval instinct kicks in.  I shudder when we are even in the wild and a deer or an armadillo appear close by.... if they go after it I'll be digging through brush for 20 minutes... but at least it's not digging through traffic!

RoscosMom

I hear ya for sure and trust me it makes me cringe to think of it too.  We live on a very busy road and although our property is fenced, I do worry about him getting out of the yard and crossing the road.  We asked him to make sure that he doesn't appear to be interested in car chasing and working with him on boundaries.  I probably should have clarified that a little better in my comment.   He has been working with him going to the intersection and not crossing.  He had control and the long lead leash (probably 10 feet long if I had to guess) laid down to grab should he even remotely act like he was going to bolt.    He also didn't ever do it when cars were right there coming by but he made him sit there calmly (with the leash on) while cars were buzzing by and keeping him in a relaxed state.   My husband was able to watch the entire time but I just could not stand the thought of it and kept thinking he would bolt and run like a maniac down the street.  He felt 100% that the trainer had control at all times.    I don't expect him to ever have to walk down a highway and I pray to God that he never gets out of our property but if he does, I want him to at least have the conditioning to stop at that boundary and not cross unless we tell him to come with us.   Sorry to freak you out with the thought of it..  I feel the same and honestly, a lot of the "off leash" training is hard to swallow for me.   We could have just stopped at the leash training but we decided to go all the way with it since we do travel often and want him to be as trained with the electronic collar as possible to heel even if he is a good distance away. 

RoscosMom

Okay I didn't do the you tube thing yet but I think that you can access two of the videos posted on facebook. 

This is just a little off leash training while we were in our vehicle (ignore the love bugs on the windshield, we are in Florida).  We just drove up so he of course wanted to come to the vehicle:  https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204213349430621&set=vb.1133784376&type=2&theater

This is a little video with the trainers son.  Prior to training just a few weeks ago Rosco would have been a lunatic if anyone new was around I am sure he would have barreled over the baby.  Not really involved videos but still something to check out:  https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=634003733386866&set=o.179309355450043&type=2&theater

philsergeant

Boo Hoo... some of us peasants don't "do Facebook"...
:-O

RoscosMom

@philsergeant it is public, does it bring you anywhere if you click the link? 

BulliesofNC

He looks like he's doing VERY well! Great video's.  :-bd

RoscosMom

Thanks @BulliesofNC !  I will do the you tube thing and put together a collage of videos from beginning to end showing his progress once he is home.  This guy is very impressive and has done an amazing job with Rosco.  We will go for a trial run on Thursday to work with him and make sure he is ready to go, if so he will come home this weekend, if not it will be a few days into next week.  We sure miss him but the off leash training was well worth it and Rosco is responding extremely well to all of it.  There is a lot of down time and playing with other dogs too which has been great for him as well.    We LOVE him, you were right when you said you breed for temperament, his is outstanding so thank you!

RoscosMom

Steve, you will get a kick out of this one.  This was DAY FOUR of training.  We were shocked that he was so calm with the cat there, one of his favorite things was to terrorize cats that come into or near our yard.  At this point the cat can come right up to him while he is laying in the bed and Rosco is just as calm as can be sniffing at him but not getting annoyed at all.   https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204119190236700&set=vb.1133784376&type=2&theater

BulliesofNC

Wow, he's doing fantastic! Very well trained to sit there like that 4 feet away from a cat laying on his bed. What a great Bullie!  My hat is off to you for the excellent training.  ^:)^

RoscosMom

Fortunately the trainer is very experienced with English Bull Terriers and understands how to train them.  He was actually prepared for him to be WAY harder than he was because he has worked with EBTs with correction training and aggression issues in the past.  He felt that this was the perfect age to do it (10 months) and he would respond the best.  His methods are extremely effective and Rosco started responding almost immediately.  He has been so pleased with his progress and so have we.  We were having some issues with him at home and he was just so dang hard headed that we wanted to bring him to someone that was experienced with the breed and had a technique in place but also had a nurturing environment with fun time and attention too not just straight training.   We feel fortunate to have chosen the right one.  It is nice when you actually get what you pay for instead of being disappointed.  Hard to find these days. 

BulliesofNC

You are very lucky to find someone that has knowledge and experience with the Bull Terrier breed. Too many people get ripped off by paying for dog training when the trainer actually has little experience. Sometimes I watch some of the training going on while I pick up supplies from PetSmart and I often have to chuckle with some of the ineffective training techniques the "Trainers" are using on stubborn and dogs that are often more intelligent than the trainer. I'm glad you found a good one. From looking at the videos it's clearly obvious you're getting results fast.

RoscosMom

We "almost" got ripped off.  We talked to one guy first and it just didn't feel right or that he understood just how stubborn EBTs are.  We did our research and this guy trained at a kennel down in South Florida back in the day of Spud Mackenzie when EBTs were a novelty and people had no idea what they were getting into.  He has seen some of the worst he said.  He prefers to train stronger breeds and people bring their dogs from all over the country to him.  He isn't cheap I will say that, but he does what he says he will do in a great environment and keeps us very informed with daily videos that are uncut and showing the good and the bad during the process.  I would recommend him to anyone who is wanting to have positive intensive training that works.   We LOVE the breed and so does he and one of the most important things that he said is that it is important to keep the spirit of the dog intact and train him to understand that his only option is to comply with what his pack leader is instructing him to do.  He said that we could anticipate 80-85% percent compliance with him because of the nature of the breed and that it will make him a more balanced and happy dog since he knows that he is doing what he is supposed to instead of getting in trouble for mischief.   I think if you saw his facility and his techniques you would be impressed.  

BulliesofNC

I'm impressed how well he's behaving from the video's I watched. It isn't the mere fact of his obedience to listen and behave with kids, cats, etc as much as it is him doing so at a stage in his life when ALL EBT's are wound up and hyper especially the males. Showme's Rosco Poindexter Coltrane is not even 11 months old yet and he's doing fabulous! If he's listening that well at his present age I can guarantee you'll see a huge difference when he actually matures. Rosco is currently at the age where hard headed stubbornness is at its peak. His dad was a mischievous devil too when he was young but you'd never know it today as people who meet him fall in love with his personality, temperament, and character.
Setting in good habits and proper training now with Roscoe will pay big dividends in his future development as a mature adult Bullie. I'm confident he's a smart and loving Bullie, he has to be it's in his blood. It's great seeing photos and video's of him as he progresses. I remember peaking at the litter when I visited Ryan and Nicole of ShowMe Bullies which only seems like yesterday. The photo below is how I remember Rosco. He looks slightly bigger now.  )

RoscosMom

Oh my widdle boy!  I have his baby picture as the main photo on my iphon still.  We loved following his every move before we got to pick him up.  He is such a joy to us and we are so in love!  He definitely seemed to be at the peak of his hard headed stubbornness which is why we called in the experts, lol.   We have dealt with strong headed breeds before but EBTs are in a class of their own to say the least.  I think his technique is excellent on how he trains him what to do and rewards him with an abundance of praise for doing things right. If he makes a mistake or doesn't do what he was supposed to he will stop and make him do it again 5 more times or however many to make sure he has it down and understand that is what he is supposed to do and then rewards him with lots of love and excited praise.  Rosco responded to that immediately.  He has had to have a few "come to Jesus" moments with him where Rosco dug in his heels and his stubborn nature came out but he patiently worked through it until he realized that he was not going to control the process.  In one video early on he was having a bit of a headache with him and Rosco was not wanting to behave.  He let him break and put another dog on the lead that was a little more advanced than Rosco and suddenly Rosco realized that he wasn't getting the attention and followed around behind them doing all of the commands at the same time as the other dog, lol.  It was at that moment that they had a breakthru and Rosco realized that it is a whole lot more fun to follow the leader!  Silly dogs, they have so much personality they don't even know what to do with it!   Once we get him back and settled we might be ready to add a little girl to the mix, just sayin'

philsergeant

I checked out the video and it's very impressive.... I wouldn't share the trainer's name on here because you'll probably not be able to get an appointment in future if so many EBT owners find out about him!!