we picked CheddarDog up last night and I loves her. 
It's taken us five months and numerous false starts with interest in dogs that turned out to not be suitable for one reason or another, but we finally got there and she's perfect for us.
We have three cats and a 9 month old DS so knew we might have a wait to find the right dog for us.
So far, all cats are happy to be in the same room as CheddarDog for short periods of time, and CheddarDog shows no signs of wishing to commit felicide so that's good. Under closely supervised conditions DS has been thoroughly sniffed with some associated licked and they seem mutually agreeable to ongoing policed interaction, so good start there.
Housetraining is great - one poo in the dining room 'cause I wasn't watching her carefully enough but she does ask to go out and in her defence did it as close to the back door as possible!
DH slept in the kitchen with her last night and will do so again tonight at least until she settles properly.
Anyone care to guess the cross (photos on my profile - hopefully, if I've done it right!)? The rescue reckons setter cross of some sort - her brother has a much shaggier coat and more setter-ish ears, if that makes sense.
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
After 5 months waiting for the right rescue dog...
SeriouslyStrongCheddar · 22/03/2013 11:01
Thanks for all the kind comments - she is lovely and we're very lucky to have her.
idirdog - thanks for those tips, I'll give them a try.
She seems quick to learn with clicker training - has learnt 'sit', 'down', 'up' (up on hind legs), we're working on 'roll over' and we're progressing with getting her to go to her crate. Her recall is getting better (still terrible, but better!). Of course, all these commands go out of the window out of the house or when there are distractions, but still, it's early days! I'm wondering if I'm doing too much training with her, (two or three 10 - 15 min sessions a day) but she's not getting many walks at the moment and I don't want her to get too bored.
We've booked some 1-2-1 time with a trainer / behaviourist for middle of May, so if there's anything we have concerns about or haven't made progress with by then, we'll have some guidance.
The things I could most do with advice on if anyone fancies sharing some tips are these....
Sleeping - at night, she's in the kitchen with the babygate on the door. Her crate is in there with her bed in it (plus a cover off my armchair that she likes and a heated pad at night) and it's left open (we'll gradually crate train her to stay in it closed). She takes a while to settle and will whine and maybe bark a little and will wake a few times a night. DH is sleeping in the next room (but out of sight) and lets her out when she needs to - he tries to only go to her when she's quiet. Are we on the right track with this and she'll eventually settle all night or is there something more / else we should be doing?
Possessive - she is a bit possessive of things she steals. Not her food bowl, not her toys, but a shoe or anything else she nicks before we can get it away from her. We're able to take things off her while she's picking them up, but once she settles down in the dining room with them and has her paws on them, she will growl if you try to remove it. I'm guessing we need to teach a drop-it command and meanwhile distract and treat to get things off her?
Walks - she is very scared of everything on walks. I'm guessing she wasn't socialized as a pup. We're trying to do one short walk a day at the moment (it's about 15 - 30 mins) but we don't get far as she spends a lot of the time being scared. I'm trying to click and treat for confident behaviour and clicking and treating when she's around something that makes her uneasy to give her positive associations. I've been reading up about BAT and I'm guessing that's the best way to go with this? I'm really hoping we can help her with this so she can start enjoying her walks as I think she finds them very frightening at the moment.
Thanks in advance for any tips and tricks and I'm really sorry at the length of that!
She is lovely what a fab dog. I am so glad you have found each other.
I would start charging the clicker and also working on the Reinforcement Zone. (something I always do with new dogs) When she is next to you click and treat. Snicky counderconditioning that means it is fantastic to always be around you.
Makes recall, heel work a piece of cake to teach.
Other thing I would do is the food circle. Throw her food a small distance away from you so she runs to it, let her eat it and then call her name(no recall command) she will turn to you and give her a yummy treat. So kibble to throw and hot dog sausage for coming back to you.
Have fun with her she looks fantastic 
Awww, I'm "seriously" chuffed, seriously So pleased for you - she is gorgeous - seems like the 5 month wait was worth it and thanks for the flowers!
LadyTurmoil - I owe you my thanks actually, as I only found SOS because of one of your posts where you posted links to some overseas rescue. So 
; it it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have Etta.
Oh yes, I'd seen her pics on SOS Animals website, she's absolutely beautiful. Congratulations
groovejet - we've stuck with her original name, which is Etta. She was found as a puppy with her brother, who's called Henry . I did wonder about pointer actually, as I think Spanish Pointers are a bit like English Setters from a colouring perspective.
gymmummy & Redwing - I have to confess to doing a little bit of training today on 'sit' and 'here'. Nothing to taxing and no clicker as yet, but we were all going to go nuts if we didn't do something! Think I'll get the clicker out this weekend actually, just to get it primed if nothing else. Might well take her for a walk on Sunday, depending on snow. Need to get a new car harness though (also for use with long lead as her recall is not good as yet) as the one I bought for her is waaay to big!
neeps - she is indeed from Spain. Sounds like your dog has settled in well if he's good off lead with you already. Think we'll have some work before we get to that stage
Aww she looks luffly! Congratulations!
Dogs Trust told me to hold off training my rescue too, but I someone on here told me to start as I meant to go on, just not try anything overly complex. That made sense to me, so things like leaving us alone when eating, responding to his name, not trying to force his way out of the front door or the car door, taking a treat GENTLY, going into the lounge when someone was at the door etc etc all started straight away. If I'd had any rules about sofas or upstairs then they would have started straight away too. Recall took a bit longer - 6 months and counting, but I think we're largely there now
I can't imagine how I would have coped not taking him out for a week though.
70isaLimitNotaTarget - she's somewhere between 9 months and 15 months depending on whether I believe what the rescue told me or what her passport says; who knows!
Hmm, the consensus seems to be that there's some collie in there, that's really interesting.
She seems quite bright and keen to learn and I'm dying to train her, but the rescue said to give her a couple of weeks to settle before I start clicker training so we'll have to wait and see.
They've also said I shouldn't take her out for walks for a week or so, just keep her to the garden while she settles in - she has quite a bit of energy so the next few days are going to be fun!
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She's all legs and tail isn't she?
Looks lovely , really unique (in a good way) markings.
How old is CheddarDog ?
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