I'm a Good girl, really!

I think if there is one thing I have learned about having a pointer it's that a good measure of stubborness pays off.
When OhLa first came she was a lunging snarling mash of teeth and food stealing pushiness at meal time. She would dive on the counter and steal what she could, dive in the other dogs bowls and then scrap with them when they tried to protect their own dinners. It wasn't pretty, and I doubt she pulls that kind of behaviour at home either. Too bad for her I decided to make it my mission to have her eat her meals with the rest of the group, politely, and waiting her turn (which is last, dead last for the dog with the least manners!). It has been a long process, first having her eat in her kennel and wait to be released. Then gradually desensitizing her to the meal process. Mollie sits, I put her bowl down. Marty sits, I put his bowl down...OhLa dives, OhLa goes in her crate and does not get fed until everyone else has finished their supper. We made it past Mollie, Marty, and Cai, onto Toque...not bad, Jorja and SoBe = diving. She can push those two and she knows it. Finally after a couple of months of the exact same routine (dish diving = OhLa goes to her crate and eats last), she made it past all eight dogs and came to her turn. OhLa sits, I put her dish down, release her (a bit quickly truthfully but I really wanted success) and she eats her supper. But half way through she suddenly realises that other dogs are eating too, they might have something better, she leaves her bowl to snarl at them and shoves them out of their dish. Back to the crate, and the remainder of her supper waits for ten minutes or so before she sees it again. It has been three weeks since then, and tonight I wanted to video just how well she has done. I haven't been feeding her with the group every night, some nights she gets to go first and get her meal straight away in her kennel. I don't want meal times to be stressful, just a gradual desensitizing and learning experience. Right now I am working on proofing her to not release on the word "good", pretty impressive though that she can focus to work through that even with all the other bowls so easily accessible. At last it has become more rewarding to be patient than it is to be pushy. A few weeks ago she would have tried to cream Heidi for being so close to her dish, or shoved Heidi out of her bowl and gaurd both bowls. Tonight she even played tradesies. My dogs always go check out each others bowls when they are finished and make sure every last drop is gone. OhLa couldn't cope with that even last week but now she is joining in the game. Yes, it would have been way easier to just feed her in her crate, but look at her now! So here's the video (no comments on the laundry pile or the state of my dirty house at the moment!)