spiritdogs
Posted : 2/26/2011 7:07:42 AM
Riiseli
tiffy
How is this^^ helping the OP?
It isn't. I'm pretty sure that all reasonable solutions have been covered. I see no point in repeating them.
This is just to let everybody know that whatever a breeder may have implied tollers do occasionally have issues with aggression etc.
ALL breeds occasionally have problems with aggression, so IMO statistics like this are not that helpful. Any bite/aggression statistics are suspect anyway because people often misidentify dog breeds or mixes, and so many bites go completely unreported, especially if it was a family dog involved. Aggression issues must always be investigated and dealt with based on the individual dog's breed, temperament, environment, training, and health.
As to management of this dog in the future, I would not have her at face level with children. That's not because she bit your son, it's because I suggest *never* allowing dogs at face level with kids as a routine preventive strategy. I also would not have your son pat the dog and C/T to start. Before getting to that stage, I would have your son, or any child, toss treats on the floor to the dog while you say a cue, such as "Look, it's (child's name)" That way, the dog associates all kids with something cool, and learns to look at the floor, not the kid's hands, for the reward. I also think that it's better to let the dog go up to the kid and sniff, and be rewarded with C/T for that (the child, at that point in the training does NOTHING -no pat, no speech, no nothing). Something is off-putting about your son and if you can figure out what it is, you can also use counter-conditioning for that. Ask your trainer to observe your son and your dog and offer an *honest* opinion of what it is about him that freaks your dog out. That behavior is what you want to C/T your dog (always under threshold) for accepting, until it's no big deal. Of course, if it's something about his physical handling of the dog, you may have to school him, too;-)
One thing to consider - Tollers are working dogs, and a lot of them are one trial learners, so it may be that there was one inappropriate interaction between them that she remembered. Or, it could just be a bossy pup with no respect for the weaker members of her social group. In that case, he could do things like feed her her dinner by hand (flat handed, kibble by kibble). Not only does he then become a bearer of resources, he is being associated with a powerful reinforcer - food. He can ask her to "sit" or "down" to earn some of the kibble - if she doesn't, he just puts the food away, and tries again in fifteen minutes. All of this under your supervision, of course.