General Discussion

death of a companion dog

anewdog — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:50:34 GMT

Our older dog has been diagnosed with a tumor that there is no successful treatment for and we have decided just to let the cancer run its course, and if need be euthanasia when kindness requires it. For now she is happy and doing well, wondering what she did to deserve all goodies and extra attention she has been getting.

I am looking for advice on what to do for our surviving dog. He was just eight weeks old when he joined the family and has always had her as a companion and leader. He is definitely the submissive follower in the relationship. He loves her but he loves his people too.

Other than separate walks, car rides, and trips to the vet and groomer; they have only been separated one night in five years, when he was neutered. I have been told that when she and I go out and leave him at home he howls and fusses, but eventually settles down. If I am at home and someone else take her out he is okay but tends to stay by me. If I take her out and no one is home I put him in his crate. He is fine when he goes out by himself. At home he is usually with a person or with her, but at times will go lay in his crate or outside by himself. They spend 3-6 hours a day at home alone together during the day, I think he spends a lot of that time asleep in his crate.

This is what I am doing so far. I have started to take him to doggie day care occasionally because she can’t play rough with him anymore, he seems to do okay there. The owner says that he has been good with the other dogs and only seems to get anxious near the end of the day when the other dogs start getting picked up. We are regularly taking separate walks. I am trying to come home at lunch regularly and perhaps could take him to the office with me on occasion after she is gone.

What else should we be doing and what sort of reaction from him should we be prepare for? I am planning on taking him with us if we need to euthanize her so he can sniff her body afterward. Another dog is not out of the question, I just don’t want to rush into it.

Thanks

Excessively Fearful Dogs

Anne54 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:19:06 GMT

I have one dog, a yellow lab, who was abused and neglected for the first year of his life. My family and I rescued him, and at first he was fearful and submissive of anyone surprising him, or if someone's feet came near him, or if he couldn't see a person's hand. He occasionally is anxious, but now after a several years he is comfortable with most things and is definitely more relaxed.

My question, however, has to do with another dog. A friend of mine got this dog from a dog breeder a Bernese Mountain dog. They asked me to dog sit for them for a week at first and throughout the past year I've dogsat off and on. they also have a golden retriever, Jack, who is the most affectionate (almost overly loving) dog i know. Anyways, The bernese mountain dog, Greta, is excessively fearful. Greta's owner told me that Greta is scared off any stranger, other dog, and even relatives she used to be comfortable around. the owner said when Greta was a puppy, she was fine and had no problems. However, when she was about two years old, they noticed that she was becoming more and more cautiousa round evryone and everything, and was no longer comfortable going to the owner's parents' house, where she had been completely at home before. Now she's i think she's about four years old.

In my dogsitting, It was very difficult for me to get close to her at first, even with a treat or some special snack. She would back away as much as possible and would even care not to back herself into a corner. The only thing I could do was firmly say "Greta, sit" and "stay" over and over so she would at least listen to me. Even if something across the room, like me or Jack, moved, she'd jump up ready to find a hiding place. on walks, Greta would stay either way up front or just behind me, and I could often feel her getting close to me from behind, but if i turned to look at her she'd dart away, and not look at me. If we came upon another person during the walk, she'd give them a very wide berth (usually as far as rthe leash would go) and if they weren't looking at her she would occasionally get a little closer to investigate before running ahead again. When giving her a treat, it took so much coersion to get her to take it that i finally just set the treat on the floor and backed away until she decided it was safe. Finally, after I had dogsat for this family a few times, Greta was becoming slightly more comfortable around me. One day, I took her outside and was surprised when she jumped down, with her butt still in up, like she wanted to play. So i kinda ran around with her, not to close, scraed that she might dart off and out of the yard. Then, she laid down on the grass, and rolled over. I walked over to her and sat down slowly and started petting her belly and she was fine. She even let me hug her on more than one occasion even from behind. Unfortunately, this relaxed behavior ended outside. when i'd take her back inside, she would once again keep her distance. She would still be more comfortable with me, but revert back to most of her old behaviors.

This drastic change in behavior confuses me, does anyone know what could have caused this? Can the personalities of her owners have affected or exacerbated her behaviors in this way? her owner is kind of a worrier and almost a type A personality whereas I'm definitely more relaxed and calm, and Greta always seems more at peace after I've spent time with her.

As I'm looking forward to studying animal behavior and veterinary medicine, i'd really love to hear what everyone has to say, or what they've observed in dogs that may be in a similar situation. thanks in advance!

Is is true some dogs are just so loyal if they fear their master is in trouble they will defend them?

Abbeyroad86 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:02:43 GMT

First of all I don't believe in guard dogs, I believe in security systems. Dogs are pets and important members of the family and that its our job to protect them

i ask because that seems to be the case with our Terrier mix.

She is a good dog. The sweetest dog ever really.

But 2 times now she has defended one of us, and one other time she was ready to.

The first time an agressive boxer came after me (I was 4 months pregnant at the time) and she held him off until the owner grabbed the dog up.

The second time was last night. My husband took her out to the restroom and she started to get anxious and then she started growling toward the trees around the building and out came this real shady guy who kept following them and he seemed to be up to no good. She turned around and started barking at him, growling at him, and he would back off and she would stop but he started following again and she acted the same way and that time he ran off. Now I know he was up to no good. No one dressed like that and acting like that walking around at 1 am is up to any good. And it concerns us that he was following them. We think he was either ready to rob my husband or there to make some sort of deal with someone. (And we live in a safe gated community, but it would help if they would close the gates at night)

Now its not in my dogs nature to be agressive toward anyone infact most people she would just lick to death, but she felt they were in danger last night and with that other dog she felt I was in danger.

Is it possible that some dogs are just so loyal to their masters that if in danger they will defend them?

_____________

Other examples:

First of all We are very proud of her for being so on top of things.

We don't encourage aggression at all. She is a family dog and around kids.

I just feel a lot safer having her around. She has defended us twice now.

And when she thought someone was breaking in, she let us know that too

When there was smoke coming in to the apartment one time, she informed us before we knew about it and we were able to get out before it got too bad. (Wasn't a fire, someones fireplace backed up into our apartment)

When the smoke came in our smoke alarm never went off if we had been sleeping it could have been bad

She is such a great dog

________________-

Anyways just wanted to take a moment to brag about my girl a bit and see if this is a common family dog trait.

Walking off-leash

MalOwner — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:17:11 GMT

I was just wondering if any of you walk your dogs off-leash or let them out of the house off-leash (in the front yard, or non-fenced back yard)... I ask because at this point, I would never even think of doing this with Hugo. But, Hugo's best dog friend, Sidney (a 7 month-old lab mix), easily walks off-leash with her owners and never strays away from them... and I'm jealous! So have any of you trained your pups to do this, or is this just something that they naturally do (and that my northern breed will never do)? I have just enrolled Hugo in a "Really Reliable Recalls" class -- do you think this will help, or is there a different type of training I could do?

video-Interesting video of puppy disciplining

rwbeagles — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:49:47 GMT

By my adult Leonberger, Cleo. I thought some of the behavior buffs might find it interesting and care to discuss it? It's at the very end...

Other folks might just like the puppy cuteness LOL...

LINKAGE HERE

Totaly New to Dogs and I Realy Need Help

Farman — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:41:59 GMT

Hi there,

I recently realized that I need guard dog(s) to guard my farm and livestock (goats, sheep, cows, chickens and duck)After reading about dog breeds and searching around I fell in love with German Shepherds .They are intelligent and can make good working dogs.I found a pedigree, 6 months old GSD that is somewhat territorial but very smartI wonder how I should introduce it to other animals on the farm.How can I tell when it is safe to leave her unsupervised with other animals?

Do you recommend any books/websites for me to read?

Thanks in advance

Bored Dogs

spiritdogs — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:20:49 GMT

Many times, when a dog that needs a "job" is bored, trainers and behaviorists recommend "interactive toys." So, I thought I'd post a few of my favorites, and ask you to post yours, so that our members can find one that their dog might like. Too often, trainers tell people to get a "Buster Cube' and the person gets it home and the dog doesn't care for it. Some dogs hate hard plastic toys despite that they contain food;-) Sequoyah will play with her Pyramid for hours. Sioux just looks at it and wonders why I would give her such a useless thing. Yet there are things she likes, such as the Kong stuffed with goodies.

Some of the sites they come from:

www.dog.com

www.activedogtoys.com

www.fetchdog.com

Anyway, here are a few of my favorites:

Of course, the old stand by - Kong

All of the Nina Ottosan wooden puzzle toys and her Pyramid toy (it's like a Weeble, it always pops back up)

Premier's Tug a Jug, and Twist n Treat

Jumbubbler, Bubble Blaster, or Bubble Buddy (chicken flavored bubbles they can pop - what fun)

Extreme Treat Ball (Great for the dog that hates hard plastic - this is softer, but still hides treats)

Have fun, doggies! Put these on your list for Santadog...

Where do they stay during the day

Fenris — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:27:18 GMT

Where and how does everyone keep their dogs while you're at work?

I have a mature rescue GSD mix and an almost year-old bullmastiff. The mix can be trusted to have the run of the house but not the puppy. Not yet, at least. I could confine the puppy to the basement, but that would mean the mix gets favorite treatment. The puppy, left upstairs, will joyfully tear the house down. The garage is puppy-proofed.

Now, we've had a bad fight situation in the house and re-homed one of our dogs (good family). I don't like the thought of leaving the remaining two to their own devices, together in the garage, even though I built heated dog houses where they can retreat. The bullmastiff has endless energy right now and is already bigger than our mix. She wants to wrestle all day, the mix does not. I could build small kennel-style runs maybe 6-8 feet long, separated by plywood, so they can at least move around. They're both crate trained as puppies but it seems unnecessary to confine them that tightly any more.

Thoughts? Is there a risk of issues developing if I leave dogs together alone? Better to build the runs so that they're next to each other but separated?

A couple questions about Lion.... I need help!

Mechanical Angel — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:36:26 GMT

Ok, things at my house have been going great with Lion but I do have a few concerns.

First things first, he is the sweetest dog ever. Definetly a good choice to give him a home. I have just been so happy I cant even describe it. And, he is settling in to my house perfectly. I have a vet appointment set up for him tommorow morning at 9 am. He is going to get a pyhsical, get new licenses, get his parvo and rabies shots, and have the lion cut clipped off. His hair will be a little shorter now, so not so much shedding and a much cuter look. Oh, and his nails will be clipped.

Ok well the first concern really isnt about Lion. Its about Brownie. He is still somewhat scared of Lion and he still doesnt really like being in the same room with him. Its not because he dislikes him, its just because hes scared. But, Lion hasnt done anything to Brownie to get this response. Cuddles is absolutely fine with Lion. When we met him at a nuetral place Brownie wasnt scared at all but now that he's in the house it has all changed. Lion isnt agressive at all and would never even show him teeth. So what can I do to help Brownie be less scared?

And we have a chain link fence. A regualr one and honestly its pretty strong. This morning I was walking down the block and Lion was in the fenced in yard. He saw me go and he just got down on his stomach and pushed as hard as he could and just muscled his way out under the fence. I honestly dont think he would do that unless there was someone he knew outside of the fence. Its just the fact that he can that scares me. He is a very good dog off leash, and honestly if he did get out when no one was around he would most likely just stick around. I'm thinking about getting fence anchors from the store so I can anchor the fence down. Do you guys think this a good idea? And how can I discourage him from doing this?

And, the last thing is Brownie and Cuddles are allowed up on the loveseat in the living room. Lion isnt. He has gotten up there a couple of times. How can I teach him not to?

Sorry for the long post, I just want to fix these before they get worse :)

Splash Goes Trick or Treating...Positively!!!

spiritdogs — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:10:17 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup

This is hilarious, and all taught with positive training - this trainer uses no +P

How to get our terrier to take treats and other items nicely from us without taking off a finger? Also sudden new behaviors with our other dog. Need advice

Abbeyroad86 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:27:51 GMT

The two issues are interelated. Now I wrote about my poodle running off the other day. I failed to mention his nasty behaviors started after I became pregnant. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Honestly I feel we have one of the greatest terriers ever. And the problem only started a few days ago (she is almost 2).

All the sudden she is grabbing up things like she is scared she isn't going to get a chance to get it. And when she grabbed the treat out of my hand (she was in sit position) She pinched down pretty hard on my finger.

And I've noticed she is doing the same thing with her food, she is eating it as fast as she can and constantly looking around to make sure no one takes it.

She was a shelter dog as a pup and she did have these behaviors as a pup but we worked on them and got passed them but all the sudden its kind of a relapse. We have a second dog who is older and we've had longer and lately he has been not very nice to her, and we have had to seperate them lately because he is picking fights (our terrier isn't fighting back she just sits there and takes it) and we are working to correct our other dogs behavior.

Could this be what has set her back into her old habits of snatching and fast eating?

(They don't eat together as it is because she will eat hers and then eat his)

How do we get her back to where she was?

She is a good girl but I'm concered for her health if she keeps eating so fast, that can't be good for her. And the snatching just isn't good behavior.

Next issue: The poodle bullying the terrier

The dog that is bullying her is about 11 pounds smaller than her. Again we are addressing and working on this behavior with the one that is doing the bullying, our terrier is very submissive. Our other dog we feel his attitude is he is sensing the changes going on in his life. (We are expecting our first baby, he has only acted this way since I became pregnant, I still treat him the same as I always have and give him just as much love but he seems to get more and more anxious and not so friendly to our other dog the closer we get to delivery, and these two dogs have been together since pups no problems. We have been working with a trainer on this)

Though we are looking into all possible causes for his recent naughty behavior. (health to psychological to behavioral.)

Where could all this behavior be steming from.

And is his bullying what is causing our Terrier to revert to some of her earlier behaviors?

Apollo's playing too rough- advice wanted

BlackLabbie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:57:28 GMT

Apollo has been playing really rough with these 2 female Labs. They get along great, have known each other for 3 years, lots of play bowing and body bumping and tug of war, and in general rough play (not really mouthy though)- but all 3 play like that. Lately he's been nipping them, usually in the butt, and I don't know why. Example, if one of them starts doing zoomies he will run after them, they will freeze, play bow, maybe bark at each other, run around and if he catches up to them he nips them, usually in the butt! He only does it to these 2 females. When he does nip them they sometimes "yip", then they stop their game, ignore him (even though he keeps trying to play), but after about a minute they will go back to playing again. It's so weird because he just started doing this more often....any ideas? I don't want him to hurt them, he doesn't really seem to be. Also, the entire time he's with them his tail is high as a flag- I mean straight up. Normally it isn't.

I don't want to end his playing with them because they all seem to enjoy each other. Never any fights or aggression- ever.

handling dogs with Physical disablities

poodleOwned — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:04:25 GMT

I am really after hearing what people with minor and major disabilities do with handling dogs. My latest choice of dog was quite a bit formed from losing quite a lot of strength down the LH of my body, and i have not much sight in my left eye. While i still handle larger dogs, it is nice ot give them back to their owners. My LH face is kept going with botox after nerve damage. I was also born with a Syndrome which makes me pretty clumsy and i have a pretty weird gait without some thought plus high anxiety levels.I can suffer pretty debilitationg panic attacks, once in a tracking trial. My dog is so dam good that she sat with me for 5 minutes and then carried on...

I am fairly stubborn and trial my older dog at UD and do a heap of tracking. I love tracking, all that i have to do is watch my dog.

The key in obedience trialling is practice practice practice for me but with my dog in the car often!!!. I fully expect to take a long time to do anything. I teach myself like my dogs in small slow steps. I have a lot of hassle with signals and really need to watch them. They get really fast under stress.

The advantages are that dogs seem to like me and i like them. This evening i was asleep on the couch with my feet up, and i woke with a sleeping poodle, streched out on my chest. That is what having a dog is really about. I am also mentally quite sharp and a little creative. I use this in my training.

Therapy Dogs outside the square

poodleOwned — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:24:32 GMT

I was moved to write this post when i kept reading about people's thoughts about what they think is requried as a therapy dog.

Dogs are needed and are great tools across a wide range of therapies and situations. I remember laughing myself silly at the thought of getting my Lab who died this year through Pets as Therapy for the very normal situations in hospitals and old people's homes.

But he was a therapy dog par excelllence with young adolescents who were suffering with Pysch illnesses. He was obedient, bullet proof , playful, capable of initiating contact , and didn't worry too much if he got rejected as he sometimes did. He could also stay in a drop position for long periods of time, and never run out of surfaces that needed patting. He was pretty keen on any kind of play.

My eldest poodle is nearer to your standard therapy dog, and can handle a good mauling with the best of them. She is also shall we say not without personality and sensitivity, has this almost eery ability to do good things and works well with people grieving over the loss of another human or pet.

I think Apserger's and therapy was suggested. Apserger's populate the extremes in animal handling . Some are absolutely brillant, and others are well beyond belief awful. Personally, it is tough work dealing with a kid on the Autism spectrum with or without language skills who has no idea of what to do and is really tough on the dog. I don't think this situation is theraputic at all.

All that you really have to think about for the others is all the stuff you need to read and be aware of. I know that animals are wonderfully theraputic for people on the Autism Spectrum

What other therapy situations have you tried your dogs on?

"Outspoken" dogs

corvus — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:14:38 GMT

It occurred to me this weekend as the vet was expressing concern over Erik's decisive unwillingness to let a stranger put their fingers in his mouth that we tend to have extremely high expectations for dogs. Let me just say now that I agree that Erik doesn't get to dictate who touches his mouth and when and you can bet that we will be cramming in some more socialisation and teaching him to stand for examination with LOADS of rewards and trying to convince complete strangers to poke his mouth in the very near future.

However, it kind of irked me that my dog was sort of branded as potential trouble just because he is pretty outspoken about things he doesn't like. Is there any other animal that is expected to suppress their displeasure of something a human is doing to them? WIth a lot of animals you have no choice. They say they don't like it and you either force them and suffer the scratches, bruises and bites, or desensitise them, but it doesn't make them good or bad. It's just something you deal with as best you can. I'm quite attracted to breeds with a dubious reputation. I like confident dogs that tell you to get stuffed if they don't like something. I like how it forces you to think of them in a different light and put work into helping them learn to like things instead of just making them.

Anyway, the vet cracked out the roast chicken today (I love vets that keep roast chicken in the fridge at all times) and Erik figured that now that chicken was involved he could see her perspective regarding his mouth after all and in a couple of minutes he was sitting wagging his tail while the vet pretended to look at his teeth and ears. I was very pleased that the vet put us firmly on the right track with just a little extra time and effort, but part of me feels a little annoyed that making noise about something he's not comfortable with should be a big red flag. Dogs have it rough. We do all sorts of things to them and just expect that they accept it. If they don't like it they are expected to keep it to themselves. That's quite unfair, really.

I like my outspoken dog. I like that I can't take it for granted that he'll co operate with everything I decree no matter where my brain is hiding that day. I certainly think that my outspoken dog should not do his speaking with his teeth, but I would not like him to not speak at all. I guess I'm feeling torn about this. I'm not about to sit by and allow my dog to learn to get his way with growling and teeth if he feels he needs to make a point, but nor do I feel that it's unreasonable for him to do that if I fail in teaching him to like these things that he doesn't naturally like. Someone help bring clarity to my mind.

"Reaching the Animal Mind" by Karen Pryor

Stacita — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:25:58 GMT

For the first couple of chapters, I felt Ms. Pryor was just rehashing "Lads agaist the Wind"

However in reading the book, I found strong arguments for clicker training. I've never done harsh training, and never had huge expectations so I didn't see a big need.

House breaking a very old dog???

AllenB — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:02:23 GMT

We rescued a 13 year old Beagle from a rescue agency. We've had her for 2 weeks now. They had about 30 dogs who had the run of the house and IMO the owner could not know which do is house broken and which were not. They had doggie doors so they could come and go.

Background: She takes Phenylpropanolamine for bladder control. She tends to leak if not. She was at the rescue agency for about a year. Before that she was in a home for 10 years. The story goes she was dropped off at the vet by the owners asking that she be put down because of the leaking. The vet took her and gave her to the rescue agency.

Problem: This girl will tell us she has to go out by pacing by the back door. But on occasion, we find where she has peed in the house. When we're gone for more than 4-7 hours, she cannot hold it and we find accidents. There is no leaking at this point though. She's completely deaf and it's a bit hard to train her.

Question: Is she just too old to hold it? Or is she still adjusting to a new routine and environment? Is it a physical or behavioral issue? I hate to give her back but she's ruining our home.

Thanks!

Puppy pacing and leaning

Fenris — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:29:59 GMT

We have a 10-month-old bullmastiff puppy, female, spayed. She's staying with our rescue mix, who she has been raised with, while our two-year-old boxer is going to another home (earlier thread, fights in the house, thanks everyone for thoughtful responses). To give us a little time to place the boxer, we've farmed out the bullmastiff to a two-week board-and-train.

When she comes back, there are a couple of things I want to look at. One is pacing. She paces morning and night, when she's excited, when she's hungry, when anyone else is up and moving around. She'll have her head and neck straight out, not stiff or up or down, just forward, and she likes to carry something in her mouth when she does that. Tail as well, not up or down or wagging much, just level and swaying back and forth just a little. Her steps are sort of long and very deliberate. When she greets, she'll do that in a circle around you and snort a lot. There aren't any signs of aggression to it, but it gets annoying and it seems to stress other dogs.

Any ideas what that's about?

Other thing is leaning. She leans on you like a bag of lead. Everyone loves it, really, because she's doing it for affection -- lean into you, put the whole weight of her head on you, do the puppy eyes thing. Everyone melts. Petting and baby talk ensues, never fails. That's exactly how we brought the boxer up spoiled rotten and contributed to his possessiveness. The last thing I want is to repeat that mistake with a 120-lb guard dog with a head the size of a watermelon. I want to discourage dominant leaning, because she's already figured out how to use her weight to push other dogs out of the way -- what's to stop her from trying it on us? At the same time, I don't want to discourage affection. That's what's so lovable about this dog, the way she's just loves on people.

Thoughts?

How to stop face licking?

denise m — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:29:26 GMT

As you may know, I adopted Buddy on Saturday. He loves attention and is very affectionate. He likes to sit on my lap. He sits behind me on the computer chair. Always greets with excitement, but not in a bad way - no jumping or pawing, just happy wagging and a bit of jumping around. I would call him a submissive dog.

My main problem is when he is anywhere near your face, he wants to lick it. Not just once but really until you make him stop. I accepted kisses from him when he first came home. I wanted him to start bonding and feel comfortable. I realize in dog world, licking the face/mouth is a submissive or appeasement jester. Right? Is it good that he is doing that to me, yucky factor aside? Anyways I don't want him to do it so how should I go about training, considering he has only been with us for 3 days?

Thanks

Interesting read on dominance/behavior

erica1989 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:40:34 GMT

http://www.apdt.com.au/files/dominancestatement.pdf

One of my trainers sent this to me (we were talking about Jack the pup I've got now.)

Thought it was interesting, so I'm passing it along.

Soft dogs

crysania — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:30:18 GMT

This might be a strange question so bear with me!

Is there any way to make an extremely soft dog less soft? I really worry about my dog a LOT because she's so soft. Just today I ran home and had just 15 minutes to take her out. I got her leashed up and ready to go out the door when I ran into her by accident. Her ears went back and she laid down like someone had just beaten her. And then she refused to go out. I ended up sitting down with her, tried to distract her with treats and obedience work, but it took a few minutes for her to recover. From me running into her. Something most dogs deal with on a usual basis but Dahlia seems to not be able to handle (she's always been like this).

So I don't know. Is there anything I could do to work with her to accept the occasional bumping into her, foot accidentally coming down on her tail hair, etc.? Or do I just have to accept that this is her personality and work with it? She's a wonderful dog and I love her as she is, but I'd love for HER to be a little less soft for her own sake. I think if she could roll with the punches a bit more, she'd be happier.

Rescue Dobbie - when to change behavior.

bandjdc — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:08:26 GMT

Rescue Dobbie - when to change behavior. Hello .... just joined dog.com today. Two weeks ago we , my wife and I, rescued a Doberman. We have had a Doberman before. Scarlet was described by several trainers as one of the most beautiful, wired and headstrong red dobies they had ever seen. So we know about the breed. We also raised a Shepard/Dobie mix. Both are gone now. We have never done a pound resuce; but, it sems to be going well .. so far at least. Vet says he is a little underweight, but in good health and appears to have been well cared for. Lucky is picking up commands ( sit, stay, come, fetch , give ) and seems to be adapting pretty well. He has a mellow attitude most of the time and is not showing agression, fear or any sign of abuse. I suspect it was a case of negelect. He doesn't seem to recognize ANY type of toy .... ever seen a Dobbie not chase a ball ? Our current issue. Up until two nights ago he was happy to sleep on the floor or on a dog bed in our room. Since then he has become VERY agitated (pacing in circles, barks or nips the air) if not allowed to sleep on the family couch in the living room. This is against the historical rules of the house. My wife wants to address the issue with him now, seeing this attitude change as testing both of us as "new pack leaders". I see it as his reverting to "old family rules" for conforting during adapting. I think that after a month or so, when our position is solid with him is the time to adress this.

Which is better/best ? Opinions please

I have a positive dog.

corvus — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:10:56 GMT

This morning at the dog park Kivi was playing with a young staffy. She was all over him and after a while took to just hanging off his cheek wherever he went. Poor dude was not really enjoying it. He was trying to walk away from her and shake her off, but every time he did she'd jump on him again. Nonetheless, he did not "correct" her or punish her. Of course, we did rescue him from the pesky pup, but both me and my partner were quite amazed that he just kept walking away and never did anything more than whine. He is much the same with Erik. Erik gets way too rough with him, but even when he's yelping, the most he will do to Erik is push him off and put a paw on him. Yet, Erik, despite being a pushy, devilish puppy, is still gradually adjusting his behaviour to suit Kivi and has even started leaving Kivi alone all together and pestering me instead when Kivi has had enough.

It has really made me think about the way we interact with our dogs. Dogs don't have many choices when it comes to looking out for themselves. They pretty much only have aggression at their disposal. At least, that's what I thought until I watched Kivi deal with dogs doing things to him that he doesn't like. I guess I would say that Kivi is a submissive dog, but not in the sense that he fawns or is timid or anything like that. He just appeases when things don't go his way. And then they do go his way! He never retaliates when another dog has a go at him, but he doesn't always submit, either. He has a passive way of just ignoring what another dog is doing to him. And pretty soon the dog stops because it's not working and they try it less and less. We do have to intervene on his behalf at times, but it amazes me how far he gets just on ignoring or walking away when he doesn't like how things are going. It's very inspiring for me, who would like to be as positive as Kivi is! I wouldn't like to be as helpless as Kivi is, but I have problem solving skills, forsight, and opposable thumbs, plus access to all the resources in the world. If he can get that far just by ignoring behaviour he doesn't like or walking away, what's my excuse?

Has anyone else had this experience?

Liesje — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:15:17 GMT

Over the past several months I have learned an important lesson - when something goes "wrong" with the dog's behavior or training, it's not always necessary to focus on that specific behavior in order to work past it.

I think the best example of this was Nikon's dog reactivity. From about 6-10 months he was really dog reactive. On walks if he saw another dog, his hackles would go up and he would bark, groan and lunge. It was odd b/c he has always been fine in the conformation ring, and we carpool to training with friends so there are dogs crated side by side with no rumblings, but out in public on leash he was very reactive. Now my first thought was that I should keep walking him, but use more careful management (turn around faster) and work hard on desensitization. I tried this a few times and it was epic phail, mostly because I cannot control my neighborhood, like people walking their dog up to me even though I am clearly trying to move my dog and turn away, or loose dogs charging out of their yards up to my dog's face.

So for about 4 months, walks were not part of Nikon's regular routine. During that time we got heavily involved in SchH. We got a new trainer who has already taught me more about my dogs than I could have ever figured out by myself in their lifetimes. I learned how to motivate my dog with things that are inherently motivating for *him* (not just the common rewards that *I* am most comfortable using). I learned how to make training about playing games and developing a bond with the dog. We did all of this *without* any intentional exposure to other dogs. It was strictly about me learning how to motivate my dog and the dog learning how to play the game with me.

Then about mid-summer I wanted to walk Nikon again. I remember the first really long walk, I was concerned about the reactivity and how much bigger and stronger my dog had grown. On this walk we passed several other dogs on walks and were confronted with loose dogs in close proximity. Amazingly, the reactivity was gone. The only interest or signal from Nikon was "hey I'm just walking by with my mom and it's all cool as long as you don't charge up in my face." Now we are walking just fine. In fact I walk all three dogs by myself with the leashes loosely draped in one hand and I'm not carrying treats or other rewards along. Nikon is in a CGC class right now and he's the most well-behaved, relaxed dog in the class. Ironically, on the first day he layed down and put his head down about 4 feet away from a Basset hound who is fearful of other dogs. Nikon the bully and the fearful Basset, lol. I often train at a nearby church yard and a few times I've had him fetching off leash and I see a dog approaching, hold my breath, but now he just glances at the passing dog and comes back to me for more fetch whereas before I would have had to step on the line and somehow distract him or remove him from sight.

Now I am not saying that desensitization or doing some other more direct approach is never valuable or appropriate, I was just pleasantly surprised at how far we came with one issue by completely stepping away from it and totally focusing on something else. I don't know if he simply "grew out of" the reactivity, or if by developing our bond and respect for each other he is more confident and less concerned with other dogs. He will never be a dog that wants to go to the dog park and play, and I do not allow head-on greetings, but he is now working in SchH and in CGC class in very close proximity to a variety of dogs.

I think about this experience often because so many GSD owners experience the same reactivity problems and I see people working tirelessly to desensitize their dogs and often making very little progress or resorting to using a corrective device as a crutch. It has shown me how important it is to have that bond and respect between you and your dog before you can even begin to touch on behavior issues.

From a Different Perspective

spiritdogs — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:50:54 GMT

I have enjoyed some of our recent discussions in the Behavior section - but one thing that I have noticed is that there is a different perspective that I have as the result of my profession that sometimes puts me in a position of being the devil's advocate, and maybe makes me want to commit virtual i-mayhem on people who suck at being good dog owners when I'm on other sites besides dog.com:-) I guess you could compare it to the doctor or nurse who sees people misuse their medication when the directions seemed oh so simple. I am constantly confronted both by owners who do a magnificent job at learning to train their dogs, and by those who make really serious mistakes and bad choices. Perhaps it makes me want to be way too critical of the ordinary Joe who has a life that only incidentally includes his dog lol. I can't see why dogs aren't MORE important to the people I meet. (Of course, the inveterate dog nerds here know what I mean...)

So, I'm interested in how your own profession, whatever it is, colors your assessment of dog training and behavior, and how life in general competes with the welfare of your dogs, or your friends' dogs, in ways that you think are ok, or in ways you think something should be done about.