Posted by Phoebe
on September 8, 2009, 10:12 am, in reply to "Re: How can I help my nervous dog around other dogs?"
Hi Imogen
Thank you for your kind reply. The reason that I feel I am failing my girl is that recently, when I approached a trainer for advice, it was implied that I was responsible for my girl's aggressive behaviour towards other dogs. Also, we've received so much conficting advice, much of which my instinct is telling me is wrong e.g. putting a muzzle on her and letting the dogs just sort it out. We've gone for a slow and steady approach, by working on building trust. The main problem is that we don't know how to help our girl when another dog gets too close and she responds by lunging and barking. We had been told to correct her by saying a firm No, but that's had little or no effect as she becomes completely locked on. Instead, we've been ignoring her when she does this but praising and fussing her if she ignores another dog and by keeping her moving. She's also extremely dependent on toys for security, which we had no idea about until she became family. She's extremely intelligent and doesn't seem bothered about the classes. She doesn't appear worried as the owners have been told not to let their dogs get too close. However, I do think she is bored in class. We think she would love to have a job like flyball. We are more than willing to do whatever it takes for however long it takes to help our girl, but we really don't know if we are helping her in the most appropriate way. Kind regards. Phoebe
--Previous Message--
:
: Hi Phoebe,
: Firstly, well done you for rescuing your
: girl, and recognising her potential. We
: don't know what has happened to her before,
: and she's only been with you for 6 weeks, so
: the first thing I would do is re-read your
: post and see how you are beating yourself
: up! How can she have confidence in you if
: you feel like this? It is very early days.
: Take it more slowly. Does she enjoy the
: classes, or is she frightened of the other
: dogs? If so, stop participating, take the
: pressure off, and go along just to watch
: from a safe place where she won't feel
: cornered. If she enjoys participating,
: praise her for all the positives, and ignore
: all negative behaviour.
: Actually, the fact that she 'broke off' when
: you resorted to shouting is an indication
: that she respects you - dogs don't usually
: even hear when they've lunged at another-
: ok, it would be better not to shout, but she
: responded -LOTS of praise for that - GOOD
: dog!!
: Tell us more - she sounds lovely, and there
: is no way you are 'letting her down'.
: Imogen
:
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