Needs Put Right Asap

[Joe1888 672]

Ive had some good progress with my stuborn 2 year old bull x greyhound kelpie x greyhound bitch.. Seen a right difference in her in recent months, alot more chilled around the house etc as auld age starts to set in. Some of the other problems i had with her are also alot better, recall etc..

 

My latest concern is how she is around new people, dogs and people aproaching the car... Ive tryed a few things, and it hasnt helped..

 

I swear shes like two difference dugs at times, with people and dogs she knows well shes happy as a pig in shit..

 

When out and about, if new people/dogs approach her she gets right pissed, at first she will come to me and stick by me, if they are close she will jump up at me..

 

If shes ignored, she will go have a sniff and try figure them out for herself, normaly shes ok after that if its on her terms..

 

8 times out of 10 if someone walks close to the car, she barks like f**k

 

One thing she really isnt sure about is kids, had one in the house yesterday jumping around, she wouldnt go near, would walk away or if he got close she would bark, same as before she stuck next to me..

 

I guess i f****d up with socialisation for her, didnt do enough when she was younger... I need to put this right, once again, looking for help/advice..

 

Ive made sure the same mistake hasnt been made with my other lurcher, hes totaly different around people

 

 

[Casso 1,256]

Don't be hard on yourself bud, dogs vary wildly in behaviour,

In situations like yours where a dog is expressing fear of things/ people, the dog is all in its head /fear , it feels disconnected it can't deal with all the input of strange people , it's gets overloaded , it's acting on instinct which is how wild animals normally function,

If we look at when wild animals /birds come into our environment by far the main attraction for them is to quell HUNGER, which is a feeling in the gut , not the head , it far outweighs the fear, the natural instincts,

So I would work on feeding only in uncomfortable situations for the dog, once you can get the mutt to take food in situations that normally cause fearful behaviour, the dog has to give up fear to eat , if the dog can eat he can digest the situation , like a scales when once fear goes down sociability goes up ,

Set up scenarios using hunger where the mutt eats only when uncomfortable with its surroundings ,

The gut is the social connection , the head is the fear factor in the mutt , food connects the disconnected and the dog can go by feel (gut) not by fear (head) .

In times gone by folks were much more aware of the actions of animals , in particular one point my grandfather would make was the fact that you can turn a dog over and without fear scratch it's stomach at will , unlike a cat which if you flip over and attempt to scratch it's belly would grate anything and everything within reach , the reason he gave for this was a dog can go by Feel whereas a cat relies on instinct which is fear based

Best of luck with the mutt what ever way you approach it

[Joe1888 672]

thanks for the reply casso, its appreciated.

 

theres a "expert" collie trainer from this way i phoned, i ran my idea past her of..

 

sitting on a bench in town with a tub of raw beef, maybe with a sign on either side asking for people to ignore the dug.. and just feed her a bit by bit for a while..

 

the trainers thoughts were, this wouldnt help long term.. her advice was i need to put the dug in check when shes shows any aggression, and also get inbetween the dug and any people who get to close, showing the dug ill protect her?

[RossM 7,979]

Be firm, need to put her in the situation without putting her in A situation, get the help of a child, maybe to give her treats or something show her that nothing bad is going to come of it? The car situation imo isn't a complete bad thing you got to ask why there's folk that you don't know/she doesn't recognise approaching your motor, none of mine had any real contact with young children till they well on, they got put in a position and had to deal with it, they were wary at first but soon realised that it all can't be bad.

 

 

 

[gnipper 6,016]

How is the dog with strangers etc if you aren't there and somebody else is walking her?

[skycat 6,172]

thanks for the reply casso, its appreciated.

 

theres a "expert" collie trainer from this way i phoned, i ran my idea past her of..

 

sitting on a bench in town with a tub of raw beef, maybe with a sign on either side asking for people to ignore the dug.. and just feed her a bit by bit for a while..

 

the trainers thoughts were, this wouldnt help long term.. her advice was i need to put the dug in check when shes shows any aggression, and also get inbetween the dug and any people who get to close, showing the dug ill protect her?

 

Part of that is right: putting yourself between the dog and strangers. But checking her will have a negative effect. Here's a case in question. Bloke I know who takes on really unsocialised and fear aggressive dogs, mostly Collie/Labs which can be some of the worst for this. It takes time, a lot of time and constant exposure, but all he does, having learned this from a good trainer, is to do what Casso suggested: get the dog's attention through food. Take out a bag of very tasty titbits and the moment the dog sees another dog approaching, or a person, you get the dog's attention and give it a titbit. It can't focus on both the food and the stranger at the same time. Take the dog out hungry too, not just after it has been fed. This needs doing every single day, preferably more than once a day. It works, but it will take time. It took time for the dog to get like this, and will take time to undo the fear/aggression response too.

The bloke I mentioned, he had a really nasty piece of work that would get right in other dog's faces and snarl at them before running away, barking all the time too. That dog is now as nice as pie, chilled out and easy to handle. But it took a good year overall. After a while the dog starts associating the presence of strangers (who should ignore the dog) and other dogs, with being fed nice things. Once the dog is completely relaxed and responsive to you then you can drop the food treats, but go very slowly and read the dog: any sign of fear or aggression means that the dog hasn't yet overcome its fear.

[Joe1888 672]

How is the dog with strangers etc if you aren't there and somebody else is walking her?

 

 

dont know yet mate, am the only one who walks her

[chook1 184]

Theres two different types of training you could do, but it does depend on the dog

first is teaching the dog to focus on yourself by teaching the look at me this means the dog learns to focus on you in an uncomfortable situation

the second is to teach the dog that good things happen when the dog looks at what its worried/scared of.

 

If the dog is jumping up at you to me its looking for reassurance, I wouldn't ignore this and would just say to the dog its ok and acknolage that its worried, often Ignoring the dog can make them think it has to take charge as your not, sounds daft I know but from experience it does help.

 

Im currently on my phone and not able to find the info on the training, when I get chance probably tomorrow I will post it up.