HOWEDY liea,

"Julia Altshuler" wrote in message
...
Michael Plumridge wrote:

When Mollie and I play, sometimes she gets
a little bit too rough and nips me hard enough
to make me wince.

Does your dog do anything like this?

No. None of my dogs has been nippers.

Right. Your dog flat HOWET attacks your only
friend and any child nearbye.

The closest Cubbe gets is when she gets the zoomies.

Or when she's attacking your only friend or any
child nearbye.

She might come close to an ankle.

That so, liea?

--Lia

You're a liar, a dog abuser, and a MENTAL CASE.

Here's your dog Cubbe attackin your only friend and
trying to attack a couple kids:

"It Was Horrible! I Let Cubbe Out In The Backyard With
Her Usual ZAP Collar - The 10 Year Old Child Went To
Give Cubbe A Hug She Gave A Snarl-Snap Cubbe Got
Out In The Neighborhood Leashless From:

Julia F N Altshuler )
Subject: 1 step forward, 2 steps back
Date: 2001-01-07 19:28:05 PST

Cubbe got out in the neighborhood leashless for the first time
in roughly 2 years. The first few times were when we first got
her before she'd had any training and before we got the
electric fence to reinforce the physical one.

It was horrible. She paid us no attention, ignored clickers
and treats and calls. Make that, it was horrible for us. She
had a blast running free and chasing whatever she wanted. For
us it was 45 minutes of sheer terror as we tried to catch her.
Luckily there wasn't too much traffic yesterday morning. It
had snowed, and the streets weren't quite clear yet. Jim
finally caught her when she was preoccupied with her head down
a hole.

For 2 years I've been giving her a daily long walk in the
neighborhood. She now walks pretty nicely on a leash. She gets
daily indoor clicker training sessions. She has perfect
recalls in the house. She gets intermittent treats for those
recalls. She gets plenty of time to run free in the backyard.
Her recalls are less reliable there, but I've been working on
them. I haven't been as good about introducing the variable
reinforcement there, but I have been good about making sure
that she's never tricked into coming into the house when she'd
rather be outside. I always call her, give her a treat or
praise and let her go again.

So I haven't been a perfect dog trainer, but I don't think I'm
a terrible one. I say that because I'm about to ask y'all for
some help in correcting my mistakes, and while I don't mind
criticism for past mistakes, I am hoping you'll concentrate on
what I should do now.

Yesterday morning Cubbe had had some nice backyard time. I'd
gotten her into the house and was preparing to leave when she
escaped straight through the front door and right in front of
our noses. She was still wearing the zap collar, but the
battery was low. She gave a small yip when she went over the
wire, and the chase ensued.

We were careful not to scold her once she was caught.

Today I let her out in the backyard with her usual zap collar
now with a fresh battery. She was waiting by the backdoor to
come in when I went to call her. From her excited behavior, I
could tell that she fully expected to be let out the front
door again so she could have another fun romp in the
neighborhood. I'm so filled with anxiety from yesterday's
escapade that I keep checking for her every time I open the
door.

Later in the afternoon, she was much worse
about coming when called even from the backyard.

My specific questions:

How do I teach recalls when she so clearly knows
when she's in a confined space and when she isn't?

She normally only wears the zap collar when she's in the
backyard because the wire goes around the house and could zap
her when she's near certain windows inside. If I let her get
zapped at the front door with the zap collar, can I still take
the zap collar off and walk her out the front door with her
leash on? I don't want her to become afraid of the front door.

What's the best emergency procedure if, god forbid, it should
happen again?

Might Cubbe be ready for harsher training techniques? By this
I mean, I've been using clicker and treats for Cubbe because
she so obviously freaked when we used leash corrections and
scoldings when we first got her.

I know this is a hard subject to bring up without starting the
whole cruelty thread again so I'll state my opinion once and
won't defend it further: any method can be cruel for some
dogs.

Even the slightest punishment was wrong for Cubbe at the
beginning, but we've come a long way since then. She trusts
us now as I mentioned in a recent post. Point is, she's been
rewarded for coming, but she's never been punished, even in
the mildest way, for not coming.

Is it time for that?

What might I look for to tell?

Last night we had friends over for dinner with their 3
daughters ages 14, 10 and 7. The girls loved Cubbe and were
having a blast clicker training her. I was impressed with how
quickly they caught on and how little correction they needed
to be consistent with the clicks and treats. Cubbe was fine
with the children; she always has been. Just as they were
getting ready to go, the 10 year old went to give Cubbe a hug.
Cubbe must have felt threatened and confined because she gave
a snarl-snap.

I was right there, and without thinking I quickly yelled,
turned Cubbe over on her back, got in the face and let her
know that no snarling is allowed. The girl wasn't frightened
at all, and her parents who were also right there hadn't
realized what had happened. I then asked the snarlee to rub
Cubbe's belly further to reinforce that Cubbe is the
submissive one in that relationship. I let Cubbe up and all
was fine.

I suppose that's another issue, but I bring it up as part of
wondering if Cubbe should be trained with punishments now.
Like I said, I did that without thinking, and now I think it
was the right thing to do. So how do I apply this to dealing
with Cubbe the escapee?

--Lia


"Julia Altshuler" wrote in message
...

I need help deciding if I have a real problem with Cubbe
that needs immediate attention or if I'm imagining trouble
where there is none.

Here's what happened last April the way I described it to
a friend at the time:

I'm worried about Cubbe. Or rather, I'm kicking myself for
doing something stupid. Ellie has been over many times and
has always gotten along great with Cubbe. Cubbe is always
at the door when I let Ellie in.

She's barky-protective but then stops barking once Ellie is
inside. She's never shown any real aggression. The other
night Ellie and I went out together to run an errand.

Ellie was coming in the house with packages so I came in
first and put Cubbe in the bedroom with Jim so Ellie could
get through the door more easily. I could hear Cubbe
barking. Once Ellie was inside, I opened the bedroom door
for Cubbe. She ran out to attack the intruder. Ellie was
trying to be friendly.

Ellie put a tooth in Ellie's finger. Granted the resulting
scratch was no worse than the way my cuticles bleed when
they get dry and I don't rub lotion into them every night,
but Ellie was understandably scared.

Jim ran out and got control of Cubbe right away. I got
Ellie some alcohol and a bandage. The scary thing is that,
even though the damage is minor, it does qualify as a bite
since Cubbe did mean to do it. I guess I should just learn
from it and never let Cubbe greet someone like that again,
but I'm horribly torn up.

I've said that I would never keep an aggressive dog. Now
the whole issue is so complicated. Cubbe is great even
with kids when we meet them in the neighborhood.
Since then I've been careful not to do anything like that.
Then Halloween night Cubbe spent most of the night in the
computer room with Jim while I answered the door. She did
bark each time she heard the doorbell ring. We did nothing
to discourage that. We want her to be barky protective so
it made sense for her to bark when she heard people in the
neighborhood, especially at night. Later in the evening,
Jim put Cubbe on a leash and was hanging out with her in the
front hall while I still got the door. One of the first
people to come to the door once she was out of the computer
room was our neighbor Nicky.

I think Nicky is 11 now. He's known Cubbe since we got her
4 years ago, has always liked her, petted her and asked to
come on walks. Nick lifted his mask on the porch so I'd
know who it was. Then I invited him into the hall to pet
Cubbe.

Cubbe snarled and sort of air snapped at him. Of course
Jim was right there so no damage was done. Nick didn't
even have to draw his hand away, and he didn't get scared.
Nothing scares that boy.

I don't like this. Twice now Cubbe has been overly
protective-aggressive when people have entered the house.
Both times they've been people she knows and should like.
She's wonderfully nice to people on walks. We don't have
guests over too often so I can't comment if it's a growing
thing or not.

Comments please. Is this a major growing aggression
problem?

I'd guess it's territoriality about the house and yard.
What do I do about it?

I usually put Cubbe on a leash when friends come over
and then walk her outside while the friend gets out of
her car, and then we walk in together.

She'll still bark when they're in the house and then
calm down. Is that a good idea? Should I be
doing something more to make sure this doesn't escalate?
--Lia