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Help. New dog's fear of me is disrupting our household
HOWEDY liea,
"Julia Altshuler" wrote in message news:RiUqb.103095$9E1.492295@attbi_s52... Obedience training. You mean jerking and choking the dog on a pronged spiked pinch choke collar? Ain't that what made your dog Cubbe TURN on you when you first got her? Ain't it? Of CURSE it is. You're probably right about the reasons for the dog's misbehavior towards you, but even if you're wrong, the answer is the same. That so? Take the dog to an obedience class Like HOWE you did to make your dog TURN on you, liea? so you and the dog can learn together a new way to relate. Like HOWE you did? There are lots of classes and philosophies and trainers. That so? You HURT your dog, liea. Do some reading at the library, Got any SUGGESTIONS, liea? and choose one you feel comfortable with. You feel comfortable HURTIN your dog, liea. That should be a method that involves an emphasis on positive reinforcement. Like HOWE you do your dog Cubbe, liea? You should learn to teach the dog HEEL, SIT, DOWN, COME, STAY and a few other commands. That so? It ain't even her own dog. She got no use for trainin him. All she wants to do is make the dog not try to attack her. Start with the classes and practicing at home when your mother and stepfather aren't at home. Your dog TURNED on you for chokin her, liea. Some of the practice will involve teaching commands when you and the dog are outside. That so, liea? Then practice when they're home but in another room. That'll take some doin, the dog wants to attack her, liea. Move to practice when they're in the room with you but ignoring everything that's going on. The dog wants to attack her, liea. She don't wanna take IT to class, she wants to show him she ain't gonna HURT HIM like you do your dog Cubbe, liea. This is a fair committment on your part since you'll be practicing with the dog several times a day in short sessions. No, she's afraid the dog will attack her, liea. It will be worth it. The dog wants to attack her, liea. Like HOWE your dog Cubbe attacked your only friend... and that other dog, and tried to attack them kids, cause YOU HURT HER and LIE abHOWET it, liea. --Lia (This post will invariably be followed by a viscious one You mean, a history of you ABUSING your dog Cubbe? from our resident usenet lunatic. Your own dog Cubbe gets shocked and jerked and choked on a pronged spiked pinch choke collar and attacks people and critters and runs HOWET on you every chance she gets, liea. REMEMBER? Please ignore it. Right. Pretty EMBARRASSING stuff, eh liea? The rest of us have him killfiled. You mean, the liars, dog abusers, and MENTAL CASES you play with here abHOWETS, liea? I wouldn't know he was there if not for new posters' answers.) RIGHT! Here's your dog Cubbe getttin HURT and HURTIN others: "I'd call the SHOCK fence effective and safe. Humane is one of those hot words that people can debate all day so I won't touch that one. There are people who would call a regular chain link fence inhumane," liea altshuller. "Julia Altshuler" wrote in message news:McYnb.45145$ao4.106231@attbi_s51... After talking with the vet yesterday and watching Cubbe all day today, I'm convinced that the shaking is behavioral, not physical. Naturally I'll continue keeping an eye on her, but when I add everything up, I don't see symptoms of anything neurological-- and the vet agrees. --Lia Gwen Watson wrote: Lia have you taken Cubbe to a Neuro Vet specialist? There aren't many of them. TAMU recently closed down their Neuro facilities. I was going to take Blade for some testing for the fibrotic myopathy that he has been diagnosed with. But then the only Vet that is still doing any Neuro is in Dallas. And really most of the time fibrotic myopathy is found not to be neuro. Here's Cubbe ATTACKING a neighbor's dog just last week, and previHOWEsly attacking liea's only friend and assaulting a couple kids and escaping her surrHOWEND SHOCK SYSTEM, which MADE HER AGGRESSIVE: From: Julia Altshuler ) Subject: Cubbe report: Chief Date: 2003-09-12 21:04:11 PST Chief if my neighbor Jo's 40# 1 1/2 year old Sheltie. Jim has been running into them on his morning walks with Cubbe. For a week he's been feeding me glowing reports about how Cubbe is terrific with Chief. Cubbe has never been particularly wonderful with any other dog, so terrible in fact that I'd despaired at ever seeing Cubbe frolic and play with other dogs. I'd resigned myself to the idea that Cubbe is happy with her people, her yard, her squirrels, her spot on the couch, and that makes a pretty good life, one that doesn't involve the companionship of her own species. Jim's reports were encouraging. Jim convinced Jo to bring Chief over for a playdate. We put Cubbe on a leash so she could meet Chief again on neutral territory. They sniffed as dogs normally do. Chief and Cubbe entered the front door. To my amazement, all was fine. Out in the backyard and off leash, Cubbe didn't pay much attention to Chief, but there was no trouble even though she and Chief were close to each other. Both dogs seemed more interested that their people were handing out treats (for good behaviors like SITs). Jim went into the house for some balls thinking the 2 dogs would like to chase them together. He did not consult me about this hare brained scheme. Jo and I were 5 feet away from the dogs when Cubbe decided to attack Chief. She's not an experienced fighter so I don't know if attack is the right word. She was snarfing, making growly noises, jumping on Chief, had her mouth on Chief's neck (on his back, behind his ears) and basically not looking friendly, but I think if she'd wanted to do real damage, she would have, and Chief was fine, nary a hair out of place. Naturally with us all right there, we were able to intervene in seconds. A second later, it was all over. Cubbe looked like she'd like to be friends again, but Chief, while not running away or anything was obviously spooked and keeping his distance. Jo and Chief went home. (I went with them for chat and apologies, but that's not part of the Cubbe story.) Cubbe has never food or toy guarded with people. Might she have been guarding the balls Jim brought out? Or was it the fact that we let our guard down for a few seconds and she got scared of Chief when we all weren't practically on top of her? Or did we push her too far by leaving her and Chief together for too many minutes when a few seconds would have been better for a first try? Or other theories? Do we continue trying to find a dog that will put up with Cubbe? Or do we give up again and go back to letting Cubbe live a dogless existence? --Lia =================== "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 ============= |
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