hankdog

Well not quite sure what I expexted but 45 minutes of being read information from the internet wasn't quite in my mind. Finally the dog we were going to be exposed to turned up and the behaviorist told the handler to walk her around whilst Jake sat, so this immeadiately got him completely upset. I suggested that the dog sit and Jake walk at which point he started to relax and she sent the dog away. So about 5 minutes of practical work and 55 minutes of being told stuff I had already read and put into practice... not really a good way to spend money and I was hoping for some breakthrough. Has anyone actually seen a behaviourist that has made a concrete difference to their dogs behaviour? Little ratbag is now in surgery having a piece of fabric that he stole out the sewing room removed from his stomach. Really, really not having a good dog day,it's a good thing he's so cute when he's being nice.

Well Saturday is the big day... finally seeing our behaviourist for some desensitisation. Unfortunately since on the last 2 days we have been rushed by the "don't worry he's friendly" gang on 5 separate occaisions every walk is now a big dog hunt event. It's amazing just how quickly all the good work goes down hill. Since most people here will have probably been through desensitisation I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to get the most out of the situation and general advice for the session.

Haha Snook you'd think I'd have used food from his daily ration but no it wasn't totally obvious. So dog walking neighbourhood carrying spaghetti, well I might give it a try at least worse case in a fight it might act as body armour. Jake has had thoroughly good barks at what feels like all the well-behaved dogs in the neighbourhood, very embarrassing and yes I am starting to understand having to micromanage every situation but luckily he's smallish at only 22kgs so I'm starting to feel more confident about at least controlling him and I have a sneaking feeling he's starting to enjoy just having a bark. He certainly knows he's about to get chicken when he sees another dog. I also found a toy called a kibble nibble it's an egg shaped ball with a hole in each end that you fill with kibble and they have to use their paw to roll it over the long axis to get the kibble to fall out, didn't take him too long to get it. Cost of toy $20 watching a bulldog eat kibble off the floor....priceless!

Yep and we were doing so well yesterday walked right past the neighbourhood behind-fence-barkers with just a slightly faster pace no barking and then walking down the fire trail and here comes 3 medium dogs and one owner not a leash in sight. I take Jake to the side make him sit yell to the owner to please call his dogs and get the standard "don't worry they're friendly". No kidding especially the front one tearing at us barking? I managed to get in front of Jake and used my stick to hit it away and then leaving the park had to wait half an hour in the kids fenced play area because a stray great dane was wandering the street just outside the park exit. You really get a different view of dog ownership and responsibility when you have a dog like this. I was worried about the effect this was going to have on the poor dog but I think it's probably more on me, today thought I spotted an oncoming dog so crossed the road and made him sit started giving him treats. One very confused dog was more than happy to give out a couple of wimpers when the "dog" turned out to be a black travel bag on wheels!!! Ok so I have booked a session with a dog behaviorist who has enlisted a trained labrador and handler and we will do some controlled desensitisation otherwise Jake will too chubby to bark at anything if I'm going to give out treats for every bit of passing baggage. In the meantime working on a very basic handshake luckily coming from the pound he has a bit of weight to put on because after a week of training he still doesn't even shift his weight across in anticipation of lifting his paw although he is slowly coming around to a game of fetch but only when I'm working and he's run out of other ways to distract me.

Hi great to find this post. I recently aquired a bulldog from the pound and whilst it was apparent he was dog aggressive he is so pleasant around people and walks and sits so well I decided to take him on. My last dog was a giant briard x pansy and I never had to worry about his behaviour. This little guy has bite scars across the side of his face so has been in at least one big fight. I have had him 2 weeks and my eventual aim is to be able to walk him confidently past another dog. At present when seeing another dog he tenses up and begins a mixture of barking and screaming, more screaming than barking. I don't want to get into a tugging match on the lead so I crouch down in front of him and talk to him in a low voice and offer him treats. If the other dog completely ignores him this is effective however if the other dog reacts he can't be distracted and yells obscenities until the dog is about 10m away. I walk him in a harness and unfortunately being a bulldog I'm unable to muzzle him as there isn't really much of a snout to muzzle although I would welcome the peace of mind that a muzzle would give me. My neighbours' dog is also DA but it took him about 3 days to work out that she couldn't get to him and now he ignores her barking so I believe there is hope that he will be able to overcome his problem. I would like to hear from other DA dog owners about their strategies for improving their dogs behaviour and the length of time it took for behaviour to improve. The nurse at the vets where I had him neutered is a dog behaviourist who gave me some advice but I was disappointed by her non commital answers to my questions.

Hi I'm new to this forum so by way of introduction, we recently lost our gorgeous old briard/ staghound/ something large and since our dogs prior to him were bulldogs are considering a bulldog as our next family member. We have previously owned two beautiful english bulldogs. Both aquired as adults from a breeder and both absolutely well behaved and I never had any qualms about letting them near my then toddlers. So tomorrow I'm going to look at and possibly bring home a rescue bulldog who may have some dominance related problems and I would like some advice on bringing him into the family right from day one. The family is 3 adults and 2 free roaming cockatiels and 4 free range chickens. I have obedience trained my last dog on a working for praise basis and used a choke chain in the early stages as he was very difficult to control initially although once he had basic obedience used a halter. 1)Although I have scoffed at my fellow dog park users for carrying around treats to train their dogs my reading seems to suggest this is the most effective way to train bullies. Any opinions? 2) All birds are going to be locked away initially but ultimately I'd like the situation to be peaceful coexistence with birds free to roam does anybody have tips or experience particularly with bulldogs and birds? 3) The dog's been in the pound for a week and now coming into a new home I think will be pretty confused and stressed. I'm thinking these first few days are going to be important in setting the tone for the future and very practicaal hands on tips would be very appreciated? Where is best place for food and water, bed etc. We both work from home so he'll be an inside dog, the last dog had food and water in kitchen a mat in the lounge a bed on the front verandah and slept inside. 4) He has displayed dog aggression so I'll need to avoid park and walk streets for a while any tips on soialising bulldogs in particular? Many thanks all advice appreciated.