Hairy_Poppins

Lol! Little tarts.

Hi Everyone, Thank you so much for all the replies, I never would have imagined that all of you would be so willing to help, so thank you, I really do appreciate it. :) Teekay I will definitely head over to the reactive dogs thread to do more research and also Google the methods you referred to in your post. I think the suggestion about working from a distance is a great one; funnily enough, I have noticed if we are walking *towards* people who are completely stationary (for example people sitting or standing at a bus stop) she doesn't care. We can get as close to them to point of her sniffing their feet and she won't react. However, if I am chatting to someone who is standing still, and they so much as raise their hand to brush some hair behind their ear, she goes crazy. Also if people are walking *towards* us (even if they are very far away). Something to do with the movement might be threatening to her? Haha peanut butter, actually hankdog, my little one LOVES peanut butter so it may work, the "mouth getting glued", haha that made me giggle! I think what I'm getting wrong is the timing. I try to distract her once she has already seen the "threat" so by this time it's probably game over. RuralPug, I think Death Pom would be a good nickname for Juju but to me she's known as the storm in a teacup, pocket rocket, Cujo or sometimes just little s**t. :laugh: Donatella your babies are gorgeous!!!! Bon is so tiny, she's like my little Juju except Bon has a much sweeter face than my baby girl. Juju has a foxy type face like Lucy, in fact they could almost be sisters in terms of facial structure. I have added some photos of my little ones. All the photos of Juju are pretty crappy because she never stands still for long enough! The ones of Kirby were taken about 6 months ago, he was just a baby then. :) He's going through his puppy uglies at the moment but he's still my beautiful little man. Juju "laughing", with my bf, & in her Thundershirt at the park: Kirbykins on a play date at his doggie friend's house (the owner had a camera so took some snaps while he was there) :)

Thank you so much for replying everyone! Nekhbet thank you for your advice, I think you were spot on when you said the right method is the one that works for the dog. I guess I was just afraid of going wholheartedly into any "type" of training because I was afraid that it might damage her even more, but yes, keeping her sheltered isn't going to make the problem go away, but... it is really embarrassing, haha! You are so kind to offer to help personally, I might shoot you an email a little later today if that's ok; I have been hoping to get some video footage of Juju when she goes off so I might do that this afternoon when we go out, maybe recruit the help of my boyfriend. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links here but I read a really funny article the other day entitled "How to live with a dog-reactive dog and not lose your s**t" I'll post the link but I'll take it down if link posting is not allowed. I have personally done all the things on the list, especially the bit about pretending you're a ninja. :laugh: http://bullinthecity.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/how-to-live-with-a-dog-reactive-dog-and-not-lose-your-shit-an-impractical-guide/ Donatella you are so right, Poms are so full of energy and I love it, they all have their own personalities, I guess I wasn't taking that into consideration when I looked at Juju vs Kirby because they have both been brought up in the same environment...? But I suppose two children raised by the same parents don't necessarily turn out the same so by that token, why wouldn't they be different? I'll post some pics soon, do you have pics of your babbies I could see? :) I'll keep plugging away with Juju, I'll try to live through the embarrassing moments and just keep reminding myself that it's for the greater good. Do you think I should walk her and Kirby separately until she shows signs of improvement, so that he doesn't have to deal with her little freak outs when we're walking? I just feel for him, he's so besotted with her, he'd probably let her chew his ear of and he'd still be crazy about her, bless him.

Hi everyone, I'm hoping that someone can help me; I know that there are probably a lot of posts or questions about dog temperament issues and I have had a read through the other posts but I was hoping that someone might be able to shed some light on WHY my Pomeranian is the way she is and any suggestions that might help. It's a long story but I will try to cut it as short as I can. My Pomeranian Juju is an intact, 2 y.o female who seems to have either dominance issues OR fear issues. Not 100 percent sure which it is? I have 2 Pomeranians and I treat them both the same. They both get tons of affection but I do not baby them. However both are very, very different personality-wise. My boy, Kirby, is the sweetest loveliest, most happy go lucky little thing you will ever meet. My girl Juju on the other hand is wary of other people to the point of lunging and barking while out on walks; not just people but other dogs, motorbikes, cats, pretty much anything. I believe she is afraid of the unknown, but her body language does not look like fear, because her tail is not down, her ears are pricked up and she holds her head high while she lunges and barks(as opposed to tail between the legs, crouching etc.) Other dogs she has known her whole life come near me and she growls or nips the air near their face; even my cat, which I have had longer than I have had her. She follows me around everywhere (whereas Kirby, my boy, will often go into another room and have a sleep, or go outside and play by himself. She resource guards me, standing between me and any other person/ dog or animal (that she knows, of course - NOT strangers, this would just send her totally mad)to make sure they can't come near me. She used to bark and spin every time my boyfriend so much as touched my head but not so much anymore. I used to think that maybe we had spoiled her (but how can you measure this exactly), as we let her on the bed, the couch, *occasionally* on our laps, bought her loads of toys etc. (but they are always locked away in a toy box; she doesn't have constant access to them) but we have raised Kirby the same way, and he's just fine. I'm thinking it *may* have something to do with how their lives both started out... Please let me know what you think: Juju: - I got her when she was 12 weeks old from a male breeder who lived alone and worked long hours, no exposure to children, etc. - Did not ask to see (and breeder did not offer to show me) the parents. They were in a separate part of the house when I went to pick her up. (I know now that I should have but asked to see them but unfortunately like many other first time dog owners I didn't even think to ask). - She was the last of her litter and when I met her, she ran from me and hid behind the breeder. It took days for her to come out of her shell. - I worked 9 hour days and she spent a lot of time in her early weeks at my mum's house while I was at work, until she was about 16 weeks when I had set up an enclosed "play area" in my house where she wouldn't get up to any mischief. But still, alone by herself for most of the day. (I know, this is my fault and I wish I had known how detrimental it would be sooner) When she was about 5 months old I was able to work from home and I could spend a lot more time with her. I vowed to take her out to see the world, meet other dogs, people etc. but she would go mental every time she saw another dog, I mean, completely ballistic, so I got so embarrassed that I began to walk her at odd times or in odd places so she wouldn't come in contact with other dogs (I know this was the wrong thing to do as well) Kirby: - I got him when he was 8 weeks old from a family breeder with young children, who lived on a farm with 4 other dogs - 2 large breed and 2 small breed - I met both parents when I was there and they were both very friendly and outgoing - As soon as I met him he ran straight up to me and wanted to play, he wasn't shy at all. - At this point I was still working from home so he spent a lot of time with me and also Juju, so whenever I did have to leave the house he always had company So you see both of my furry kids had very different starts in life; Kirby is very well balanced, Juju is verging on psychotic. I feel for her so much because she's always so alert; whenever we go on walks her eyes are darting everywhere, she's not relaxed at all; it's as if she doesn't even enjoy leaving the house. As for her behaviour, here's what I've noticed: - On walks she's constantly on edge - Seeing another person/ dog/ animal sends her into a barking frenzy and if I'm walking both dogs together, she will turn on Kirby and start attacking him - She resource guards me constantly - She follows me absolutely everywhere (I can't even pee alone. When I close the door she goes mental) I know a lot of people say that if a dog acts like this, it means they think they are the leader of the pack. However, Juju does what I ask her to do when I ask. For example: - If she jumps on the couch or bed without first being invited, I say "Off" just once, and she hops straight off - She is rarely ever allowed on my lap. When she is tired or calm, I will invite her up for a short while before setting her down again (just for a little affection). - When I tell her to sit, stay, come, "No" etc. she always does so - When I feed both my dogs, they must wait until I give them the signal to approach their food, which is sometimes up to a full minute. Neither dog will move until I give the signal. - Her toys are all locked away and I don't leave food and treats just lying around the house When we are on walks and she sees another dog and goes mental, I have tried: - Treats to distract her (once she locks on to her "target" the treats have no effect whatsoever. I could be holding an entire turkey in front of her and she wouldn't care) - Making "Tsst" noises and touching her in the side - Telling her to sit and blocking the view of her "target" - Giving a quick yank on the leash to distract her. - I have tried walking her on a harness, until someone said this gave her too much power, so I switched to a choke chain, until someone said this encourage aggressive behaviour, I tried a Gentle Leader until she went so crazy she managed to squirm free and ran away. I'm so confused with the methods of training; I don't know what to do any more. I'm at my wits end because I don't know if her behaviour is fear based or dominance based. I have read that methods like Cesar Millan's can bring out aggression in dogs instead of curbing it, but at the same time, if she IS being dominant and not fearful, what is positive reinforcement going to do? I'm sorry for the long post, it ended up being a lot lengthier than I had intended. I was just hoping someone could shed some light on to what they think *might* be going on so I can choose the right training method. I'm going to recruit the help of a professional but there are 2 very different schools of thought when it comes to behavioural training and I don't want to damage her even more or risk making her more aggressive if one of the methods is not the right one for her. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post, any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Novella