What Should I Have Done? Did I Do The Wrong Thing?

[perrin]

I'm not sure if i'm in the right area but thought i'd post it in training, so hopefully thats okay.

Yesterday afternoon i was playing with our dog. He was offlead but i was holding it in my hand.

We were playing with a large ball which is his favourite toy.

Well anyway, the grass was a bit slippery and at one stage we both ran towards each other and i slipped over and landed on top of him. I think i managed to smack him in the face with the clip off his lead as he yelped like crazy. mind you having an adult land on top of you couldnt have been much un either.

I grabbed him by the collar because he got up to run away. I didn't hurt him or anything just grabbed a hold because he totally freaked out.

He has been cringing from me ever since.

I've tried just sitting down with him but he only comes near me under sufference. I've tried ignoring him and letting him come up to me, but he has been avoiding me.

Even when i took him for his last run before bed last night. He was happy to be clipped onto the lead and taken for a walk but when i went to clip the lead onto his collar he crouched down on the ground.

Do you think that he thinks maybe i did it on purpose?

Last night he did a wee in his crate. He never has before even when he was a pup. He's only about 7 months old now though.

But o/h came in this morning at 5am and said that he smelt like wee and that he had put him outside.

I usually let him out at 6.30 and he normally holds till then. I didn't hear him crying to get let out last night at all.

Is there anything i should do? Should i just go on like normal and wait till he gets over it?

I feel like an idiot :rolleyes:

[Sarah L]

Hi perrin

Don't feel like an idiot accidents happen. He has had a bad scare from the experience. It not that he thinks you did it on purpose rather that it will happen again when you approach him. Look at what happened. You were on approach to him when you fell on him, you grabbed his collar to save him from running away. When you do these things now, like simply take hold of his collar to clip the lead on or approach him to give him a pat, it will bring back the memory of what happened and so the dog is anticipating the same thing to happen again. You can do some things to help him get over his scare and associating it to you. he may or may not also associate it to others that approach him now as well so it will be a good idea for all the family to try what I am about to recommend.

Have to tried to play ball with him since? if so what has his reaction to it been? You may find he is not willing to do this either any more. You will now have 3 things to work on. Your approach to him, taking hold of his collar and ball play.

When you approach him you need to give him a different association now so that he looks at it differently. You can try having a nice treat in your hand. Kneeling down as well may be a good idea for a little while. Hold your hand out and open so that he can see the treat, don't call him to you but let him approach for the treat and let him take it from your hand, give him another one straight away if he has not backed away from you. Don't try and pat him or talk to him when you are doing this. If he will not approach you in the first place for the treat lay a treat trail from him to you so he will follow it to you. When he is happy to do this and shows no signs of backing away from you you can then do the approach to him with the treat in your hand to give to him when you get to him.

When you want to touch his collar use food reward again, this time treat in one hand and with both hands at the same time hold them out give the treat to him and touch his collar only not to take hold of it do this a couple of times before clipping the lead on and also practice this when without the lead just giving treat and touching collar. Until he show no signs of cringing from you. Again do not talk to the dog or try and pat him when you are doing this.

When playing ball just roll the ball along the ground to see if he will go after it if he does throw him a reward for going to get it. If he will not bring it back to you again leave a treat trail for him to follow into you. with or without the ball. When he gets to you reward him with a treat and go and get the ball and do the same thing again. Do this in the back garden or in the house until he is confident with you again, incase he gets scred in the park and runs away.

He will soon get his confidence back with you when you show him that the scare he got is not always going to happen when you approach, take his collar or play ball.

Hope this helps you :rolleyes:

Edited August 17, 2007 by pinnacle dts

[B-Q]

Sorry I havn't got a lot to suggest, maybe its still pretty fresh in his mind and over time lost of love, he'll forget about it.

i was playing wiht Buster one day out on a walk. He picked up his lead and started swinging it around, shaking it and such. At first I didn't stop him because it was one of the first times he's relaxed enough in public to act like a normal dog haveing a game. Jsut as I thought, okay, i better take thet before the metal clip hits him. I was just reaching down and the clip hit him on the face. I felt awful for letting it happen. He yelped, poor little guy.

if anything, I'd say probably spend lots of the time playing with him in the same situation with the same things so he finds out it was an accident and isn't an everyday occurence.

[MonElite]

I was throwing kongs (big and heavy and on a string) for my dogs and I cant tell you how many times I ahve accidentally hit them with the kongs.

Both of my dogs got spooked out few times, and would chase the toy, but usually were ok next day.

I did hit Rex once in the face and he wouldint play with me for a while, I changed the toy and thre it different directions changing the routine.

Perhaps when you are going to clip the lead back on have some treats and reward the dog for coming and letting you clip it. Do it at home in peace and quiet till the dog learns that there is nothing to worry about near you, in fact there is plenty of rewards in close proximity to you.

[Vickie]

Hi perrin

Don't feel like an idiot accidents happen. He has had a bad scare from the experience. It not that he thinks you did it on purpose rather that it will happen again when you approach him. Look at what happened. You were on approach to him when you fell on him, you grabbed his collar to save him from running away. When you do these things now, like simply take hold of his collar to clip the lead on or approach him to give him a pat, it will bring back the memory of what happened and so the dog is anticipating the same thing to happen again. You can do some things to help him get over his scare and associating it to you. he may or may not also associate it to others that approach him now as well so it will be a good idea for all the family to try what I am about to recommend.

Have to tried to play ball with him since? if so what has his reaction to it been? You may find he is not willing to do this either any more. You will now have 3 things to work on. Your approach to him, taking hold of his collar and ball play.

When you approach him you need to give him a different association now so that he looks at it differently. You can try having a nice treat in your hand. Kneeling down as well may be a good idea for a little while. Hold your hand out and open so that he can see the treat, don't call him to you but let him approach for the treat and let him take it from your hand, give him another one straight away if he has not backed away from you. Don't try and pat him or talk to him when you are doing this. If he will not approach you in the first place for the treat lay a treat trail from him to you so he will follow it to you. When he is happy to do this and shows no signs of backing away from you you can then do the approach to him with the treat in your hand to give to him when you get to him.

When you want to touch his collar use food reward again, this time treat in one hand and with both hands at the same time hold them out give the treat to him and touch his collar only not to take hold of it do this a couple of times before clipping the lead on and also practice this when without the lead just giving treat and touching collar. Until he show no signs of cringing from you. Again do not talk to the dog or try and pat him when you are doing this.

When playing ball just roll the ball along the ground to see if he will go after it if he does throw him a reward for going to get it. If he will not bring it back to you again leave a treat trail for him to follow into you. with or without the ball. When he gets to you reward him with a treat and go and get the ball and do the same thing again. Do this in the back garden or in the house until he is confident with you again, incase he gets scred in the park and runs away.

He will soon get his confidence back with you when you show him that the scare he got is not always going to happen when you approach, take his collar or play ball.

Hope this helps you

Great reply, very comprehensive, I think you have said it all

[perrin]

Hi perrin

Don't feel like an idiot accidents happen. He has had a bad scare from the experience. It not that he thinks you did it on purpose rather that it will happen again when you approach him. Look at what happened. You were on approach to him when you fell on him, you grabbed his collar to save him from running away. When you do these things now, like simply take hold of his collar to clip the lead on or approach him to give him a pat, it will bring back the memory of what happened and so the dog is anticipating the same thing to happen again. You can do some things to help him get over his scare and associating it to you. he may or may not also associate it to others that approach him now as well so it will be a good idea for all the family to try what I am about to recommend.

Have to tried to play ball with him since? if so what has his reaction to it been? You may find he is not willing to do this either any more. You will now have 3 things to work on. Your approach to him, taking hold of his collar and ball play.

When you approach him you need to give him a different association now so that he looks at it differently. You can try having a nice treat in your hand. Kneeling down as well may be a good idea for a little while. Hold your hand out and open so that he can see the treat, don't call him to you but let him approach for the treat and let him take it from your hand, give him another one straight away if he has not backed away from you. Don't try and pat him or talk to him when you are doing this. If he will not approach you in the first place for the treat lay a treat trail from him to you so he will follow it to you. When he is happy to do this and shows no signs of backing away from you you can then do the approach to him with the treat in your hand to give to him when you get to him.

When you want to touch his collar use food reward again, this time treat in one hand and with both hands at the same time hold them out give the treat to him and touch his collar only not to take hold of it do this a couple of times before clipping the lead on and also practice this when without the lead just giving treat and touching collar. Until he show no signs of cringing from you. Again do not talk to the dog or try and pat him when you are doing this.

When playing ball just roll the ball along the ground to see if he will go after it if he does throw him a reward for going to get it. If he will not bring it back to you again leave a treat trail for him to follow into you. with or without the ball. When he gets to you reward him with a treat and go and get the ball and do the same thing again. Do this in the back garden or in the house until he is confident with you again, incase he gets scred in the park and runs away.

He will soon get his confidence back with you when you show him that the scare he got is not always going to happen when you approach, take his collar or play ball.

Hope this helps you

Very helpful.

Thankyou all for the advice.

I just spent some time with him in the backyard, instead of going for a walk after Playschool. Our life revolves around what the kidlets are doing

At first he was a bit wary but after awhile he was more confident approaching me. The kids had no trouble with him coming to them at all. He was happy for them to be their normal selves. Including them holding onto his collar. I had to take the treats away from them.

I did a bit of training with him. We practiced sit, stay, come, shake hands and getting him to cross behind me. This is good for when i am walking him with the kids as i need to take the youngest in the stroller, so having him able to cross over behind me when nessecary is great.

He was okay and then warmed up to it. He wasn't his normal self, a bit reserved but still acted normal enough, even down to the collapse into a wiggling bundle of licky mess when i ask for his paw.

So after about 15 minutes we played ball (on the lead). He wasn't as enthusiastic to start with but soon got into it and then i let him off. Of course there isn't alot of room in the backyard to kick it very far but he still chased after it.

Maybe later we might take him out into the paddock again and see how he goes? It was unfortunate that i had to grab his collar yesterday but i didn't want to take the chance of him bolting off somewhere.

Thanks for the help. He is still a bit cool towards me but thank goodness he's no longer outright cringing away when i look at him.

I've cleaned out his bed and bleached it. It's outside drying so hopefully it was just a one off.

Edited August 17, 2007 by perrin

[poodlesplus]

You have had some pretty good advice. I have fallen over my mini poodle 5 times. I am pretty clumsy. She bounced back every time. I just let her come back at her own pace, which is pretty hard to do when you feel so bad about it. The only thing is that she heels a bit wide, and frankly I will take the points loss in trials as where she is is pretty safe.