Behaviour At The Vet/with Strangers

[Snout Girl]

hey terri, we recently had erny (dol name, not her real name) come out for a consult. she is excellent, couldnt recommend her highly enough.

[dididog]

hey terri, we recently had erny (dol name, not her real name) come out for a consult. she is excellent, couldnt recommend her highly enough.

thanks jo! she is another one I think I will contact, she has given me some advice on here in the past that was very helpful.

[louise6616]

oh Terri, i feel for you.

its a bit scary how fast somethings escalate, and before you know it you have an "issue" you never had before.

I agree with seeing a behaviorist, hopefully you can nip this in the bud. Good luck :)

[louise6616]

oh, and DAP collars are fantastic!

[dididog]

Good news, proK9 (erny) should be coming out in less than two weeks to see us. Til then we are lying low and avoiding unpredictable public spaces. Also I am worried that Didi doesn't trust me as much in public now so I am going to be doing a lot more trick training and play to help strengthen any damage I may have made with our connection.

Edited August 16, 2014 by Terri S.

[Simply Grand]

Good news

From what you said about doing LAT with her it sounds like you might be catching her a bit late, after she's already started to react. Having Erny be able to watch what both of you are doing and give you feedback should be really helpful :)

[persephone]

[dididog]

So we just had our consult with Judi and my brain is a bit mushy but.... SO GOOD! I now have a plan and know how to follow it through in uncontrolled scenarios plus she shed some light on how certain things with my leadership/the way I conduct myself are having an effect on other aspects of her and addressed various other little issues I wanted to iron out... was very much me needing the training! I already saw an instant improvement in both leash walking and handling strangers nearby

Good news is Judi agrees it's most likely a fear period thing and that Didi is not on the bad scale so hopefully since we're nipping it in the bud we should be able to make good progress. I'm really glad I made the move to get her out, in the few weeks since the vet incident she got a lot worse so I can only imagine what a train wreck we would be in a few months like that.

Actually excited to go for our next walk :)

[Yonjuro]

Great stuff and well done to you for taking this step for you and Didi

[raineth]

Excellent!

[Tassie]

So reassuring for you - and so confidence building to have some strategies and a plan to work on. Things should really look up now. :)

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Woot Terri - I do love an update. Glad you're on your way back to the "right path".

[persephone]

good update :)

[Lasareina]

great to hear :)

[HazyWal]

Well done Terri

[BC Crazy]

Great news Terri :)

[dididog]

Thanks guys and thanks for the initial support and advice re this issue :)

Obviously it would be great if Didi were perfect... but I think I'm going to learn so much more by having her as my first dog than I would otherwise so I'm trying to keep that in perspective.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Terri S.

[hankdog]

Excellent a minor adjustment now and you're saving yourself huge heartache later.

[Amax-1]

Its not up to the dog to protect and it's not up to the dog to react. The point of socialisaion and raising a dog is to teach it HOW to react when confronted with stress. It's why I teach all dogs and especially puppies focus straight in the eyes - they find it potentially rewarding and a reason to behave extra well even with strangers. No dog that passes through my school has issues being leaned over, patted roughly etc and it's something severely lacking in many socialisation programs - the fact that human hands and faces will be VERY close to your dog some time in it's life and it has to learn to deal with it. If the perceived rewarding outcome is bigger then the stressor the dog wont react. I'll have to take a video of the older dogs, we throw things around them, threaten them, shout at them etc without force and the lack of reaction too is part of the reward experience.

Socialisation programs were originally set up by breeders to mask genetic flaws in their dog's temperaments....a genetically sound dog doesn't need socialisation as they have the environmental strength to cope with new experiences and challenges with the natural confidence to deal with stress. The problem when masking genetic temperament flaws in training and socialisation programs are substandard dogs being bred on to produce the next generation. Fear periods in puppyhood and the like are relevant factors in suppression of unwanted behaviours but only in the masking of genetic compromise......great dogs don't need any of these programs to adapt into well adjusted pets........when we stop masking genetic flaws by suppression programs and breed from the best the dog world will be a better place. :)

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Socialisation programs were originally set up by breeders to mask genetic flaws in their dog's temperaments....a genetically sound dog doesn't need socialisation as they have the environmental strength to cope with new experiences and challenges with the natural confidence to deal with stress

really? I think that depends on whether the dog is from an environment where the breeder has been selecting for strong temperament over generations.

I think my dog's parents might have selected themselves and grew up in environments where a dog had to "assert itself" for basic resources like food and human attention.

Thinking a dog like mine would know what to do without training - is about as reasonable as expecting it to know about house training and asking to be let out without me needing to do anything...