Help with my dog...

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

Soldato
Joined
5 Jun 2005
Posts
20,890
Location
Southampton
Quite upset at the min, our little doggy seems to make progress then revert.

We rescued loomy from a nasty house when she was 6 months old, she had been pulled with 4 others from a evil house and beaten badly for 'chewing' she had no jabs and had not been outside. At first she was shy and then came out of her shell. we had to put in serious work as she failed to respond to food treats which is the primary learning/reward method with dogs. even walking she would choke herself as she did not get the idea :(

Anyway 14 months on and she has found her voice... she hates people coming to the house and will circle and bark aggressively towards anyone on her walk who does not own a dog, no one has been bitten yet, but nipping mouthing and herding away is something she will do, its quite scary if you are on the end of it. We do fear with her, and miss having kids come around the house as my wife and i live near an estate and do youth work. Loomy loves to sit by any window now and bark at people, she also does lots of fear farts and shakes a lot. raising a hand broom/large object anyway near her makes her shake and run :( - i hate the scum that did it to her..

Had one dog dude come round and charge £100 for a load of tripe, so not sure if we want to go down that road again.... We want to start a family soon, and the wife is saying she 'may' have to go, and for me i can't quit on her. i walk her 4 times a day and do have a lot of love for the mutt.

any ideas? thinking maybe a older dog might her along?





 
Im sure this can be sorted, but it will take time. I would recommend watching the Dog Whisperer

http://www.cesarsway.com/

As a kid we always had a lot of dogs in our house hold, so i think i can say im a bit of an expert, and i think his methods are brillant. Dont worry about some of the comments about his methods going around of flooding, they are unfounded.

She is still only a puppy and needs a lot of training. I remember one of our springers ripped up our sette just like yours, we had all gone out and there was no one at home, someone apparently kept ringing our door bell and it drove her mad and she ripped the sette to shreads. She did grow out of it and became the leader of our pack.
 
Hahah that second picture down, the dogs face! Classic "I've been naughty" look!

Check the dog whisperer. I'm sure a lot of it is staged and that but the guy does seem to know what he's talking about.
 
My dog is a little similar with the aggro, though not when out and about - only around/in the house. This is due to years of torment from local youths, so he's a territorial nightmare - snarls and barks constantly, and just loves sitting at the patio doors watching the back garden, barking at every single noise outside, and running up and down the fencing barking and growling at anyone who walks past.

We just can't snap him out of it. When he gets too excited he does tend to get boisterous and mouth quite a bit too. Can make him a little hard to deal with sometimes as he's usually a big softie.
 
Pestilence said:
My dog is a little similar with the aggro, though not when out and about - only around/in the house. This is due to years of torment from local youths, so he's a territorial nightmare - snarls and barks constantly, and just loves sitting at the patio doors watching the back garden, barking at every single noise outside, and running up and down the fencing barking and growling at anyone who walks past.

We just can't snap him out of it. When he gets too excited he does tend to get boisterous and mouth quite a bit too. Can make him a little hard to deal with sometimes as he's usually a big softie.
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yeah im relating to that, same sort of thing, its just with her lunging towards people and claiming a massive field as her territory that is the concern, adults i don't worry about, but im dreading bumping into a kid :(
 
Your dog as a lot of issues and it will take some time to rehabilitate her. But it's not impossible so please don't give up on her.

Your dog needs you to be the pack leader. You say you fear when people come round your house and when out for walks. Being fearful and non-assertive will not establish you as the pack leader in these situations. If a dog doesn't trust it's owner to be a stable pack leader it will be confused of it's position and attempt to fill in the missing leadership elements. This can lead to aggression and fear. You establish yourself as the pack leader by being calm and assertive (ever seen the dog whisperer?), and by giving the dog rules and limitations.

The best reward for a balanced dog is affection, not treats. Only give her affection when she is calm and submissive.

Next time someone knocks on the dog you should not open it until loomy is calm and submissive, preferably sat behind you. You should be calm and assertive, not fearful or aggressive. This should become an exercise and be followed out every time someone is at the door. You and your wife can take turns going outside and knocking on the door for practice.
 
GoatBotherer said:
Your dog as a lot of issues and it will take some time to rehabilitate her. But it's not impossible so please don't give up on her.

Your dog needs you to be the pack leader. You say you fear when people come round your house and when out for walks. Being fearful and non-assertive will not establish you as the pack leader in these situations. If a dog doesn't trust it's owner to be a stable pack leader it will be confused of it's position and attempt to fill in the missing leadership elements. This can lead to aggression and fear. You establish yourself as the pack leader by being calm and assertive (ever seen the dog whisperer?), and by giving the dog rules and limitations.

The best reward for a balanced dog is affection, not treats. Only give her affection when she is calm and submissive.

Next time someone knocks on the dog you should not open it until loomy is calm and submissive, preferably sat behind you. You should be calm and assertive, not fearful or aggressive. This should become an exercise and be followed out every time someone is at the door. You and your wife can take turns going outside and knocking on the door for practice.
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This is very good advice.

My tips to help things along with you showing yourself as pack leader is to do things like;

When entering and leaving your home for a walk you are first out of the door and first back in, the dog follows you. He/She will see that it's your house and you welcome it to live with you not the other way around.

On walks, when the dog barks and snarls at other people, stop walking, pull the dog to your heel with a "No" or similar gesture/sound, keep him/her there by your side and say nothing and pay the dog no attention whilst keeping calm until he stops barking and playing up. The dog should learn it will get nowhere if he/she behaves in such a way.

If your dog is ever really badly behaved. Take him/her home instantly, show him/her no affection/attention or treats for a good few hours. Only to feed.
 
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Dkore-DeX said:
For walking her you might want to try a Halti head harness, my dog used to pull and choke himself, he was also a rescue and we struggled to get him out of it. But this cured him - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Halti-Harness-Head-Collar-Link/dp/B000LXWGQW

It really did make a huge difference from day 1.

She looks like a lovely lil muppet, don't give up on her!
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I can second these for helping with dogs that are difficult to control on walks. If they pull ahead, the harness makes their head lower between their legs, which they REALLY don't like. Almost immediately pulls them into line.
 
We've taken in a few sheepdogs over the years from different backgrounds. The only one that we couldn't 'cure' was one that had been badly beaten :(

Even after a year of being treated properly, taken for walks and loved etc, she was still petrified of everything. In the end we had her put down because she was getting no enjoyment as a dog should :(
 
cheers for all the advise guys, im a big fan of the under dog and will continue with her, i could not bare to be without her now, she really is a lovely crazy dog at home and we plenty of fun.
 
GoatBotherer said:
Your dog as a lot of issues and it will take some time to rehabilitate her. But it's not impossible so please don't give up on her.

Your dog needs you to be the pack leader. You say you fear when people come round your house and when out for walks. Being fearful and non-assertive will not establish you as the pack leader in these situations. If a dog doesn't trust it's owner to be a stable pack leader it will be confused of it's position and attempt to fill in the missing leadership elements. This can lead to aggression and fear. You establish yourself as the pack leader by being calm and assertive (ever seen the dog whisperer?), and by giving the dog rules and limitations.

The best reward for a balanced dog is affection, not treats. Only give her affection when she is calm and submissive.

Next time someone knocks on the dog you should not open it until loomy is calm and submissive, preferably sat behind you. You should be calm and assertive, not fearful or aggressive. This should become an exercise and be followed out every time someone is at the door. You and your wife can take turns going outside and knocking on the door for practice.
Click to expand...



Goatbotherererer-mingechin knows his stuff! :D
 
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