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Post by icygirlie on Jun 20, 2005 1:58:07 GMT -5
Zoe's learned what is her pack's territory and has start howling and alerting to anyone on our property or passing near it. Not too bad, and she stops when we tell her "Enough". She goes on high alert during our walks and will try to warn off any people she doesn't like the look of, standing stiff, tail and ears fully pricked, and now lately, her hackles on edge as she watches every potential new thing. When I noticed her hackles up, I began making her sit, standing between her and the stranger, and petting her, letting her know everything is aokay. I'd say 85% of the time she'll sit after being firmly told with light pressure applied to her butt. Tonight, during our potty break, something moved in the bushes and she went on full alert, barked quietly, hackles up, totally stiff... I touched the top of her head to let her know it was okay.... ....And she sat the moment I touched the top of her head. And she didn't move until I told her it was okay to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yes, we'll still need work, but I didn't have to say anything!! She knows!!! *rocks out* |
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Post by Tammi21 on Jun 20, 2005 6:12:34 GMT -5
Oh wow thats great.
I'm glad your dog is doing well.
I don’t know if I have seen any pics of your dog before.
But if you have any could you post them or give me the link.
My dog, Jetta she still gets a little upset about strangers but she has got a lot better with the NILIF.
How old is Zoe?
And keep us posted.
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Post by icygirlie on Jun 20, 2005 9:55:31 GMT -5
She'll be 7 month old come the end of this month. The pics are all from her at 4.5 months or so, but I'll see where I stuck some more recent ones.. (recent photos) Zoe sittin' prettyIn the crateMy kill!Did you not hear me the first time? My kill!(older photos) And her dogster pageThis happened late last night so I haven't mentioned it to my parents. They take care of her in the mornings for me as sleep is something my docs have told me I actually *need*, but the mornings I wake up early enough, I do care for her. So, needless to say, I woke up to a barking dog.  |
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Post by Tammi21 on Jun 20, 2005 18:06:10 GMT -5
Oh she is just precious.
That is one good looking dog you have there.
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Post by Laura on Jun 24, 2005 0:54:05 GMT -5
Sounds like great progress for the both of you  ! What you've seen is Zoes ability to trust you as pack leader, that's why all it took was a light touch on your part to convey the message that you'll take care of whatever 's out there. Do make sure when you are walking her out in public to keep her right next to you on a shorter leash, remember, you lead the dog, not the other way around  , this will also convey leadership to her. But it's still a huge sign of improvement, keep it up! |
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Post by icygirlie on Jun 24, 2005 1:25:12 GMT -5
Ah yes, leash walking, the current bane of our existence. She wants to explore like mad right at first so it's a battle. After about five minutes or so in, she stops pulling and basically canters. I'm working with sudden changes of directions, stopping and waiting for her to look back at me, come back, and sit before restarting. The latter happens with the intended results 100% of the time. She no longer walks ahead of me through doors and such, a small addition to the already "you don't cross this thresh hold until I say so" routine. Now, I need to train my father.   She's obviously not a true Alpha, because she's very anxious in new situations and won't calm down until I let her know I've got it under control. Because of this, in the morning, she gives everyone an 830 wake up call when all the neighborhood dogs are going for their walk. And he just lets her do it. I've shouted out my window before ...and she shut up. I've got to get this through his head. Train the father, then the dog. The dog is MUCH easier to train, believe me!  We do praise her to the skies when she barks and howls when someone is at the door. That we WANT her to do. She gets to sniff every package that comes in the house so she gets used to the scent of the mailman, the UPS man, etc. That started when we realized she was alerting the presence of the mailman... when he wasn't even out of his truck yet. |
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Post by Am on Jun 24, 2005 2:45:10 GMT -5
No offense, Icygirlie, but about the morning barking... have you though that she might be doing it for the attention? For many dogs, even getting yelled at is better than no attention at all.
The yelling is obviously not effective, since it's not changing her behaviour - she's still barking in the mornings. If it was an effective deterrent, she'd bark less often the more you yelled at her.
I don't know your situation, but I'm wondering if your Dad might not have the right idea? If she learns that barking is an ineffective way of getting attention, she might stop doing it.
Just a thought.
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Post by icygirlie on Jun 24, 2005 11:14:18 GMT -5
No, it's definitely being done at other dogs, it happens while she's out for her morning potty. She stands under the tree and just howls at the people passing by, or the neighbors in their yard.
When she's in the house we ignore her when she's barking at people down the street or on the sidewalk, but praise her when she's barking at people at the door.
The problem with my father is that he just stands there and lets her do it.
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Post by Am on Jun 24, 2005 19:39:55 GMT -5
Oh I see, sorry. I though you meant she barked in the morning while you folks were still in bed, and then only shut up when you yelled "enough!" at her.  |
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Post by masha on Jul 25, 2005 10:42:07 GMT -5
It sounds like you are handling this well - but just a thought - something I was taught at my dog club.
You should be careful about " comforting" a dog, petting them and saying its OK when they are nervous of something. Especially if you go closer to them, bend over and so on. Its quite possible that while you think you are soothing the dog, from the dogs point of view you are saying " yes, you are right to be nervous of this big scary postbox/tree/man/truck because look how much fuss i am making over it!"
Think of it, if you were a little kid and saw a man walking towards you, and your mom suddenly bent over you and started saying - " its okay, dont worry, dont be scared, hes not going to hurt you" you would probably think that he WAS dangerous. Your dog looks to you to see what you are concerned about, and if you step away from her and act unconcerned, she is quite likely to go: Oh, my mom is not worried, she does not even NOTICE the refrigerator/lawnmower/mailman. It must be safe!
Just a thought!
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Post by icygirlie on Aug 16, 2005 10:53:47 GMT -5
Ooh, good point. Thank you.
While walking now, I've been employing "leave it" with people as well. She keeps right on walking, though her head swivels around trying to watch the people walk away.
What I'm working on now is socializing her with dogs. I screwed up in her early puppyhood along with circumstances just sucking during her crucial period. She's curious about dogs but has zero confidence in herself around other animals. A friend of ours has a big bundle of love in the form of a 4 year old Beta lab. Well, after Zoe ran away from her hackles up, the other dog realized Zoe was nervous and calmed down and just let Zoe figure things out for herself.
Towards the end of the night she wasn't playing with the other dog (we just let them both off leash, stood to one side, gated the big dog for a bit so Zoe could calm down, then let them run) but she did lay down and roll over with the other dog just a few feet away and let me rub her belly. The other dog immediately followed suit with her mom, which was hilarious and comforting to us.
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