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Afraid of bigger dogs; picks on smaller dogs



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 9th 05, 10:20 PM
Leah Roberts
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On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 01:33:21 GMT, Peter Seibel
wrote:

P.S. She also loves to play--she has one good doggie friend that she
plays with regularly and will frequently meet strange dogs at the
off-leash parks who are just the right size and temperament for her
and will have a grand time playing chase. I'd like to solve this
problem so I can take her to the park without having to worry so much
about her traumatizing some innocent puppy.


Sounds like the park is just too much for her to handle. It's great
that she has a good friend. Do you know any other people with
sociable dogs who you could introduce her to one at a time? Once
she's gotten to know and feel comfortable with a couple of dogs, then
play dates with them together may be feasible.

Some dogs are just not dog park candidates. Just like some people are
fine in small groups, but hate parties. However, letting her learn
doggy communication skills on one dog at a time may result in her some
day being comfortable and acting appropriately in a park situation, if
you go one baby step at a time.

By the way, a good day care should not be a "Lord of the Flies"
environment. It should be structured, with games, nap times, quiet
times.

--
Leah Roberts, Family Dog Trainer
It's A Dog's World
http://hometown.aol.com/dfrntdrums/m...age/index.html
Get Healthy, Build Your Immune System, Lose Weight
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  #2  
Old February 10th 05, 02:33 AM
Peter Seibel
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Default Afraid of bigger dogs; picks on smaller dogs

I have a 2 year old female mutt (mostly some kind of hound), about 40
lbs. that we got from a rescue when she was about 1 1/2. When we first
got her she was pretty shy around all dogs. We took her to the local
dog park a lot and she came out of her shell a bit, though she'd
occasionally give a good growl or bark at some dog that was too much
in her face. We also sent her to doggie day care one day a week for a
few months on the theory that it would help her socialize a bit. We
stopped that on the advice of our obedience school instructor who said
it was a bit too much of a Lord of the Flies environment. (Lord of the
Fleas?)

Anyway, she's pretty good now except that now she'll go after certain
dogs, usually younger dogs that are smaller than her and a bit too
exuberant for her tastes. Sometimes it's as soon as they come near,
sometimes it's after sniffing around for a while. She's never actually
hurt another dog but she rolls them on their back and they start
squealing and she's barking and growling so it's pretty scary looking.
It usually ends within seconds because I pull her off. She's also
still a bit nervous around bigger dogs. Basically she acts like a
bully--she's afraid of the big dogs and picks on the little dogs.

In general she's pretty obedient and we've done a lot of clicker
training with her. Our obedience instructor advised that we should
reward her for being calm around other dogs. Unfortunately we've found
putting that advice into practice a bit tricky since she sometimes
gets territorial around her treats--if we try to give her a treat when
there are other dogs around that can inflame the situation. I get it
that I need to find a way to reward the behavior I want but my
training chops don't seem quite sophisticated enough to do it. Any
suggestions?

-Peter

P.S. She also loves to play--she has one good doggie friend that she
plays with regularly and will frequently meet strange dogs at the
off-leash parks who are just the right size and temperament for her
and will have a grand time playing chase. I'd like to solve this
problem so I can take her to the park without having to worry so much
about her traumatizing some innocent puppy.

--
Peter Seibel

Lisp is the red pill. -- John Fraser, comp.lang.lisp
 




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