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Doberman Behavior
We now have a nearly 3 year old female spayed Doberman adopted from a home
only four days ago. We also took her little buddy, a small 10 lb, spaniel mix of some sort. All is generally fine, and both are taking to heeling, sitting, etc. training reasonably well. Two questions. 1) The Doberman is always distracted and/or disinterested. When sitting, she continually looks around, paying little attention to me. She is not food driven, so treats do not get her attention. May need to go to something more attractive, like liver bits. It is hard to get the dog to stay focused. She is walked on the street, and there are many things to look, sniff, etc., and that does not help, but have little other place to go. 2) More troubling is her behavior if she see another dog. Supposedly, she will play in a dog park, but I am not so sure. If she sees another dog, on the street, or outside her home, she becomes very alert, excitable, and any heeling or sitting is out the window. I don't know if she would attack, or just run over and check out the other dog. But, her behavior doesn't look or feel friendly. I could be wrong. She needs to be under much better control with other dogs. She gets better a bit each time this happens, but not sure how to get her consistently reasonably calm when she spots another dog. People are scared enough of Dobermans. I'd prefer she not act in a way that fuels that fear. - Phil |
#2
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Doberman Behavior
"Phil" wrote in message ... We now have a nearly 3 year old female spayed Doberman adopted from a home only four days ago. We also took her little buddy, a small 10 lb, spaniel mix of some sort. All is generally fine, and both are taking to heeling, sitting, etc. training reasonably well. Two questions. 1) The Doberman is always distracted and/or disinterested. When sitting, she continually looks around, paying little attention to me. She is not food driven, so treats do not get her attention. May need to go to something more attractive, like liver bits. It is hard to get the dog to stay focused. She is walked on the street, and there are many things to look, sniff, etc., and that does not help, but have little other place to go. *************************** You've only had her 4 days, she's bound to be a little disorientated. Bonding takes time and trust. At the moment you should be working on building that, not worrying that it hasn't automatically come. Just imagine how you'd feel if you'd been through the recent life changes she has. 2) More troubling is her behavior if she see another dog. Supposedly, she will play in a dog park, but I am not so sure. If she sees another dog, on the street, or outside her home, she becomes very alert, excitable, and any heeling or sitting is out the window. I don't know if she would attack, or just run over and check out the other dog. But, her behavior doesn't look or feel friendly. I could be wrong. She needs to be under much better control with other dogs. She gets better a bit each time this happens, but not sure how to get her consistently reasonably calm when she spots another dog. People are scared enough of Dobermans. I'd prefer she not act in a way that fuels that fear. Give her a honeymoon away from other dogs for the time being. Just a few weeks to settle in and build up some trust in you, her new dad. Once that has begun to develop, gradually introduce her to your friends dogs, so long as you know that they are of an easy going nature. Pushing her into more scary situations now could do more harm than good and slow down the bonding between you. I do understand your anxieties at this early stage in your relationship but remember that a dog is not a car - you can't just jump in and drive - she has feelings and emotions which need to be taken into consideration. Diana -- Cindy the weimaraner's web site: http://cindy-incidentally.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk |
#3
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Doberman Behavior
Diana wrote: "Phil" wrote in message ... We now have a nearly 3 year old female spayed Doberman adopted from a home only four days ago. We also took her little buddy, a small 10 lb, spaniel mix of some sort. All is generally fine, and both are taking to heeling, sitting, etc. training reasonably well. Two questions. 1) The Doberman is always distracted and/or disinterested. When sitting, she continually looks around, paying little attention to me. She is not food driven, so treats do not get her attention. May need to go to something more attractive, like liver bits. It is hard to get the dog to stay focused. She is walked on the street, and there are many things to look, sniff, etc., and that does not help, but have little other place to go. *************************** You've only had her 4 days, she's bound to be a little disorientated. Bonding takes time and trust. At the moment you should be working on building that, not worrying that it hasn't automatically come. Just imagine how you'd feel if you'd been through the recent life changes she has. 2) More troubling is her behavior if she see another dog. Supposedly, she will play in a dog park, but I am not so sure. If she sees another dog, on the street, or outside her home, she becomes very alert, excitable, and any heeling or sitting is out the window. I don't know if she would attack, or just run over and check out the other dog. But, her behavior doesn't look or feel friendly. I could be wrong. She needs to be under much better control with other dogs. She gets better a bit each time this happens, but not sure how to get her consistently reasonably calm when she spots another dog. People are scared enough of Dobermans. I'd prefer she not act in a way that fuels that fear. Give her a honeymoon away from other dogs for the time being. Just a few weeks to settle in and build up some trust in you, her new dad. Once that has begun to develop, gradually introduce her to your friends dogs, so long as you know that they are of an easy going nature. Pushing her into more scary situations now could do more harm than good and slow down the bonding between you. I do understand your anxieties at this early stage in your relationship but remember that a dog is not a car - you can't just jump in and drive - she has feelings and emotions which need to be taken into consideration. Diana -- Cindy the weimaraner's web site: http://cindy-incidentally.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk very very well said diane, could'nt have put it better |
#4
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Doberman Behavior
Well done for rehoming an unwanted dog . There is a very
good book, Understanding the Rescue Dog by Carol Price . It's published in Britain but it's worth getting hold . It explains what goes through a rescue dog's mind and how it feels , how to help it adjust , training and problems you might encounter and how to deal with them etc etc . It's very thorough and covers a lot more than I have mentioned here. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...509846-7612766 Alison http://catinfolinks.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ http://doginfolinks.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ "Phil" wrote in message ... We now have a nearly 3 year old female spayed Doberman adopted from a home only four days ago. We also took her little buddy, a small 10 lb, spaniel mix of some sort. All is generally fine, and both are taking to heeling, sitting, etc. training reasonably well. Two questions. 1) The Doberman is always distracted and/or disinterested. When sitting, she continually looks around, paying little attention to me. She is not food driven, so treats do not get her attention. May need to go to something more attractive, like liver bits. It is hard to get the dog to stay focused. She is walked on the street, and there are many things to look, sniff, etc., and that does not help, but have little other place to go. 2) More troubling is her behavior if she see another dog. Supposedly, she will play in a dog park, but I am not so sure. If she sees another dog, on the street, or outside her home, she becomes very alert, excitable, and any heeling or sitting is out the window. I don't know if she would attack, or just run over and check out the other dog. But, her behavior doesn't look or feel friendly. I could be wrong. She needs to be under much better control with other dogs. She gets better a bit each time this happens, but not sure how to get her consistently reasonably calm when she spots another dog. People are scared enough of Dobermans. I'd prefer she not act in a way that fuels that fear. - Phil |
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