Frighteneing Experience

[liz.pawz]

She is really nice natured! Usually! Her leads are nylon-and her pull toy is nylon so thats going in the cupboard! Just had a phone call from the rescue who are going to come round tomorrow and see whats what-I am not giving up on her. Now i have recovered and calmed down i am determined to give this another go. I have left messages with 2 behaviourists. Will take her out again before i go to work and try a more firm approach if she tries anything again. Will keep everyone posted.

 

You are trying hard and please be reassured we will give you full support, the majority of people on this site give great advice also, you just need to make sure you are reading the right advice. I would strongly suggest you wait until Kev has visited you tomorrow. Take care Liz@pawz

[chasta]

I am the owner of a full blood ridgeback, OB. I refer to him as the woosiest dog this side of wooseville because that is what he is, the softest Mummys boy you can ever meet... But when OB is excited he will grab the lead, turn and mouth my arm bruising me, woo-raa me and show me all his pearly whites. Like Victoria I was taken aback by this....

 

I mean, when I adopted Mollydog, she insisted on smiling at us, and never having seen a scary greyhound smile full of teeth before, my husband and I were a bit 'OMG, WHY IS SHE SNARLING, WHAT HAVE WE DONE, WILL SHE BITE!!!' Then we saw a photo of a greyhound smile, and we felt very very stupid... I'd just never seen a dog show that many teeth before without it being a warning.

 

OB would bowl into me and jump up and claw my face/neck with joy, not very joyful for me... But with love, patience and understanding the lead grabbing is gentle, and stops with a 'Leave', the mouthing never marks and again stops with a 'stop' command and feet stay on the floor unless he is invited to jump up. Now we love to see his smile.... OB is my light and I can read his body language intimately now, but that takes time, with any dog.

 

Without witnessing the incident how can anyone say that pushka was aggressive (and Im not saying she wasn't, OK?) Fenella says she is an inexperienced dog owner, and her rescue are giving her back up.

 

Good on you Fenella for not giving up when the going gets a bit tough A perfect dog needs to be raised, not bought and it sounds like your up for the job

Edited May 27, 2008 by chasta

[Jacobean]

I haven't read through all of this thread so forgive me. To be honest it comes across to me as though your dog could be playing roughly with you. You can expect her to play very roughly with other dogs as well so don't be alarmed thinking she's fighting when she isn't. Obviously be careful which dogs you allow her to play with as some don't like to be roughed up. She will take some handling but will be a fantastic dog so do bear with her. Keep in touch with the rescue you got her from and I'm sure they'll help you through this with her. It's very early days. You need to get to know each other. I'm sure you will find you have a fantastic dog on your hands and all the effort you put in with her will be well worth it.

[Trallwm farm]

Good on you Fenella for not giving up when the going gets a bit tough A perfect dog needs to be raised, not bought and it sounds like your up for the job

 

Absolutely, All you can do is figure out the problem and move on.

 

I was a tiny bit amused by the fact that the behaviourist has already worked with the dog.

 

Did she charge the previous owner ? Did she resolve the problem ?

 

Dont get sucked into a situation where you pay money and feel you have failed. The dog has a history but you are new at this.

Start afresh and enjoy your dog with good and positive help.

[chasta]

But when OB is excited he will grab the lead, turn and mouth my arm bruising me, woo-raa me and show me all his pearly whites. Like Victoria I was taken aback by this....

 

Scuse me quoting myself but that should have said 'was excited he would grab the lead, turn and mouth my arm bruising me' all in the past tense, Im sorry if my error has led to any misunderstanding. OB has good self control of his strength now through love and training

 

Thanks

[Jacobean]

I would worry about going back to a behaviourist that clearly hasn't stopped the dogs behaviours. As a matter of interest which county do you live in?

[Pingu]

my 2ps worth

 

agression is very hard to treat remotely...

it takes someone with a lot of experience to deal with aggression issues and often it can be something really stupid and unrelated that triggers it

first port of call in any sudden behavioural change should be a vet to rule out anything medical

then a qualified\accredited beahviourist (apdt or similar) who has experience of the breed in question.

 

general behavioural advice over the net is fine but when it comes to aggression then you cannot perfrom a diagnoos or recomend treatment unless you have witnessed the behaviour and can take into account all the factors tha could be contributing to it. aggression is not an issue to try to show your psychic behavioural skills off with as if you get it wrong then you could be causing a whole shed load of problems.

[liz.pawz]

I am sorrry but I find that post really offensive.

 

What gives you the right to judge any of us. FYI I have had GSDs (Plus other breeds)for 25 years, some have had aggression problems.

 

I still do not jump to conclusions, so that is why on my post I advised no more tuggy games and to contact the rescue concerned.

 

Kazz

 

Thank you for you logical reply, lets restore the faith, and focus on fennel, pushka and her family

[liz.pawz]

while i find most of your post patronising, this bit really does get my back up. I own a kennels. we have both boarding dogs and a small rescue running from here. Why on earth do people still beleive the kennels must know what the dog is like. Unless they bring their dogs home and cage them in a kennel with 30 odd other dogs, how on earth can the dogs behaviour be expected to be anything remotely similar to how it was whilst at the rescue?

 

In the last month we have rehomed 3 collie types, all of which i expected to be potentially hard work once in a home environment, as they were excitable youngsters with kennel stress and suffering eternal giddyness. All 3 have turned out to be quiet sensible pets with no manic moments or problems.

 

 

Fenella, im glad to see you are determined to fix these issues and plan to stick with your dog. Id have been mortified if you had followed earlier knee jerk reaction advice and just given her back.

 

Again thank you so much, in addition to the rare dogs that have a kennel space only, we have great volunteers who walk the dogs, but the kennels are not ours, it is with a private boarding kennels, who we agreed to home with because of the owners attidute, and for some of the replys here, I simply feel very great sadness, we all try very, very hard, including Joe the boarding kennel owner, I have forstered 20 plus dogs for pawz and when we have went to Joe for advice, for the appropriate dog for our pack, he has never, NEVER let us down. Like many people Joe has the dogs welfare first and formost.

 

Me and no it didn't work, dominence and agression are two entirely different things, truly dominant alpha dogs are rarely agreessive, they don't have to be, but they also do not try to dominate humans.

 

Fenella, wait and see what the rescue have to say, and take it from there, I doubt if your girl is truly a problem, just needs some good basic training Good Luck

 

thank you

 

hi,

 

i just wanted to say i'm back and will read through threads but it will take me a while as your questions (which i'm more than happy to answer) are inbetween other bits.

 

thanks,

 

claire.

 

Many thanks Claire, are you the same claire from Nottingham area ???

[Mrs Mop]

Fenella, it is very dangerous to give advice on behaviours like this over the internet because we can't see what is going on. Jim Greenwood is a very good trainer/behaviourist who undestands dogs, his email is [email protected]. He is worth getting him out to see what is happening and he also holds workshops.

 

This sounds to me like a case of dog handler aggression and is sometimes shown when a dog has tendancies to be dominant, the fact that the dog is dragging you about is showing dominance anyway.

 

I would suggest that you find out more about basic pack behaviour and demote her to bottom of the pile.

 

This is very dangerous advice to give, dogs are not trying to take over the world, dogs like this are crying out for help, they are trying to tell us what is wrong but we don't understand what they are saying. A good trainer/behaviourist who is there and sees what is happening can tell what the dog is saying and be able to tell the owner how to solve the problem.

 

Simple things like never allowing her on the furniture, earning everything including food by doing something like sitting or laying down, all let the dog know you are in charge and are to be respected.

 

My dogs are all allowed on the furniture and most sleep on my bed with me, I feed them before myself and they go through doors before me. My dogs are all well behaved and obedient and only this weekend I have had several compliments on how well behaved they are. I have a pack of 6 dogs so need to have some control of them. This advice is a load of codswallop.

[liz.pawz]

mmm ... i will be really interested in what the rescue say - what i do know is that it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that this dog did not show any indication of this 2 weeks ago if she was given a proper assessment by the rescue involved.

 

dogs do not become aggressive like this "overnight" - this type of aggression/response will have been there since a tiny puppy.

 

now for RR's neotony - i shall start a new post but to be honest, you all seem so prejudice and unable to accept anybody new, i am actually thinking of leaving.

 

PLEASE be reassured this girl was assessed, so if nothing constuctive to say, please say nothing, sorry RYKAT, being a true member and respect many members deeply, if this type of comment is condoned I am shocked, SORRY, but I think this person tried this behaviour on another website and was struck off, Not you fennell and so sorry this type of comment has gone off the focus of your query, but you know now we will give you full support

Edited May 27, 2008 by liz.pawz

[Mrs Mop]

ridgebacks are a breed which are genetically more aggressive than "your avg breed" this is NOT "deed not breed" this is genetic fact.

 

Ridgebacks are dogs and act like dogs, they were bred to do a job and need that taken into account. This dog is a ridgeback,greyhound lab, so not a full rdigeback and will have some traits from the other breeds as well.

 

i am an experienced rescuer and reasonably experienced in dog behaviour too - experienced enough to know that an inexperienced owner needs help in person asap. and to keep her and the dog safe - dont put leads near her they obviously trigger it, and dont put her in situations where she's got the opportunity to get loose.

 

There are many experienced rescuers on this board, also experienced in dog behaviour as well, yes this owner does need experienced help but the advice you have given is dangerous, you haven't seen the dog so don't know what is happening but you still gave advice on what to do. The wrong advice can lead to someone being seriously hurt.

 

Summersun you stated that:

 

"dominant" isnt a word i use as it is not measureable in any way - one person saying "dominant" could mean something completely different to another perhaps more, or less experienced person. if you want more info on this i can give links but later on as i'm busy!

 

Yet your first post in this thread you said:

 

This sounds to me like a case of dog handler aggression and is sometimes shown when a dog has tendancies to be dominant, the fact that the dog is dragging you about is showing dominance anyway.

 

Mixed messages there.

[liz.pawz]

Ridgebacks are dogs and act like dogs, they were bred to do a job and need that taken into account. This dog is a ridgeback,greyhound lab, so not a full rdigeback and will have some traits from the other breeds as well.

 

 

 

There are many experienced rescuers on this board, also experienced in dog behaviour as well, yes this owner does need experienced help but the advice you have given is dangerous, you haven't seen the dog so don't know what is happening but you still gave advice on what to do. The wrong advice can lead to someone being seriously hurt.

 

Summersun you stated that:

 

 

 

Yet your first post in this thread you said:

 

 

 

Mixed messages there.

 

Thank you so much, and good night, going to speak to some one with a dog in need, Fennell, please speak with Kev when he visits you tomorrow, he will give you sound advice, and he will not be afriad to let you know if a behaviourist is needed, well done fennel and please do not let this put you off rescue sites

 

Liz@pawz

[Mrs Mop]

there seems to be an awful lot of "opinions" hurled at me simply because i'm new, and advocate clear responsible practices.

 

Nothing to do with you being new but is to do with bad advice that you are giving. It is very dangerous to give advice on how to tackle a problem when you haven't seen that problem.

 

sorry to disagree with you doggy experts on here but I would pose the question how many of you have actually dealt with handler aggressive dogs or even agressive dogs full stop and seen the difference it makes when the dog realises that it does not have to challenge and takes its rightful place as a good member of the family. The way I read the posting the dog appears to me to be a danger.

 

A dog that bit first and never bothered to ask questions, learned behaviour from his previous owners, a dog that wanted to kill every dog she saw when I first got her, now she greets all dogs in a nice way. Another that used to resource guard and food aggressive, would have taken my face off if I accepted his challenge. Lots of other problems as well. All lovely family pets now. That is just the dogs, handled and turned round many horses.

[ReikiAnge]

Summersun you stated that:

 

 

Yet your first post in this thread you said:

 

 

Mixed messages there.

 

I agree with much of what you have said Mrs Mop, but just to clarify, it was estweyn that mentioned dominance etc as per your last quote, not Summersun