Roxy's Strange behavoiur

[Gæst B.J.M]

We recently got a new dog and she is 9 months old, and behaves strangly. When you correct her behavoir she cowers and starts to shake, and when you take out her lead she does the same, she gets really grumpy when she is on the lead and has gone to bite other dogs, but when she is off the lead she is fine. I just wondered if there was any particular reasons she could be like this? I have a few idea's of my own, but wanted advise from people who knew best. I just wanted to know what I could do to help Roxy

[Gæst mussen]

It is not becauce i dont want to help you, but i am not very good to write in english, but i wish you luck with Roxy. Hope you get the help you need, and someone in here is better in english:vedikke:

 

:vinken:From Lotte

[Freudika]

I wish my written english were better - but I'll give it a try.

 

To me, it is obvious, that she has some bad experiences with the given situations, and therefore you should try to give her good experiences ... I would not correct her at this point. Gain her trust, by being nice. When she is doing stuff you don't want her to do, distract her by giving her toys or something that is ok for her.

 

When you walk her on the lead, don't let her meet other dogs - keep a distance and reward her for looking at other dogs, if she doesn't bark or growl ....

 

I would use a lot of rewarding for a dog like that. The way you describes it, it sounds like you've got yourself a dog that has a lot of bad expiriences ... that's a lot of work, and I hope you work it out and that she'll learn to trust you and that she'll learn, that life can be good.

[Gæst Arkiveringsalf]

Could you maybe ask the people you got it from? They might have an idea what happened to the poor thing - that would make it easier for you.

Quite a lot of the dog rescue groups have deals with dog therapists, so if you got her through one of those, you might be able to get not-to-expensive professional help if needed.

But either way, lots of good experiences for her as Freudika says.

Depending on how much she trusts you you could just hang out and pet her a lot, we were really lucky when we got our shelter dog as he more or less trusted us from day one, so it might not work for you...

[Umulia]

We recently got a new dog and she is 9 months old, and behaves strangly. When you correct her behavoir she cowers and starts to shake, and when you take out her lead she does the same, she gets really grumpy when she is on the lead and has gone to bite other dogs, but when she is off the lead she is fine. I just wondered if there was any particular reasons she could be like this? I have a few idea's of my own, but wanted advise from people who knew best. I just wanted to know what I could do to help Roxy

 

I learned from your other thread that Roxy has been rehomed, perhaps more than once. Her behaviour seems to indicate that she has suffered some form of abuse.

 

I would advice you to stop correction training, and focus instead on positive training - meaning that you reward her when she shows desired behaviour and ignore unwanted behaviour as much as possible.

Obviously there are unwanted behaviours that can't be ignored, but in these cases, try to get her attention in a positive way, to get her to change her behaviour.

 

My own dog - also rehomed - has a similar problem to Roxy. She's fine with other dogs when she meets them off-leash, but on the leash she's fearful and agressive.

The first year she was with me, I gave her intensive clicker training based on the book "Click to Calm - Healing the agressive dog" by Emma Parsons. A book I can warmly recommend.

There are also some very good training videos adressing this subject - I'll go find them and post the links later.

 

But more important than training methods is your attitude towards Roxy - you and your mum, as owners. You need to understand that she behaves the way she does because she's been hurt, not because she's a "bad dog". If you can feel a little compassion for her, that would help her a lot. Because what she needs is not to be told when she's bad, but when she's good

Redigeret September 5, 2010 af Umulia

[Umulia]

Videos:

 

Emergency handling and training (when other dog is at close proximity)

 

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zyjiA9bD3E&feature=related[/media]

 

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Desensitization (controlled training with a helper dog)

 

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwf53xwyndw&feature=related[/media]

 

YouTube - Kanaal van ahimsadog