*sigh* well Duke and I just got back from what will probably be our last time at puppy club until he completes basic obidence and is neutered at 8 months old ( which will be in april). He's been going for the last 3 months and has literally gotten 100% better with other dogs and today was the first time he actually played with other dogs, they all ran around jumping and play bowing I was sooooo happy as I never though Duke would get to that point.
Anyways it was an hour into class and Duke started to sqaut to go to the bathroom in the wrong area so I ran over picked him up ( which is pretty hard as he's now 50lbs and very long and I'm only 5'4'') and made a mad dash for the designated outside potty area. After he did his buisness we went back into the main play area and the same wimeriner he had been playing with so well all class came running up to greet us, and jumped up on duke's face. At that moment Duke let out a deep growl and the wimeriner began to run and he bolted after him letting out a deep growl which I have never heard him use. I ran after him trying to step on his lesh ( which I had left attached to his harness incase such an event arose) all the while Duke had caught up to the wimeriner and nipped him on the side. Their was no blood or teeth marks but the poor pup let out a biiig yelp and I managed to grab his lesh and take him over to an unpopulated area to let him have a 5 min time out to cool off.
I was shocked by his sudden outburst and felt terrible to say the least. I kept Duke on lead for the rest of the day and went over later to apologize to the older lady who owned him who just have me a dirty look and walked away and made a point of saying quickly (insert dog name here) lets go as "that" dog is coming. I asked the trainers who supervise the class what they thought and they said it was probabaly a combo of both the breeds in him ( Rotti/Shep/Colli) and his temperment ( which has always been very fear aggressive towards other dogs, which is why I had been taking him to that class and letting him meet and play with as many dogs as possible since age 9 weeks old) as well as all of the horomones which are coming in as he's now 6 months and 3 weeks old. They also recomended trying a choke chain on him along with treats so that when he tried to chase any dogs ( which is when he gets overstimulated and growls) to give him a quick pop and say no and when he went over to sniff dogs to immediatly praise him with lots of petting and giving treats. This sorta of helped but he continued to let out the deep growl whenever any dogs ran by.
It's bizarre as he plays soo well with my friends adult dogs and they can run around in the woods offlesh togther and he never gets into that chase down/deep growl mode even when their both running flat out.
He's starting basic obidence as of Wensday and I know when he gets neutered at 8 months it should help alot but until then I'm really unsure if I should go back to that class, if I do I'll be purely keeping him on lead and bring a clicker,treats and his choker and try and remove him from the situation whenever he starts to get growly with other dogs and click and treat when he sniffs them nicely.
Anyways just had to rant as I feel like we were making sooo much progress and now just lost most of it.
Kayla
Anyways it was an hour into class and Duke started to sqaut to go to the bathroom in the wrong area so I ran over picked him up ( which is pretty hard as he's now 50lbs and very long and I'm only 5'4'') and made a mad dash for the designated outside potty area. After he did his buisness we went back into the main play area and the same wimeriner he had been playing with so well all class came running up to greet us, and jumped up on duke's face. At that moment Duke let out a deep growl and the wimeriner began to run and he bolted after him letting out a deep growl which I have never heard him use. I ran after him trying to step on his lesh ( which I had left attached to his harness incase such an event arose) all the while Duke had caught up to the wimeriner and nipped him on the side. Their was no blood or teeth marks but the poor pup let out a biiig yelp and I managed to grab his lesh and take him over to an unpopulated area to let him have a 5 min time out to cool off.
I was shocked by his sudden outburst and felt terrible to say the least. I kept Duke on lead for the rest of the day and went over later to apologize to the older lady who owned him who just have me a dirty look and walked away and made a point of saying quickly (insert dog name here) lets go as "that" dog is coming. I asked the trainers who supervise the class what they thought and they said it was probabaly a combo of both the breeds in him ( Rotti/Shep/Colli) and his temperment ( which has always been very fear aggressive towards other dogs, which is why I had been taking him to that class and letting him meet and play with as many dogs as possible since age 9 weeks old) as well as all of the horomones which are coming in as he's now 6 months and 3 weeks old. They also recomended trying a choke chain on him along with treats so that when he tried to chase any dogs ( which is when he gets overstimulated and growls) to give him a quick pop and say no and when he went over to sniff dogs to immediatly praise him with lots of petting and giving treats. This sorta of helped but he continued to let out the deep growl whenever any dogs ran by.
It's bizarre as he plays soo well with my friends adult dogs and they can run around in the woods offlesh togther and he never gets into that chase down/deep growl mode even when their both running flat out.
He's starting basic obidence as of Wensday and I know when he gets neutered at 8 months it should help alot but until then I'm really unsure if I should go back to that class, if I do I'll be purely keeping him on lead and bring a clicker,treats and his choker and try and remove him from the situation whenever he starts to get growly with other dogs and click and treat when he sniffs them nicely.
Anyways just had to rant as I feel like we were making sooo much progress and now just lost most of it.
Kayla
