Dog growling at me
- Thread starter Storm1
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When looking for a behaviorist find someone who uses positive training only.
I rescued a Rottweiler with aggression issues and a Dobe mix with aggression issues. My Rottweiler attacked me twice and my Sister once, not just a bite but an all out attack. I dealt with the Rottweiler in totally the wrong manner which was dominance based training. The training seemed to be working for her but what I didn't realize is it was only "suppressing" her issues and then when she did strike out it became much more unpredictable. Once I started seeing a behaviorist who used only positive training methods I was able to completely turn her around into an excellent stable dog. She had to learn to trust me as I had made her distrust me with the correction based training (I used all the worst training styles on her such as always saying No, holding her muzzle, lemon in the mouth etc which really was not smart at all). When I was leaving she would get really upset and would try to grab me as well and bark etc, what I did to resolve that issue was to associate my leaving with good things happening. I trust my dogs not to choke on RMB's so when I was leaving this is when she would get a RMB. Next few times I was grabbing my keys and jacket she would run down to the fridge quite excited knowing that's where her bones were. LOL I have done the same with my other rescues as they too both had issues as well. I redirected their bad behavior to something positive.
My Dobe mix when I first rescued him no one could touch his paws or pat him on top of the head. He was a highly fearful dog. We had to take baby steps and use desensitizing techniques and counter conditioning which worked excellent for him. He is now a wonderful stable dog that is one of the best for doing nails which is amazing as he was the worst and would just freak out and start air snapping and panicking etc.
With Beau I found that if you were standing up and tried to pat the top of his head or back of neck he would freak out. So I started crouching down and turning my head to one side which is a calming signal. Then I would put my hand out and rub his chest and belly and as the days went by my hand would go up further etc. It was took longer to desensitize him but I am so glad I used these tactics as this dog will now trust anyone with anything. He is so good now that my Vet said he is one of his best clients and there have been some procedures (to do with his eyes) that he normally would have put a dog under to do...not with Beau as Beau is now rock steady and no longer fearful at all. I was able to bring out some confidence in him which I am very proud of. A dog with confidence and not bullied will make you proud. Sometimes men can have a way of being a bully to dogs without really intending to be. Standing over top of the dog and coming down over them, well that would even freak me out and I can't say how I would react. I have found that you have to work up to different things, perhaps your wife is not patting your dog in what the dog perceives as threatening and perhaps when you are patting your dog you may be a bit more rough, standing over him and just basically putting him in a flight or fight stage.
I have 5 dogs all from different backgrounds who only came to live with one another when they were adults. All had their own little issues such as dog aggression, fear aggression, resource guarding etc. I am so pleased with how stable they have all turned out to be just by providing a good stable environment, routine, never confusing them and using positive training methods only. It makes me so happy to be able to see just how far they have come just with simple positive training
As mentioned I would never have been able to over come my Rottie's issues without the help of a good positive only behaviorist. She helped me immensely. There was a point I was considering giving Athena to a local Rottweiler breeder/rescue as she mentioned she had dealt with these issues before and she would have taken her.
I rescued a Rottweiler with aggression issues and a Dobe mix with aggression issues. My Rottweiler attacked me twice and my Sister once, not just a bite but an all out attack. I dealt with the Rottweiler in totally the wrong manner which was dominance based training. The training seemed to be working for her but what I didn't realize is it was only "suppressing" her issues and then when she did strike out it became much more unpredictable. Once I started seeing a behaviorist who used only positive training methods I was able to completely turn her around into an excellent stable dog. She had to learn to trust me as I had made her distrust me with the correction based training (I used all the worst training styles on her such as always saying No, holding her muzzle, lemon in the mouth etc which really was not smart at all). When I was leaving she would get really upset and would try to grab me as well and bark etc, what I did to resolve that issue was to associate my leaving with good things happening. I trust my dogs not to choke on RMB's so when I was leaving this is when she would get a RMB. Next few times I was grabbing my keys and jacket she would run down to the fridge quite excited knowing that's where her bones were. LOL I have done the same with my other rescues as they too both had issues as well. I redirected their bad behavior to something positive.
My Dobe mix when I first rescued him no one could touch his paws or pat him on top of the head. He was a highly fearful dog. We had to take baby steps and use desensitizing techniques and counter conditioning which worked excellent for him. He is now a wonderful stable dog that is one of the best for doing nails which is amazing as he was the worst and would just freak out and start air snapping and panicking etc.
With Beau I found that if you were standing up and tried to pat the top of his head or back of neck he would freak out. So I started crouching down and turning my head to one side which is a calming signal. Then I would put my hand out and rub his chest and belly and as the days went by my hand would go up further etc. It was took longer to desensitize him but I am so glad I used these tactics as this dog will now trust anyone with anything. He is so good now that my Vet said he is one of his best clients and there have been some procedures (to do with his eyes) that he normally would have put a dog under to do...not with Beau as Beau is now rock steady and no longer fearful at all. I was able to bring out some confidence in him which I am very proud of. A dog with confidence and not bullied will make you proud. Sometimes men can have a way of being a bully to dogs without really intending to be. Standing over top of the dog and coming down over them, well that would even freak me out and I can't say how I would react. I have found that you have to work up to different things, perhaps your wife is not patting your dog in what the dog perceives as threatening and perhaps when you are patting your dog you may be a bit more rough, standing over him and just basically putting him in a flight or fight stage.
I have 5 dogs all from different backgrounds who only came to live with one another when they were adults. All had their own little issues such as dog aggression, fear aggression, resource guarding etc. I am so pleased with how stable they have all turned out to be just by providing a good stable environment, routine, never confusing them and using positive training methods only. It makes me so happy to be able to see just how far they have come just with simple positive training
As mentioned I would never have been able to over come my Rottie's issues without the help of a good positive only behaviorist. She helped me immensely. There was a point I was considering giving Athena to a local Rottweiler breeder/rescue as she mentioned she had dealt with these issues before and she would have taken her.
When looking for a behaviorist find someone who uses positive training only.
I rescued a Rottweiler with aggression issues and a Dobe mix with aggression issues. My Rottweiler attacked me twice and my Sister once, not just a bite but an all out attack. I dealt with the Rottweiler in totally the wrong manner which was dominance based training. The training seemed to be working for her but what I didn't realize is it was only "suppressing" her issues and then when she did strike out it became much more unpredictable. Once I started seeing a behaviorist who used only positive training methods I was able to completely turn her around into an excellent stable dog. She had to learn to trust me as I had made her distrust me with the correction based training (I used all the worst training styles on her such as always saying No, holding her muzzle, lemon in the mouth etc which really was not smart at all). When I was leaving she would get really upset and would try to grab me as well and bark etc, what I did to resolve that issue was to associate my leaving with good things happening. I trust my dogs not to choke on RMB's so when I was leaving this is when she would get a RMB. Next few times I was grabbing my keys and jacket she would run down to the fridge quite excited knowing that's where her bones were. LOL I have done the same with my other rescues as they too both had issues as well. I redirected their bad behavior to something positive.
My Dobe mix when I first rescued him no one could touch his paws or pat him on top of the head. He was a highly fearful dog. We had to take baby steps and use desensitizing techniques and counter conditioning which worked excellent for him. He is now a wonderful stable dog that is one of the best for doing nails which is amazing as he was the worst and would just freak out and start air snapping and panicking etc.
With Beau I found that if you were standing up and tried to pat the top of his head or back of neck he would freak out. So I started crouching down and turning my head to one side which is a calming signal. Then I would put my hand out and rub his chest and belly and as the days went by my hand would go up further etc. It was took longer to desensitize him but I am so glad I used these tactics as this dog will now trust anyone with anything. He is so good now that my Vet said he is one of his best clients and there have been some procedures (to do with his eyes) that he normally would have put a dog under to do...not with Beau as Beau is now rock steady and no longer fearful at all. I was able to bring out some confidence in him which I am very proud of. A dog with confidence and not bullied will make you proud. Sometimes men can have a way of being a bully to dogs without really intending to be. Standing over top of the dog and coming down over them, well that would even freak me out and I can't say how I would react. I have found that you have to work up to different things, perhaps your wife is not patting your dog in what the dog perceives as threatening and perhaps when you are patting your dog you may be a bit more rough, standing over him and just basically putting him in a flight or fight stage.
I have 5 dogs all from different backgrounds who only came to live with one another when they were adults. All had their own little issues such as dog aggression, fear aggression, resource guarding etc. I am so pleased with how stable they have all turned out to be just by providing a good stable environment, routine, never confusing them and using positive training methods only. It makes me so happy to be able to see just how far they have come just with simple positive training
As mentioned I would never have been able to over come my Rottie's issues without the help of a good positive only behaviorist. She helped me immensely. There was a point I was considering giving Athena to a local Rottweiler breeder/rescue as she mentioned she had dealt with these issues before and she would have taken her.
I rescued a Rottweiler with aggression issues and a Dobe mix with aggression issues. My Rottweiler attacked me twice and my Sister once, not just a bite but an all out attack. I dealt with the Rottweiler in totally the wrong manner which was dominance based training. The training seemed to be working for her but what I didn't realize is it was only "suppressing" her issues and then when she did strike out it became much more unpredictable. Once I started seeing a behaviorist who used only positive training methods I was able to completely turn her around into an excellent stable dog. She had to learn to trust me as I had made her distrust me with the correction based training (I used all the worst training styles on her such as always saying No, holding her muzzle, lemon in the mouth etc which really was not smart at all). When I was leaving she would get really upset and would try to grab me as well and bark etc, what I did to resolve that issue was to associate my leaving with good things happening. I trust my dogs not to choke on RMB's so when I was leaving this is when she would get a RMB. Next few times I was grabbing my keys and jacket she would run down to the fridge quite excited knowing that's where her bones were. LOL I have done the same with my other rescues as they too both had issues as well. I redirected their bad behavior to something positive.
My Dobe mix when I first rescued him no one could touch his paws or pat him on top of the head. He was a highly fearful dog. We had to take baby steps and use desensitizing techniques and counter conditioning which worked excellent for him. He is now a wonderful stable dog that is one of the best for doing nails which is amazing as he was the worst and would just freak out and start air snapping and panicking etc.
With Beau I found that if you were standing up and tried to pat the top of his head or back of neck he would freak out. So I started crouching down and turning my head to one side which is a calming signal. Then I would put my hand out and rub his chest and belly and as the days went by my hand would go up further etc. It was took longer to desensitize him but I am so glad I used these tactics as this dog will now trust anyone with anything. He is so good now that my Vet said he is one of his best clients and there have been some procedures (to do with his eyes) that he normally would have put a dog under to do...not with Beau as Beau is now rock steady and no longer fearful at all. I was able to bring out some confidence in him which I am very proud of. A dog with confidence and not bullied will make you proud. Sometimes men can have a way of being a bully to dogs without really intending to be. Standing over top of the dog and coming down over them, well that would even freak me out and I can't say how I would react. I have found that you have to work up to different things, perhaps your wife is not patting your dog in what the dog perceives as threatening and perhaps when you are patting your dog you may be a bit more rough, standing over him and just basically putting him in a flight or fight stage.
I have 5 dogs all from different backgrounds who only came to live with one another when they were adults. All had their own little issues such as dog aggression, fear aggression, resource guarding etc. I am so pleased with how stable they have all turned out to be just by providing a good stable environment, routine, never confusing them and using positive training methods only. It makes me so happy to be able to see just how far they have come just with simple positive training
As mentioned I would never have been able to over come my Rottie's issues without the help of a good positive only behaviorist. She helped me immensely. There was a point I was considering giving Athena to a local Rottweiler breeder/rescue as she mentioned she had dealt with these issues before and she would have taken her.
Well done Ath! You did just right once you got some help. What a happy ending that came from using sensible methods of interaction with your dogs.
Thank you Doberluv, the behaviorist whom helped me is the one person I am truly thankful to. She was so supportive and really helped me gain confidence in myself as well as build a trusting relationship between myself and my dog. It was not a quick fix by any means, but the results were long term. The behaviorist basically had to reprogram me and my dog lol
Having tried "breaking" Athena my Rottie with dominance based training I can say first hand....it may "seem" like it's working. But, it can make for a highly unpredictable dog that will have learned to suppress the normal warnings and go for a full out attack. That's where I was headed and I am so ashamed of myself that I used those horrible training tactics in the first place.
Having tried "breaking" Athena my Rottie with dominance based training I can say first hand....it may "seem" like it's working. But, it can make for a highly unpredictable dog that will have learned to suppress the normal warnings and go for a full out attack. That's where I was headed and I am so ashamed of myself that I used those horrible training tactics in the first place.
Would the correct term be a behaviorist who practices modern dog friendly positive methods? I'm not sure of the proper terminology...also I have dial up so it's hard for me to surf the net LOL
Thank you I am very proud of how well my dogs have all turned out
Here is a picture of the 3 dogs with the most issues
oh yes, my Cat Oreo is in that picture as well. And yes they all sleep with me most nights. lol
Angelique
Would the correct term be a behaviorist who practices modern dog friendly positive methods? I'm not sure of the proper terminology...also I have dial up so it's hard for me to surf the net LOL
Thank you I am very proud of how well my dogs have all turned out
Here is a picture of the 3 dogs with the most issues
oh yes, my Cat Oreo is in that picture as well. And yes they all sleep with me most nights. lol
"Dog friendly" is also a marketing term. "Truly dog friendly" is another one which is used to separate those trainers who are not "dog friendly" enough.
Let's face it, you just had a great, effective behaviorist (based on the results) and also need to take some credit yourself (based on the results).
You have every reason to be proud of yourself and your dogs!
A-w-w-w...what a great picture! Don't be ashamed of yourself. Now is the time to be pleased. Go forward, not back. That picture reminds me of a greeting card my Mom sent me once with a cartoon of several dogs on a bed and the woman is showing her house guest the guest room. She says, "It is chilly tonight so I put an extra dog on your bed." LOL. They do keep us toasty at night, don't they.
To update, the problem has almost completely subsided. Though I didn't get a behaviourist I followed alot of the advice pieced together from the posts here that seemed applicable. I think part of the problem was the trainer we were using. He used almost all negative training methods and subscribes to alot of the methods of your favorite TV personality whos name I wont mention. I stopped doing anything that would give Storm cause be fearful or not trust me. He still doesn't respond all that well to positive only training. He has always been more focused on getting what he wants than on pleasing us, so if the reward doesn't exceed his desire to do something he ends up doing whatever it was we were trying to discourage. I'm sure in more experienced hands the results would be better. Thanks to everyone who took time to post.
Sounds like things are coming along well.
But that's just it. That's the way dogs are. People are all so dead set on expecting and thinking that dogs do things to please us and only to please us. That's the BIG misconception of all time. Dogs do things to get to whatever motivates them. How else would they have survived and evolved? How would any living thing survive and evolve if they did things to please someone else? (unless it worked for them) Unless it benefits them, you'll be hard pressed to have an animal do what you want.
What seems to elude a lot of people is that we are in a position with our dogs to control the things they want and their environment. We must learn what it is that motivates our dogs in any given context and use it to our advantage. They learn that their behavior contingent on their receiving the resources they want and need which we hold. This is the basis of training. Without motivation there is no training.
There are tricks which we can use to prevent and end unwanted behavior. And there are tricks to increase behavior which we like. Those tricks do not need to include harsh aversives. There are all kinds of nifty things you can learn little by little as you work with your dog...things like clicker training or the concepts, which include utilizing reinforcement for baby steps...shaping behavior, capturing small increments of the total behavior we're looking for and reinforcing, setting up the dog's environment for success. There are ways to prevent undesireable behavior from getting strong in the first place. If you need any specific help with a particular problem, don't hesitate to ask people here.
I am glad to hear that his trust in you is returning. Perfect set-up for easier and continued learning. Well done!
But that's just it. That's the way dogs are. People are all so dead set on expecting and thinking that dogs do things to please us and only to please us. That's the BIG misconception of all time. Dogs do things to get to whatever motivates them. How else would they have survived and evolved? How would any living thing survive and evolve if they did things to please someone else? (unless it worked for them) Unless it benefits them, you'll be hard pressed to have an animal do what you want.
What seems to elude a lot of people is that we are in a position with our dogs to control the things they want and their environment. We must learn what it is that motivates our dogs in any given context and use it to our advantage. They learn that their behavior contingent on their receiving the resources they want and need which we hold. This is the basis of training. Without motivation there is no training.
There are tricks which we can use to prevent and end unwanted behavior. And there are tricks to increase behavior which we like. Those tricks do not need to include harsh aversives. There are all kinds of nifty things you can learn little by little as you work with your dog...things like clicker training or the concepts, which include utilizing reinforcement for baby steps...shaping behavior, capturing small increments of the total behavior we're looking for and reinforcing, setting up the dog's environment for success. There are ways to prevent undesireable behavior from getting strong in the first place. If you need any specific help with a particular problem, don't hesitate to ask people here.
I am glad to hear that his trust in you is returning. Perfect set-up for easier and continued learning. Well done!