WTH just happened? - Page 2

[happysmileylady]

Just a thought....if you can't get out to actually take the dog for a walk, do you have a treadmill that you could teach him to walk on? That way, the dog could get his walk while you make dinner or whatever.

[SquishyKitty]

I deleted everything I just typed up and I'll just give a big head nod to everything that North_of_60 has stated.

Also, I have seen aussies, even miniature ones, who can jump onto a horse and onto a 6-ft wall like it was nothing. They are VERY high energy.

[ktgrok]

I am a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, a Certified Veterinary Technician, and a member of the Society of Veterinary Behavior Technicians, and this situation has disaster written all over it. I'm sorry to say that, I know it isn't what you want to hear. But you have a fearful dog that is to the point of urinating on himself when strangers come over, AND an incidence of object guarding AND a child with special needs that can't be trusted not to provoke the dog. I know you are really working on that, but this line jumped out at me, "We work with my son and his behavior with the dog constantly...constantly." The fact that you are correcting the behavior constantly tells me that innapropriate interactions are happening a LOT still, and that is damaging this puppy. If you can't stop it from happening NOW, then you either need to keep the dog and child separate. Honestly, dogs and children that age should be separated unless supervised. Baby gates may be your friend for now. Secondly, whatever you do, do NOT do anything Cesar Milan says. He tells everyone that their dog's problem is "dominance", and you obviously have a submissive, fearful puppy, not a dominant one. Finally, I agree that the way to teach a dog to not object guard is to approach, put a tasty treat in the bowl, and move away. Teach them to LOVE having people approach their food or toys or whatnot. But realistically this takes time and energy to fix, and you sound like that isn't something you have to give right now. I would really really really think about contacting Aussie rescue to see if they can place this puppy with a different home while it is still young and cute. If things continue to deteriorate then it will be much harder to find him a new home. Feel free to contact me if you have other questions, my website is www.loyaltyunleashed.com

[Catubodua]

Originally Posted by barefootbabies

OK, except I never said anything like that.

in your own quote you say that your son is jumping on the dog, so, yes, you did say that. and, you are asking for help in correcting the dog vs help in correcting behavior from both of them.

as said above, you are saying that you are constantly correcting your son which means that his pestering of the dog is constant. whatever you are doing isn't working for either of them and i think you need outside help to get it figured out and corrected before something more than a warning snap happens.

[barefootbabies]

Originally Posted by Catubodua

in your own quote you say that your son is jumping on the dog, so, yes, you did say that. and, you are asking for help in correcting the dog vs help in correcting behavior from both of them.

I said he is jumping on the dog, yes. I did not say he has to just learn to deal with it, suck it up, oh well, too bad for him. I was looking for feedback on why it may have happened, and what to do about it - I never specified that it was a problem with the dog.

If anyone has anything new to add, I'd love to hear it. Give him more exercise, get professional help, give him away now - I got all that, and we're discussing it all, there is no need to repeat it ad nauseum.

Thanks.

[SquishyKitty]

Between those 3 things, you pretty much have the basics covered. The dog needs more exercise, your son needs more boundaries enforced WRT the dog, and you would all benefit from a good trainer.

You won't find a magic bullet answer that fixes the problem in 10 minutes like they do on TV. The dog needs more exercise and attention, bottom line.

Also, the dog nipped at your son because that is how dogs communicate; when body language or growls and barks don't work/aren't being heeded by people or other animals, they result to nipping to get the point across. He doesn't like being jumped on, and he's trying to tell your DS to knock it off. I would bet you money that, prior to the nipping, body language like his tail, his head/mouth, his ears were all signaling to leave him alone, and they were not heeded.

[ktgrok]

Well, in addition to exercise, a trainer, or giving away the dog I did advise baby gates to keep the children and the dog separate except when you are there to supervise in a hands on manner so that the dog is NEVER jumped on, and NEVER has anyone put there hands in his mouth/ears/etc. The reason I am SO insistent on this is that what is a small nip to the hand of an adult is often a nip to the face of a child, just because of their shorter stature. And children's skin is so fragile that a small warning bite can require plastic surgery, whereas with an adult it would just require a bandaid. There have been two cases where I told someone to give away a dog because of the interactions between the dog and the kids. They didn't listen, and in one case a 7 year old ended up with plastic surgery on his face, and in the other case the baby ended up in the hospital for close to a week for head trauma caused by a bite. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you have a "bad" dog. I think you have a very difficult situation. Your dog is special needs and needs training on how to deal with objects as well as how to deal with strangers. That training is realistically going to take months of work, often an hour total a day. If you can't do that realistically (and in your situation I wouldn't be able to), then you need to rehome the dog. I'm sorry that I don't have better options for you. If you do decide you are going to commit the time to the training you NEED to keep the dog separate in the mean time. Books to read are "Mine" by Jean Donaldson and "the Cautious Canine" by Patricia McConnell. To find a trainer go to the CPDT website ,those are trainers that are up to date on the best training methods. Or, go to a certified veterinary behaviorist, there are not the many in the country, but they are worth their weight in gold.

[Oriole]

Originally Posted by barefootbabies

Give him more exercise, get professional help, give him away now - I got all that, and we're discussing it all.

I came looking for this thread, and very happy to hear you say this. There will be no other fix. Really.

I know it must be annoying to hear everyone repeating themselves, but that's only because it didn't seem like you were open to the only real advice that will help here. I'm glad to see that I was mistaken. Hope your family will find a way to address the needs of your puppy.

[zebra15]

HI, Im sorry things are so rough with your family and the dog. Honestly this pet does not sound like a good fit for your family for a number of reasons.

1. Never ever should anyone put thier hands or other body parts in a dogs mouth. That is just asking for diaster. (if someone did that to a baby would it be ok?)

2. Any puppy or dog needs lots of exercise, several walks a day and playtime. I am not a fan of being 'tied out' in the yard. Personally I've known 2 dogs that have been injured because they were tied out. (tangled in the tie). Your dog needs NEEDS to run at the park, OFF LEASH to burn energy. Your dog needs at least 2 walks a day, probably min 30 mins each time and fast paced.

3. Your DS is going to have a hard time with rules and boundaries but that is what needs to be done. Possibly a 1:1 trainer that comes to the house to work with the family to help the dog adjust.

Since the dog was from the shelter you dont know the history, you dont know what truly freaks the dog out, what sets it off, or why it does what it does.

[zebra15]

I just thought of something,
Can you try a new schedule to get the dog some exercise...

Get up in the AM and give the dog a 30 min walk? Yes someone may need to get up earlier

Then after dinner, before bed, while dinner is cooking, someone again does a 30 mins walk?

While you or DH is home with the kids during the day take the dog to the park?

Someone should always be working with the dog on behavior, reinforcing, come,sit,stay,down, whatever you want the dog to do.