20oz Diet Coke bottle and milk-jug cap were resounding hits. As much as I tried explaining to her just how expensive and exotic her new toys were, it was to no avail – she tore into both with great abandon although the Coke bottle’s putting up a galant fight
Believe it or not, I am also feeling a bit more at ease with the new direction we’ve taken. I admit to being a bit perplexed by all the different (and conflicting) advices I’d been reading. Above all, I simply want to enjoy the dog and I found most of the training articles I read overly regimented. And while I realize that the master/dog relationship is almost always being tested at this stage, I also think one should leave room for spontaneity and feelings – as long as biting is no longer tolerated. Learn on the job so to speak. Which is partly what I gather from what you’re saying.
Anyhow, since I think I have the “dictator” part pretty much under control – or so I’ve been told by my son – I’m off to purchase some Plato and Aristotle.
You will have to learn on the job. Dogs are sometimes categorized as being a 1 - 5 in personality types. Sound familiar? A one would almost certainly be a large male dog with delusions of grandeur. My shepherd is more like a five. No matter how nice I am to her, she’ll always submissive pee when she sees me. She’s never growled at me. OTOH, she could fear bite. I’ve seen her suddenly turn ugly almost out of nowhere, as I mentioned. Now, I understand what sets her off. Then, I was learning on the job.
By way of example, my whole first day with my shepherd consisted of taking her down three flights of stairs over and over. Every trip down we would work a few more feet out into the grass. She was that shy. During that time she was totally dependent on me for support. I would tap the ground and she would come run between my legs. That’s technically a personality defect in shepherds, BTW.
Balancing that, she was about 95% potty trained within a day. She’s been close to 100% since she hit about three months. She’s the best in that regard that I’ve ever had. She seemed to intuit that we did not want her going in the ‘den.’ That’s not a personality defect. I so wish all dogs were that easy.
Over time, with constant work, she’s improved to being a pretty social dog. OTOH, she will never, ever just run up and kiss a stranger. It’s not in her nature. I’ll always have to be careful around people who are not good with dogs. She barks, they freak out, she freaks out… Someone ‘playfully’ lunges at her… Kid on a bike thinks cutting her off on the sidewalk and sliding to a stop is a good idea… Loose dog comes running up…
Let me chime in with my annoyances in the same area:
If I’m sitting in the car with my adorable little dog, waiting for my mother to finish shopping, and my dog starts barking at you, it’s probably not a good idea to come near. And I do appreciate you asking if you could pet her…but WHEN I SAY NO, IT MEANS NO! End of story. You may have asked, but I told you you couldn’t, and you went ahead anyway. She could have bitten you! She is rather protective of me, and you just reaching in the car at us does not help. And if she had bitten you, who would have been held liable? Us!
Beagle, happen to have any pics of your pets? Many many moons ago, I had a Beagle if only for a short time. Sad story, but what I like to remember is just how darn cute they are. In many ways I think of them as eternal puppies.
As for your sheperd, she sounds a bit like a velcro dog. It must be rewarding to be on the recieving end of that kind of attachment.
On Letterman one night, Mary Tyler Moore mentioned she had had some problems with her dog humping her leg. She took him to a vet to see what could be done about this. The vet advised her the best solution was having the dog castrated. MTM said she thought about it a bit and then said, “That’s a little extreme. Can you just trim his claws and do something about his breath?”
Thanks, you’ve been a great audience and don’t forget to tip your wait staff!
