Dealing with "difficult" dogs

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Agreed, but I wonder if prospective dog owners aren’t really aware of the facts. The various shelters around here have frequent adoption events, strongly encouraging anyone and everyone to show up and get a dog.

Sorry to quote you twice, but your statement is important, especially the word “time”. We’ve traditionally had tiny dogs which require little training due to lack of strength, and inability to do much harm even if they’re annoyed. We recently adopted a larger dog with insane levels of energy, who’s strongly motivated to jump on, and greet any animal or human she gets near.

And we’re discovering how much time it actually takes to train a strong, active, juvenile dog to be a good citizen. We’re nearing the end of the first six weeks of at-home work with a trainer recommended by our vet. Today we’re starting “in public” practice – in increasingly distracting environments. First the park, then Home Depot, then an off-leash group environment with a lot of other (already trained) dogs. Getting her to the point of reliable voice control in all situations will probably take 6 or 7 months, and even then must be re-enforced with weekly training.

I’m astounded how much work this is – twice a day training for 15-20 minutes, and an hour or two each week with a pro. It’s expensive and takes an enormous time commitment. I’ll refrain from my opinion of owners doing the constant ineffective shouts (“No Rex! Down! Stop! NO! NO! Bad Dog! Bad Dog!” as the dog hurtles around ignoring them), except we’re not going to be like that. Yesterday she walked with me for 15 minutes heeling perfectly – no leash tension at all, and attentive to turns and sitting immediately when told. She’ll eventually get there, but it’s a long path.

22

I don’t know if it’s just the circle I’m in or just coincidence but the 3 people I know who have been able to rehab a very anxious dog have been child-free.

Not saying kids are a hinderance to dogs, but kids are a hinderance to time.

The adoption process can be arduous. I like to think that the adoption agencies are placing the right dogs with the right people, even the ones that are begging people to come get dogs. Just because you show up doesn’t mean you’ll get a dog. But the more people that show up, the more choices they have for placement.

Getting a dog from an agency that fosters can be a real plus. The fosters usually will do a lot of rehab on the dogs and get them as ready as possible to be a good family pet. Just sometimes you get one that is going to need a LOT more work.

23

We know you ain’t sane. :wink:

Our old dog is like that. When we got a “giveaway” dog, it took us about a week before she could be in the same room as him. She’s mellowed a little with age (lab mix, now over 15); it only took 4 days or so before she could be in the same room as our puppy.

24

Yes, the fosters do a wonderful, necessary job of rehabbing and assessing before the animal is released for adoption. It helps tremendously to know how the animal will react in various situations in finding the right adopter.

25

I think we all need to have a “Marley & Me” watch party. :slight_smile:

26

For us it has always been ongoing - there was no goal line and no spiking the ball. We use every opportunity to re-inforce expected behaviors and discourage unwanted ones throughout the day. Our current dog responds really well to positive reinforcement so she gets hugs and kisses when she does the right thing - this has helped immensely with the whole ‘going after other dogs while we are out walking’ thing. It needs to be consistent and ever-present, and non-negotiable (e.g. if someone wants to introduce their dog to ours, we politely decline - she does not get to interact with other dogs, at all, when we are out walking).

Consistency is king - both my wife and I are consistent so she is not getting mixed messages from us. When she used to make mistakes we correct right then and there, strongly and sometimes physically and with immediacy - she responds to that as well as the hugs and kisses when she does right. But, another thing to consider while training is giving them a chance to make mistakes, and then another chance to learn and do it right, then re-enforce with more hugs and kisses when done right.

27

Our labs are exactly that. They love everyone who comes in the house, stranger or not, and get along fine with the other dogs at the dog park. When we go on walks if they see kids or women, they want to play. They may bristle at men, but nothing too aggressive. But they will not abide another dog getting walked. One strains at his leash, barking, the other bites at his own leash—both dominance behaviors.

What I found interesting is that they do not react aggressively (or at all) to dogs barking from their home turf—e.g., out a window or even standing in a driveway. But another dog on a leash is unacceptable.

My theory is that this is a remnant of their distant gray wolf ancestry. Wolf packs stake out and protect a territory, an area just a little bigger than they need to sustain the pack. The wolves try to avoid the borders of their territory because that’s where trouble occurs. Wolf fatalities resulting from tussles with other packs can range from 15 to 85% of wolf deaths. Wolves don’t fuck around in defending their territory.

So, I think that in our boys’ doggy brains, when we go for a walk, we’re scouting our territory. It’s ours, while else would we be there? Houses we walk by with a barky, growly dog? Hey, that’s their space and of course they’re going to protect it. Gotta respect that.

Twice we actually had a nose-to-nose encounter with another dog on a walk. Once, Ozzie’s leash broke, the other one, that dog got away from his human. In both instances, there was low key growls, then sniffs, and tail wags. Our boys are all-bark sissies when it comes down to it.

28

Since I’ve been an adult, we’ve only had rescues. Dachshunds – which is the breed we grew up with. They are not the breed for everyone. Very strong willed and stubborn. And it has been a struggle with some of them. We got Luc and Shanni as a bonded pair, and we think they had not been exposed to other dogs at all. The socialization process was fraught. Shanni made an almost overnight change – after a year – to being really happy to see other dogs. Luc was always terrified of any dog even slightly bigger than he was, and it manifested as fear aggression. I used to feel so bad, because people we’d see on walks would say “which one is the mean one?” Luc was not mean. He was the sweetest, cuddliest dog – much more than Shanni, the bitch Empress of the Universe – but the fear aggression was very strong in him. Sadly, he could only deal with big dogs on a one-on-one basis; he couldn’t transfer the specific to the general. Fortunately, after he adjusted to being around other dogs, he loved little fluffy white dogs.

Shanni on the other hand was snappy and bitey (dachshunds are usuall the number one biting breed), but it was only us she bit. Once a little girl of 3 or 4 came rushing up to us on the sidewalk and fell to her knees with her face inches from Shanni’s nose. I was petrified, but Shanni did fine. Everybody thought she was wonderful. Ha! She adjusted, too, but it took almost two years dealing with both dogs’ various issues where we could safely relax. It’s a long road.

29

I’ve had a lot of animals, mostly rescue and a few bred, and have had good success with them. But I did have one rescue German shepherd I gave up on. We took the dog because the trainer who had her said he was going to euthanize her if we didn’t. I came to understand his feelings.

Whatever “training” she had received prior to her arrival here had simply shattered her brain and ruined her. I always like to start with a sit-stay command given at feeding time, so there is lots of praise and a big reward for performing the ask. With this girl, when you gave a gentle command such as “sit,” she would instantly roll over on her head, grovel and present her belly. It never changed.

Unfortunately, she was also a small animal killer and sneaky. To cut a very long story short, before I threw in the towel, she had killed 3 of our cats, led our other dogs off the property on a chicken-killing spree at one of the neighbor’s places and chewed her way out of a chain link kennel in an hour and a half (one of our many efforts to contain her). Still, we kept on trying to rehab her.

When my husband died, I simply couldn’t devote the same amount of time to the effort. It took awhile, but I found a couple who were looking for a dog to patrol their fully enclosed 5 acre pasture that housed some of their valuables but no livestock. I rehomed her and she lived out her remaining days happily killing whatever hapless small animals that crossed her path in the pasture, to the delight of her new owners.

My new dachshund puppy has been a challenging little dog to train, but only because he is willful, not vicious. He’s not a biter, not aggressive at all to either humans or other dogs. Just highly energetic, mischievous and has his own ideas about things. He is also calculating. He obeys when he perceives there is something in it for him, and my affection isn’t really a motivator. But treats, he understands!

The hardest thing in dealing with him is keeping him from eating things that might kill him – things I don’t even know are there. Most recently, I fished a stray holiday ornament hook out of his throat. (Not caught in his throat, fortunately, just halfway swallowed.)

He’s mellowed a great deal in the past couple of months. He’ll be a year old in 2 weeks. Even as I type this, he’s snoozing quietly under a blanket with his snout resting on my thigh. Sweet little boy he is, and gradually becoming more devoted and affectionate.

We’re going to be fine.

30

Yeah, you can write a best-selling book about your terribly-behaved dog and achieve fame and fortune, or shoot it and dwell in infamy forever.

Our two most recent dogs were hellions as pups, tough to train and biting us when they felt like it. Both matured into well-behaved and lovable canines.

Gotta go now. Pluto, the little rotter is whining to be taken out.

31

When we adopted a cat from an adoption event, we couldn’t take the cat home until they did a home visit and checked our references.

When we adopted our dog, it was an even more drawn out process. Lots of conversations to establish that we understood what having a dog entails in general, and also specifically the dog in question.

Are there really shelters and rescues just handing over dogs to anyone who comes in?

32

Holy heck! Thank dog you found it in time. But, yeah, I have permanently rounded shoulders from years of walking dogs with my eyes peeled for anything on the ground that my dogs could potentially eat. They. Will. Eat.Anything.

33

Boy, do I get that! The holiday ornament hook was very distressing. The day before it was a stray piece of paper and the day before that it was a tag he tore off the bottom of a chair I didn’t even know was there.

These are the things I catch. I try not to think about the things I don’t…

It is, thank dog, getting better! He’s learned to ignore pine cones, at least.

34

How about maggot-infested and rotting dead sparrows? That one nearly made me toss my cookies. Oh, and once a used condom. Yuck.

35

ROFL, you win! All I got is the most disgusting bear poop I’ve ever encountered. That somebody felt he had to roll in.

36

Dachshunds are the best. Smarter than many people I know, loyal to the end, fearless killing machines of field vermin.

They are kinda smelly. Especially 5 wet ones in the back of a closed up Jeep. Never feed them Brussel Sprouts before that Jeep ride, either.

37

So, one day, I’m walking into our house, and the neighbor’s dog is in the front yard throwing a stuffed animal up in the air, runs towards me wanting to play. “OK, Hazel, you want to play tug of war? Oh, that’s not a stuffed animal, that’s a dead squirrel. No, don’t think I want to play tug of war with that.”

38

Our previous dog loved goose poop. There was a lot of it on a lawn next to a pond where we walked him. It was like candy to him. He also at my daughter’s socks (just hers for some reason). Had a couple trips to the vet to have him throw them back up. A couple made it all the way thru him. Used tissues, too, if he could get a hold of them. He never learned.

Our current dog would occasionally be chewing on something and rather than try to catch her, which is impossible, we lure her close with treats, and she’ll drop whatever is in her mouth so she can eat the treat. Now she brings us stuff she knows she’s not supposed to have in order to get treats.

39

Yes!! What is up with the used tissues?? I wasn’t expecting this quirk as none of my other dogs paid the least attention to them. But Ollie goes looking for them and will fish them out of the trash if I’m not keeping an eye on him.

I’m not letting him anywhere near goose poop.

40

Congratulations on being so well-trained!