abker17 Posted January 3, 2004 Posted January 3, 2004 :D :D :D It seems all my hard work with Abby is starting to pay off! Many of u know that she is dog aggressive. Well I had gotten to the point where I could totally trust her off leash at agility class around other dogs. She just ignores the dogs that are around her, and that was as much as I wanted, as I needed really to be able to move into cometition with her. But she was still really bad about totally "going off" at dogs we saw while on her daily walks. Whenever she saw another dog she'd start barking and snarling and pulling on the lead to try to get to the other dog. :-? So I have been working with her a lot of just ignoring the other dogs. And today on our evening walk I can really see that all my hard work is starting to pay off! As we were coming up the street a setter mix was coming down with it's owners. So I turned the corner (Abby had seen the dog) her ears perked up and she started to pull a little but I told her to leave it and even as we turned the corner she could still see the dog but she ignored it! Usually she would be pulling and just "going off" as I call it. LOL... This is such improvment! :D I'm so proud of her right now. :D I just wanted to share my progress with ya'll since the things I've learned at this forum are really what got me here! :D Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted January 3, 2004 Posted January 3, 2004 CONGRATS!! Oh that's WONDERFUL news!!! :D :D Dog aggression is a tuff one to handle, but it sounds like you and Abby are guna be just fine :wink: And when you get her into that first trial, if you don't send millions of pics this way, I will get REALLY mad and NEVER talk to you again!! :lol: :wink: Great work! Congrats to both you and Abby! :D :angel: Quote
courtnek Posted January 3, 2004 Posted January 3, 2004 CONGRATS TO YOU AND ABBEY!!! GOOOOODDDD JJJOOOOBBBBB!! These things CAN be overcome, with time, patience and attitude!! GOOD FOR YOU!! :angel: :angel: :angel: :angel: Quote
mouseatthebusstop Posted January 4, 2004 Posted January 4, 2004 woo hoo keep up the good work :) Quote
imported_Cassie Posted January 4, 2004 Posted January 4, 2004 Good for you & Abbey!!!! It takes time & patience to see the results we want of our dogs...good for you for taking the time. I can truly emphasize with you as my Rottie is dog aggressive...I found that desenitizing her to situations where she is seeing other dogs helps a great deal as well...too many people give up too soon...maturity can also make for a much more stable dog..adolescence can really bring out the worst in alot of dogs...and I am sure most dogs do not grow up until they reach the age of 4 years of age! :lol: Quote
courtnek Posted January 4, 2004 Posted January 4, 2004 yours grew up by FOUR??? I'm still waiting, she's 6.... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Quote
Malamum Posted January 4, 2004 Posted January 4, 2004 That is fantastic news. I know exactly how you feel as I have the same problems with Indy. However I think he is also slowly getting better. Quote
ellieangel Posted January 4, 2004 Posted January 4, 2004 That is great news :) The best thing is that you are doing 'baby steps' and you are taking it one step at a time,keep up the good work mate :wink: Quote
Holz_Boomer Posted January 10, 2004 Posted January 10, 2004 Great News! Way To Go Both Of You!!!!!!!!! :angel: :D You Both Deserve A Partayy!!!! :P :D Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted January 10, 2004 Posted January 10, 2004 WOW!! that is GREAT congrats! keep up the good training! Quote
abker17 Posted January 12, 2004 Author Posted January 12, 2004 Ugh well of course just when things seem to be going pretty well there's a set back. :-? Took Abby on her usual walk today with a friend of mine and her dog. We stopped at this big fenced park so we could let the dogs off to run around. Well there's a huge playing field surronding the park, and someone with thier Golden puppy walked by. Abby saw the dog and I tried to keep her focused on the treats but it was just like we were back at step one, she started to pull and make this little barky sound that is soooo loud and annoying. I don't even know how to describe it. :-? She wasn't making any aggressive postures (Well now that I think about it her hackles were up. :-? ) But usually she'll like snarl. So that was good but I'm still a bit upset about it. :( Does anyone have any tips as to what I could do? Quote
Malamum Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 Abker don't stress too much, just keep doing what you have been doing as it seems to be working. As I mentioned before I am working through the same issues with Indy. He is ok if he sees dogs in the distance - he wants to get to them but does not carry on about it. It's when dogs come up close that we have a problem, though I was still stumped for a while because he would go off at some dogs but not others. I have finally figured out that if they make eye contact with him and then stare at him he goes berserk. I guess he sees this as a challenge and being the very dominant boy he is, let's them know he is up to it. :x I have found that if I get him in a sit and then stand in front of him and block his line of vision then he is ok. Though with that said he is still not at the stage of being calm 100% of the time when we see another dog. It's still about 50/50 sometimes he will ignore it and other times he wont. Anyway my point is don't give up and think that what you are doing is not working because it is. I'm sure like with Indy it will take a while for Abby to be consistently well behaved around other dogs. Quote
abker17 Posted January 13, 2004 Author Posted January 13, 2004 Thanks Malamum. :D That's sorta how Abby is to, sometimes she doesn't go off and sometimes she does, but it's more often than not. So I'll just have to keep trying what I'm doing now and hopefully I'll start to see better results. Quote
Malamum Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 Just keep working with her Abker and I'm sure over time it will start to reverse and she will only go off occasionlly and then eventually not at all. It's a slow process (believe me I know) so hang in there matey. Quote
DogPaddle Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 Way to go Abker - Being reliable in agility class and some of the time on lead is great progress. May I ask what methods you used, I am still working through some issues with my boys? Zaphod and Kavik both are much improved but seem to take a disliking to certain dogs - maybe 1 in 5; and of course they never go off on the same dog - I have almost no idea what causes them to make these decisions. :roll: Quote
abker17 Posted January 13, 2004 Author Posted January 13, 2004 Thanks DP. :D May I ask what methods you used, I am still working through some issues with my boys? Well for agility classes I simply started out by using the gentle leader. It REALLY mellows Abs out which was what I needed in order to be able to take the class at all. In addition to her being more calm on the GL, I could also control her head which is a big plus. So I just used that and gave her treats if she was good when other dogs came close. Soon I was able to take the GL off and as soon as she made an aggressive move it went back on, so soon she just picked up that if she simply ignored the other dogs then the GL would stay off. (And she despises that thing!) And then with situations when I'm walking her I've just been distracting her with some of her favorite treats, doing whatever I can to keep her focused on me and not the dog. And often walking in the other direction, until recently when I've been trying just to walk right by the dog while keeping her attention on me. It's a long process and there's been a lot of set backs but I'm seeing some progress which is good of course. :D :D :D I hope some of this helps. :D Goodluck! :D Quote
Lucky Chaos Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 [quote name='abker17']Thanks DP. :D May I ask what methods you used, I am still working through some issues with my boys? Well for agility classes I simply started out by using the gentle leader. It REALLY mellows Abs out which was what I needed in order to be able to take the class at all. In addition to her being more calm on the GL, I could also control her head which is a big plus. So I just used that and gave her treats if she was good when other dogs came close. Soon I was able to take the GL off and as soon as she made an aggressive move it went back on, so soon she just picked up that if she simply ignored the other dogs then the GL would stay off. (And she despises that thing!) And then with situations when I'm walking her I've just been distracting her with some of her favorite treats, doing whatever I can to keep her focused on me and not the dog. And often walking in the other direction, until recently when I've been trying just to walk right by the dog while keeping her attention on me. It's a long process and there's been a lot of set backs but I'm seeing some progress which is good of course. :D :D :D I hope some of this helps. :D Goodluck! :D I think I'm gonna try this too, Chaos was getting so good lately but yesterday she started snarling at this one dog. I thought she was getting so much better, and she was but it seemed just this paticular dog (maybe cause he was a mastiff, the same breed that attacked her and got her scared in the first place) even though this dog was such a sweetie she really hated him. We used the gentle leader a while ago, she was always a puller but stopped now that she heels nicely, but I guess its time to try it again. Plus our agility lessons start in Feb and I can't take her if she's gonna be aggressive, its one of the requirements, we might even have to postpone it for a bit. Quote
DogPaddle Posted January 14, 2004 Posted January 14, 2004 I thought she was getting so much better, and she was but it seemed just this paticular dog (maybe cause he was a mastiff, the same breed that attacked her and got her scared in the first place) even though this dog was such a sweetie she really hated him. I know - Kavik was ok with every dog in our obed. class except this one really sweet Wiem - Winston. I think the problem was that both of them were (the only) adult, unnuetered males in the class and Winston had the nerve to be taller than Kavik. Thanks Abker. I think I will also use a different obed. class, perhaps one that is more prepared to deal with the issue. Quote
Malamum Posted January 14, 2004 Posted January 14, 2004 It's strange how they can be fine with one dog then go beserk with another. It took me a while to figure out what Indy's triggers were. He is ususally fine in training class but there was this one Pug that used to drive him nuts and all poor little thing used to do was look at him. As I mentioned earlier I have figured he hates dogs staring at him and this pug had the biggest eyes I have ever seen so I think that made it worse. :roll: Quote
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