Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Tully and fluffies
I've been reading the posts on aggressive behaviours with interest, and will try and view some of the related links today. It seems to me that the problem with Tully is her inconsistent aggression with others (usually small and fluffy) dogs. For example, she's had no problems with Charlie's dog and is okay with Charlie (too many Charlies here!). Sometimes one growly contact seems to be enough for her and then she's mates with that dog. Here I'm noting my observations with Gabe's Charlie and with my daughter's dog Buckley. She has, with the other dogs in our click clique, made friends with new dogs using the oval and with class mates at BDOC. Her behaviour on first sighting any new dog is the same: exclusive attention. By exclusive I mean disinterest in anything other than the other dog. It seems that it's when the other dog reacts fearfully or aggressively to the attention that Tully responds with aggression. There are no doubt exceptions to these observations. Generally speaking, I don't believe exposure to situations where there are dogs in the distance will be helpful as it's not all dogs, or even all small fluffy dogs. I'm interested in your views/advice as I would like things to change.
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A really hard one! can you do up a chart? - who has she reacted badly too, were they on lead or off, was she on lead or off, were they approaching or did she approach and at what distances, what speed, what was the other dogs reaction?
ReplyDeleteOops - I also meant to say I'd like to see what she does if she is on lead and moving - I've only seen her in a still position or off lead - if you are moving and doing lots of turns where she has to watch where she's going, do you get any attention back?
ReplyDeleteThe only things I can suggest are - pulling out the big guns and seeing a professional dog behaviourist, or reading up more on dog aggression. There is a female vet/dog behaviourist that was competing in trials with her German Shepherds last year. Her name slips my mind but Niccola or Ange probably know her. I heard good reports about her.
ReplyDeleteAlso there are quite a few good books and a few DVDs re dog aggression at www.dogwise.com. If you ever want to buy a book or two, I would happily join an order with you so that we could share the cost of postage.
With my limited knowledge I can only suggest what Ange and Niccola have already said, desensitisation and counter conditioning. I am certainly interested in the root cause of the issue and whether being on lead or off lead makes a difference etc.
Hiring someone got me thinking - what sounds good on the web generally isn't. There are only two Delta accredited instructors in Canberra (maybe after I've done the KP course...) - Thinking Dog and the Canine Coach - If you get one - we are all coming to listen! The GS lady runs the mobile vet but I don't know her name either; Anne Lewis would know her name. I have the calm down fido book and scaredy dog - I have just started fido - happy to lend scaredy if you'd like to read. See you Saturday!
ReplyDeleteHey Lesley - I was thinking about that little dog again yesterday and recalled that it had quite a bad underbite - i.e., all its bottom teeth were showing. I'm wondering if that, along with maybe a growl reaction, pushed Tully over the edge?
ReplyDeleteHeike? Is that the triner you're thinking of?
ReplyDeleteI think the reaction of the little dog last weekend certainly didn't help, when he snapped back, that set Tully off, and the high pitched noise it made was upsetting ALL the dogs.
It almost seems like a prey response. I might have a look at some of the preatory drift info I've seen recently.
If you are looking for Heike Hahner from Braidwood she has a website
ReplyDeletehttp://www.braidwoodnsw.com/heike/
The vet/behaviourist from Phillip that I was thinking of is :Dr Sandra Hassett
http://www.animalmedicalcentre.com.au/index.php?view=pageView&pageid=43
The surgery website says "Sandra is interested in all aspects of companion animal medicine and surgery and has special areas of interest in animal behaviour, animal chiropractic and canine performance. She is a qualified dog obedience instructor and believes that greater understanding of animal behaviour is the key to improving and solving many pet problems.
She competes with her German Shepherd Dog Krug in the canine sports of obedience, agility and tracking and this participation gives her further insight into the demands on performance dogs.
There's some good explanations of Behavoural Adjustment training techniques here;
ReplyDeletehttp://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/bat/
and a really cute illustrated handout;
http://ahimsadogtraining.com/handouts/BAT-basics.pdf
This is the thread on predatory drift that has some interesting discussions on this behaviour
http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=214317&hl=predatory&st=0