I need to vent. I am starting to feel burnt out with this dog! Don't get my wrong, he is generally a good boy. No major behavioral problems, he's doing the standard teenage testing now (he's just over 14 months) but is incredibly responsive to corrections. He's got some mild resource guarding going on (of me not towards me) which is being managed and headway is being made. It's just that I have to constantly be on my toes with him and it's kind of exhausting.
I feel like I am failing him. I'm not bringing out all of his potential. Sometimes I even feel like we aren't a personality match. I'm not fully convinced that my training/handling style is suited for him. I keep going back and forth with it. In many ways he is one of the easiest dogs I have ever worked with and in others he is the most difficult.
It's hard to even put my finger on what's "off" between us.
He's just too dang smart. There's not really anything that I have tried to do with him that he hasn't been able to "get". His imperfections are truly due to handling errors on my part. He picks up tricks in a few repetitions. He knows far more commands and tricks then any dog I have had. He CRAVES the problem solving and learning something new. He gets bored easily and shuts down when working on perfecting something he has already learned the basics of. Which means he has a wide range but actual progress is slower...
He has mastered nearly every door in the house. I had the window cracked open and went out to get the mail, he pushed it open the rest of the way and popped the screen out to join me. I have to crate him or take him with me everytime now. When he was shorter, he figured out how to move the chairs from under the table to use them as a step up to counter surf. He learned how to use the power buttons on the car to open the windows to let himself out. He steals stuff and is sneaky about it. He can read me like a book. It's getting increasingly difficult to out smart him. He likes stealing the TV remote. So I started keeping it in the drawer on the end table. Then he figured out how to nose open said drawer.
When we are both on our A game. It's amazing. Like a telepathic connection. I swear he responds to my thoughts not my words. When we aren't on that wavelength though it is a total disaster. He anticipates what's next. I constantly have to reel him in. That frustrates both of us. It's like there is no middle ground.
He LOVES to "work" and I don't have a proper job for him. He takes his tasks seriously and with a lot of intensity. He is one of those that will go until he drops. And not only that, and this may be major anthromorphising in my part, but he seems to need to accomplish something. Chasing the ball ad nauseum doesn't cut it. He really liked his bite work foundation training. I think it was the "fight" to win the sleeve that had him hooked. He likes the search part of nose work. He visibly seems to relax when he finds his target. Not doing anything special nose work wise either. Just taught him to find a leather key chain scented with peppermint oil around the house and yard. He loves puzzle toys, but with the more difficult ones he sometimes needs to be reeled in. He gets too excited and needs a long down stay to slow down so he can think the problem through.
He is a suspicious and defensive dog. He has bitten and drawn blood in defense. He seems to have a good head about him though and he is obedient and will yield to my direction. But being out and about with him means constant vigilance. Worried someone will sneak up on us and he will decide they are bad news and react. Had 1 close call like that where we almost got run over by some drunk guy sledding down stairs, it made an awful racket and he nearly ran us over. The dog lunged. Fourth of July was interesting with fireworks going off. The first one was the worst. That one included body slamming the front door and checking all the windows to see what was up. Then the soft barks and low growls. By the 3rd or 4th one he completely ignored them, but in the beginning he was convinced that we were under attack and he was all about going out to handle it. He is a bite first ask questions later kind of dog. I was sweeping the hallway and had the broom and dustpan leaning against the wall, he bumped it and it fell over on top of him, he turned on his heels raising heck ready to take a chunk out of it, until he saw what it was. It seems to be the stuff that startles him. He generally ignores people but enjoys the attention when he is allowed to say "hi". He's never been reactive in a normal situation so I am loathe to call him unstable... he's just edgy sometimes?
That's him in a nut shell. Combine that with the normal teenage stuff, the reduced exercise the past week due to the weather and yeah... I'm not the best possible owner for him. I know it. But I couldn't give him up for anything. He is literally sprawled out in my lap right now. Laying on his back, feet in the air and his head pressed up against me. I don't think either of us would survive a rehoming. I want to do better by him but am just emotionally and mentally tapped out right now.
I do have a fair deal of none dog related stress at the moment, so I suppose that some of the negative feelings about the pup could be bleed over, but I've had these doubts for a while now...
Sorry for the length, I just needed to get some of that off my chest.
I feel like I am failing him. I'm not bringing out all of his potential. Sometimes I even feel like we aren't a personality match. I'm not fully convinced that my training/handling style is suited for him. I keep going back and forth with it. In many ways he is one of the easiest dogs I have ever worked with and in others he is the most difficult.
It's hard to even put my finger on what's "off" between us.
He's just too dang smart. There's not really anything that I have tried to do with him that he hasn't been able to "get". His imperfections are truly due to handling errors on my part. He picks up tricks in a few repetitions. He knows far more commands and tricks then any dog I have had. He CRAVES the problem solving and learning something new. He gets bored easily and shuts down when working on perfecting something he has already learned the basics of. Which means he has a wide range but actual progress is slower...
He has mastered nearly every door in the house. I had the window cracked open and went out to get the mail, he pushed it open the rest of the way and popped the screen out to join me. I have to crate him or take him with me everytime now. When he was shorter, he figured out how to move the chairs from under the table to use them as a step up to counter surf. He learned how to use the power buttons on the car to open the windows to let himself out. He steals stuff and is sneaky about it. He can read me like a book. It's getting increasingly difficult to out smart him. He likes stealing the TV remote. So I started keeping it in the drawer on the end table. Then he figured out how to nose open said drawer.
When we are both on our A game. It's amazing. Like a telepathic connection. I swear he responds to my thoughts not my words. When we aren't on that wavelength though it is a total disaster. He anticipates what's next. I constantly have to reel him in. That frustrates both of us. It's like there is no middle ground.
He LOVES to "work" and I don't have a proper job for him. He takes his tasks seriously and with a lot of intensity. He is one of those that will go until he drops. And not only that, and this may be major anthromorphising in my part, but he seems to need to accomplish something. Chasing the ball ad nauseum doesn't cut it. He really liked his bite work foundation training. I think it was the "fight" to win the sleeve that had him hooked. He likes the search part of nose work. He visibly seems to relax when he finds his target. Not doing anything special nose work wise either. Just taught him to find a leather key chain scented with peppermint oil around the house and yard. He loves puzzle toys, but with the more difficult ones he sometimes needs to be reeled in. He gets too excited and needs a long down stay to slow down so he can think the problem through.
He is a suspicious and defensive dog. He has bitten and drawn blood in defense. He seems to have a good head about him though and he is obedient and will yield to my direction. But being out and about with him means constant vigilance. Worried someone will sneak up on us and he will decide they are bad news and react. Had 1 close call like that where we almost got run over by some drunk guy sledding down stairs, it made an awful racket and he nearly ran us over. The dog lunged. Fourth of July was interesting with fireworks going off. The first one was the worst. That one included body slamming the front door and checking all the windows to see what was up. Then the soft barks and low growls. By the 3rd or 4th one he completely ignored them, but in the beginning he was convinced that we were under attack and he was all about going out to handle it. He is a bite first ask questions later kind of dog. I was sweeping the hallway and had the broom and dustpan leaning against the wall, he bumped it and it fell over on top of him, he turned on his heels raising heck ready to take a chunk out of it, until he saw what it was. It seems to be the stuff that startles him. He generally ignores people but enjoys the attention when he is allowed to say "hi". He's never been reactive in a normal situation so I am loathe to call him unstable... he's just edgy sometimes?
That's him in a nut shell. Combine that with the normal teenage stuff, the reduced exercise the past week due to the weather and yeah... I'm not the best possible owner for him. I know it. But I couldn't give him up for anything. He is literally sprawled out in my lap right now. Laying on his back, feet in the air and his head pressed up against me. I don't think either of us would survive a rehoming. I want to do better by him but am just emotionally and mentally tapped out right now.
I do have a fair deal of none dog related stress at the moment, so I suppose that some of the negative feelings about the pup could be bleed over, but I've had these doubts for a while now...
Sorry for the length, I just needed to get some of that off my chest.