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With respect to Teagan’s aggression, I have some concerns, partially b/c I will be doing some long races (30 hours) where I need the dogs to be looked after, and going away for one race in Alberta hopefully, and I’d go out the week before to get a bit used to altitude.
My brother has volunteered to look after the dogs, and other animals. In May he’s going to be renting the basement apartment in my house from me, so it will be easy for him to be around them regularly. He is nervous that he won’t know how to handle Teagan. She has cut him (she mouthed him when he stopped her from getting into the car (i was in the washroom), he threw her off him and got a little cut) and he didn’t freak out about it - still, not OK.
He knows she tried to bite me on Wednesday b/c I did not allow her in the vestibule when I was leaving the house w/a friend (we then glared at each other, and then when the glaring broke off, I removed her), he knows about the first bite (picking up a toy off the floor near her), and that she gave me a warning bite on the side of my head (knocking off my glasses in the process) once. i've never gotten worse than scratches from her.
he also knows she is aggressive towards strange dogs unless they are extremely submissive - dogs that act in a pacifying fashion don't provoke reaction. she rarely vocalizes when she is aggressive, as she gives little warning (i wonder if whoever had her before taught her to stop giving the warnings, like lou castle cautions can happen w/improper e-collar training) - she prefers to act calm and then attack when optimum distance is reached, and even then, she rarely vocalizes. she generally only vocalizes when she has been thwarted in her attack attempt, then she will snarl or growl. I posted about the most recent dog incident in our new house, which he also knows about. She can stare dogs down and I've seen dogs that were displaying confident body language basically turn from her stare (from 30M away) and move further off, into the middle of the road.
she has extremely confident body language. i adopted her for her confidence, as luc has tended to be not confident, and she has made a difference - i notice he will look at her (staring confidently at someone approaching) and then adopt a confident stance as well. ....i didn't think what else her being so confident could mean. i know she made the friend who drove me to the shelter uneasy, as she completely disregarded us and is extremely strong. she did what she wanted to.
anyways, fear isn't an issue with her. a lot of the books i've gotten on aggression assume fear, which is a bit frustrating, but there's still good information in there.
she has become more territorial in the new house, where we have a yard and she can see out into the yard, but i have been working at redirecting her and it is going well - it can feel a bit slow at times, but we've made really good progress doing this.
i am going to use the e-collar to work on crittering issues - her prey aggression is very high, as the trainer who came to help me after the first time she bit me said, she has no interest in playing with her prey, she goes straight for the kill. the issue is of course i have a number of small animals, including vulnerable ones – they all have their own rooms - teagan understands door knobs, so i have child-proof safety knobs on those doors - and teagan is crated overnight while the small animals get their turn out. i'm also hoping it can help turn around some of her dog issues so we could go public places and she wouldn't be muzzled! wow!
Anyways, that's quick background. My brother is willing to dog-sit for me but – he is nervous and wants to work on handling her.
I told him the biggest thing will be how confident he is.
He wants to start running to get in shape, so he’ll be going slower and shorter than me. I used to take Teags on ‘get into shape’ runs, and I have to say, she could go pretty fast for an overweight dog (that also had HD). After her HD/bone chip in the left hip diagnosis, I haven’t run her, though the vet said I could. She’s lost a lot of weight, which would help. He was thinking about taking her with him….I thought we could try it and see how she responds w/her hips.
I guess doing will be the best thing. I was thinking I could have him come over and he could get used to putting on the DD collar and prong, same with the muzzle, etc, and do some obed. w/her.
i'd also like to make this as painless as possible for him since he doesn't actually like dogs (other than mine, of course!).
Both dogs know him, and like him.
I have a 30k race the end of March, so it’ll be around 3 hours – I was going to have him come, and take the dogs – Teags in the prong w/back-up, and muzzled (she is collar wise and has exhibited higher aggression when not in the prong). I have a race in April that will also be a good opportunity (assuming I can convince him that going to all my races will be fun....heh).
This is pretty important to me, all this is a lot of training and if I can't get someone to take care of the dogs, I won't do the races. I don't think I would like to board either dog, especially with Luc's background.
Suggestions? Thoughts?
My brother has volunteered to look after the dogs, and other animals. In May he’s going to be renting the basement apartment in my house from me, so it will be easy for him to be around them regularly. He is nervous that he won’t know how to handle Teagan. She has cut him (she mouthed him when he stopped her from getting into the car (i was in the washroom), he threw her off him and got a little cut) and he didn’t freak out about it - still, not OK.
He knows she tried to bite me on Wednesday b/c I did not allow her in the vestibule when I was leaving the house w/a friend (we then glared at each other, and then when the glaring broke off, I removed her), he knows about the first bite (picking up a toy off the floor near her), and that she gave me a warning bite on the side of my head (knocking off my glasses in the process) once. i've never gotten worse than scratches from her.
he also knows she is aggressive towards strange dogs unless they are extremely submissive - dogs that act in a pacifying fashion don't provoke reaction. she rarely vocalizes when she is aggressive, as she gives little warning (i wonder if whoever had her before taught her to stop giving the warnings, like lou castle cautions can happen w/improper e-collar training) - she prefers to act calm and then attack when optimum distance is reached, and even then, she rarely vocalizes. she generally only vocalizes when she has been thwarted in her attack attempt, then she will snarl or growl. I posted about the most recent dog incident in our new house, which he also knows about. She can stare dogs down and I've seen dogs that were displaying confident body language basically turn from her stare (from 30M away) and move further off, into the middle of the road.
she has extremely confident body language. i adopted her for her confidence, as luc has tended to be not confident, and she has made a difference - i notice he will look at her (staring confidently at someone approaching) and then adopt a confident stance as well. ....i didn't think what else her being so confident could mean. i know she made the friend who drove me to the shelter uneasy, as she completely disregarded us and is extremely strong. she did what she wanted to.
anyways, fear isn't an issue with her. a lot of the books i've gotten on aggression assume fear, which is a bit frustrating, but there's still good information in there.
she has become more territorial in the new house, where we have a yard and she can see out into the yard, but i have been working at redirecting her and it is going well - it can feel a bit slow at times, but we've made really good progress doing this.
i am going to use the e-collar to work on crittering issues - her prey aggression is very high, as the trainer who came to help me after the first time she bit me said, she has no interest in playing with her prey, she goes straight for the kill. the issue is of course i have a number of small animals, including vulnerable ones – they all have their own rooms - teagan understands door knobs, so i have child-proof safety knobs on those doors - and teagan is crated overnight while the small animals get their turn out. i'm also hoping it can help turn around some of her dog issues so we could go public places and she wouldn't be muzzled! wow!
Anyways, that's quick background. My brother is willing to dog-sit for me but – he is nervous and wants to work on handling her.
I told him the biggest thing will be how confident he is.
He wants to start running to get in shape, so he’ll be going slower and shorter than me. I used to take Teags on ‘get into shape’ runs, and I have to say, she could go pretty fast for an overweight dog (that also had HD). After her HD/bone chip in the left hip diagnosis, I haven’t run her, though the vet said I could. She’s lost a lot of weight, which would help. He was thinking about taking her with him….I thought we could try it and see how she responds w/her hips.
I guess doing will be the best thing. I was thinking I could have him come over and he could get used to putting on the DD collar and prong, same with the muzzle, etc, and do some obed. w/her.
i'd also like to make this as painless as possible for him since he doesn't actually like dogs (other than mine, of course!).
Both dogs know him, and like him.
I have a 30k race the end of March, so it’ll be around 3 hours – I was going to have him come, and take the dogs – Teags in the prong w/back-up, and muzzled (she is collar wise and has exhibited higher aggression when not in the prong). I have a race in April that will also be a good opportunity (assuming I can convince him that going to all my races will be fun....heh).
This is pretty important to me, all this is a lot of training and if I can't get someone to take care of the dogs, I won't do the races. I don't think I would like to board either dog, especially with Luc's background.
Suggestions? Thoughts?