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It's been a while since I've posted.
Some of you might remember Teagan, black and tan long coat posted in Urgent who was at Toronto Animal Services.
I adopted her October 28th - brought Luc to meet her and they did alright together, I brought her home reeking of feces (I don't think she always got out to go to the washroom). At TAS they indicated she would do better in a home who had GSD experience - well heck, I'd had a dog - a GSD - for 4 months!
Teagan. Well, she scared my friend who came with me a little bit. She was....excited. Very very confident, which was what I was looking for to compliment Luc's less-confident behaviour. She pulled all over the place, very strong, and totally ignored the humans. When we got home, she almost pulled my friend off his feet and took him down the street.
She and Luc have become friends, I introduced them slowly and Luc has always been very submissive to Teagan.
Teagan was definitely used to being in charge - I do not think she is a truly dominant dog, but I think she was allowed to get away with anything at her old house. She's extremely intelligent, while Luc is of course smart as well, Teagan exhibits more reasoning thinking/behaviour than Luc does, and she obviously does weigh her options and make a decision. Luc does what I ask him to, b/c I asked him to and he's just a sweetheart. When I got Teagan, I thought she must not know any commands - how could a 5 yo not know any commands - until a few weeks in when she suddenly started sitting for me. I watched her look at me, consider me, and then sit. She'd decided I was worthy to tell her what to do. Having her has taught me so much.
Teagan bit me in the second week I had her b/c I took away a toy that was next to her on the floor (she wasn't playing with at it that moment). That lead to us taking a step back and working a lot more on leadership for my part. I also had a really great trainer come in, and look at what I was doing since Luc is so submissive, Teagan is just the polar opposite. We've come a LONG way since then
Teagan also has very high prey drive. She cannot be around any small animals or dogs 20-30lbs and under as she is set on 'kill'. (The trainer/behaviourist commented that a lot of dogs w/high prey drive want to play w/their prey....but that she just wants to kill. No kidding!....She'd caught him by surprise) We're working on it, using tethering and muzzling, but when her prey drive kicks in, I've dumped a litre of water on her head and she didn't notice it. I'm going to get an e-collar to do some work w/that.
Teagan is also exhibits dominant behaviour to non-pack (aka not luc) dogs. She stays very calm, very confident, but if there is a dog she judges not to be sufficiently respectful/submissive, she judges the optimum time, leash-wise, to attack, and then goes for it. The trainer commented she gives very little warning, body-language wise, but learning to read the tiny signs has helped. I've seen her stare an off-leash dog down from 30M away so that the dog left the sidewalk and walked further away, in the middle of the road, and the dog went from displaying forward confident body language to submissive language. We're working on refocusing her staring, as she also hard stares at people. The only time she tried to attack a person is when I'd taken her off the prong (she'd been doing really well!) and was walking her on a flat collar. She is walked on a traffic lead so that she is tethered to me outside as well.
I took Teagan to a SchH club shortly after I got her - maybe a month after? - to see if that would be a good outlet for her prey drive - she did okay, wasn't sure what to make of it, however the next week she was diagnosed w/hip dysplasia (and she has a bone chip in her left hip) so that's out. We've worked on getting her down to a healthy weight, plus she is on metacam and supplements. I started taking her to a dog pool to do swimming rehab, and as we lived in an apartment on the second floor, this month we moved to a bungalow (no stairs!) and we have a yard now too.
For all that Teagan can be aggressive, she's not a mean dog, and I just love having her. She's taught me so much about dogs, and about myself as a leader. She's challenged me, but that's good. And, her confidence has really helped Luc - times when he'd get nervous, he'd look over, and see her going along without a care in the world, and suddenly he'd be walking a bit taller. It's great.
Sorry if this is long, I think it's within the limits though
Some of you might remember Teagan, black and tan long coat posted in Urgent who was at Toronto Animal Services.
I adopted her October 28th - brought Luc to meet her and they did alright together, I brought her home reeking of feces (I don't think she always got out to go to the washroom). At TAS they indicated she would do better in a home who had GSD experience - well heck, I'd had a dog - a GSD - for 4 months!

Teagan. Well, she scared my friend who came with me a little bit. She was....excited. Very very confident, which was what I was looking for to compliment Luc's less-confident behaviour. She pulled all over the place, very strong, and totally ignored the humans. When we got home, she almost pulled my friend off his feet and took him down the street.
She and Luc have become friends, I introduced them slowly and Luc has always been very submissive to Teagan.
Teagan was definitely used to being in charge - I do not think she is a truly dominant dog, but I think she was allowed to get away with anything at her old house. She's extremely intelligent, while Luc is of course smart as well, Teagan exhibits more reasoning thinking/behaviour than Luc does, and she obviously does weigh her options and make a decision. Luc does what I ask him to, b/c I asked him to and he's just a sweetheart. When I got Teagan, I thought she must not know any commands - how could a 5 yo not know any commands - until a few weeks in when she suddenly started sitting for me. I watched her look at me, consider me, and then sit. She'd decided I was worthy to tell her what to do. Having her has taught me so much.
Teagan bit me in the second week I had her b/c I took away a toy that was next to her on the floor (she wasn't playing with at it that moment). That lead to us taking a step back and working a lot more on leadership for my part. I also had a really great trainer come in, and look at what I was doing since Luc is so submissive, Teagan is just the polar opposite. We've come a LONG way since then

Teagan also has very high prey drive. She cannot be around any small animals or dogs 20-30lbs and under as she is set on 'kill'. (The trainer/behaviourist commented that a lot of dogs w/high prey drive want to play w/their prey....but that she just wants to kill. No kidding!....She'd caught him by surprise) We're working on it, using tethering and muzzling, but when her prey drive kicks in, I've dumped a litre of water on her head and she didn't notice it. I'm going to get an e-collar to do some work w/that.
Teagan is also exhibits dominant behaviour to non-pack (aka not luc) dogs. She stays very calm, very confident, but if there is a dog she judges not to be sufficiently respectful/submissive, she judges the optimum time, leash-wise, to attack, and then goes for it. The trainer commented she gives very little warning, body-language wise, but learning to read the tiny signs has helped. I've seen her stare an off-leash dog down from 30M away so that the dog left the sidewalk and walked further away, in the middle of the road, and the dog went from displaying forward confident body language to submissive language. We're working on refocusing her staring, as she also hard stares at people. The only time she tried to attack a person is when I'd taken her off the prong (she'd been doing really well!) and was walking her on a flat collar. She is walked on a traffic lead so that she is tethered to me outside as well.
I took Teagan to a SchH club shortly after I got her - maybe a month after? - to see if that would be a good outlet for her prey drive - she did okay, wasn't sure what to make of it, however the next week she was diagnosed w/hip dysplasia (and she has a bone chip in her left hip) so that's out. We've worked on getting her down to a healthy weight, plus she is on metacam and supplements. I started taking her to a dog pool to do swimming rehab, and as we lived in an apartment on the second floor, this month we moved to a bungalow (no stairs!) and we have a yard now too.
For all that Teagan can be aggressive, she's not a mean dog, and I just love having her. She's taught me so much about dogs, and about myself as a leader. She's challenged me, but that's good. And, her confidence has really helped Luc - times when he'd get nervous, he'd look over, and see her going along without a care in the world, and suddenly he'd be walking a bit taller. It's great.
Sorry if this is long, I think it's within the limits though
