Took the Catahoula to a national forest to hike today and things were pretty well with minor hiccups:
1. I took a wrong turn and passed a house where a Boston terrier came ripping out after us, lunging and barking very aggressively. Ziggy came unglued and wanted to fly out the windows to let that dog have it for being a jerk to us.
2. We walked along a forest road and all was fine until suddenly we heard dogs and Ziggy took off. There was a house with very large garages right there - a peculiar place (no other residential areas at all in the area). I tried calling her to go back but she wasn't listening; when I approached she was at a chain link fence with her tail up; a mini pinscher or something such was maybe 20 feet away inside the chain link, standing and staring back. I could not tell what was being communicated and I'm not sure that they were. Ziggy wasn't whining or barking, just standing - very unusual for her (probably very tired by then), and they were both waiting for the other one to make the first move? So I got Ziggy on leash and a boy came out and got the other dog, and what was really puzzling to me was that Ziggy was not near threshold at all. She ate chicken without snapping, her hackles weren't raised, she wasn't lunging at all - I was able to just gently guide her away. She kept looking back and I kept her on leash for quite awhile, but there was no meltdown at all.
I think that this shows that Ziggy is a mirror - whatever energy she gets, she reflects back. To me, this indicates that she is still really able to learn - she may not have been socialized properly during the cirtical phase, and she was also likely removed far too early from her mother, but it's not too late. If I work really hard the next six months with her, maybe we can see the kind of progress I'm hoping for.
I do wish that I could discourage her from drinking from mud puddles - the drive back was very aromatic.
1. I took a wrong turn and passed a house where a Boston terrier came ripping out after us, lunging and barking very aggressively. Ziggy came unglued and wanted to fly out the windows to let that dog have it for being a jerk to us.
2. We walked along a forest road and all was fine until suddenly we heard dogs and Ziggy took off. There was a house with very large garages right there - a peculiar place (no other residential areas at all in the area). I tried calling her to go back but she wasn't listening; when I approached she was at a chain link fence with her tail up; a mini pinscher or something such was maybe 20 feet away inside the chain link, standing and staring back. I could not tell what was being communicated and I'm not sure that they were. Ziggy wasn't whining or barking, just standing - very unusual for her (probably very tired by then), and they were both waiting for the other one to make the first move? So I got Ziggy on leash and a boy came out and got the other dog, and what was really puzzling to me was that Ziggy was not near threshold at all. She ate chicken without snapping, her hackles weren't raised, she wasn't lunging at all - I was able to just gently guide her away. She kept looking back and I kept her on leash for quite awhile, but there was no meltdown at all.
I think that this shows that Ziggy is a mirror - whatever energy she gets, she reflects back. To me, this indicates that she is still really able to learn - she may not have been socialized properly during the cirtical phase, and she was also likely removed far too early from her mother, but it's not too late. If I work really hard the next six months with her, maybe we can see the kind of progress I'm hoping for.
I do wish that I could discourage her from drinking from mud puddles - the drive back was very aromatic.
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