I'm reading Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog by Emma Parsons and we're currently working on two things: walking without pulling and watching me when I tell her to. Back to using the clicker and treats, though I need to get some better treats. Everybody recommends hot dogs but ick, i just cannot. First of all because they're gross, and second of all because I ate a bit of one when doing a marathon and it made me quite sick and i can't be near them anymore. I could use cooked chicken but that's her special "Your mother is abandoning you ALL DAY locked up in this crate" treat.* The little training treats we use are only really good in the house; once we go outside, they're too boring for her.
One of the things this author recommend is taking away all toys and governing play time. The problem I have with that is that Ziggy likes to play with me but she also likes to play alone. She will throw toys up in the air and catch them, happily sit in the corner and make it squeak for long periods of time, etc. I really appreciate her ability to entertain herself. If I don't want to play when she approaches me with a toy, I just ignore her or say "Not now" and she goes off by herself. Ziggy isn't the boss of me and she knows it. I accommodate her far more than she knows, but it's still on my terms.
Also, Ziggy isn't aggressive, but some of the behaviors are similar in terms of losing control in the face of stress. And I really want to get her to stop scratching people - that's super obnoxious. I think she ripped my tenant's shirt today. And no, cutting her nails doesn't help - it makes them way sharper. I could get a Dremel I guess, but ... I would just really rather that she not maul people if I tell her to stop. She can still maul intruders. Valuable skills, yo.
The biggest problem with Ziggy pulling is me. I get distracted and don't pay attention to the pressure on the leash until she's pulling pretty hard. So, I'm unreliable and arbitrary in my rule enforcement, which means she thinks she should get to be unreliable and arbitrary.
*That is only my interpretation of it. Ziggy gets super excited whenever I get the chicken out for her We're working on delayed gratification so I put it on a place well in advance of being ready to leave for the day, and she keeps running into her kennel to say, "Now?" and so by the time I am ready to leave, she is so damned excited. the only problem is if I forget something and come back in after she's finished her special treat because then I've betrayed our covenant and I deserve a great deal of obscenity screamed at me, so she takes care of that. REgardless, when I come home, she's more relaxed if she's spent nine hours in a crate than if she spent an hour on the couch. She's been like, "Oh, hey, what's up." No jumping or any real excitement when I let her out, just some pets and yoga poses (her, not me) and sniffing of anything I've brought in. Wanting her to not ned to be in the kennel - that's all me. She's apparently fine with it.
One of the things this author recommend is taking away all toys and governing play time. The problem I have with that is that Ziggy likes to play with me but she also likes to play alone. She will throw toys up in the air and catch them, happily sit in the corner and make it squeak for long periods of time, etc. I really appreciate her ability to entertain herself. If I don't want to play when she approaches me with a toy, I just ignore her or say "Not now" and she goes off by herself. Ziggy isn't the boss of me and she knows it. I accommodate her far more than she knows, but it's still on my terms.
Also, Ziggy isn't aggressive, but some of the behaviors are similar in terms of losing control in the face of stress. And I really want to get her to stop scratching people - that's super obnoxious. I think she ripped my tenant's shirt today. And no, cutting her nails doesn't help - it makes them way sharper. I could get a Dremel I guess, but ... I would just really rather that she not maul people if I tell her to stop. She can still maul intruders. Valuable skills, yo.
The biggest problem with Ziggy pulling is me. I get distracted and don't pay attention to the pressure on the leash until she's pulling pretty hard. So, I'm unreliable and arbitrary in my rule enforcement, which means she thinks she should get to be unreliable and arbitrary.
*That is only my interpretation of it. Ziggy gets super excited whenever I get the chicken out for her We're working on delayed gratification so I put it on a place well in advance of being ready to leave for the day, and she keeps running into her kennel to say, "Now?" and so by the time I am ready to leave, she is so damned excited. the only problem is if I forget something and come back in after she's finished her special treat because then I've betrayed our covenant and I deserve a great deal of obscenity screamed at me, so she takes care of that. REgardless, when I come home, she's more relaxed if she's spent nine hours in a crate than if she spent an hour on the couch. She's been like, "Oh, hey, what's up." No jumping or any real excitement when I let her out, just some pets and yoga poses (her, not me) and sniffing of anything I've brought in. Wanting her to not ned to be in the kennel - that's all me. She's apparently fine with it.
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