|
This is Lee. I wanna adopt him. I thought he was a fearful, dangerous dog that might never have a happy, boring canine life.  He ain't. Lee doesn't like strangers. Eye contact with a stranger sets him off, and possibly not recognizing someone's smell could make him growl at someone he trusts. I can't bring him home for over a month, but in that time I'd like to work on making him less aggressive toward unusual people. I'm thinking I could bring him up to the edge of his pen when someone walks by and give him a treat as soon as he notices them, and more as long as he stays calm. Like this:  If I can get some people to throw a ball from over the fence for him, I'll add that in too, since he likes fetch more than food. When Lee gets aggressive, he never behaves like he wants to fight you, his growl is always more "I'm watching you, don't try anything." I guess. Dog vocal moods seem like human ones to me. So, good idea? Thoughts, advice? Start using a clicker with him right away instead of just treats?
|
#
¿
Dec 8, 2010 09:16
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 3, 2024 06:42 |
|
|
I need to train Lee to not react to my cat or else I won't be able to adopt him. I've started giving him treats when they're close to each other, and when they both have their noses an inch from the ham Lee doesn't pay any attention to her at all, but as soon as the treats are gone, it's back to normal. He stares at her, standing about a yard away. He whines a little, and inches in closer. I've stopped it here and gently pulled him away or distracted him all but once. That once, Etta James hissed and clawed at him and they started to fight. Lee tried to go in for a bite but Etta ran away before he could, and I put my hands on his face and gently held him on the ground while Etta got on a table. I believe I shouted his name during the scuffle, too. Mistakes were made, I guess, but I just didn't want anyone getting hurt. Need some voices of experience here. I know there was one PI dog named Brisbane that went from kill to cuddle, so I'm sure there's hope. How should I go about desensitizing Lee to my cat? Also, what are some good, reasonably priced treats, or a good recipe for making them out of bacon grease or ground beef or something? The lunchmeat certainly gets his attention but it's had to work with.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 20, 2010 12:23
|
|
|
Is it a big deal if a dog growls while playing tug?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 14, 2011 04:12
|
|
|
Hello, Pet Island. I bring you the continuing saga of Lee.  Lee is an Aussie that lives at an animal shelter. I adopted him for a while, but he's had to stay back at the shelter. I want to get rid of one of the big reasons for that so I can bring him home more often than every 3rd weekend. And Etta James:  The crux of the issue is I have to be neglecting Lee or my cat at all times. Lee is very anxious about his humans and can't stand being closed off somewhere away from the people he loves. My cat, a chill old Maine Coon, is pretty low maintenance and I can forget she's here if she decides to spend her time in another room. I have to keep them separated, and my house is not big enough for both of them to have the space they need, nor can I give both of them the attention they need this way. Lee doesn't seem to be actively hunting Etta, so I think I can get them on good terms with each other, I just need a hand. Lee has some serious emotional issues. There is definitely some horrible abuse in his background. He is an unforgivably awesome dog around the people he trusts, but god help you if you went in his pen without his permission. Lee never sent anyone to the emergency room, but he sent a few people to the hospital. He never seems to specifically antagonize Etta, but he does go in for an impolite sniff. When she sets personal space boundaries with her claws, then it's a fight. Lee in a fight is bad. Potential for fatal injury bad. The last time he was here I brought him into Etta's room, and stayed between them. While he was curious for a while, he eventually laid down and ignored her. I call this reason to hope. The biggest problem I had in trying to train him out of this was I could never nail the exact moment to go in with the treat. I'm using positive reinforcement for Lee, obviously (one volunteer at the shelter thinks she'll get on Lee's good side with her 'correction whistle,' blehh). He always stays totally focused on the treats to the extent of ignoring everything else if I have it out, and no connections are being made in his little doggy brain. If I bury it in my pocket it takes too long to get it to him and he forgets what happened and just goes into YAY TREAT mode. On top of that I'm really not sure how to bring them together. All I can come up with is to just always have treats so he stops expecting them just because he sees them, and to take him into the cat room and reward him as soon as he stops paying attention to Etta. Any ideas you guys can offer?
|
|
#
¿
Sep 27, 2011 10:40
|
|
|
Thank you for helping me clarify my question into something extremely specific. I do have a clicker, and once I have some good training treats I'll be using it. When should I give Lee the click? What precise instant will I know that he has turned his attention away from the cat and is to be rewarded, and if it doesn't happen is there anything that can be done to make it happen? Also while I have your attention is there a good way to soften the pads on a dog's feet? Lee's are like sandpaper. Soak them in warm water, apply lotion or something? I worry there might be some horrible problem with putting lotion on a dog's skin that you all know and I don't.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 28, 2011 14:19
|
|
|
It's really that the edges have little burrs of callous that catch on things and the few times he gets jumpy I don't want to lose a shirt to them. I think I'll just hold a warm wet rag to them now and then. I don't have any good training treats for him, and I got no drat money for the moment, but strangely enough he just doesn't seem that interested in the cat anymore. Huh. I know he really doesn't care that much, they once spent a three hour car ride on top of each other with only Etta's crate between them to the effect of one solitary growlfest but I didn't expect this degree of apathy. It goes back to the same problem though, he doesn't really care but if something happens and I'm not there to stop it it could mean Etta's structural integrity. dun want my poor kitty to be shut up the rest of her life...
|
|
#
¿
Sep 28, 2011 19:54
|
|
|
 The Continuing Saga of Lee, abridged version. Lee is straight up ignoring my cat when we're all in the same room together, and that was the biggest hurdle to keeping him home forever. How do I make sure to reinforce this? Etta James is a big Maine Coon but Lee's a grouchy cuss and one fight could be all it takes. Should I draw him in closer with a treat and let him have it for being near her? Should I walk in, pile on treats, walk out with him, treats stop? I never know what moment to go for to reinforce a good behavior, and I know you guys can only do so much over the internet but if I can just leave every door open while I'm in the house and trust those two to play nice I may be able to adopt Lee for real!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2011 20:07
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 3, 2024 06:42 |
|
|
I'm having some trouble with 'fading the lure.' First of all I'm not exactly sure how far to go with it even I can get it to work; I've read that you're supposed to stop giving the dog a treat for every click eventually, so they'll follow commands when you don't have a handful of food. Never seen anything on how you're supposed to do it, though. More pressingly, I can't even take the first step. This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4PPcE1CqY kikopup video said that you start fading the lure by getting the dog to follow your hand when you don't have a treat in it. Wellllll, as soon as I try to get Lee to trail a treatless hand he shoves his nose in, gets a sniff, notices the lack of treat, and then fixes on my other hand with the treat supply and the clicker.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 7, 2013 20:06
|
|