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Hopefully gonna be adopting a poor injured, dirty, and neglected stray I found yesterday. She's at the local spca getting all patched up, spayed, and tested for parasites and maladies. She's a smaller Malinois, prob around 2ish. No clue if she has ever been trained or even house broken. I'm guessing at best that she was living in someone's back yard totally neglected. Assuming the likely scenario that nobody claims her in the next few days I will adopt her. I fell in love with her during the brief few hours i spent with her. She seemed to have a relatively gentle temperament, but that may have been from her bleeding injuries. She definitely warmed up to me and was responding to my voice positively by the time I handed her over. I'm ready to give her lotsa much needed love and care. I read the op and it's super informative and helpful. However I'd like an actual physical book to read over to help prepare me. What single book do y'all recommend? I'm interested in combination clicker/verbal training...if that's a thing, if not please advise. I haven't had a dog in drat near 20 years, and they were all socialized adoptees. I'm def a training novice, but I feel confident i can train a dog. Just need a solid tangible starting point.
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Jan 11, 2018 14:09
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 12:51 |
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Instant Jellyfish posted:I like The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller for dog owning newbies. You can always use a verbal marker instead of a click if you want to, I use a clicker and a verbal "Yep!" pretty interchangeably. ok cool, seems like a good starting point. She def looks to be at least part Malinois. Her ears are def smaller than the pictures I've seen, but her coat and tail look to be in line with what I've seen. No doubt the shelter has no clue as to what she actually is, but went with their best guess based off her appearance. I was able to carry her to the shelter and by my guess she's probably around 40 lbs, albeit a malnourished 40 lbs. I guess it's essentially gonna be a sink or swim type scenario in this case. I expect her to be a high energy dog, which is honestly what I'm interested in. I want a dog I can run around with and take for bike rides (once I get her used to the idea of a bike and being around one).
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Jan 12, 2018 04:03
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Well, got The Power of Positive Dog Training. Still reading it, but so far it's pretty interesting for me. Definitely puts a lot of my notions in check. Taking notes and earnestly studying the things it says. I'll find out more about the status of the pooch on tues. Last i had heard from the spca was that she had been being aggressive with them. Not necessarily surprising, she had a pretty traumatic and overwhelming experience. She wasn't aggressive with me except for an initial nip at me right after i met her. Was petting her head/neck and stroked her back. She didn't like that/didn't trust me enough to let me do that yet. Beyond that she was fine with me. The aggression bit is a bit alarming and worrying. I won't go so far to say she's feral, but definitely been poorly socialized and grossly neglected. I'll no doubt have my work cut out for me with her. My primary concern is that my housemate has a dog. A kinda yappy, but friendly Chihuahua. I'm concerned that she'll see him as a snack/prey. I'm certain that she can be trained to recognize that other animals aren't playthings and to keep them out of her mouth. How much effort that'll require on my part is a mystery though. As it stands, my current plan is to crate train her until it's apparent that she doesn't see the Chihuahua as potential food. I won't leave her roaming the house unsupervised until it's completely apparent that she is adequately socialized and comfortable within my house. I'm concerned that I might be in over my head here. The dog I met is different than the dog described to me over the phone. Certainly she was injured when I met her. I fear that she's been abused and neglected by humans for long enough that it's going to be difficult to get her to trust again. If there were no other dogs in the house I wouldn't be nearly so concerned, but that simply isn't the case. Proximity is also a factor here. My housemate and I live right adjacent to one another, so it's not like I can have the 2 dogs separated from each other until they recognize the smell of one another. My housemate while she certainly loves her dog, definitely has a habit of rewarding and reinforcing what I'd consider negative behavior. I worry that her doting nature will be counterproductive to my efforts to train a dog. Obviously I need to speak with her about this, and emphasize the importance of consistent behavior on our parts with regards to the incoming dog. Really looking for opinions and advice here. I like to think that I have a plan, but if it's feasible I have clue to be honest. As I see it, the best case scenario is me having a dog that responds well, and is leading a happy houndy life, with little to no interdog/interhuman conflict. Worst case scenario here is my housemates dog is killed and the dog is an absolutely untrainable hellion. Please advise.
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Jan 16, 2018 09:50
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Yeah. Gonna pass on this pooch in all likelihood. Talked to the shelter today, and the prognosis isn't looking good. Apparently she's really aggressive with them there. Like beyond just growling and baring teeth, actually charging her enclosure when people come around. They asked me to come by tomorrow and see how she responds to me, but I've pretty much tempered my expectations here. They said they see this kind of thing a lot. An injured stray is brought in and relatively passive, then palliative care is given and the dogs return to their "normal" self and become pretty aggressive. A little bummed, she seemed really sweet when I met her. Oh well, there's certainly not a dearth of dogs in need of adoption. I'll peruse the selection of adoptable dogs tomorrow. Part of me is interested in a younger dog, since they're generally more moldable. Really though I just want to find a dog that's a good fit for me and generally not a complete chore to deal with.
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Jan 17, 2018 00:27
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Update on the dog I took to the shelter earlier this month. Got calls from the spca last week and yesterday, apparently she's become much friendlier and more social with people. She was in quarantine for a bit for a cough/respiratory infection. I voiced my concerns about how she'll be around other dogs, especially smaller dogs she might want to kill/eat. They have since done an evaluation with a small dog that has a bit of a dominant or very forward personality and she passed that. She's slated to be spayed later this week now that she's no longer ill. I plan on going to visit her this week to see how she reacts to me and see if she's a good fit or not. If so, I'll return with my housemate and her dog to see how she reacts to him. It strikes me as a bit less than ideal, since he's generally a bit more docile or reserved outside of the house. Still have some trepidation about her earlier behavior. I guess when I go to see her I'll have a better idea of what she's like and go from there. I'm curious to how she'll be around larger dogs as well. I live in New Orleans, so pitbulls are super common, if not the most prevalent breed here. I'd like to know that she won't act like a shithead around the big meaty musclehead dogs.
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Jan 31, 2018 12:28
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My pup is still difficult with other dogs. Not aggressive, but just very excited. I imagine some restraint/chiding/talking down is necessary. I also feel that other dogs, esp older ones will help socialize her a bit. She is generally a good listener, if a bit distracted around new dogs. What should I do to calm her down somewhat? She's about 1.5 max, shepherd mix at best guess. Normally she is a great listener, eager to please, and very obedient.
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Feb 15, 2018 17:19
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Well, sweet pooch is getting better around other dogs. It's difficult keeping her at a distance since we encounter dogs randomly behind gates/fences/around corners. It's slower than I'd like, but there's definite improvement in her behavior overall. A lot of it is also relative to the other dog's behavior. Energetic, barking dogs get her very excited and she tries to leap forward. I've noticed her being better overall in a harness than without. She and my housemate's Chihuahua are great together now. He barely barks at her anymore, so that major hurdle is out of the way!
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Feb 20, 2018 16:47
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 12:51 |
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 sounds like you're calling piss and poo poo treats
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Sep 16, 2018 22:42
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