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Ooh, I love this thread. Shaping is so much. I have a few questions, one regarding the clicker and one not. My dogs each have the clicker charged. When I'm wanting to work one on one instead of with them, I usually take the one I'm going to work with and either go outside or go into a room away from the rest. I guess I didn't really consciously think about it until my sister was visiting a few weeks ago. She saw a clicker hanging next to the door and had no idea what it was. She picked up, clicked, and bam - the thundering sound of my dogs rushing towards her, haha. It made me wonder about working with one dog in front of another. Should I find different noises to serve for the different dogs? I don't want the clicker noise to become meaningless for them, but I also don't want to take my attention away from whoever I've working with by giving someone else treats. Generally I'll probably continue to work in one on one situations, away from the other dogs, but it seems like something I ought to think about. My second question is mostly just asking what I should have done differently, or what I should do differently in the future, if it happens again. Flynn is some sort of lab mix, for size reference. He's about 26" at the shoulder. (The family that dropped him off of the pound claimed that he was a purebred lab, but it looks like someone put him through a taffy puller, if that were the case, haha. xD He's several inches taller than my foster-lab, and quite a bit longer and more gangly. His face and coat are also wrong, but that's neither here nor there.) He's also a bit of a lightweight, at 65lbs. Flynn is very social with other dogs, but is also what I affectionately consider to be a great big wuss. He doesn't have a whole lot of confidence and is nervous about just about everything. It takes him a while to stop being intimidated by other dogs, but he likes them so he is usually eager to make friends. I was walking Flynn a few nights ago. A malamute that lives down the street had apparently broken loose, and came tearing towards us. Flynn saw him first and skittered back into my legs. My only experience with this dog has been him barking at my weimaraner from a distance before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I positioned Flynn behind me, and stood between him and the other dog. The malamute was entirely focused on Flynn, so I made some sort of noise, trying to get his attention on me. (I think I said Hey? Or it could have just been unhappy and disapproving noises, I'm really not sure. I'm afraid I wasn't really thinking, just reacting.) He completely ignored me and kept on towards us, and then tried to go around me to get to Flynn. I played goal keeper with him for a while, until he got bored and sat down and finally looked at me. He started wagging his tail at me, but any time Flynn and I tried to move, he went back to trying to get at Flynn's face. There was a bit of growling, but it was mostly just quiet grumbling, and I didn't let him get around me. (He did stick his nose between my knees to sniff at Flynn once. I allowed it until he started growling and then shut him off.) I managed to get the two blocks home a few steps at a time. I kept myself between Flynn and the malamute and walked until the other dog started trying to go around me again. Then I would play goal keeper until he stopped. He was perfectly friendly with me, wagging his tail once he could break focus from Flynn and super begging for petting. I was trying to talk nicely to him to keep him focused on me and not my dog, and to try and keep him from getting tense. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I have no idea how Flynn was reacting to this. He wasn't pulling at the leash, trying to move from behind me, or making noises, so other than holding his leash behind me, I was completely ignoring him and focusing on the other dog. There was no one else around and I didn't want to end up with a dog fight. While people in my neighborhood tend to be terrible pet owners, most of them are tiny dogs that don't pose a serious threat to mine. Not so in this case. Once I got him inside and took the leash off, he didn't have unhappy posture and didn't run for his kennel. (I walked right back out of the door though, to catch the malamute and walk him home.) I don't know if there is a better way I should have handled this. I'm hoping it didn't make Flynn more nervous. I've been trying to build his confidence, not demolish it. And if it had been one of my other dogs, things would likely have turned out more disastrous. I've never been in this situation before and would hate to make it worse by reacting badly. So. Yes, just asking if there is a better way for me to handle this if it happens again in the future. Sorry for being particularly wordy, haha, I was just trying not to forget anything.
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Dec 8, 2010 17:22
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 04:15 |
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