Behaviour Input with more experienced owner

Gigi is 18 months now.

Gigi does not like to be pet by strange men . We got her at 8 weeks and trained from 12 weeks, alot of puppy social, she travels alot with our family camping. She only puffs up ,think a lab with a ridge back hair and barks when men try to pet her. Is there a way to correct this . Again never when they ignore or even strange not all men either.

She gets timid at weird thing like today I was install a insect screen and she was afraid of it.she hates the vets .

Very bossy sometimes with us/me. Today I am sick and she kept barking at me to get up and do something . Took her to the dog park. We are very dedicated to keep her active but some days when we cannot she geta a bit obnoxious ...

She has matured into a amazing dog but for these weirdness.

She has extreme drive.so we play fetch everyday a few times.walk 3 to 5 miles a day or run .go to a massive dog park 3 times a week.


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Wow. That is dedication!

You know, playing metal games can be very, very effective with them. It can help them focus on you as the source of their joy, not just the chauffeur who drives them to the park. For mine, one thing we do is just take her milk-bone (she's a freak for milk-bones) break it into little bits, put her in the hall, hide it under a rug in her room, then open the door and tell her to find it. It's a big game and she loves it.

I know others on this site can tell you how they engage their dogs. There are lots of ideas, I'm sure.

I can't tell you why Gigi is nervous around men. It may be something that will just go away with maturity. While I don't think it's a good idea to force her into interacting with strangers, maybe you could enroll in a class (maybe the AKC CGC?) where she is in the same room with strangers, but focused upon you.

Why do strange men have to pet her? Jet didn't like any strangers to pet her. We weren't going to obedience trial so I decided she did not have to be petted if she didn't want. I did not try to correct it.

None of mine have been obnoxious when I'm sick but if they didn't get out for their regular run they'd be pretty hyped up the next day. This waned as they aged. Now Oban can miss a whole day of exercise and not be ready to tear the house, car and trails apart the next day. When he was young I too staggered with head in hands to an old car fender in a neighbour's back 10 acres and sat there while he ran around. I guess you pick how sick you are, whether you're going to indulge them. Barking isn't nice, maybe a class or mental games as Tumicks suggests, ahead of time, to teach her something else to do when you are laid up.

2 scenarios

We were walking . Some guy brought his chocolate lab out. Gigi and the other dog said hi. Then he wanted to pet and she just did her bark and backed off.

In the dog park some guy tried to pet her . She goes to the park alot and this happens every say 50 times once.

It was raining for 2 days and today the sun was out. So last 2 days she was fine being inside and chilling. Today the sun is out but I am a little down.

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Added

My kids and my wife take her on walks .
She is off leash while we hike and again she is happy to be ignored but when some one wants to pet her she gets defensive.

I would not let strangers pet her. Just ask people not to and don't put her in that situation. Get a good recall on her and call her back to you if she is off leash and you see someone. Do it BEFORE she gets spooked. If I am out hiking, I always call my dogs in right when I see people because Linus is a jumper and if Sam is wet he annoyingly rubs on people and goes between their legs, which could set someone up to fall, and not everyone wants two Labs up in their faces. So, they are very rarely pet by strangers. Once I call them in I leash them or I step off of the trail and put them in a sit stay and give them cookies to keep their attention on me while the people walk by.

You can teach dogs to require a certain amount of exercise and it sounds like that may be what you have done, inadvertently. Ball throwing/fetch, especially, can become addictive and ramp dogs up even more. I was listening to a behaviorist's podcast and when she has clients with dogs like this, balls and fetch are a no-no because it makes them more amped up. She suggests hiking and other types of exercise that is natural and allows the dog to sniff and be in a natural element. Not to mention, depending on how you are playing ball, too much repetition can be bad for the dog's joints. I'm not a real habit/routine person and in some ways I think it's made my dogs more chill. I know people who are super routine oriented and their dogs get really turned around when there is any change in schedule, so that could be something to think about as well, not being to routine-oriented. Every dog is different. Are you give her mental exercise? Food toys, snuffle mats, training (even just tricks)? Also for dogs like this a raw diet with bone can be helpful. It's important that dogs learn how to chill. Forced chill time (crate) with a food puzzle can be helpful in teaching it.

Great input. I am very regimented and I think that might be an issue. I work from home I walk her morning and as soon as I am done with work go out and do some activity and she is part of it. So most of the day she is chill but at these times she gets amped up I think as she knows as after sitting in a desk at home I am ready to move .

On hiking and walking trail she completely ignores people jogging ,kids and even bicycles . She will go by a foot or so and might her own sniffing business. It's only these people take the liberty to touch her.

I am going to start clicker training this month and also we do alot of heal work at home. Going to mix heal work at a hike so she stays with me .

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I am very routine as well but luckily my dogs can take a day off. And that isn't always because of ME but them needing to take some time off to recovery from a limp/injury. For Gigi, I'd really look into complementing the physical exercise with mental exercise (and maybe cutting back a touch on the physical to make time for mental). I"d feed ALL meals via training or food toys/puzzles. Make training FUN though, training should just be another fun game.

This article covers some of the things discussed in the podcast mentioned above (I assume this was the one) The Trouble With The Cognitive Canine

As for the topic of your question: There ARE absolutely ways to have her tolerate it more but you'd have to remove (or reduce to very very few) the times when strangers randomly reach out for her - and this would impact your time at hte dog park. The desentization would need to be done on all fronts and each time a stranger just randomly goes to pet her the more it sets you back. Ideally you'd want men to toss a treat and walk away. and build from there. But she has had so many repetitions of men reaching out that is a very very solidly reinforced issue. I'd not force her to get pet and maybe try to be proactive in asking people not to reach out to her to limit the exposure. If you have a friend over they can desentize a bit over time to where she will be happy to be pet (starting with tossing food gently and ignoring - ignoring means no eye contact until they are comfortable. Don't rush to hand feeding treats either).

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Originally Posted by silverfz

Gigi is 18 months now.

Gigi does not like to be pet by strange men . We got her at 8 weeks and trained from 12 weeks, alot of puppy social, she travels alot with our family camping. She only puffs up ,think a lab with a ridge back hair and barks when men try to pet her. Is there a way to correct this . Again never when they ignore or even strange not all men either.

She gets timid at weird thing like today I was install a insect screen and she was afraid of it.she hates the vets .

Very bossy sometimes with us/me. Today I am sick and she kept barking at me to get up and do something . Took her to the dog park. We are very dedicated to keep her active but some days when we cannot she geta a bit obnoxious ...

She has matured into a amazing dog but for these weirdness.

She has extreme drive.so we play fetch everyday a few times.walk 3 to 5 miles a day or run .go to a massive dog park 3 times a week.


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Not all dogs are wired the same. Gigi may be experiencing somewhat of a fear stage perhaps or if not spayed, she could be experiencing a bit of hormonal influence there. At 18 mos, I'd not call any of mine "mature" however.

I would highly encourage you to get her into group training w/ other dogs, other people. A CGC class would be ideal since that addresses basic social manners-- something essential for every dog especially those frequenting dog parks.

As for her being demanding/ bossy, if mine did that, they'd be put in a crate and I'd just walk away. I can't have my dogs run my life. Mine had to go w/o walks (and even at that, I can't walk more than 4 at a time daily) for months this summer due to the extreme heat, cheat grass and rattlers. I did make sure the younger set got their obedience training a couple times a week at least as I could swing it.

I'm not sure what your experience level is with training but why do you thing clicker training is more effective than a simple "yes!" or Good when she offers you the correct behavior? Anne

Some great advice above. I agree that fetch is a double edged sword. It does exercise them but definitely ramps them up. Learned that with Cassie. There is NO end once you start. Its better to just let them sniff and stroll, more natural. And they have to learn that not every day is a play day. Our pup Tobey can be very demanding and Im struggling to keep him from training me, i think its a teenage thing. Best of luck

Tanya great article. .

Gigi is spayed at 8 months. She has been in group training from 12 weeks and puppy social every week a few times a month till she got to 6 months.

She has so far done 4 classes each 8 weeks long. She has done a few puppy classes and few adult classes. My last dog was clicker trained and I taught him a tonne of tricks . I want to do that with Gigi . Mental challenge as she does even does remote commands in a distracted environment​.

In the last class she completed she had to do sit come and leave it with cookies on the floor and other dogs in a down position with next to there owners. She even did heal with figure 8 with other owners and dogs being the pivotz.

We just went for a walk in the woods. We came across rather loud men walking , a young couple and walked by a ball park of kids and she ignored all . I just notice 1/2 hr and she is passed out with out the nasty breathing and drool every where

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