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  1. #1
    Senior Dog sheltieluver's Avatar
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    reaction to people

    I contacted the trainer I just wanted everyones thoughts or training ideas. Yesterday when we went for our walk/training session Benelli growled at 2 kids(they were across the street and walking not yelling or running) and the oil guy again he was cross the street and not coming at us. He wasn't reactive as in no lunging, pulling, barking just stood there and did a low growl. Based on his reaction im guessing its more of a fear based reaction then aggression as hes shown no sign of this with people he has met.

    I don't know his history and I'm sure he wasn't socialized so I'm working on that. Hes a little timid with new people but will go up to them. This is how I handled it and any input would be appreciated. When he growled I asked him to "watch me" rewarded then said "look" then "watch me" reward then we kept walking basically acting like its no big deal.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog shellbell's Avatar
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    Cabo is fearful of people he doesn't know, and is therefore reactive to them. Same with other dogs. His being reactive to other dogs does not bother me so much, but I do not like him being reactive to people. If he knows them, he is completely fine. Or if he can at least clearly see that they are someone I know, and not a threat, he is fine. But if we are walking and see other people when out and about, he gets very antsy, posturing, pulling, etc. I am working with a behaviorist on this, and we actually have an appointment for a private session tomorrow. Via email she has told me that when we are out and see other people, to treat heavily and do lots of baby talk.

  3. #3
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Archie did not growl but he was very timid of other people at first. Constant socialization is what I did. Do you have anyone who will help you by walking by and tossing a treat? The person should not look at Benelli or talk to him. People = good things. Go slowly, let him get used to being around other people, don't overload him with a lot of people at once. Even enlist your helper to chat with you a few paces away while the helper is tossing treats. As you walk away, tons of praise and more treats.

  4. #4
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    What you did, the Look at That and then rewarding for looking back to you, is right out of Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed." She aims the book at fearful, reactive, or easily distracted sports dogs but it works for on leash, everyday ordinary things. It's a way of acknowledging to the dog that you recognize something worries (or attracts) him and in your case reassure him that you've got his back. She even calls this game Look at That.

    We didn't use this for the same reasons but it really helped me get Oban by the big, black dog that charges his fence at us. Also helps us get in and out of the exciting close quarters with strange dogs at a Rally trial. Google up her book, she's got lots of good reviews and you might want to buy it. At the very least you'll get better explanation from her book than from me. It covers more than just this too, we've used several parts of it, several "games" as she calls them.

  5. #5
    Best Friend Retriever xracer4844's Avatar
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    Agree with snowshoe. I would do the same thing. There is no explanation as to why - sometimes things set them off. It could be the color of clothing they are wearing. A certain hat. A certain smell. There are so many factors. If I was training a dog and this happened, I would break their focus and have them focus on me. Look. Eye contact. Reward. Praise. Etc.

    I don't suggest having people throw food to the dog. My dog is trained to not accept food from anyone except a few people like myself, my girlfriend, parents, and my trainer. If food is thrown to him, or on the floor, he knows he can't take it unless I feed it to him with an open hand. For many reasons I teach people to train this as well. A good friend of mine that I train with lives in a building. Many dogs live in the building. Someone would pass out treats to the dogs. The friend of mine also has a dog that won't accept food from strangers. Good thing - because the person giving out treats had poisoned them all and ended up killing 2 dogs in the building. There are a lot of reasons not to accept food from other people that you don't know. Some things make my dogs stomach upset.

  6. #6
    Senior Dog Charlotte K.'s Avatar
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    He is young so it could be a fear period. Or he just was not socialized as much as is ideal. I would continue to work from a distance. You have Shelties, so this should be easy for you. It just may take a bit and recur in a few months.

  7. #7
    Senior Dog sheltieluver's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snowshoe View Post
    What you did, the Look at That and then rewarding for looking back to you, is right out of Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed." She aims the book at fearful, reactive, or easily distracted sports dogs but it works for on leash, everyday ordinary things. It's a way of acknowledging to the dog that you recognize something worries (or attracts) him and in your case reassure him that you've got his back. She even calls this game Look at That.

    We didn't use this for the same reasons but it really helped me get Oban by the big, black dog that charges his fence at us. Also helps us get in and out of the exciting close quarters with strange dogs at a Rally trial. Google up her book, she's got lots of good reviews and you might want to buy it. At the very least you'll get better explanation from her book than from me. It covers more than just this too, we've used several parts of it, several "games" as she calls them.
    My old trainer based a lot of her training off that book. I took a lot of information that she taught me with working with my sheltie and apply it to training my other dogs. She was my mentor when thinking about doing dog behavior and I sat and observed classes she taught and one on one clients she had. She was my go to person when having questions but unfortantly she passed away in March. I had to find another trainer who had similar training methods.

    The look at me look at that seems to be working we went for a walk last night and there were people walking didn't growl he looked and when asked looked at me. When he would get on alert and I couldn't get his attention I body blocked by walking in front of him and got his attention. When the people passed "ok lets go" and we kept walking.

    I take him to the pet stores and hes fine with people there he just approaches slowly but his tail is wagging. I tell people to let him smell first and to pet him under his chest he seems to be head shy. Hes fine with other dogs we do the 3 second say high basically count to 3 and keep walking.

  8. #8
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xracer4844 View Post
    Agree with snowshoe. I would do the same thing. There is no explanation as to why - sometimes things set them off. It could be the color of clothing they are wearing. A certain hat. A certain smell. There are so many factors. If I was training a dog and this happened, I would break their focus and have them focus on me. Look. Eye contact. Reward. Praise. Etc.

    I don't suggest having people throw food to the dog. My dog is trained to not accept food from anyone except a few people like myself, my girlfriend, parents, and my trainer. If food is thrown to him, or on the floor, he knows he can't take it unless I feed it to him with an open hand. For many reasons I teach people to train this as well. A good friend of mine that I train with lives in a building. Many dogs live in the building. Someone would pass out treats to the dogs. The friend of mine also has a dog that won't accept food from strangers. Good thing - because the person giving out treats had poisoned them all and ended up killing 2 dogs in the building. There are a lot of reasons not to accept food from other people that you don't know. Some things make my dogs stomach upset.
    You bring up a very good point. My suggestion was to do this with people you provided to treats to. Guess down the road it could present a problem. My intention was to get the dog not be so fearful. I have heard that the treat method did work for some.

    Archie was very timid around strangers and I worked hard at getting him in situations where there were people who passed by but did not pay attention to him. Find that the entrance way at Bass Pro is an excellent place, especially in the cold weather so I'm not freezing my buns off.

  9. The Following User Says Thank You to POPTOP For This Useful Post:

    xracer4844 (12-19-2014)

 



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