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Post by ellenr886 on Jul 8, 2009 17:26:01 GMT
My boyfriend and i just moved in together. grace has some issues, she starts a dog training class in 2 weeks but shes never been very social and shes weird aroundppl especially men. well my boyfriend has never had any kind of pet EVER since his dad was allergic so he doesnt know the first thinga bout living with dogs... he gets impatient and angry towards grace when she shows agression, etc.... so before we both go to the training...does anyone have any recommended books or any websites or resources that have to deal with living and peacefully coexisting with a dog esp a chihuahua? lolthank you!!
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Post by ~Shaz~ on Jul 9, 2009 2:47:16 GMT
I dont have any books to recommend, but if you werent planning on it already, Have your boyfriend train Grace at the class, that may help her respect him some more
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Post by ellenr886 on Jul 10, 2009 16:55:27 GMT
wel im bringing him along for sure. of course he might not be able to make it to 2 of the 8 classes because of military Drills but i hope that wont affect it too much .
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Post by michelle on Jul 10, 2009 23:00:35 GMT
I think that he should be the one to feed her. If he controls the food and feeds her when it is time that may help for her to respect him a bit. And feed the dogs after you and him have your meal. Hmmmm....what else. If you go on walks, it would be good if he walked Grace and you walked Pixie. And have the dogs walk at your sides, not in front as that in a dominance issue. It will help them feel like he is part of the pack. Also, walks daily to stimulate their brains and get their exercise. Hopefully that will give you a bit of help
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Post by ellenr886 on Jul 11, 2009 13:51:00 GMT
yea shes been better with walks. thanks for the advice im having him feed them now and i usually let him walk pixie but ill def change that now!
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Post by ellenr886 on Jul 15, 2009 23:04:49 GMT
im so scared. the lady calle dme to remind meo fthe training starting tomorrow and shes like I see here it says grace isnt good with ppl and i said yea shes afraid of them, she doesnt attack them or anythig. and shes like :"oh i can deal with that" so now im worried...like is this training gonna benefit us at all? the other day a little boy came up to see the dogs, and i only let him see pixie..meanwhile grace is flippi out triying to get out of her leash and just absolutely going nuts... shes so scared shes running in circles around me, backed into a bush i was so embarassed...is ther any hope?!?!?!
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Post by ~Shaz~ on Jul 17, 2009 12:48:34 GMT
sorry ive just seen this.... YES there is hope!!! I cant remember how old Milo was at the time, but he went through a period where he was so agressive he would attack in a frenzy whenever he saw a person or dog.... both would just send him crazy! It feels like Milo is a new dog, we dont really know what caused it, but he just went crazy! We had to be really persistant with him and show him that other people and dogs meant no harm. we took out treats on our walks and told others to please ignore him as he was in 'training'. This really helped, because i dont know about you guys but Milo really attracts the attention of strangers... they say awwww he is so cute and go straight in for the pat, Milo freaks and the smart ones move their hands away. So yeah tell people to ignore Grace as bad as it sounds.
Try to stay calm when your walking by people... i know when im freaked out if Milo is going to lunge at someone, he feels it.
In a nutshell... be calm with Grace and take her out as often as possible with treats and show her people arent too bad afterall. It would be good if you could rope your friends in and ask them to feed Grace a treat when they come round
Milo is now a fun loving dog who instead of freaking out at people when they come in the house.... attacks them with love and jumps on their lap.... when we are out walking, Milo gets a little excited at dogs but we just walk on past without a struggle now.
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Post by ellenr886 on Jul 21, 2009 11:08:31 GMT
omg that gives me so much hope THANKSSSS SOOO MUCH for posting that. im ef goin to try that. yes we cant go ANYWHERE . when i go to the bathroom at the petstore i have my bf hold her and im like DONT MOVE SERIOUSLY and if ppl come up to you DONT put grace down. kids are sooo attracted to tiny dogs so its very hard. i will just try the treats thing i think it will work for sure. the trainer said ppl focus too much on reprimanding for the bad behavior and not enough on rewarding when they ARENT doing it... so she said that we should not even bother yelling or trying to correct grace if she does get agrgressive because itll make her connection to ppl remind her that whenever new ppl are around, she gets yelled at.... but instead just have someone come over and toss treats out every minute or so... so that she starts associating a new person with AWESOME YAY TREATS! lol
thank you soo much shaz!
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Post by ~Shaz~ on Jul 22, 2009 4:18:33 GMT
Thats alright always happy to help, its only coz of this post u reminded me how bad Milo used to be, it was horrible to watch as he wasnt just being crazy and agressive - he was stressed out about it and didnt enjoy it. Without Grace i would of totally forgotten he was like that for a while, so soon u wont even remember how bad it was around strangers
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Post by ellenr886 on Jul 23, 2009 16:51:34 GMT
yea i have no idea what could have triggered it with grace but oh well my chi's are opposites. im just going to always have treats with me whenver i have grace, that way no matter what i can prove ot her ppl arent a bad thing. and ill ask strangers to toss out treats when they ae in my apartment.
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Post by Yadran on Aug 21, 2009 0:08:39 GMT
Some good advice there from the girls and Shaz has given you some top help there- shes been through it - your boyfriend feeding her is a good idea - also him giving her , her fabourite treats is great and also he could just ignore her as he goes about his business around the house , may be toss her a treat or too occasionally - shell relax and eventually will come looking for him herself - I had an older dog come back home to me she was a toughie - took two years before she was nice to my husband but now shes such a Daddys girl its unbelievable- so stay patienct ( its hard I know ) and the trainer is right no scolding it does no good -
I have found if you give an over anxious / agitated dog - a little Rescue Remedy - before they go out or to training it helps them relax - I think Shaz had some success with it - its a natural product and doesnt hurt the dog in any way and has been a great help to me at times , you can get it at good dog shops - on the net etc it will just help her a little at those stressful times .
Keep letting your visitors toss the treats a few times to her but they generally need to ignore her otherwise -shell relax and she will associate the visitors with the goodies and it will get better - she will eventually come looking for thier attention .
There are some very good books on Positive Reinforcement Training on the net- the Amazon web site has a whole lot - also on e bay and try your local library they may just have an up to date training book - ask the trainer at the class she will ll put you on the right track .
Your doing the right things and looking for help in the right way - it wil pay off in the long run it really will - dont give up hope - stay patient and one day you wont believe she was ever that nervous .
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Post by ~Shaz~ on Aug 21, 2009 2:58:31 GMT
Yes rescue remedy, i totally forgot about that!!! Its a herbal thing that calms... some people use it on their kids too. It worked with Milo, we gave it by dropping it into a biscuit
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