What wonderful jogs we had today and yesterday! The dogs are totally pooped and I get that "two birds with one stone" feeling that comes with exercising and walking the dogs at the same time. They did amazing. We saw tons of dogs and people and nary a bark and hardly a hackle.
The big moment was today. We stopped to countercondition across the street from a family: two adults, and two kids on noisy little big wheels. Gustav looked up at me, lowered his tail, and WAGGED it. A teeny bit, but still. What a fabulous display of relaxed behavior in the presence of something that is frightening to him. I won't lie, I may have gotten a little teary. Our months and months of work seem like its translating into real life a little.
I'm feeling really good about it. Then we had a family snuggle on the sunporch on the futon. It made me think about what a sweet and gentle dog Gustav really is. Dottie was licking a wound he has managed to scratch into himself on his head. When he got tired of it, he did the gentlest most low-key correction I've ever seen. He just sort of aimed his open mouth at Dottie's muzzle without any contact or growling or anything, and she stopped. He also loves being close to us and cuddling, something that Dottie's not all that into even though she's friendly to people. If can just get him to give newish people the benefit of the doubt, I think he'll be a really sweet dog to others as well.
I love spring.
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Celebrate the babysteps! That was soooo AWESOME he did the little wag and YOU NOTICED and rewarded it! They feel everything you emote so it's wonderful that you took the moment to enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteGeorge my littest beagle growled at me when I picked him up as a puppy. First red flag.
He was and still is frightened of people handling him, but we've worked so hard and now he's one of the ones who will stare and wiggle his bum at someone from a distance!
My favourites are people just getting into a car that see my guys wiggling and tap dancing and get out of the car to come over to say hello.
WAY TO GO!!!!!
Thanks, Kate! It's good to hear from people who have had success with this sort of thing. I walked the dogs with a friend recently and he pointed out how in tune I was with the dogs-I can see Dottie about to bark about a mile away. I hadn't realized it until he pointed it out, but over time the body language becomes much easier to read. I've noticed Gustav's tail is a good clue, besides just general alertness. A high tail doesn't always mean he's scared or worried, just alert. However, a low tail almost always means relaxation, and a low wagging tail is something I've almost never seen outside the house. I can't wait for the world to know what a great dog he is, even my behaviorist looked skeptical when I described his sweet nature at home.
ReplyDeleteCurious: how did you decide it was time to allow contact with strangers? Case by case basis? How relaxed is relaxed enough?
It was time to meet people when I learned how to read my dog or foster dog and they understood their role in meet and greets with friends and family from the approach to the greet (and different ways they'll be greeting) and then when it's time to move on.
ReplyDeleteIs Gustav possessive of you? or is he unsure of what to do when people approach? or does he just really not like being handled by strangers? If not liking the handling..which part does he not like? (George loves cuddles on chest but doesn't like the hands looking as if they're going to grab him...so we did lots of desensitization around that with friends and family..even to the point where if George wanted his kong, I'd have to pick him up first then he'd get his kong, toy, life reward)
For fosters I find video'n them in different situations really sped up the process.
You can see the similarities when they are just dying to play with another dog or just dying to cuddle you. Also you'll notice when they've had enough and let you or another dog know with those subtle cues (bulging eyeballs, slight body moving back, lower head to avoid your touch...) That's one of the reasons I video. I just use my iphone and it works for me.
Sorry so long posts but may give you food for thought too...
ReplyDeleteWhen Wags met Darrell, he was fine in the car, was happy to take treats..then when Darrell walked into a room we were chilling out in he went after Darrell multiple lunge, bite and drama snarl, growl, CUJO but because I could read his body, I KNEW to tell Darrell to Don't move and don't say anything. Wags stopped after I said Off...and almost looked embarrassed. Which I could be totally wrong about. So in our case, WAGS was possessive of his human and some toys and resting place along with being under socialized and fearful of the wrath of a man.
I learned that the only clue Wags gave was freeze, wide eye for 1 sec then he went right into the lunge, multiple bite/nip concentrating on hands and legs and feet.
If they want to do damage....it is done within the first couple seconds.
If it's fear related and they have good bite inhibition, they'll try to scare you but won't break your skin or may do a puncture.
If Gustav didn't send anyone to the hospital and just scared the bijeebies out of someone...then know that you're a lot closer than you think.
It takes time to undo the scaring me to death with the drama, but it's something dogs do, and they don't seem to take it as personally as we do.
With WAGS we started the counterconditioning and desensitization asap and had Darrell in charge of all the fun stuff. I would leave the room and Darrell would appear with treats and Wags favourite Froggie, or take WAGS for a walk and within a week, Wags was initiating the tease wagging bum, lean into Darrell for cuddles.
Because you can see night and day different in his body language (Wags was using calming signals like licking his lips, and play bow, paw up...Wags was throwing everything he knew in his "friendly' repertoire at Darrell.
Then I told Darrell to crouch down and not look at Wags, and WAgs came into cuddle. I asked Darrell to stop petting Wags to test to see if Wags would try to tease Darrell to cuddle more and he did!
http://wags-beaglepaws.blogspot.com/2009/12/wags-and-darrell-are-buddies-now.html
ALSO to note....Taiki, Darrell's black pug locked on to my hand, punctured and shook it when I first met Taiki (I had to pry his jaw open he would not let go). That's after I met him, he was happy to see me then I went to throw a piece of chicken into his food bowl...I had asked Darrell if he was possessive of food and Darrell said no...but NOT sO! Even Taiki was possessive of food and toys and I had to work with him.
It's A LOT more common than you think. It just has to do with the dogs learning curve..who was around to guide them and let them know what TO DO?
Really interesting.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I've had almost no problems with visitors. The two issues I've had is that when people would come over and stand in the door, the pet Gustav on the head, he would sort of gently mouth their hands as they turned away.
The other issue was the one fluke, where I stupidly had Gustav in the living room with a raw meaty bone and while he chewed on it my boyfriend's mom leaned over him and pet him behind the ears. He did the cold hard freeze and then lunged in her face but didn't bite her. She got hit in the nose pretty good and bled a lot, but there was no puncture. It was so dramatic and scary, but over time I've come to realize that it's not a good incident to judge him by, since it was so unusual and way way too hard for even a sweet dog to handle. After that we got spooked and stopped having him out when people were over, even though before that we had parties, etc., with no issues. I'm not sure if that was the right decision, I was just fearful.
So in the end, I think he has great bite inhibition and most likely would not hurt anyone badly. However, he is a big guy and can be pretty intimidating. His least favorite things are strangers petting him on the head while out on walks. He has mouthed many a hand, nipped someone's pants from behind at the dog park, and done the dance-and-bark at kids at dog parks a few times. I think he's mostly uncomfortable and shy, and I'm almost glad he's a bit aggressive because otherwise I wouldn't take his discomfort seriously and help him with his fears.
I think of him as a classic German Shepherd type: super loyal, and once someone is family they can do pretty much anything they want to him. My band members pet him on the head and he loves it. He's great with my nearly two-year-old nephew and my dad.
He's a bit resource-guardy, but never growly with us. He just jumps and tenses a bit if you pet him while he's eating. If people come over I put his toys and chew things away just to avoid any problems.
So he's tough to figure out, even the behaviorist thinks so. Very sweet with those in his special "familiar" club, but very uncomfortable with people outside while on leash. Never ever has he been even a bit aggressive with me or Justin or Dottie, although when we first got him he was a bit pushy. He could be sort of demanding and in our space, but he's gotten much better with that.
Funny you should mention taking videos, I was inspired by your blog and tried to tape him barking at someone out the window. He never did. I'd be curious to tape him barking at lunging at someone on a walk, but he hasn't done that in so long I wouldn't want to set it up. It's half management and half improvement that it hasn't happened in a while.
What do you teach your dogs to do while being greeted by people? Sit? Watch you? I haven't gotten that far with Gustav, but I'd be curious what would work best.
Could Gustav be herding people? And or "correcting" people doggie style when they do something he's not a fan of?
ReplyDeleteSort of the way a mother dog would put their muzzle over but not chomp down on a puppy to let them know to chill out, or stop them from doing something irritating, kinda like...well you've ignored my hairy eyeball, my stiff body language, my look away....do you get it if I put my muzzle over hand in our case to let you know that's enough?
The mouthing, and especially the grabbing pants from behind... Is he motion sensitive? If someone moves suddenly does that rev him up?
I'll video our meet and greets, it's faster than trying to explain it.
I know that sits are the ultimate obedience meet n greet but truthfully I think it puts undo stress on a dog if they're shy or fearful or just plain not into being smothered by a human.
I can't wait to see your videos!