Shamas the rescue....journey of a pound dog

[Shamas mom]

Had Shamas meet the man next door without his dogs today

I figured we need to approach the matter of Tiko (neighbours chihuahua )and the new girl (large breed mix)carefully, since we live next door and Shamas is being protective of me. He's been lunging at the door and kicking off when Bob passes by since we got him.

So I developed a plan to start with the father, as he's the one who walks the dogs. I needed to rule out the possibility of Shamas being fearful of his wheelchair.

Today we had him roll down to the sidewalk and shamas went ballistic on my leash....so hubby took the leash and chicken and handled introduction foot by foot with Bob offering the final piece. Then we just stood and talked whilst Shamas laid nearby and I sat next to Bob's chair. A few minutes later, I took the leash and more chicken and repeated the process.

We're going to do this multiple times until Shamas views Bob as a friend. Then we will consider adding the large dog.

The son will hold her, where Shamas can smell but not see her and we will chat and offer treats for calm behavior. Hubby will hold Shamas because he doesn't need protection. This will continue until Shamas can sit relaxed

Then, we will have the dogs view each other but not meet and repeat process

Finally, when Shamas is ready, they will meet on the men's leashes with me in the background


Lastly, we'll have Bob and I take the leashes-once Shamas learns that the dog is not something that I need protection from

We'll work on Tiko last because he's yappy with Shamas and it sets him off. Barrier frustration.

 

[Oberon]

Great job with your neighbour Bob Slow and steady is the way to go. You’re doing fantastically well.

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

It's great that you've got such understanding neighbours, and with any luck all of this work will pay off.

 

[Shamas mom]

So I don't know whether to classify today as mild aggressive or aggressive play


We were walking peacefully down the stretch and all of a sudden this jack Russell appeared at the gate of the yard we were passing and barked at him

Shamas growled and jumped towards it and it licked his nose. He jumped at the fence a couple more times as we walked the length of the yard and so did the jack. Tail was wagging but he was growling. ...but he growls when he plays too....and as we walked off he was grinning. my son said that both dogs looked very pleased with themselves


I had him on the front harness and he didn't fight me per se. ...just kept leaping back into the fence until we were past the yard

 

[Shamas mom]

Ugh 2am and Shamas can't sleep because Midnight is playing at the basement door


It's nights like this I really sympathise with his frustration at the cat

I wonder if a mat with double sided tape would deter the annoying feline from playing with the door handle in the middle of the night? Must try that tomorrow. ...

 

[Boogie]

Good boy Matt!

 

[Shamas mom]

Good boy Matt!

Lol I don't know if it's because I'm tired...but between my idea of laying an actual mat covered with double sided tape and your praise of Matt the cat. .....I now have an image of Matt chasing Midnight away from the door, welding double sided tape!

What a great way to start my day off with a smile

 

[Boogie]

I wanted to call my sons Matthew - Mr Boogs said no, they get called Mat and you walk on mats

 

[Jennifer]

The work your doing with Bob and the plans you've got for introducing Shamas to his dogs sound great. They are very similar to what is suggested in Patriciac McConnell's books "Cautious Canine" and "Fiesty Fido". You may already have read these books but if not I'd highly recommend them. Having two reactive dogs I've read a lot and these two books cover just about everything you need to help reactive dogs in diferent situations with tips on what to do when something beyond our control happens. Keep up the good work your both doing brilliantly.

 

[Shamas mom]

My husband wanted to call my son Shamas- I said "no" because I couldnt pronounce it back then(I still had an accent)lol.

So when we got the dog, he named him shamas...but didn't tell me how to spell it.......so English me spelled it how it sounds!


We had a lovely walk this morning-I was up befor eall of the kids, and hubby was home from work and not in bed yet(night shift) so I took Shamas on a brisk walk by myself. We started out on the harness, then when i got a little miffed that he wouldn't stopp sniffing everything, I swapped the lead to his collar and picked up the pace. We went for a few

Thanks @Jennifer I havent read those books, but I should- I've been casting about for information and putting things together-discarding anything that doesnt seem to fit the positive theme of my training style. I started out my dog training using Ceaser-but his methods wouldn't help Shamas. Those corrections would make him jumpy and I don't know about adding a slip leash to him....would set him on edge.
I have a PDF on teaching a dog to listen through defference, not dominance. The only "punishment" advocated is "banishment" if the dog illicits an unwanted behavior(jumping, chasing the cat) you say nothing...clip a lead on them, put them in a room away from you. I my case I clip him in the back hall. and walk away. I use a 1 minute banishment, because the mere act of walking away silentlly is enough to upset Shamas. The dog must sit for everything it wants, and correction of unwanted behavior is done by classical conditioning. I also have a bookmark on how to recondition the aggressive dog, step by step. And I'd like to purchase Click To Calm.

What he really needs is interactions with well-socialised dogs, here in the area. He's good at Petsmart, and OK at the dog park, with older, calm dogs. But around here, we all have rescues...and rescues have baggage. No one has dogs who can approach a reactive dog with aggressive tendencies without setting him off. He HAS met friendly dogs around here, with no problems. A Retreiver puppy at the park, and a 150lb Bull Mastiff that was off-leash and ran over to make friends byt he corner store (that one was scary lol) but I don't know their people

 

[Jennifer]

I'd really recommend you get those books then if you haven't read them. Patricia McConnell only uses positive training methods. They are not long winded books either, quick to read and easy to dip back into for a refresher. I have click to calm which is also very good. I have a similar problem to you finding dogs and also in our case people to help desensitise Scott & Scout. With live in the countryside and meet very few dogs or people when we walk. Most we meet we know well now although some of these are still a training opportunity as some dogs I don't think S&S will ever be comfortable with. You may have already tried this but could you take Shamas to the training classes your thinking of joining just to watch and maybe meet some of the friendly, calmer dogs before actually joining the group? That may be a less stressful option to taking him to a dog park as the trainer suggested.

 

[Ashley]

What he really needs is interactions with well-socialised dogs, here in the area.

Where do you live? I believe you are in Ontario...?

 

[Shamas mom]

Yes, I'm in Ontario. I can say more by pm but I stay pretty close lipped in forum


The training classes are at petsmart so taking him near the class isn't a problem. I can take him during the class times so that he has exposure to groups. It's a lot easier to get to than dog parks too and more predictable

 

[Jennifer]

The training classes are at petsmart so taking him near the class isn't a problem. I can take him during the class times so that he has exposure to groups. It's a lot easier to get to than dog parks too and more predictable

I think that would be a good idea. Like you say much more predictable than the dog park. Hopefully the dogs will be much more under control than racing around a dog park. If it's no problem for you to go and watch you could maybe try different ability groups. Once Shamas has become comfortable with perhaps an older, calmer, more experienced group you could try a young dog group which maybe wouldn't be as controlled. Start at a comfortable distance for Shamas then gradually moving nearer rewarding him all the time for staying calm, turning him away and moving back if he starts to get stressed. You know the drill.

 

[Shamas mom]

My own Training puts Shamas into the Intermediate level group, so when we are able to get into clases, the group will already know the basics...which is a benefit. Not sure what the age of those dogs is likely to be, but I'm sure they'd be at the very least more controlled- Intermediate is more about Heel, Stay, Go To Place, etc

His threshold is so unpredictable. I'm trying to read the dogs, to see if it's got anything to do with the other dog's body language. Just now he reacted to a dog on the other side of the street coming towards us, and us with another 15 feet on top of that(total maybe 50 feet?), because we were cutting accross a parking lot to go around the corner. He started huffing and went to cut over to that side of me. I could see that a lunge would be next, so I simply stepped into his space to steer him the way we were moving, and he cut it out and walked on. The only noise I made was a click, and the only "correction" I made was a leash movement to tell him where to go. No point adding stress. I forgot to treat him for getting back on track, but he was relaxed again wthin a few feet. This dog was head up, tail half-mast. mouth open, jogging to catch up to his owner. Shamas snapped to stiff tail, full mast-ears forward, mouth open-no growl, but huffing.... forward posture on first sight. I'm going to assume the dog was male based on the dominant reaction.

 

[Jennifer]

Your obviously good at reading Shamas body language and you did exactly the right thing. A loose dog would freak my two out just because it's loose. They've been chased by two loose dogs. Not fun as I was on the end of the leads and they tried to bolt. The main thing about other dogs that sets my two off is if the other dog stares at them. That's a big no no for my two.

These two videos by Kristin Crestejo on dog body language are really quite good. They explain body language really well I thought. It might help when your trying to spot what it is in another dog that upsets Shamas. Her you tube channel has some very useful videos you might find helpful.

 

[Shamas mom]

Thanks, I'll study those as soon as I have a bigger screen

 

[Jennifer]

PS. She has a video about taking a nervous/reactive dog to a dog park to look through the fence at the dogs for desensitisation. You may not think Shamas is up to that yet but one day, I bet soon, he will be.

Not sure if this is the right video or not.

 

[Shamas mom]

I'll watch that one too.

We've only taken him 3times so far(not counting once with the family pack, and in a separate area). First time, they were all older labs and he stood in the entryway looking unsure so we didn't make a move. Then an old lady lab came and invited him in and he had a blast. The second time it was young dogs, jumping and plain as teen dogs do. ...he started growling the second we pulled into the parking lot so we cicled back out and went to petsmart instead. Last time was the older labs again. there was a mild argument between him and an old bulldog because he was too ford in his greeting and she was overzealous in her correction...after that it went well.

He's a tad obnoxious at the park, which the other owners put to lack of social experience. ...he runs around and gets into their space and then charges up to the fence to see what dad's doing and back to me. He spends nearly as much time asking if he did good as he does saying hello to the other dogs. I can see how he'd easily get into scuffle with less tolerant dogs

 

[Jennifer]

It's difficult to tell without seeing Shamas but do you think he could be what's called a frustrated greeter ? His reaction to the Jack Russell through the fence could be a frustrated greeter for example. Frustrated greeters sound aggressive but it's because they want to meet the other dog. It can be because of poor socialisation and being in the pound would'nt help. The young dogs at the dog park may well have been too much and made him nervous. That's the problem frustrated greeters want to meet other dogs but then aren't always sure how to behave and can end up being too much for the other dog or getting nervous themselves. Dealing with a frustrated greeter is just the same as dealing with a nervous reactive dog but it maybe quicker for Shamas to accept other dogs. He certainly seems ok with certain dogs and situations. The dog park may also increase his arousal levels so he finds it even harder to deal with the dogs. I've always found the best way to introduce my dogs to another dog is to go for a walk on lead. The dogs are generally busy sniffing etc and stop bothering about each other. I was wondering if Bob's son could walk with you and Shamas ?