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Bruno is one of the best behaved in his class. Last week he was so keyed up he refused the treats. This week he did so much better but I ran out of treats 3/4 through the session. There are about 10 of us in the class and 3 of them are really making it hard to train. They don't start moving when the instructor says to, they don't maintain a good distance between the dog in front or in back, and they allow their dogs to go away from them and get close and personal to the other dogs. Several times a person wouldn't move so everyone else got backed up behind them. I'm trying to sit Bruno and he has his nose up the next dog's butt! I had to find an open spot elsewhere. REAL frustrating. Anyway he did really well tonight. The trainer even said she expected him to be far worse but he was one of the best in the class. Absolutely no agression in the class or even out of the house. Still a little growl at feeding though. I can't imagine coninuing this process until he finishes so I give him 3 chances. He growls once I walk away and come back 15 minutes later. He growls again, same thing. He growls a 3rd time and it's "Finished!" I put the bowls away and he's done. Keep in mind he doesn't growl right off the bat. He does still get food this way but I didn't think this should continue for hours if he growls each time so I put a limit on 3 strikes and your out. I'm telling you this so if I am again making a mistake I can be corrected.

Thanx for all of the responses on the behaviorist. It seems the general consesus is her method is perfectly normal so I will trust your years of experience and continue to plan to see her in June.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

I'm so happy for you and Bruno, that you're both doing so well with all of this.

When I worked at Petsmart two different fights broke out in two different training classes. One was because one owner wouldn't cooperate properly and another man starting yelling and screaming and the dogs were barking and going nuts.. It took every staff member at the store that day to get ahold of the dogs. Both owners had dropped their leashes and both dogs bolted, one for the front door. So we had a clumsy 8 month old Irish Wolfhound darting around the store and a 6 month old pit bull headed out the front door.. That was a crazy night..

The other fight was between Cathy, our trainer, and a woman with a Jack Russel Terrier. Cathy was trying so hard to get through to this dog, and the woman kept cutting in and telling Cathy she was doing it all wrong. Cathy turned around and told her that if she knows everything, why is it that her dog is such a terror? The woman started screaming at her and Cathy just looked at her and told her that she couldn't have her dog's leash back until she calmed down, because Cathy had made such progress with the dog and wouldn't have it undone now because of some irate woman.. It was actually hilarious, although we shouldn't have thought so

Really though, I am just tickled pink that you seem to be doing such a stellar job with Bruno Just thrilled

Thanx but it might as well be undeserved. My youngest was getting growled at today and it seemed to me she was doing nothing about it. I walked into the kitchen and saw a mouthful of teeth and intervened. I know physical response is wrong and I have been making progress but today I broke. I'm telling you this (I'm sure I'll be reprimanded on this forum) because I can't allow myself to be praised or congratulated when I do not deserve it. My wife and I talked about it in the car and we're going to collectively find an approach to allow Evette to work through the situation. We will be there of course but she's never put much effort into working with Bruno which we feel is a big part of why she's still afraid of him and he doesn't respect her. Anyway, with all of the positive feedback I received on the behaviorist, I'm REALLY looking forward to our visit. We've got lots of video of us working with him.

Today especially sucks because I had a hard day at work and came home with the plan of going through the training exercises with Bruno. It was going to be great and we were supposed to have a good time. Then teenagers came home, got mouthy, Bruno growled at Evette, I lost it and Susan and I went to Sunday school to get away (we are in a new comers class). I told Susan I did not want to go. She suggested even if we don't go to church we at least leave the house. We went to church and the very first thing the paster spoke on was about praying when you really don't feel like it. When you're angry and frustrated and you simply don't want to pray, that's when you need it the most. Anyway, I gotta go. Looking forward to another unappreciated horrible day at work tomorrow.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

Aww, I'm sorry.. Everyone has those days though, it doesn't mean you're not doing a good job it just means that things slipped for a little while. That's certainly the best thing to do when tensions are high - just leave until you unwind and then come back and try to discuss things calmly.

For now, I wouldn't suggest trying to work with Bruno and your daughter. It may make things worse and may contradict what the behaviourist wants to happen, which will cause problems when Bruno starts to see inconsistency again. The first thing I wanted to do was work with Kaiser on getting used to my sister, and our behaviourist, Yvonne, told us that it's a good thing we didn't because there are a million other things that he needs to learn before he will be equipped to deal with that. Just try to have the two avoid each other for now (keep him in a different part of the house if necessary, even confined to one room when she's home) and work on it when you get to the behaviourist. June is only a few weeks away, so it wouldn't have to be for long and it's the only way to keep your daughter safe and prevent outbursts that end in someone hitting the dog..

You are doing well with him in the sense that you're seeking help and doing everything you can to work on these problems in the meantime. Until you get to your behaviourist do everything in your power to avoid those situations, including keeping him from people and places where he tends to get "upset".. That way you can be absolutely certain that you're not making things worse, even if you're not making things better..

Good luck.. you are doing very well, I think you seem mostly upset because there just isn't a lot that you can do right now.. It's not fun to feel like we have to just sit and wait for someone else to come along and help us, I would be very frustrated too.. Just try to accept that there's not much you can do for now and you might be a lot calmer.. Put all of your effort into working on obedience behaviours with Bruno (not changing his behaviour, just teaching him his commands) and even more effort into avoiding situations that get him bristly..

Evette's "Bruno" chores are poop patrol and bath time. She went to get him from his crate and he growled as usual at her. I went up and talked her through it. She opened the crate and he stopped growling (as he always does) and she said "Corner". He went to the corner, the crate was closed, and Bruno got his bath. For some reason he likes getting a bath. After that I fed him with no growling at all (from either of us ) and he got his treat of cheese at the end. I used the cheese time to go over the exercises from the training class.

Is it normal for him to want to be in his crate so much? We keep the door closed when he's not in it so there's less chance of him guarding it. I opened the door to get ready to put him in and he bolted like it was a race. There was no negative vibes at all yet he launched into his crate. He has much crate time while we're away during the day. Some days are more than others. Anyway, I've been working on my happy voice ALLOT and I'm seeing a difference there. He hasn't growled at me in awhile and I'm the only one who can give him a treat for entering the crate on command with no fuss. Minus that one incident things have been a little better. We're feeding him as suggested by Mrs. Davis and it seems to be working well also. I'm going to wait until there's a full week of no grumbling whatsoever, then ask how long I should wait to proceed to the next step. Looking forward to that day!

Speaking of that day, we leave in 45 minutes to have his little dealy's removed. I know some people disagree about him calming down afterwards but our vet said it might help so there's always hope. If nothing else I won't need to worry about him empregnating anything.

Gotta get ready! C-YA!

Eric
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

Hooray! Sounds like you are making excellent progress! And it sounds like you're daughter is doing a good job too! And his "fixing" may very well calm him down a bit, but I would not rely on it and keep to your program, any changes could be very bad right now. I don't know if his wanting to be in the crate so much is good or bad, but if he doesn't growl about it than I would say it's ok.
Keep up the good work! Stay happy and positive, you're doing a great job!

See, there are good days and bad days.. Kaiser and I had a pretty bad day yesterday, but today's a new day

Maybe he just sees his crate like a teen sees their bedroom. It's their sanctuary, a place to go when they dont want to be bothered, talked to, yelled at.. It's a safe place that is all his own and even if there's nothing negative going on, it could be his place of choice to take a nap or just sit there and watch the goings on in the rest of the house..

If he does guard it, then definitely don't allow him in unless he needs to be there.. but if you're not seeing problems with that, just leave it open for him all the time..