Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am able to do many things with bruno that Susan is not. He will sit nicely for me whereas he'll growl AND wag his tail at Susan for the same thing. When we first started having problems we sought info on the internet and from friends, coworkers etc. I have always been able to make him mind but Susan was different. I'd come home with advice such as putting the dog to the ground on it's back to let him know who the boss is. She found the Leerberg site and used some of their methods. The end result was she was always fighting with him using methods that probably should never have been used in the first place. We were warned about being careful who we took advice from and we thought they were reputable sources. They may have been, just not for our Bruno. I feel bad because she was really excited about getting another dog and now she has so many problems with him that it takes some enjoyment out of having a dog. Part of her problem is also getting through these last few weeks. She graduates in 3 weeks with her Masters in severe disabilities and so she is trying to battle senioritis, and still be a mom, wife, and dog mommy. We were all real sad when we had to put Pivo down and we reall thought another chow would be the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hopefully the behaviorist will be able to get us on the right track to really enjoying all Bruno has to offer.

G-Night!
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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

Try not to get discouraged. It can be tough at times, but try to think of all the positive aspects, it will help.
You and your wife should be using the same training techniques, and I would suggest not using any that isn't given my the behaviorist. Use all the previous suggestions and don't do anything new with Bruno until you see the behaviorist. It sounds like your wife is doing something different than you are, hense her being challenged. You both need to be doing the exact same things with the exact same commands at the exact same moments. You and your wife should avoid doing anything that will entice Bruno until you get to the behaviorist. If that means your wife avoiding training bruno and anything else that makes him growl at her, then thats what she needs to do. The more he growls, the more it will continue. Do everything you can to avoid him growling. You know what makes him growl and what doesn't. Read his body language and try to distract him before he starts growling.
Good luck. When do you see the behaviorist?

It is hard not to get discouraged but even when we do we do not give up. Once again Eric and I are using the same techniques at the same time. He has once or twice changed things without telling anyone until he comes in and finds us doing not what he is doing and says that he changed it to whatever it is he is doing at the moment. There are periods of time when he is doing more of the training because I am just not home. Between school, dr. appt., the girls, and helping coach a track team, we can go a few days without really seeing each other except when the alarm goes off and one of us tells the other goodbye as they get out of bed. We are trying to be as consistent as possible among all of us. Again we are not doing anything new until we see the behavioralist on June 2nd. As for avoiding making him growl at me - he growls at everyone including Eric. All you have to do sometimes is move a foot. He is 300% better than he was! I think the only time he has growled at me in the last week was twice while I was feeding him and once giving him a milkbone. When he does then he has to wait his 15 minutes for his food or he just doesn't get the milkbone. The growling is no longer snarling or trying to bite - it is more of a grumble. I strongly believe I am challenged more because 1)Bruno is afraid of Eric when he (Eric)becomes angry; 2)He knows I'm a female - he shows more aggressive towards me when I am on my period; 3)He has a stronger bond with Eric for reasons I have stated in earlier posts; 4) when Eric brought home the advice on Alpha rolls etc. and I found the Lierburg information that is more aggressive I was the one home with him all of the time so I was the one who implemented these terrible practices more often and consistantly. With all of that I would not trust me either. Right now the thing that works best is when we see he is getting upset we make him move to another part of the room. I'ld say 95% of the time this stops the problems before they start or escalate. As time goes on the severity and the frequency of the problems lesson. I understand it will take time, possibly years, before he trusts me no matter how well I follow the behavioralists suggestions. That is something we/I will have to deal with.
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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 have some homework for you guys. Get the book "Dog Training for Dummies," by Jack and Wendy Volhard, and just read it for now. Don't try to institute any of the hands-on methods, just read it for understanding. Amazon sells it for $14.95, and it's in a lot of public libraries. It explains "Drive Theory," which I find a very useful way to interpret dog behavior and how to work with your dog as an individual. It also has safe, straightforward training methods such as their Leadership Program that are non-confrontational if you follow the directions correctly. It is not clicker training, but it is not unkind training, either. I call their methods "elegant," because while you're doing one thing, you're efficiently and correctly accomplishing several others at the same time. They truly know their stuff.

Also, while handling your dog around the house, here is an important tip. Hands off. Get the dog to do what you want without touching the dog. Due to the nature of the breed and especially the touch conditioning this dog has had to this point, touching is going to put him into defense drive. The book will explain what that means. You do not want to be doing that!

I've twice had to deal with loose Chows in my front yard. Once it was a dog I'd seen playing in the front yard with people down the street, so had a pretty good idea where he lived. He came a-calling because my next-door neighbors had a female mixed-breed in heat that they let loose to potty in my front yard, keeping her away from their intact male mixed breed in their back yard who was four times her size (and fathered puppies on her by force multiple times). So this was a male Chow.

I reached down to take his collar and lead him home. He allowed as how he didn't think I should be doing that. So I said okey dokey and just requested that he walk freely with me, which he was happy to do with my talking him along. I escorted him home and all was well.

The other Chow was there for the same reason, and two young girls were chasing him trying to get a leash on him. He was moving toward the four-lane street on the other side of the parking lot next door to my house. I opened my window and told them to stop and squat down and call to him. They did, and he quit moving away, which gave me time to get out there. I happy-talked him into coming up to me, and then gave him to them to put his leash on and take him home. I found him in my front yard another time and took him back home then, too.

Sadly, the dad in the family didn't know the dog was getting out until after a Chow matching its description killed a neighbor's elderly cat a few doors down in her own front yard right in front of her early one Sunday morning. She had a shotgun out ready to shoot the dog, but her husband stopped her. The dog's owner was an FBI agent, and when the cat owner's pursued the case through animal control, I expect he figured he would beat it. I would have gone and talked to him, but I was kind of skeered of knocking on the door of a strange man to discuss something I was sure wouldn't please him. When the cat owners asked me to testify that I had seen the dog loose before, I decided it was the responsible thing to do.

The case just took a few minutes, and the FBI agent lost. It was just a fine, not a dog put to sleep or anything like that. Interesting exercise in civic duty for all of us, I think. The cat owners felt that attention had been paid, and they deserved that.

A dog has about the strength of three times its weight compared to a human man. So a 65 pound dog is about as strong as 195 pound man. A Chow can kill a child and do major damage to anyone. Maybe the dad in your family is stronger than this dog, but the women are not. If you physically fight with this dog, he will quickly figure out that he is stronger than you. That is not something you want coming into his mind. Your superiority over the dog is your brain, not your muscles. Don't let it get down to that level.

So, your homework is to read the book and to practice governing this dog without touching him. Touch him only in loving ways. The behavior specialist can teach you handling skills in person, which is really an essential part of learning them.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

Cookie also challenges me and I am the only female in the house. I never noticed if she does it more when I have my period, but I will have to be more observant of it. I did notice she was barking at me a bit more the past couple of days and P started yesterday so maybe that is it. I'll definitely see if she does it more in the next couple days, and if it subsides when P does. That is very interesting.

>>Cookie also challenges me and I am the only female in the house. I never noticed if she does it more when I have my period, but I will have to be more observant of it. I did notice she was barking at me a bit more the past couple of days and P started yesterday so maybe that is it. I'll definitely see if she does it more in the next couple days, and if it subsides when P does. That is very interesting.

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I really think this is a myth. If it does happen, it's due to PMS on the part of the female human. When a dog is in heat, her estrogen is at a very high level. When a female human has a period, her estrogen is at the lowest level of the month. There is no reason for a dog to be bothered by a woman's period, unless the woman behaves differently toward the dog at that time.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

Hmmm Makes sense! I wouldn't be surprised if it was just my PMS. It always seems Jason ticks me off more then too, but I know that's just me. I don't think he's challenging me for pack position lol. Last night I tried to be more observant to see if it was my P, but to tell you the truth, I think she was a very good girl last night. She listened to me very well.