caf. wrote:all accepted, thanks so much for joining!
so sorry for my recent absence, it's been quite a busy month for me. to spark some conversation, however, how many of y'all have worked with animals on body awareness?
it's been awhile since i've done any with dogs, but since half my equestrian training regards dressage i do a lot with my horse. mostly we do pivots on the fore and hind legs, leg-yielding (diagonal motion), and we're just beginning shoulder-in (in which the horse displaces its front end from the track while keeping the hind end in forward motion). all of this to strengthen the hindquarters and improve general locomotion. anyone else have experience? thoughts?
Thanks for accepting me. :)
That sounds really interesting, I have no idea what half the things are (I know little about horses) but it sounds awesome. :)
PastaTea wrote:Ahhh thanks for accepting!
I desperately need advice with my rescue German Shepherd. He spent the first 3 years of his life living in a tiny apartment, with no yard, and no socializing. So since I’ve gotten him he has some fear aggression. He’s never bitten anyone, and if people try to pet him he gets really flighty and runs, barking the entire time. But if I’m say, walking down the street he becomes extremely overprotective if someone he doesn’t know starts walking towards me. Hackles go up, and he gets really stiff legged.
I don’t think he’d ever hurt someone unless they tried to hurt me, but I don’t know what to do about his fear? There’s no reason for it other than how little he was socialized, as I am as encouraging as I can be with him, and praise him when he does the right thing. He’s 5 years old right now, and I am going to be going to college soon, so I fully intend to take him.
Also he’s scared of hats. He doesn’t like it when anyone wears hats or sunglasses.
Any advice? Thanks!
I pressures he's alright on walks unless there is a person?
When your out on walks, work out how far away from a person you can be without getting a reaction from your dog. Learn how far then begin to use food rewards when he's calm to distract him from the incoming person. He will slowly learn to relax around strangers who are coming, eventually you can start walking past people a little closer.
If he reacts to a person, stop the food rewards and just keep walking. Don't punish him or even speak to him, you don't want to encourage this behaviour but at the same time you don't want to frighten him and make it worst.
Going by what you say, I presume he's not the type of dog to attack a stranger? Just bark at them?
When introducing a stranger to him, e.g if someone comes around your house, allow them to enter the room without them making contact or looking at him. Let him bark and eventually he should calm down and start sniffing the person. While he's doing this, ask the person to remain calm and still, not to look at him.
When he's a little calmer, you can feed him some treats on the floor, maybe ask the stranger to drop the treats on the floor without looking at him or speaking.
Also getting the person to crouch and hold their hand out, while avoiding eye contact, is a less threatening way to approach a dog. Never go over the top of a dog because it's quite scary. The kneeling person could give treats. Let him come to them, don't go to him.
The more people he meets and the more rewarding it becomes, the more he should learn that people are not all that bad. You can do the above with strangers in hats and glasses when he feels more assured with people.
I have worked with ALOT of dogs with nervous dispositions, it really is taking time to reassure them with many different people.
