Dog Owner Chat V. 5

[dreamer.;]

Here’s two pictures (out of many) that I took the other night of our boy Tiger!

[rainbowwrowell]

Here is a photo of my pup! her name is Luna! She is one, her birthday is suspected to be around Halloween, she is a rescue pup we adopted in April last year and she is just the sweetest most affectionate baby <3

[WolffeTrash]

Hey howdy! Here is my puppers Mochi,she's a lab cattle dog mix I was wondering what kind of tricks I should teach her.
So far I have taught her Sit, Down, Up, Spin. She's iffy with roll over. I'm currently teaching focus and hold an object. What others should I do?

[Spiritstar3]

These are all such cute and pretty dogs

[skinklegs]

Hey howdy! Here is my puppers Mochi,she's a lab cattle dog mix I was wondering what kind of tricks I should teach her.
So far I have taught her Sit, Down, Up, Spin. She's iffy with roll over. I'm currently teaching focus and hold an object. What others should I do?

Hand targets! They're really useful.

I start teaching by putting my hand down with a treat between my thumb and my palm. When the dog touches their nose to my hand, they get the treat. I'll do that three or four times until the dog is expecting a treat to be there, then I'll put down an empty hand, and when the dog touches their nose to it, they get a treat from the opposite hand.

You can use hand targets to help teach stuff like come when called and polite walking; it keeps your dog physically near you and engaged with what you're doing.

[Spiritstar3]

You could teach her Leave it, if she doesn’t already know that one.

If she’s not the type to try and take food or toys or stuff that isn’t hers, you could still teach her that because she might try and go after things outside. Dogs are predators, so I think even the seemingly best behaved ones would try to go after birds and stuff.

[charmanerd]

Hi everyone!

I have an apprx~ 8 month old lab mix rescue puppy named Persephone, or Perci : )

When we first adopted her around 3mo, she was very open to the world but as she has gotten older she has become incredibly fearful. If I take her outside and she sees a person allllllllll the way down the block, 500ft+ from her, she starts barking her head off. She's not aggressive but very very scared. This is not due to anything I can put my finger on, nothing I have noticed, and we have been exposing her to different people and environments since we got her, but it seems like it's just getting worse.

Has anyone dealt with this and can maybe offer some insight? Google says it might just be a fear stage but this seems deeper than that. She has done classes and is very good with her training, but this thing we can't seem to figure out.
I appreciate deeply any insight!

[skinklegs]

Has anyone dealt with this and can maybe offer some insight? Google says it might just be a fear stage but this seems deeper than that. She has done classes and is very good with her training, but this thing we can't seem to figure out.
I appreciate deeply any insight!

My best suggestion is to start playing the "look at that" game with her using as much distance as you need to be successful. The goal of the game is to get the dog to look at whatever is upsetting them, then look back at you and receive a treat.

You're rewarding them for redirecting their attention onto you rather than fixating on the thing that's upsetting them and continuing to escalate. You're also teaching them that when they see a person, something good happens to them rather than something scary!

Be careful not to wave the treat in front of the dog's nose to get their attention. Use their name instead, your command for eye contact if you have one, or a kissy noise. :)

I would also try and catch the dog before they start barking because dogs pick up on patterns very quickly, and see person, bark at person, receive treat is not a pattern you want to create.

It's not an overnight fix but can start chipping away at this kind of behavior.

If it seems to be getting worse or is already at the point where you feel like this won't help, I would contact a behaviorist. Fear can become aggression if you leave it unchecked.

[Spiritstar3]

It’s not much help, but our dog suddenly became afraid of Thunder. We have a blanket, a Thunder shirt, and I think some medicine.

Idk if any of that could help your dog.
Also, you’re totally sure, she’s scared, and not just like trying to tell you there’s a person ahead?

Sorry if it sounds doubtful or rude…

Not trying to sound like that.

[ᴍᴀᴏᴄɪғᴇʀ]

@charmernerd
I agree with everything @skinklegs said and will just echo that It'll definitely take some time to correct the behaviour with training, but absolutely if it gets worse even then for no discernible reason contact a behaviourist to work with.
I hope Perci can overcome this <3




_________

I never posted about it, but I'm currently dogless :')
My best friend in the whole world was put to sleep in November and I've only just really started feeling it — she lived with my dad when I moved out because he's always been her world, so I didn't see much of her in the end. I think that's why it took a while to kick in. I visited him a while ago and when I got in his car and she wasn't there on the back seat I just cried.
She was my birthday present when I was young, and for every moment after that she was there. When I was happy she was there, when I was sad she was there, if I cried she liked to "clean up" my face afterwards which is gross but I never minded. She'd walk with me back from primary school and I taught her "mush" so she'd pull me up the steep hill home, haha. She was so loyal and people would say they wished they had a dog like her.
I have a scar on my foot from getting between her and my friend's feral cats that lunged at her while she was lying down minding her business. 16 years of my life with her and now she's gone, it just doesn't feel real??
We buried her on my friend's land where she was born and planted a tree over her, and I had to dig her grave while she was still alive and i sobbed so hard. It felt like I was wasting what little time we had left. Lying her down in there and watching her get covered with dirt was even worse. She just looked so cute, like she was sleeping, and seconds ago I'd been holding her and getting so much snot in her fur while I cried.
Genuinely not sure I'll ever recover from this lol. She held my life together in the throes of teen angst and I just feel so incomplete without her. I want another dog, but we have to wait until we get a bigger house, so that'll be a few years away at least — and I just don't know if anyone is going to be as good as her. I don't want to compare anyone with her, I know that's not fair, but she made up so much of my life I just don't know how to not want them to be like the best dog I've ever known.
Bit of a downer post, I just miss my Ruby-Doo "Chicken"
She was such a little freak but she was unique and I loved her so hard, even if she loved my dad more :')

Everyone please give your puppies (young and old) a little kiss from me. I hope they live long and happy lives.