Hoobie Monster has made great strides on weeks 1-4 in the "in-house" and being petted in the following areas:
1) He can be social and enjoy petting (unmuzzled) in the house or in our outside home areas (not with strangers in other words) with me and my husband, without feeling the need to try and bite. We do limit the pets to a few now, and we are aware of what he is and what he is doing. We can do this with him regardless of whether he has come up for attention or not. If he does come up to us, he is going to be petted, which he has learned to accept and (it seems) enjoy.
2) He has been taking medicine unmuzzled and from up high outside the crate. I have had two instances in week 4, where he did attempt to come after me. One where he did bite me up high. So I now make sure the leash is in my hand, in case (you can snap him away from you if necessary). The primary thing I think that makes him do this, is if you quickly move his "treat" away. I believe he is resource guarding, and so I am teaching him not to react to it now whether it goes slow or fast away from him.
3) He has begun relaxing on our outside in public "sit on the dog" so that he won't growl just because people come near us now (as long as they pass on) but he will sometimes till growl if people turn towards us.
4) Coming out of the crate is just about no problem at all now, and once he is inside he sleeps quite well and comfortably. About 50/50 reaction in being put back into the crate, and it depends on whether he has been pushed that day it seems.
Regarding growling, I know that one training camp thinks that growling is a great warning from a dog. In my experience, I have found that the growl is the start of a reaction. If you can divert the reaction either before it begins in a growl or it's at the low stages of a growl, the "reaction" stops and you can move the dog beyond that. It's also helpful to have equipment on the dog so you can demonstrate or reinforce a command instead (and move on). I feel if you allow the growl, you might as well say "if I don't now do what you want, feel free to do what you will" to the dog. Or that is the result that I have seen most often. The dog, if they are a bossy and smart dog, doesn't usually settle down and allow you to do whatever you were doing the next time. With a dog like Hoobie, a growl could come at you for a simple thing like removing the medicine dispenser from his mouth. It is unacceptable that he should think he can react to his owners for that.
Still there is more work to be done for Hoobie to make it at home. Week five has started working on some areas where Hoobie again needs to be pushed out of his comfort zone.
Here are the areas of work:
1) Car etiquette. As usual were you to give Hoobie his own way, and allow him to sit in the front, he might not give you any guff. Try to move him to the back though, without a muzzle right now, and you would be severely bitten. So the work on this is two fold, not only do we need to train him not to go in the front (unless invited) but it's equally important to teach him "back" while being touched. Why? Because you should be able to off or move your dog by touching them. Sometimes you will find them on the wrong place (like a couch or bed to which they have not been invited).
2) To be calm while out and about with strangers. We have started the ground work for this on week 4 with sit on the dog in public. Gradually we have been moving him into more crowded places, muzzled. He needs to be muzzled right now because the general public always has someone that will rush up behind you to the dog OR knows better and rushes up right in front of you. I had two children run up to me and Hoobie last weekend. This dog will bite right now, except for the people he knows---and even then during the pushing out of the box phase, he would like to do that as well.
3) And touching in other areas of his body that aren't normally petting areas without always needing to bite.
4) And A BIGGY resource guarding, which I think is what the high up cheese/whiz medicine attacks have been all about. I have been experimenting with this unmuzzled with Hoobie, and it seems to be brought on if you quickly take the spoon or Popsicle stick away.
Anyhow, this week (so far) we have unhappy horrid Hoobie. I expect this will go on for some days until he realizes what he is being asked is not so bad. In the meantime, the temper tantrums have reared their head doing exercises like down. Down done in the Koehler method (the actual steps not others' summarized and incorrect take on the steps of basic training) requires molding and shaping. In fact starting from sit, all the stationary exercises start like this. This method is made for all dogs, but is perfect for a dog like Hoobie who needs to learn that being touched is not a threat always. Young dogs with medical problems can become extremely phobic about this, due to the fact that they didn't learn that most touch is good early on. Whereas an older dog that develops medical problems that needs more frequent and perhaps uncomfortable veterinary care, has learned this already.
So far touch has been treated in this summarized way (weeks 1-3):
- I did veer from the sit on the dog exercise, as I allowed my foot or hand to "accidentally" brush by him (while muzzled). You are not supposed to acknowledge the dog at all, but I felt it was a good opportunity to introduce him to the concept that 1) you don't need to react to touch and 2) touch isn't all that unpleasant.
- During this period of time in week one where most of the obedience exercises do not start on touch, while he was out and about and muzzled, if he allowed for a pet then he was praised and it stopped. If he was petted and he started growling (again muzzled as he will bite, and we want to reduce his experience with biting), he would be petted until he stopped growling (sort of CAT without the dogs-hmmm perhaps I should market this as mine). Not knowing if pain was still an issue this was limited to his neck and back areas. He also seemed to like the top of his head petted, so while I normally wouldn't introduce a dog to this at first, with Hoobie this was an area that he sought to have petted.
- Week two, this went much the same as week one. Longe line was started with him. We moved the touching from neck to back and top of the head. Since he was muzzled during this, did very exaggerated movements in the front. With his back towards me, I could do this all with him unmuzzled.
- Week three, the stationary and molded exercises were started with the sit. The sit requires one to run their hand down the dog's back, and cup their bottom. We started this and stand on week three, unmuzzled. The end of week two thru the end of week 4, we have a very happy Hoobie within the new confines that we gave him. He has been able to play off leash and unmuzzled with the dogs and myself (and my husband). He has greeted repeating clients (muzzled) and only one has petted him:) He has been on low e-collar for off leash recalls, and to reduce growling when going back into the crate. He has been seeking to snuggle, but I do that either with the muzzle on or I move very little if he is unmuzzled. This is a problem area as his mouth is so close to skin, it would take very little for him to accomplish a bite. I don't sense that he seeks to, unless he gets scared and wants to control the situation. It takes very little to make Hoobie worried, but he accepts a lot more handling this week unmuzzled.
- At the beginning of week four, Hoobie was a happy camper and everything was coming together. He spent almost all the time out with us unmuzzled. We started trips off property in the auto, and he was muzzled for that and around strangers.
- Week four, at the end, we have started the molded down. You could do an electronic collar down with him OR the leash under the foot with less objection more than likely. The whole point of the molded or shaped exercises though, is that the dog (more importantly and in addition to) learns to accept touch in an authoritative manner rather than just learning the position. Hence the point is not to just get a down, but to allow Hoobie to be molded into a down. The end of week four, and the beginning of week five is where the trouble began. I did the molded down unmuzzled and I committed. Sadly Hoobie also committed to biting me. There was probably a way to stop him the way I was holding the collar, but I goofed. Also sometimes when a dog is really riled up they can be quite the contortionist. Bottom line, I was not fast and swift enough and sustained a bite to my arm that sweeps forward his front paws.
- Week 5, at the beginning he bit me again when I was giving him his medicine standing up, and actually bit my chest. I am assuming that is the resource guarding (he wasn't done with his treat yet) that we have not started working fully on yet. So I needed a way where I could work with Hoobie unmuzzled (I think it's a very critical time, and I need to see what his mouth and face are doing, and Hoobie needs to feel these exercises without the muzzle on) BUT also needed to accept the fact that he is too fast, sure, and committed to biting during this stage where he is really being pushed. I needed something between a muzzle and a leash alone. I am also working up quite close to him, and because of his problems this has been important. So now I thread the lead through some PVC pipe. I have to be careful that I am holding the pipe, but it gives me a lot more control on how fast and far Hoobie can get to me. I can also now read his facial reactions better.
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