Pickle Dog-Days 1 to 2

Who said there are no such thing as dog training emergencies? Pickles owners had enough time to fill out the client interview form before needing to get him here immediately after a dog fight with his older sister, Sadie. This had been escalating recently, and the last four days involved incidents. The fourth day resulting in some really ugly bites on Pickles muzzle, neck, and inside his mouth.

It has appeared to his family to be him starting the altercation (and sounds like Sadie finishes it, typical girl). Since Wednesday, I have been training and gleaning as much information as I can from Pickles reactions and behavior.

The thing to remember after an incident like this, is that the dogs are a bit shell shocked that come here. So you don't get to know the true dog at first, though you can start to get some information about the dogs.

Pickles has presented to be a fearful dog around other dogs (at least in this environment, though the owner reports that Pickles has positive interactions with dogs off leash on walks). Body language isn't always the entire story, but that combined with reactions and other things the dog displays can tell you a lot. Pickles tail remained mainly tucked in between his legs on Wednesday and Thursday when around other dogs. He also froze a lot. When he was in the pen, and he saw the other dogs outside, he ran to the door and pressed himself against it. He has growled worriedly at dogs, but has not made a forward movement toward a dog. The dogs here that I have exposed him to are dogs that are trained to obey commands, and are dogs that I know will back off when they sense a dog is scared of them.

The dogs here have shown much sympathy for him when he is in the crate, however, they are wary of him when he is out of the crate (or had been the first two days). Pickles body language has been clear to me, and apparently to the dogs here to be saying stay away. Last night and today however, he has shown friendly interest. I keep all interactions with other dogs brief, and not during exciting periods where everyone is playing. I have Pickles walk with me when I go to let the other dogs out, so he can observe them discretely as they walk by and ignore him.

His training has begun with the "let's go" command, and the sit on the dog (long down but not a formal down, a leadership exercise) while around the other dogs while everyone is relaxing. By starting on a relationship that shows him that he can trust me to keep him safe, he is starting to relax among the other dogs. My husband even commented that he did not have the "low down" look today.

He does get a bit panicky when led towards new things at first. Overall, he seems mostly afraid, and willing to please. He seems interested in other dogs, but is not yet in a condition to mingle with them on his own.