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Re: Hunter getting a little mean
Hi all,
This is Perry Shipman, putting in my two cents worth concerning Hunter
and this ongoing discussion. Remember, it is just my opinion.
First of all, my take on young canines is that it takes them about
sixteen months from birth to build all their basic "life
habits". For instance, I once had a puppy that ran in the
opposite direction from me many times when I called it (especially if
there is something really interesting in that opposite direction).
I have learned over time that it was premature for me to assume this
puppy was recalcitrant and not "pack oriented" in who it
was. When this puppy exhibited this behavior between twelve and
twenty-four weeks of age, it was exhibiting not only some of it's
temperament tendencies but also A LACK OF BOUNDARY HABITS.
What I mean by Boundary Habits are those habits that we all acquire in
the maturation process that keep help us to behave in a socially
acceptable manner. (Someone out their with a PHD in psych. probably
knows a better term). For instance, most of us have experienced the
tendency in small children to take, when they can safely get away with
it, candy or objects from other children. Most parents quickly step
in and negatively reinforce this behavior while positively rewarding
sharing behavior. To me, the parent in this case is simply moulding
and building habitual behaviors around the social unacceptability of
"taking" from others.
The last piece of the "Hunter" puzzle, for me, also relates to
early childhood development. "Temperament" is perhaps,
viewed in the canine world in a relatively narrow way. We know that
a male child, who at a tender age of two and a half shows temperamental
tendencies to defend his toys, is not viewed as "Mean" but is
rather viewed as a strong willed child who is exhibiting some behaviors
that a parent may wish to moderate. It is my belief, that for any
given temperament, that a young creature will "try out" a wide
variety of behaviors ..... it is our job to help set
boundaries as to what is acceptable in our pack and to build the
behavioral habits which honor those boundaries.
So, to make a short story very long!, Hunter is acting like a perfectly
normal puppy who feels the need to get his dinner and is trying out
different behaviors. At 11-12 weeks in age, he is just "trying
things out." My mentor always told me that you look at
EVERYTHING as puppy behavior until they are over a year old.
So what would I do?
1) First I would try to use this as an opportunity to decide what
is the range of behavior which is acceptable in my pack. Most of us
know this in a negative fashion, "this is NOT acceptable and that is
NOT acceptable". To me, the key to training is to know what IS
acceptable, "I would like to see THIS behavior." Once you
know what it is you want, then you can train for it!
2) I would spend a little time trying to decide why does Hunter
feel that he needs to defend his food. Is it out of fear of food
loss? Is it, perhaps, a form of initial play? Is it because
he has dominate tendencies? These are the things that I would
ponder because the dominate motivator should temper your choices.
3) I would NOT get upset about this ... dogs LOVE attention and a
pack leader getting upset is a form of attention. At this age I
would Ignore bad behavior (most of it at least) and reward good behavior
... I would especially try to set up situations where the puppy can
succeed in acceptable behavior. For instance, could the placement
of the food dish make Hunter feel backed into a corner? Could it be
that your children play "grab the toy" with Hunter in a way
that makes him feel that they might "grab the dish" (which, by
the way, they WILL be able to do when this is all through!)
4) I might try multiple food dishes (full of food) about three feet
apart, as Linda suggested. If Hunter is afraid that he might not
get enough food, then the multiple dishes might create a more comfortable
situation.
5) I would let him know that growling and/or fighting over food
(this is just my opinion and reflect what is acceptable/unacceptable in
our household) is unacceptable .... no matter what the reason. I
would do this by creating a situation where he would growl and when he
does, I would run over, take him by the scruff of the neck, lift his
front footies of the floor, and shake him gently but firmly saying
whatever your "unacceptable" sound is, ie NO, UGH, BA ....
doesn't matter (remember .... these puppies do NOT speak english ....
even as a second language!!!!!) you just need a consistent sound that
means "unacceptable" (in our household this is a low
growl). Again, I think that Linda mentioned a booklet called
"Alphabetizing Your Dog" ..... if you haven't read it
then you really should.
6) Finally (thank you heaven .... he's almost through!!) I would
continually try to set up situations in which he can succeed. For
instance Angel, our youngest, loves to run up to strangers and say
hello. This wouldn't be such a bad thing except that the Non-Dog
persons who ignore her, puzzle her to the point that she jumps up on them
with her muddy paws because they have obviously not seen her yet!
How does one fix this (other than running screaming down the trail and/or
having a short/tight leash on)? The easiest way for us has been to
create new behavioral situations. When we see a person coming down
the trail (we can see for a bit) we call Angel to us (remember .... Come
is a learned habit, too.) well before the stranger is within run-up-to
range and sit Angel. We then practice focus exercises with lots of
praise as the stranger passes.
Enough said. Anyway, I hope that all the above might be of some use
...
I, by the way, was supposed to be on the list (even got confirmation) but
have never received anything. At this point, reading over Linda's
shoulder and/or receiving digest would be best for me, if I could figure
out what I did wrong and get the list to talk to me!
Cheers
Perry Shipman
At 06:21 AM 6/17/00 -0800, you wrote:
From: Linda Shipman
<Linda.Shipman@chezor.alaska.com>
To: brierpups@fast.cs.utah.edu
Subject: Re: Hunter getting a little mean
Date: Fri, Jun 16, 2000, 10:30 PM
- As regards other dogs, a trick we learned from a John Rogerson
- seminar was to put out more dishes than dogs when feeding.
- Then they don't need to be territorial.
- I think though that if you are very firm with him a few times
- (establishing your alphaness) and not allowing him to conduct
- himself like this (time outs are good), you'll find the behavior
- disappears over time.
- Hi Linda,
- Can you explain further for me (I'm feeling very slow today, lol)
about the dishes trick? Do I understand correctly that if I've got a
territorial dog to put say, for example, 3 empty dishes around his food
bowl a foot and a half away or so? I'm sorry to be so dense sounding,
lol, I'm the one in the group that needs pictures drawn (g)
- Also... I am thinking about behaviors that extinguish themselves
after a, well... what's the word I'm looking for here.. sort of
like a crescendo of bad behavior while the person is still working
through the problem and then the behavior suddenly extinguishes itself.
I'm thinking about Sophie in this instance and will give you an example
below.
- yesterday, after days of serious corrections and time outs for
lunging at the puppy through the glass door, she suddenly circled the
play yard with normal ears and wagging tail, puppy on the inside next to
her the entire way walking with her, and then she dropped down into a
play bow and did wild puppy yah-yah's around the area. My jaw dropped. I
had never expected to see her offering this behavior to Boomer. Are we
finally at the BEGINNING of being able to work on her behavior do you
think? Is she maybe getting the message that the alpha bitch (me) will
not accept her shoddy behavior and that I'm insisting Boomer is
staying?
- Lot's of questions at 6:15am eh? lololol!
- Debs
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Linda Shipman
Juneau, Alaska
Linda.Shipman@chezor.alaska.com
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