Posted by Dinah on September 5, 2007, at 10:35:36
Thank heavens I had started watching this show.
The puppy is a nice dog for the most part. Active and playful and everything in the mouth.
But the odd behavior and movements of my old blind/deaf dog and my brain damaged dog apparently make him feel like he needs to rid the pack of these liabilities. Or maybe they just confuse him.
At any rate, he's not playing with them, he's stalking them. He's fine with my other maltese, so it's not a matter of size. You can tell from his eyes and when they sharpen that it's the odd movements. The one bumps into things and then backs up and tries again. The other one has a head tilt that causes her to walk oddly, and proprioception problems that cause her to not know if she's standing on the knuckles instead of the pad of her paw so she stumbles.
At first I was screaming at him, and that didn't help at all. But the approach that the dog whisperer suggests is really making a difference. By becoming alpha dog myself, and making a sharp sound, and putting him in a down relaxed submissive position while I bring the other dog around him, he's now walking past them with no reaction, or with just a mild reaction.
It is so weird. I've had this sort of problem before and mostly had to separate the dogs and watch them very carefully when they were together. I wish I had tried it before.
And it's not a mean thing at all. He's not afraid of me at all. He's still following me around and sitting by my feet. It's just like on the show. He changes his stance to a more relaxed one and looks away from the other dog. I think it's even reduced his ankle biting behavior with me even though I haven't specifically addressed that.
Then my husband comes home and all that happy calmness goes out the window. He gets excited and behaves badly, even if my husband is nowhere around. Testosterone in the air?
Of course, the problem is going to be maintaining this stance. By nature I'm not alpha. I tend to get spaniels and shepherds and sighthounds who are really laid back and nondominant. My chest hurts from all this vigilance.
Hopefully this is just short term and I can go back to being the indulgent easy mummy? The giver of hugs and treats? Once he gets his last shots my vet will give him the ok for long walks and kindergarten classes.
poster:Dinah
thread:780952
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20070827/msgs/780952.html