Dog witterings

[bunn]

Things had been going very well with Rosie Roo recently.  I had taken a step back from introducing her to other dogs, and had been walking her half the time in quiet places where she would not have to deal with other dogs.

Every other day, I'd take her to a place where she would meet dogs, and then on the 'no dogs' days we'd go somewhere quiet and as dogless as possible.  This (or something!) appeared to be helping with Rosie's poor social skills.    Her recall improved, she had started meeting other dogs without grumbling, and I was starting to think that she was almost a reformed character.

Unfortunately, I think I pushed things forward a little too fast.   We met with Molly-the-Pointer, who is a very submissive dog.  Rosie always seems to react badly to shy or submissive dogs, it's as though she feels she can get away with bullying them, so normally I would keep her well away, but on this occasion, Rosie had been really very good for a couple of weeks, and Molly was in a group with a number of other dogs that Rosie knows and gets along with.   I thought there was a good chance that Rosie might be able to get along with Molly-the-pointer this time, so we gave it a go.

This was a bad idea.  Rosie went from standing stiffly over poor Molly-the-pointer, to prodding her repeatedly, to whacking her with her muzzle while growling, to leaping on her and having to be dragged off - while Molly tried desperately to appease her with the best polite cowering.  Oh dear.  And Rosie has since tried to do the same with other dogs she met.  Clearly, she had forgotten just what fun being a complete cowbag can be, and I have allowed her to remember all the fun.  Or maybe she's just feeling a bit grumpier for other reasons - or another thing that might be a factor is that she put up a deer in the woods the other day.  Deer are incredibly exciting, and I'm fairly sure that sent her so nuts with excitement that it took her a while to come down again from the high.

Anyway.  Drat.  Back to onlead most of the time, very carefully-chosen offlead runnings, and no approaching other dogs until we have learned manners...

On the other hand, when I did let her run briefly this morning she played very nicely with Brythen and came back repeatedly and very quickly when I called, about 85% of the time.  I think the recall practice we are doing in the house and garden is having some effect, although she is still pretty hopeless if she gets out of line of sight.  She doesn't seem to connect up whistling and calling with coming back - only if she can see me waving at her (and no, her hearing is excellent - just selective!)

It's still definitely an issue that Brythen really wants to play, so will ambush her if she comes haring back towards me - which puts her off coming back sometimes. Brythen is bigger and can be a bit rough.  But she's been a lot more confident with him recently, and also I think B is getting the hang of me telling him NOT to leap at her.

Comments

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Oh, Rosie...

I think this may be a common response among dogs that are nervous of other dogs. Max is the same. With confident dogs, he confines himself to snatt!ing his teeth, like the crocodile from the Punch and Judy show. But with timid dogs, if he's off-lead he will bark and snap and try and bowl them over.

Perhaps the anxiety is always there a little bit in the background, but with submissive dogs it surfaces? I hope things with Rosie improve and she becomes less of a cowbag as she grows in confidence!

[island-of-reil.livejournal.com]

Aw, poor Molly. :(

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know. Rosie is fine with many dogs, and particularly with dogs she's met regularly, but sometime she takes a dislike, and it's so hard to work out what she's thinking. Submissive dogs are the worst, but sometimes she'll have a go at a more confident one...

Sometimes I think she's nervous, but other times she will charge up from a great distance, which seems like a weird thing to do if she doesn't want any contact.

Maybe it's a social anxiety thing, perhaps she is an introvert and can only take so much social pressure, or wants some social interaction but isnt sure how to do it? If so, I can definitely sympathise with that! Reducing the number of contacts does seem to have helped.

Does Max charge up from a distance or does he have more of a dogs approaching him kind of problem?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I know, I felt awful for her. She is quite a robust girl though, I gave her a big cuddle afterwards and she bounced off to play with the other dogs.

It's just that she has such excellent doggy manners that she does an exaggerated cringe to communicate that she is no threat, which my mannerless pain in the arse totally failed to understand. It's odd, because Brythen is similarly polite and she gets on well with him. I suppose they spend lots of time together though.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

...perhaps she ... wants some social interaction but isn't sure how to do it?

Yes - conflicting inflicts perhaps, wanting to have fun but then finding it all a bit much?


Max won't usually go charging up... He's absolutely fine running free in the field with M's terrier around - she's even grumpier than he is, and they have established a neutrality pact, studiously ignoring each other.

But with dogs that come up, I have to distract him with sossidge, because sometimes he wags his tail and he's fine, and sometimes he launches himself at them, and I can never tell which reaction it's going to be.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Well, that sounds more or less reasonable, if he's not bothering dogs that don't bother him?

I used to get a bit of that with Az, who was well up for delivering an AZ SMASH to dogs that had the temerity to be puppies or just bouncy in his immediate vicinity. I know it's a bit of a pain to have to keep watching what's approaching though. But he was mostly OK once he'd done his AZ SMASH it would all be over. He SMASHED all our foster dogs, but he only ever did it once, and after that, all was well!

I think as well as a bit of social anxiety and inappropriate play, there's some prey instinct in the mix with Rosie too, she sometimes narrows her eyes and stalks another dog like a cat stalking a mouse. Mixed-up little minx!

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

conflicted inflicts was meant to read conflicted instincts as you may have guessed. ("The words! Stop them! They're getting away!")