Gabriel:
Not sure if the dog is male or female, not that it matters...
What this trainer is advising you to do is aggressive type training and it is
not always recommended! This is something that people do to teach a dog who is
"alpha" and are desperate to get results. This pinning the dog down on his
back and holding his/her mouth shut with one hand and pinning the dog's front
legs together with the other hand will work only as a last resort and is
considered aggressive training. I have seen it work only in very rare cases
and only in certain larger breeds.
What I would highly recommend, would be that you pick up this book. It's
called "The Loved Dog" by Tamar Geller. She gives much insight to the
nonaggression approach to teach your dog good behavior.
When a dog is taught through non-aggressive manner, the dog should NEVER be
grabbed by the collar or swatted with a hand or even a newspaper! Nor should
the dog be leash trained with any type of collar that "cinches" when pulled on
by the leash (choke collar).
Pups normally respond well when they are taught with positive reinforcement.
This is the method I prefer and I have had a lot of dogs (big and small). I
give them tiny liver treats and praise them when the behavior is good, and turn
my back on them when the behavior is unacceptable (or put them behind a door
for a quick time out for a couple minutes in rare cases, but this is only a
last resort). Dogs should never be punished by putting them into a crate, or
the crate will only be seen by the dog as negative.
Try picking up this book at your library, or a local bookstore. It could
give you much insight on how pups learn. They are very instinctive and respond
to the "alpha" (you), as if you are the leader of the pack. One thing I do is
eat first at the dinner table, and then feed the dog last. This teaches him
that I am alpha and this is what happens in a pack of dogs, the alpha eats
first. Everything a dog does is based on instinct and positive response from
it's master. If you don't correct the dog now, he may never change. Usually a
pup will try to get away with doing things as long as you let them. As soon as
the pup realizes that the behavior is unacceptable, he will stop. Most dogs
(especially cockapoos) are very loyal and live to please their master. If they
realize that you are displeased with the behavior that they are displaying then
they will stop. The best time to train any dog is in the very first 6 months
when they are young, but given this bad behavior
continues to long, or many times, it can sometimes be VERY hard to break bad
habits!
Very important that NO ONE plays aggressively with the dog EVER! This means
no tug of war, hand wrestling or anything that gives the dog reason to be
aggressive in any way shape or form. This type of stuff can totally ruin a dog
and put the owner in a position to put the dog to sleep because he may be a
danger to himself or other people as he gets older.
In the meantime, in order to stop his aggressive behavior the dog needs to
understand that it should be okay to let his master or anyone else touch him
over his entire body and handle his food while he is eating. Some people will
mix a couple of treats into the dog's food so he/she understands that the
master is making his/her food taste better. Once he/she realizes this, back
off on putting treats in his/her food little by little and soon he/she will
trust that you are not taking away his/her food! It may be a little rough in
the beginning and you may have to wear a glove on ONE hand so he/she cant hurt
you, but after he/she realizes that there is nothing to worry about, the dog
will let you touch his/her food. I would also talk to my trainer about
nonaggression training, this can sometimes make a dog meaner and have BAD end
results. Some people will "yelp" very loud to teach the dog he/she is getting
to rough with you, some people put peanut butter on the hand and
praise the dog for being nice while the dog licks the hand, if the dog should
begin to bite at the hand you should yelp loudly to let the dog know he/she is
hurting you.
Open up a phone book and call some other trainers, they will give some
insight as well as to what may be going wrong with your dog's behavior. I can
only tell you what I know, but I am not a professional. Some of the ideas here
I have done and some I have seen others do and have worked.
Good Luck...
Gabriel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I think that when I originally posted about Charley's aggression I
didn't do a good enough job of explaining the level of his aggression.
It seems like rage. He can't snap himself out of it. Last week, my
dad wanted to show him that Charley wasn't the dominent dog, so when
Charley had an aggression episode, he grabbed Charley's collar and
tried to pin him to the ground and close his muzzle (the trainer
recommended this), but it didn't make Charley stop. Charley continued
to go after my dad and somehow as he was holding onto Charley's collar,
Charley was in the air, still thrashing around and making noises and
that didn't even snap him out of it. Its a serious situation and we
are afraid of what could happen.
It never happens with food- only socks, shoes, the end of his leash,
paper, things he takes out of the outside garbage, etc.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Julie
---------------------------------
Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends inside Yahoo! Mail. See how.
