Wednesday 1 August 2012

How to control your dog.

Given up on your dog as it has aggression to either humans or animals? Or in some cases both?

Well, fear no more, i've got some little tips for you.

For me, these things have worked, for you, they might not, but you have to not only control the animal in this situation, but control YOURSELF. Thats right, no point in trying to train a dog, if you're not going to train yourself first.

How did i learn these tricks?

Well for years i learned things about dog's and the way they can be with mental states. I watched years of dog whisperer, before realising, i was the one who needed the training.

You see, i learned to keep myself calm under extreme stress / pressure / panic. Here's my situation.

1 dog that has met another when it was a puppy, is now showing extreme aggression to this other dog, after having not seen it for months on end. When puppies, these dogs would play together all the time, they got on really well and enjoyed each others company.

This is what happend when i was in canada. Shelby is a .... i don't know what sort of dog off the top of my head, but here's a picture of her, she was a little bigger when i saw her, but roughly this big (Remember, only 1 human year old, she's alot of growing still to do.)


Now, to most human's, shelby is fine, she might bark at you a couple of times, but if you're anything like me, i was straight over and confident, so she learned to like me.... learned being the word.

The other dog, Snoopy, is a jack russel. Again, she's as tame as anything, loves being tickled and has one of the sweetest personality's i have ever seen in a dog, i believe this year she's 13.

Now Snoopy lives at the house where all this took place, she has her scent all over and isn't afraid of going where she wants, although she is only allowed into certain fenced off area's, otherwise she has her lead on at all times because she will take herself off for an adventure.

Shelby comes into Snoopys place and seems to want to become pack leader, by attacking snoopy. Snoopy not being the aggressive type and being towerd over by Shelby, obv isn't going to like what happens, so lies on her back with legs up in the air. What does that mean you ask?

When a dog lies on it's back with its paws up, it is a sign of surrendering, something which had i have been able to talk to snoopy, i wouldnt have let her do... but anyway.

Shelby's owners quicky decide that they need to buy a muzzle atleast to put on shelby, so she can be left out with us while we sat out and had a drink or two.

For the first night, there was fights every few hours, but instead of doing anything, i sat back and watched.... why? I learned Shelby's form of attack, which i call "The creeper". The creeper attack is where she will go behind a dog, or out of the dogs visability THEN launch an attack.

2nd day and both dogs seperatly, seem to be ok. But here's where i stepped in. In the morning, Snoopy was sat out with us on the front deck, just having a sniff around, Shelby then comes up to the area and after a few moments, people left them to their own thing and they ended up fighting. Here's when YOU have to know how to handle yourself AND the situation. Calmly, i stood up and removed shelby from the violence, while snoopy ran off to another person. I then made shelby surrender to me, by getting her to go on her back and not letting her go out of that position until i had her calm and relaxed, then i would let her go onto her side, but she quickly learned that i did not like her standing up next to me as if trying to protect me. I became her leader.

During the rest of the day, while on her lead, i had shelby sit by me at all times. When she got abit restless, i would take her around the block to burn some energy off, i would play with her and her toys, but she learned to trust me and follow commands.

I did try teaching her more on hand movements, since lets face it, dog's don't speak english. So a sharp short sound and a point down at the floor, means to lay down, a click and a point at her tail means to sit down etc, she almost grasped them.

However, when there were fights here's what YOU need to do....

  • Remain calm. If you get worried, upset or angry, the dog IS going to pick up on your vibe and feel that they need to protect you, so keeping yourself calm is very important.
  • Show no fear. YOU ARE THE PACK LEADER, show yourself to be the leader. Show the animal that this sort of behaviour is NOT acceptable and you won't have it.
  • DO NOT BE VIOLENT WITH THE ANIMAL. While the animal might be aggressive towards other people / dogs as shelby was, there is no need to hurt or harm an animal, EVER. When acting, you must not hurt the animal, or they become afraid of you as they assosiate you with pain and that can lead onto other problems.
Now that we have you delt with, what to do with the dogs, when they are fighting.

  • Deal with the starter of the fight, just because 1 dog is bigger does not mean that the big dog started it.
  • Be firm, but not harsh. It goes back to animal abuse, just no need for it, you can keep calm and end the situation quicker without hurting animals yourself.
  • Pull by the bottom part of the scruff of the neck and remove the animal backwards. Yes they can be heavy at times, but when my adrenaline is going, i am.... superman.
  • Be quick to restore calm to the situation. Make sure the dog that started the attack lays down on the floor and does not move until they are slower in their movements, this is usually the sign that they are calm enough to regain your trust.

See, the rules are simple, however, one thing i have learned and luckily never had to use, it this....

  • If a dog has it's teeth into your skin or another animals skin and has jaw-locked.... Do no move yourself or the animal. You will cause more of a tear to the skin and things could still progress worse. Just remain calm if the teeth are in you and keep yourself and the dog still until the dog releases it's teeth, only then should you make sure the dog lays down on the floor and calms down.
People these days are too quick in saying "That dog is aggressive, put it down" when infact, there's always a better way of dealing with aggressive dogs.

For more advice, look at the tv program's called "The dog whisperer". The advice he gives is perfect, just remember though, if you're going to train a dog, train yourself first.

Here's a small clip of how to deal with an angry dog, that is in a cage, look at what he does, by showing himself to the dog as pack leader.

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