background of foster dog and help needed please

Share your favorite training tips, ideas and methods with other Positively members!

Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost

Post Reply
nettyjen
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon May 09, 2016 4:14 pm

background of foster dog and help needed please

Post by nettyjen »

i foster dogs for a rescue centre and have now got a 2 year old staffie rottie cross. she is a lovely girl and was found running down a road and rescued. we think she either escaped or out did her usefulness. she had cigarette burns on her, which i think are from weed cigarettes because she goes into a ball and whimpers if i take her past someone smoking it but normal cigarettes are no problem.
she was scared of grass and water, she didnt know how to play either.
the problem is she hasnt had good experiences with big dogs, we have been given her sister from a different owner he has told us that to breed from them the rottie owner puts the females on a trampoline with a net and the male rottie. molly, my adorable foster girl is great now with small or her size dogs, i can let her off lead and she plays, i do have to tell her to be gentle because she gets so excited. she has gone for big dogs but as i soon as i say "molly no" she stops. but have now been told to use a muzzle if she goes for a dog as punishment and take it off when she is back on her own or with dogs she knows. mostly if they get too close to her back end she reacts. i think its a flashback to her traumatic mating. is this a good idea or is there another way to help her. the other day we were walking and she said hello to a big labrador he jumped up and got his front paws on her to play she did the same but i think she got too excited and seemed aggressive but she didnt bite, she did get too much though and thats when i was told a muzzle would mean she could get used to doggie language safely.
JudyN
Posts: 7018
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:20 pm
Location: Dorset, UK
Contact:

Re: background of foster dog and help needed please

Post by JudyN »

No, muzzling her as punishment would be a really bad idea. She has a genuine reason to be scared of large dogs and if you were punished for reacting to something you were scared of you would become more scared of it. Having her both scared of the dog and scared of demonstrating her fear is doubly bad - it's like tying someone's hands behind their back when they're feeling threatened.

She needs to know that she is safe so she doesn't need to be scared of big dogs. So keep her at a comfortable (for her) distance from them; if there's dogs that might run up to her either ask their owners to call them back or turn and walk the other way, and give her treats when she can see a large dog at a distance from her - not as a reward for being 'good' but so she associates the sight of a large dog with something good. She may never tolerate being close to a large dog but that's OK.

Another thing to bear in mind is that muzzles can be useful tools and you don't want your dog to be afraid of them and view them as punishment. My dog wears a muzzle on walks as he can be unpredictable but he's 100% happy with wearing it - it's just part of 'getting dressed' for the walk, like me putting shoes on.

If she stops when you tell her no it sounds like she's doing well - just try to avoid any situation where you have to tell her no.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
nettyjen
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon May 09, 2016 4:14 pm

Re: background of foster dog and help needed please

Post by nettyjen »

thank you. that reaffirms what we at the rescue and my local pet shop say. putting a muzzle wont help. if she was aggressive i would have no chance of stopping her attacking dogs. i can let her off the lead and she plays. she does get over excited and i think i panic a bit which she must be picking up on, so i am going to have to stop panicking.
i have now got a no pull harness which is better. should i get a halti thing so i have control of her head or is that a bad idea.
she played with neighbours jack russell today and he had a ball she had hers but she wanted his and warned him i told her no and put her in my flat until the other dog went in then let her out. was this a good thing or bad thing. her training so far is going well following victorias approach but the nervous with big dogs and the not sharing toys is harder. she didnt have toys til i got her or played.
JudyN
Posts: 7018
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:20 pm
Location: Dorset, UK
Contact:

Re: background of foster dog and help needed please

Post by JudyN »

Unless you absolutely need a Halti to control her, I wouldn't get one. If a dog lunges wearing a headcollar it can whip their neck round and cause damage - and if you need one, it means that you've put her in a situation that should have been avoided (if at all possible - there's only so much you can do to stop other dogs running up to you). And again, it would make her feel less in control of the situation, more vulnerable, and therefore more frightened and liable to attack.

Did the Jack Russell still have the ball when she warned him? If she had the ball, then warning him off wouldn't really be an issue - in dogs' brains, possession is 10/10ths of the law. Even of the JRT still had the ball, I'd just have called her inside, maybe with the offer of a ball of her own, and made a note that it's not a good idea to let them play when there is a toy she might want. Telling her no is unlikely to make her feel differently about the justice of the situation.

It's difficult to know from what you say how much this behaviour should be a concern. If she's coming away when you ask her to, and if you can remove her from the situation when she's having a disagreement with another dog, my guess is it's normal 'dog communication'. To an extent, a dog should be able to say to another one 'Bog off, I don't want to play with you'. Respecting the first signs of this (with my dog it can literally be a vibration in the lead as he starts a growl at subsonic level) and removing her from the situation, rather than 'correcting' her will reassure her that she is safe, and in time her fear-aggressive reaction should diminish.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Post Reply