Naughty Puppy at School
Bert had to have his leash on and the instructor held on to him for awhile and sprayed Benaca in his mouth each time he nipped inapproprately. He did end up smelling minty fresh 
The instructor told us that he was just trying to herd the little dogs and he has great prey drive. Great...but a bummer for Bert, the only naughty dog in school. He seems to play nicely at the dog park... |
|
|
| Hm....
Does she spray him because he lacks bite inhibition or because he's so vigorous in his "play" that the others can't defend themselves? Normally you'd want the puppies to teach each other to behave, but that can only happen if they're pretty evenly matched. OES can be such a pain in polite company. Why don't you take him to St Paul this afternoon to play with other OES? (How old is he - old enough to be out and about? If not, maybe they'll arrange it again): http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=22700 Kristine |
| I would be concerned about your trainers methods.
most OES respond better to positive training methods. I know aversives have their place- this doesn't seem to be one of them. another thought is that the puppies in the class may be mismatched and shouldn't play together. you say he is okay at dog park, then just skip this part of puppy class - I personally think dogs should learn that they don't get to play in class - sort of like kids in a restaurant  |
kerry wrote: I would be concerned about your trainers methods.
most OES respond better to positive training methods. I know aversives have their place- this doesn't seem to be one of them. Well, yes and no - aversives are exactly how they teach each other enough is enough. The problem is when the pups aren't evenly matched, which is hard to do under the best of circumstances, and the humans have to step in to keep them in line: humans aren't as good at it for the simple reason we don't speak dog as fluently (if at all). That's why I was hoping Bert would get his sheepdog butt driven to the St Paul get-together and also that Gale will be able to make it. She has a puppy bitch who's probably just a bit older than him who probably IS well-matched and would teach him some manners. Failing that, she also has the pup's mama - Chewie and Sybil's aunt - and I know Bebe would be happy to help show him the ropes.  
There is nothing like a sheepdog mama to make it perfectly clear what is and isn't proper behavior.  And, eh, it isn't always purely positive ... But it's fair and inhibited and the pups get it with minimum fuss and no resentment and all is much better in the world.
Frankly there is nothing I love more than watching mama dogs at work. They're amazing. Kristine |
Mad Dog wrote: Well, yes and no - aversives are exactly how they teach each other enough is enough. The problem is when the pups aren't evenly matched, which is hard to do under the best of circumstances, and the humans have to step in to keep them in line: humans aren't as good at it for the simple reason we don't speak dog as fluently (if at all).
Frankly there is nothing I love more than watching mama dogs at work. They're amazing. Kristine so what advice would you give to someone who say had a newfie puppy who has to be told everytime they play together in quite forceful terms that his behavior is unacceptable to an older and very patient OES male? I swear Morgan has smacked Beowulf to the ground everytime we take them to the dog park for the same annoying puppylike sniffing at the hanging parts
and beowulf jumps up and gives a play bow after morgan lets him up with this big goofy grin on his face! its almost like he is thinking - cool lets do that again. I know Morgan is serious cause he is growling - something he never (okay almost never) does. I am okay with Morgan handling it - I trust his judgment, unfrtunately its not my puppy and hubby seems to be little afraid Morgan will hurt the moving mountain. |
| I think the instructor is alright with the nipping just not on the back of the little dogs. I don't think they are evenly matched but I also don't think Bert is hurting them (maybe he should learn not to bite there?). He got sprayed maybe 3 times because of the "vigorous play."
You are probably right about not having play in class. We will probably start basic obediance where socialization is not a topic. Bert is a social butterfly. Bert needs to see that sheepdog mama. I would love to take Bert to the park today in St Paul but I am stuck in the salt mines on standby duty until 3pm. Slow day. |
kerry wrote: so what advice would you give to someone who say had a newfie puppy who has to be told everytime they play together in quite forceful terms that his behavior is unacceptable to an older and very patient OES male?
I swear Morgan has smacked Beowulf to the ground everytime we take them to the dog park for the same annoying puppylike sniffing at the hanging parts and beowulf jumps up and gives a play bow after morgan lets him up with this big goofy grin on his face! its almost like he is thinking - cool lets do that again. I know Morgan is serious cause he is growling - something he never (okay almost never) does. I am okay with Morgan handling it - I trust his judgment, unfrtunately its not my puppy and hubby seems to be little afraid Morgan will hurt the moving mountain. I have to agree with Kristine here. Let the dogs sort it out themselves. You may think Morgan is being forceful enough in your eyes. But obviously in Beowulf's eyes it's still a 1/2 hearted correction. Some dogs take longer to "catch on". But I have to say that 99% of the time they will sort it out themselves without inflicting any damage. I have a bitch is a show home that visits on a regular basis. She is NOT dominant in any way just wants to play constantly & roughly. I got so tired of yelling at her. One day I thought to myself "Marilyn, this girl has no clue what you are trying to tell her because it involves more than 1 action (such as "table" or "up" or "turn"). So I put her out with each of my bigger boys who promply tried to find a corner to hide in . She was way to fast for them & besides hadn't I stressed to them (father & son) that I expected them to act like gentlmen at all times? Ok. So enter Mariah (Remember? The singleton?) Unfortunatley Mariah is NOT your normal singleton. She's about as laid back as any male around. I am surprised she hasn't sprained her neck trying to keep her face away from Olivia! I finally decided to put her with Mariah every visit for 10 minutes while I stand off to the side with a broom. Mariah finally will put her to the ground with a low growl but Olivia jumps right back up again. I see her backing off a lot sooner now & being a bit more polite than before but she's still quite a pest. My last recourse is to bring Melody back from the ashes (I'm serious on this one). She let every dog that set foot in this kennel, house or dog run know immediately what the ground rules were with a "look" & a slight curl of her upper lip. |
| We did get to play - Bert is just a normal strong playing puppy.
We all had a good time and the dogs ran and ran....and ran. Nice to meet you both Wendy and Christine (sp?s)!! Maggie and Bert are lots of fun too. About Morgan and the growling - we had an issue similar, but the opposite size! It was Ollie, our 1st OES and Dino, my son's Min Pin. Dino loved Ollie and used to pester him and even grab his hair around his neck and throat and hang from him. It was insanely funny to watch. Ollie would just sit there, and growl this deep, threatening growl - but NEVER did anything more to stop it. We kind of wished he would step it up a little, as the growling obviously never got the message across to Dino. This went on for long sessions - it drove us crazy and we distracted Dino just to stop it. Funny thing is, Dino still tries it with Chewie. Dino obviously loves OES, as these are the only dogs he ever has done it to. Now Chewie - he doesn't care a bit. He sees it as some crazy loving attention and just soaks it up. Dino is jumping, nipping and generally acting like the crazy dog that Min Pins are, Chewie just sits there and smiles. Looks kind of puzzled though - "why is he doing this?" |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|