[nagdu] problems with new dog

[Susan Jones]

Cheryl,
This is what I would do, and what I have heard trainers suggest.

1.  Until you can get her behavior under control, back off of the freedom.
Keep her with you on leash as much as possible, and crate her or put her on
tie-down when you need to be doing other things.
That way, you can catch her when she starts getting into something, and
avoid trouble.
Give her a treat when she respons to your NO! and pays attention to you.

2.  Get a couple of friends to help you, who are not shy about giving knee
to chest.
Have them approach her and when she starts to jump, nip it in the bud.

Work with her until she can greet an approaching person with all four feet
on the ground, and calmly.

I sort of liken this to how you would teach your dog not to drink out of the
toilet by slamming the lid down in his presence.  Then it doesn't look like
it would be so attractive any longer.

I hope these ideas help, and do, please, keep in touch with Seeing Eye; they
may have other suggestions.
Some of our clicker trainer friends, I'm sure, will be able to suggest
positive ways to reinforce good manners.

Regards,
Susan & Rhoda
 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Cheryl Osborn
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 12:26 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] problems with new dog

Hi everyone

Sorry, but this is going to be a long message.

A little background first.  I received my new dog, Inga, this last December
and though she works well in harness, I have been having several behavioral
problems with her when she is out of harness.  She is very puppy-like and
gets into everything.  She loves to chew up anything.  She is my third dog
from Seeing Eye.  Of course, I expect her to behave as well as my last dog.
<grin>

The Seeing Eye sent a trainer down to work with us about 2 months ago.
 He brought me a pinch collar so that I could have a little better control
of Inga.  I had explained to him and the Seeing Eye that most of the
problems I was having were in our home.  Since I have mobility issues, the
pinch collar helped to keep Inga from dragging me around and suddenly
darting away when I was trying to park her.  There were several times that
she jerked so hard that I landed on my face.  The collar also helps in that
I am unable to give a strong physical correction.  There are many times when
I wonder if the puppy raiser just allowed Inga to do whatever she wanted,
because her behavior is so bad.  By the way, when not working, she does get
plenty of exercise playing with our Great Pyrinese.

My main concern now is that I cannot keep Inga from jumping on people when
she is not in harness.  When someone comes to visit, especially if they are
shy of dogs, Inga is surely going to jump on them.  This is bad behaviour,
of course, but especially bad when some of our friends are afraid of dogs.
I correct Inga, when I can, but it always seems to happen before I can get
to her.  You see, we have a very large yard, so when people come through the
gate, I am not there to do anything about it.  I have told everyone to give
her a knee in the chest whenever she jumps on them, but those who are shy
won't do this.



Cheryl in Mexico
chapalacheryl at gmail.com

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

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