[nagdu] Dog problems

[Tami Jarvis]

Minh,

Well, I think the advice to pull back with the dog and let him come to 
you is good. Then you can offer praise and reward when he does and begin 
rebuilding from there.

I'm also wondering if he's not feeling well or has a physical problem 
behind his lack of desire to play or be anywhere but his crate, along 
with the yelping. Is he showing any other symptoms of that sort of 
thing? Dogs can be pretty subtle about showing injury or sickness, but 
you've mentioned some small signs that would prompt me to start watching 
more closely for health issues that might underly the change in behavior.

If you can remember back to when the behavior began to change and think 
if there was anything different that you might have done, or that was in 
the environment or, well, whatever, that might help as well.

Good luck!

Tami

On 12/08/2013 08:12 AM, Sherry Gomes wrote:
> It might be a good idea for you to back off from him and leave him alone for
> a while. He's not your dog, and unless your Boyfriend isn't there to correct
> an urgent bad behavior, it isn't really your place to do so. For one thing,
> it sounds like he's becoming afraid of you, and you don't want that at all.
> Also, it's possible he's becoming confused about who is alpha is. Let your
> boyfriend be the primary person in his life for a while and let the dog come
> to you when he's ready.
>
> I've had experience with this, with an ex-boyfriend from many years ago who
> thought it was his right to correct my dog. I had a very sensitive dog and
> she couldn't handle it. At the time, I couldn't get out of the living
> environment easily, so I returned her to the school to protect her. When I
> was away from that environment, I got another dog and I heard that other one
> worked successfully with someone else. Now I'm a downright hard *** about
> people correcting my dog, even my closest friends, boyfriends or whatever. I
> tell people don't correct, unless I'm out of the room and the dog is about
> to grab a nice juicy steak or something off the counter. Lol. And even then,
> it should never be a yell or a physical correction of any kind. That's only
> my place to do.
>
> Sherry
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of minh ha
> Sent: Sunday, December 08, 2013 2:03 AM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nagdu] Dog problems
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am at my wits end about an issue and I'm hoping to get some advice,
> especially from those of you that have a partner who also has a guide
> dog.  My boyfriend and I both have guides and our dogs are very
> attached to us, meaning that they will listen to either of us when we
> give them commands (out of harness, obviously.) However, O'Malley, my
> boyfriend's guide has started exhibiting some very strange behaviors
> towards me lately. It's almost like he is afraid of me. When I tell
> him to come, he won't do it; he will just sit there and thump his
> tail, acknowledging the fact that he hears me, but he refuses to come.
> When I go to grab him to give him a correction, he will run to his bed
> and hide in the back and will not come out, no matter what I do. I've
> tried everything--corrections, talking in a stern voice, yelling,
> treats-and none of it seems to do anything. Doing obedience with
> treats doesn't work either because he knows treats are imminent so
> he'll come flawlessly. The situation is made extra frustrating when he
> plays keep away with me; I will call him and he'll get really close,
> but not close enough where I can actually touch him or grab his
> collar. And when I do try to grab him, he will run back to his bed
> again. The other thing that is really distressing both my boyfriend
> and I is that O'Malley seems to prefer his bed over any spot. If his
> crate is open, he will go lay in there and not come out unless you
> call him or it's food time. Viva will try to engage him in playing and
> he plays sometimes, but most of the time, he will just lay in bed and
> does nothing else. One last thing, when we do manage to get him to
> come out and play, he has been yelping a lot whenever I play with him.
> We do play a little rough, but not any more than when my boyfriend
> plays with him and he never yelps then. I'm just so frustrated at the
> situation and I honestly don't know what else to do. I love this dog
> and I spoil him to death, but for some reason, he is just acting so
> weird with me that it has brought me to tears more than once. If any
> of you has insight into what is going on, I would really appreciate
> it. I will try anything at this point.
>
> Cheers,
> Minh
>
>