[NAGDU] Cricket can growl?

[Nimer Jaber]

Hello and Merry Christmas to all if I'm still allowed to say Merry 
Christmas:

I haven't gotten out of my rock lately, but once in a while, a post 
catches my interest.  Please note the following as just an opinion, and 
only that.  I am working my third dog, and all I know is based on 
training that I have received and from personal experience.

I have found and continue to learn that, as much as school tells me so, 
physical corrections are rarely a good thing.  This came out of a result 
of a couple of complaints to my school, one being from an animal control 
official.  Even though the instructors at my school stated that I am 
excellent at my delivery of a correction, I no longer deliver 
corrections and have fount alternative methods instead.  They are 
misunderstood by people watching them, and even more so, they are 
misunderstood by the dog.  In Cricket's mind, she was doing a wonderful 
thing by protecting you from, what she possibly perceived, were 
threatening dogs.  And for me, I would much rather have a dog defend me 
from a perceived threat than not do it at all.  Having gotten that out 
of the way, here is how I might have handled the situation:

I would have asked that each dog be brought out to the yard or car 
separately on leash.  It is usually good to introduce dogs separately 
when possible, especially when a strange dog is entering the domain of 
another.  I would've let them sniff around for a couple minutes, and 
then had them bring the other dog out.  If all is well, I would have 
then gone into the house and maintained control of Cricket until her 
recall is great and her reactions are predictable.  A lesson that I've 
learned is to make absolutely sure that a dog understands 100% what they 
are supposed to do.  When they aren't doing it, it is my job to try to 
understand why, and hopefully, to try to make it so that the dog is 
doing what I am asking.  I'm not sold that a correction is necessary at 
all, but if it is, it should be delivered only after the dog understands 
what he/she is supposed to be doing, he/she doesn't do that action and 
is intentionally doing another action that it knows full well it isn't 
supposed to be doing.  A correction is delivered out of a need to stop 
the behavior that is undesirable and to get the dog's focus back on what 
it is supposed to be doing.  It is never delivered out of anger or a 
split-second reaction to something that is going on. I'm sure that some 
schools and handlers will absolutely disagree with me, but I'm okay on 
that, as I'm only saying what is working for me now.

Also, I can't recommend leaving a dog in a car alone anymore.  I've had 
the pleasure of seeing the results of that, and it just isn't something 
I can recommend.  The dog is almost better left alone at home with a 
bone and some soft, relaxing music.

Thanks.

On 12/27/2015 02:21, Abby Bolling via NAGDU wrote:
> Hi all!
> I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!
> I went to my uncles house for our annual  family get together. My aunt 
> and uncle have two black labs and they said that of course, cricket 
> was welcome, that Stella and Lulu would love to play with another dog. 
> Well, that didn't go as planned.
> I was working Cricket into the house because we don't go there very 
> often, so the layout is very unfamiliar to me.
> So Cricket and I are walking up the steps and she is doing really 
> really good. She steps up and is on the landing and all of a sudden I 
> hear puppy paws on the wood floor. Crickets harness handle is 20inches 
> long because she is super short, but this means, when we go up steps, 
> I am usually two steps behind her. So I wasn't on the landing yet. But 
> all of a sudden, I feel Crickets head jerk around a little bit, then 
> she turns to the right to body block me. at this point, I can feel 
> Stella and Lulu like dancing around Cricket and getting in her  face 
> and jumping at her. I could tell they were playing, but i have no idea 
> what was going through Crickets head. I was very surprised when I 
> heard my little 48 pound tiny black lab let out one of the most 
> terrifying growls I have ever heard. I'm serious, I was taken-aback 
> for a split second.
> I corrected her so hard that she actually did a 180 degree turn, but 
> Stella got back in her face and she growled again. At this point I was 
> able to get on the landing and correct her hard again, but even 
> through the fact that the collar was tight around her throat, she was 
> still trying to growl. At this point, my cousin was able to grab 
> Stella and then Lulu and put them in a separate room, but Cricket was 
> still wound up and was jumping in the air. I literally had to almost 
> tackle her to get her to lay down and calm down.
> My family doesn't understand dog corrections, and they cringe and 
> squawked because they thought I was hurting Cricket. I told them that 
> I wasn't "hurting her," sure it wasn't comfortable, but I wasn't 
> debilitating her.
>
>
> Now the question! In your guys' opinion, did I handle the situation 
> correctly? Should I not take cricket over there? And what would yall 
> have done in that situation?
> My Boyfriend asked why I didn't take Cricket out to the car, as it is 
> really warm here, so temperature wise she would have been safe, but I 
> didn't do that because she has really bad separation anxiety and will 
> cry and whine and howl if she is left alone very much.
> And since I have only had her home for 4 months, I don't want to make 
> her mad too early in the game.
>
> So anyway, thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions? All are appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Abby and the currently snuggly peaceful sleepy cricket.
>