[NAGDU] Cricket can growl?

Mon Dec 28 01:43:31 UTC 2015

I wish I would've been able to handle it a little bit differently and possibly not have cracked her is hard, but it was so out of character for her to growl the way she did, and to me it sounded aggressive. And since the dogs did not back up after her first growl and she grout again, that's when I asked if someone could help me. Because I am on a college campus, and because there are some dogs on campus who have reputations of being aggressive, even though their service dogs, (I don't get it!) I do want cricket to understand that growling in harness is an acceptable behavior. I have taught her to bark on command because I will sometimes for my job have to walk at night, and that makes me really nervous. So I figure if someone is out there, they're less likely to hurt me if they know that I have a dog with me, whether or not they know if she's aggressive. Anyway, I want her to understand that it is generally not acceptable to vocalize and harness and less I give her a specific verbal or hand signal is a command for her to do so. I did go see the dogs after the party was over and I had my dad hold cricket while I went to the room with them. I noticed that they were not very well-behaved, jumping, pushing, biting each other, nipping me, and generally undesirable dog behaviors.cx they would not follow a single commands like sit lay down or come down or anything like that. To get one of them to stop jumping on me I actually had to scrub her, which I hate doing, and I don't think has ever been done to her, so it surprised her but she started doing what I wanted her to do which was not jump on me. I don't blame cricket for growling, now that I'm not in that situation. I just have to learn a different way to redirect her attention, and try to redirect the other dogs attention as well. The other thing is that neither one of those dogs had collars on, so I could not hear where they were to get in between them and my dog, which is what I would usually do. I also didn't know which way I could pull cricket to get her away from them. Next time I go over there, which will probably be a holiday of some sort, or my cousin James birthday in October, I will definitely ask them before I go in if they can put their dogs away or I just won't take her and harness. Like I said, I am very wary of leaving her at home for a long period of time when I have had her for a short amount of time. We were only supposed to be there for around 3 1/2 hours, but we ended up being there almost exactly for six hours. I feel like that's kind of too long of a time for a 20-month-old dog to spend by herself if she has never had to spend that long by herself before.
But anyway, thank you all so much for your supportive words and suggestions. I am trying to get away from the physical corrections and use an auditory correction instead. (I actually just did a paper on this) if you guys have any more suggestions or if you want to write something to me that you don't want to post in the thread for whatever reason, feel free to email me at the Maile address that is located in my signature. That way, it will pop up on the lock screen of my phone and I will see it right away.
Thank you all again, and I hope you guys have a wonderful new year!
PS, please ignore any bad wording choices or spelling mistakes in my email, I am using dictation, and I don't feel like going through my email word by word to edit at the moment. But, I just listened to it with voiceover, and I think you guys will get the gist of what I'm saying.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 27, 2015, at 4:01 PM, Julie J. via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I have no idea what I would have done.  I'd like to think I'd have been brilliant and my dog would have behaved and the other dogs would have magically gone about their business, but the reality is that I don't do so well thinking on the fly like that.  So I would have reacted by instinct or what I've done before or whatever.
> 
> Things I have done when encountering friendly dogs...
> *kept on going about my business
> *let my dog greet the other dog
> *stood in between the two dogs and shooed the other dog away
> *yelled at the owner to get their dog
> *had my dog wait in a down until the other dog leaves or the owner comes to get him
> 
> Things I've done to unfriendly dogs...
> *turned around and gone another way
> *stood between the two dogs and shooed the other dog away
> *moved menacingly toward the other dog
> *gave the owner what for in colorful language
> *recently I kicked a dog who was lunging toward Jetta
> 
> Things I've thought about doing but never have:
> *taking pictures
> *pepper spray
> *air horn
> *spring loaded umbrella
> 
> I have corrected my dogs for acting like a ninny around other dogs.  I've also had them sit at a reasonable distance to reinforce calm and appropriate behavior.  I've moved across the street and expected them to continue to guide.  I've given treats for calm and appropriate behavior.  And yes, sometimes I let my dogs growl at other dogs, especially if I know my dog is growling as a correction for socially inappropriate behavior.  Many, many years ago, I taught obedience classes.  I had Tia then and she was a wonderful example dog.  A lot of the dogs I worked with didn't have very good dog to dog social skills and Tia was very, very good at being patient, but also growling when they crossed the line.  The other dogs weren't aggressive, just rude and she would communicate to them that they were being rude.  It helped the other dogs to learn what was okay and what wasn't. It's how dogs communicate and I don't have a problem with it.  That said, there is growling and then there is growling and not all growls are created equally.  A mama dog might growl at her puppies when they are being wild. She isn't aggressive and she isn't going to hurt the pups, but they need to know that what they are doing is inappropriate.  Then there is the food/toy/territory aggressive dog who growls at dogs or people when they get too close to his food/toy/kennel.  This is not okay and will probably require a skilled trainer to help.
> 
> I think it's good to look back and think about what you could have done better.  It helps you to process the whole thing and hopefully to do better next time.  However there comes a point when you just have to let go and move on.
> 
> Julie
> Courage to Dare: A Blind Woman's Quest to Train her Own Guide Dog is now available! Get the book here:
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QXZSMOC
> -----Original Message----- From: Cindy Ray via NAGDU
> Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2015 2:03 PM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Cc: Cindy Ray
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Cricket can growl?
> 
> I don't see a thing wrong with doing corrections. If it gets the results you are looking for, you praise. You cannot always assess the whole situation until much later. Much later might well be too late. If you know your dog, you know what kind of corrections are appropriate for it. If someone is petting my dog and the dog is distracted and not doing what I want, I correct it even if it is not the dog's fault. It needs to understand the fact that it is not behaving in a way I would expect it to. It also corrects the person who was messing with the dog. Same goes here. If someone's dog is in my dog's face, my dog is growling, I am going to correct it. Then the person to whom other dog belongs can feel badly maybe because my dog had to be corrected, and they might think twice before they allow the situation to come up again. My dog isn't going to have some kind of lasting traumatic effect afterwards unless I've abused it. I wouldn't ever abuse my dog. And people may think I am abusing the dog sometimes because dogs aren't ever corrected if they are "civilian" dogs. So I would make no apologies to anyone if I have corrected my dog.
> Cindy Lou Ray
> cindyray at gmail.com
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Wayne And Harley via NAGDU
> Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2015 1:06 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Wayne And Harley <k9dad at k9di.org>
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Cricket can growl?
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Abby,Being that it was a situation you hadn't prepped for I think you did well.However, a firm "No, Leave It" is what I would have done. Given that a growl was her only way of letting the other dogs know she didn't appreciate them being in her face. Better to have her growl a bit then learn she can't growl and instead go straight into a silent attack.
> Yours, Very Sincerely And Respectfully,
> 
> Wayne M. Scace
> 
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Abby Bolling via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Date: 12/27/2015  02:21  (GMT-06:00)
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Abby Bolling <violingirl30794 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [NAGDU] Cricket can growl?
> 
> 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.
> 
> --
> Abigail M. Bolling
> Wright State University-2018: Rehabilitation Services
> Phone: (513) 512-3456
> Email: bolling.8 at wright.edu
> Abilities United: Secretary
> Ohio Association of Guide Dog Users, a chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio: Secretary "keep a smile on your face and a song in your heart, and just let the music play." (Julie Anderson-Diamond) "Dance like no one is watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like no one is listening, and live like it's Heaven on earth." (William Purkey) The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.
> 
> 
> 
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