Thanks TracyJo, it's been a long and emotional twelve months.
We adopted Jeddah early December last year. She was completely undisciplined, didn't come to her name, not even too sure if she knew she had one!! Showed a few early warning signs that she wasn't too good with other dogs. So I thought, we'd take her off to Obedience and the socialisation would sort out all our problems. Did some research, and promptly enrolled at a very well known and respected school. Well, the start wasn't too bad.......but you could see she was very on edge. Jeddah showed early in the classes that she was going to be the "difficult" student. So, she would get a lot of one-on-one attention from different trainers. Some information was effective, some not so. Unfortunately, quite a bit of conflicting advice at times. But, we perservered, kept going back week after week. Her aggressive behaviour around week 3 started to really escalate. I now have a full collection of different collars and head halties, that were suggested by trainers, purchased, worn, then cast off for the next fashion item to be modelled by Jeddah at class. Yep, I just kept handing over the bucks! *shake my own head in wonder*
The problem was that no one diagnosed her problem correctly, they thought she was rank aggressive so treated her accordingly. You know when you sit back and watch a train wreck, you know that this just isn't right, but you put your trust in people who have way more experience in this matter than yourself..... I should have left, but I didn't. One of my great regrets. Then on week six, they decided to try "flooding". Placed Jeddah in a circle, the rest of the dogs in the class walking around in a circle, and this circle slowly encroaching upon Jeddah and my son who was handling her. Well, I was sitting on the sidelines, and my heart was breaking watching Jeddah, muscles tensed just waiting to lunge at any opportunity. I could see that my son was furious. We left, and haven't returned.
I had been researching behavioural specialists, and found K9 Force in Sydney, who was fortunately coming to Brisbane. But I had to wait six weeks before our meeting. During this time, Steve instructed me to control Jeddah's environment. Keep her away from other dogs, to try and reduce her "wins". (e.g. where she would show aggression to another dog, say at the fence line - other dog would then leave. She had a "win".)
This man changed Jeddah's life, mine also. Steve diagnosed Jeddah as fear aggressive at our first meeting. He pointed out to me that the progressive build-up of aggression over the weeks of classes, was typical as she was waiting for us as pack leader to defend her against these other dogs. We didn't, so she then had to deal with the matter on her own. And that was to strike, before they strike you. Once this is pointed out, yes, it was so obvious, why didn't I see that?? Better still, why didn't the experts see it!
I suppose the only tip that I can think off the top of my head, is to set small goals. Be excited by any little achievement. A step forward is so much more gratifying than a step back. My first goal was loose lead walking. LOL With that came better control, and my place as her leader confirmed. You can see, I'm easily pleased. I can remember the first time I had Jeddah on a football field, with another dog across the other side, and I could keep her attention on me. Major breakthrough. Much better than a screaming, spinning dobe at the end of a leash.
Many apologies for the long ramble.
