mood swings?

1352 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by beckabean11404, Oct 30, 2006

beckabean11404

Discussion Starter · Oct 27, 2006

When we first brought Lady here I knew I would have some minor "bumps" to overcome, due to the fact that I had a snooty male who doesn't like change lol. Buddy is a hound/pit mix, and is really a sweet boy, but he's not so quick at welcoming new comers. Of course he immeadiatly put Lady in her place, and I put him in his. As Lady grew more comfortable and stronger she finally gave Buddy the payback he deserved, and she is now above him in the pack, which was no big deal. Last night Lady decided that I had been neglecting her attention wise (I've been pulling 3hr shifts at our resale store) so she decided she would become a lap dog lol. I allowed her up into the recliner with me, and at the same time I reached out to pet Jazmyn a new foster who came in on Tues. When I did this Lady snapped! She immeadiatly lunged at Jazmyn, showing her teeth and growling. Now I am the only person Lady has ever "protected" attention wise. She'll share anyone else in the home with the other dogs, except me. I did jump up, and corrected her when this happened, then she went into time out in her cage. She has done this a few times with Buddy, I had been giving Lady kisses when Buddy came up to get some love, she went right for him and almost got me instead, I've corrected the behavior every time by pushing her back, telling her no and then showing her that I love the other dogs to. The only thing that I think I have done wrong is by being more personally attached and bonded to Lady, but I still give each dog the same amount of affection. My biggest concern with this is that Lady might try to hog me from one of my children. So far she has shown no aggression towards them at all, if she is on the couch with me and one of the kids come up she will let them onto the couch with us or she'll just get down and let them have me. She's affectionate towards both of my girls, but when I'm not up for fighting over, she's affectionate with the other dogs as well.

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micdobe

· #2 · Oct 27, 2006

She needs to not be allowed the privileges you're giving her until she learns that they are privileges and not rights and that you can take them away as well as give them. Left alone, the behavior probably will escalate, and it could include a child someday, not saying it will, since I haven't seen her, but it might.

There is a training program called Nothing In Life Is Free(NILIF), there's a website, I don't have the URL, but you could probably google it. Or others here know it and will probably post it.

The important part I think is to not have the inappropriate behavior happen, because letting it happen and then correcting her after the fact probably won't work. It also sets her up for failure in that the situations present themselves, she takes advantage of them, and then she is punished/corrected.

With NILIF she would not be allowed on the furniture at this point and she would have to learn obedience commands and do "something" such as sit/stay or whatever before any privileges are given, such as petting, kissing, etc. It's not a program that you should have to follow for the rest of her life but just until she gets the idea.

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BackInBlack

· #3 · Oct 27, 2006

Here are some links for the NILIF method.

http://www.nomorehomelesspets.org/behavior/dog/nilif.htm

http://www.forpaws.org/articles/alpha.htm

http://www.doggiebagonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1990

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beckabean11404

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 30, 2006

I talked to a trainer over the weekend and she seems to think that Lady has a dog agression issue when it comes to affection. We're going to start working with her and hopefully we can teach her that she MUST share mommy. I'm sort of being punished lol, because I now have to stop the close bonding. She told me when I come home I have to greet the other dogs first, then Lady, I should also feed the other dogs first and Lady last. DH now needs to be more a part of Lady's care so she knows that if I am busy with one of the other dogs that she can go to him. I created a monster lol. I guess after seeing what she had gone through I feel more apt to "baby" her, and that is a BIG no no. She doesn't seem to think that my kids are in any danger of Lady becoming jelous of them, she said Lady is actually very bonded to them, and would most likely become possesive over them the way she is with me if this isn't stopped now. A lot of her aggression is geared towards the new dogs, and not so much the ones she was introduced to when she came here. We put her in a situation with Kaycee one of my dogs, where I was petting Lady and Kaycee come up to me, Lady accepted Kaycee without a hitch, and eventually ignored me to play with Kaycee. Then we brought in a dog that Lady had never met, the moment I started to pet the other dog (trainer had Lady on a leash a safe distance away) Lady started to panic, she wanted nothing more than to get between the other dog and me. Because I want to continue to foster dogs in need I think it's very important that we fix this problem, or at least control it.

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