doggy - please help

[butter1]

I have a 5 year old cross terrier.  Myself and my ex bought her from a rescue home when she was 5 months old.  I think she was abused by her previous owners.  But my ex also was a nasty person and also abused her.  Luckily we both got away and we are both very happy now (have been for 3 years now).  Problem is, i feel so guilty about how so was treated.  I spoil her badly and she couldn't want for nothing.  She is lovely with me and the people close to me but with certain strangers and other dogs she can be quite nasty, especially children.  I have taken her to training and she was very good.  I don't know what to do?  Am I being too soft and should I be more stricked with her?  I think, she thinks that she is the leader of the pack but I don't know how to get around this.  She is my angel.

[andy hughes]

You are probably helping yourself over your own insecurities in your relationship be over-indluging your dog - perfectly natrual, but not always in her best interests.

Her nastiness with strangers and other dogs is probably her instinctive desire to protect you, so don't worry too much about that - it's a terrier characteristic.

You don't need to change your approach to her too drastically, just make sure she doesn't have her own way all the time - if she knows she is being naughty, punish her. All dogs do this - it's pack life, to have a push against the leader now and again, and a sharp lesson will bring her back in line.

As for the abuse she suffered - I'm sure your love for her has more tna compensated for that, and is probably a dim memory to her, if indeed she remembers it at all, but she must know her place - it's better for her, and for you.

[butter1]

Thank you Andy - what you have said was very nice and it has made me feel better.  I will take your advice.  Thank you.

[andy hughes]

It's my pleasure - happy to help.

A x

[doofah]

Hi t1gger

I'm sorry to say I have to disagree with Andy on this one, we homed a very badly treated staffordshire bull terrier, one of most beautiful and intelligent dogs I've ever owned - so intelligent that games could be taught in under an hour...

Bang - point a toy gun at her, and say bang, she'd fall on her back, paws up in the air, tail wagging furiously cos she knew she'd got it right - took 20 minutes to teach her...

However, she was the same, new people, dogs and other animals would get a severe blasting and often an attempt to push them over, or pin them against walls to prevent them getting anywhere near our house.

I grew up with a dog trainer as a father, and have never failed to retrain dogs with social problems in the past, but Molly was beyond me, so - as quirky as it sounds, we got a dog psychologist to visit from what was the PSDA.

The problem was simple, we were trying to make up for the suffering she'd had before, she had her own bed with a proper duvet, and was allowed to sleep on our bed, she ate when we ate - 3 small meals a day, she'd sit with us to watch tv, she'd tell us when she wanted to be on the garden or out for a walk - in her mind, she was a human and was doing what we all did.

The psyche gave us a list of rules to impose - no more sleeping on the beds, no more couch, get her a blatant dog bed, not a real bed (honest we had a single bed for her), put her out at set time intervals and walk her at the same time every day - feed her once a day, put the food down at 11am, pick it up if it wasn't eaten by 12 and bin it - don't feed her again.

Of course we were outraged, thanked and booted the torturer out and continued as we had.

(have to continue in a second post)

[doofah]

a few weeks later she attacked a small dog that past the garden gate - clearing a 7ft fence to get to him , unfortunately he was badly hurt, and we had a serious vet bill to pay, and to rethink our approach to molly significantly before anyone or anything else suffered - not to mention the guilt we felt

So we put the advice into action - there was to be no control in her head at all.

2 months later, she WAS the perfect dog a few slips every once in a while, but nothing major. She now lives with another dog and two cats and hasn't attacked any of them. or any visitors and passers by - we can even leave her outside a shop on her lead and come back to find her sitting beside another dog happily

Sometimes we forget that a dog is a dog, imposing human thoughts onto their canine behaviour. They become members of our families, but they never ever become human. In expecting them to have the level of intelligence and to think like a human we make life difficult for them and us.

A dog allowed to take control is going to think she IS in total control, but remember they can't define between a gas meter reader and someone prowling about, don't understand children as Puppies, don't know the difference between a sofa and a chair, other than that they are for the big shots in the pack to use... Would your dog know why you wear clothes?

Not saying be nasty and change your dogs life though, 5 years is a long time to spend in a role - but I don't think your dog knows the limits of her role, so watch her, and stop thinking like a human, see when she's taking control, and find a nice way to take that decision back from her - make it your own. Even things like walking through a door before her, not letting her lead you into a room, can make a massive connection in her head. Be firm, but be nice, and always let her know you still love her during the change...