Society & Culture1 min ago
Dog Just Gone For Another One- Am Scratched To Bits
I work for a pet sitting/dog walking agency and I was given a new client last wk. Went and met family and dog. They explained that he was scared of other dogs as he had been attacked in the past and would cower if he saw one and to walk him alone etc. He's a springer spaniel. Very affectionate. Walked for 1st time on wed. Apart from pulling like mad he was fine . Same yesterday. Took him out this morning onto a huge field and I spotted in the distance a man letting two big dogs off their leads. They come bounding over to play and the dog I have went mad. Barking and growling, pulling and pulling to get to them. I'm desperately holding onto lead for dear life but the strength he had. I've ended up on the floor gripping him for dear life - he's scratched all my legs with his claws, my hand is bleeding - not sure whether from claw or teeth. Finally other man came over and put his dogs back on leads but this one was still going mad trying to get to them. Really scared me. My question is - do you think this dog is normally like this hence why their last dog walker finished last week and the owners haven't been honest or has it reacted differently because I'm new? He certainly wasn't scared at all!!
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woof, what you say is exactly the opposite of what a dog psychologist taught me when I went to her for help with a dog that she diagnosed with fear aggression. She stressed that the more dogs we met while out walking, the more the stressed dog would get used to it. And therefore it would be less stressful for him/her. Of course I am not suggesting that Smow should be doing this. As you probably know, there is more to it than that, such as taking the dog's attention away from other dogs by moving the attention to a treat or a favourite toy etc. As I usually agree with what you say I am a bit puzzled to read what you have said.
^^£ 50 to £60 an hour no wonder they can afford new vans! Beats working for a living. I know many elderly people have a dog as company and can't walk them but it seems to be more than just that. Are there fit active people who own a dog but just can't be bothered to walk them? It looks like there must be. Terrible shame if that is true.
BTW Eddie, it takes longer than an hour. They have to drive to all the houses, let themselves in, harness up the dog, back to the car, repeat 5/6 times, walk dogs, and repeat in reverse taking all dogs back home. But it does mean the dogs are out of the house for a couple of hours and relieved of the boredom. I must admit I am not keen on so many dogs being walked at once.
well, i'm not sure where i got up to with it, but My sister in lw took the dog, absolutely fell in lover with her, and got her down to an ideal weight. Holly was happy, healthy and very loved.
Even though she ws 14 ish, she acted like a puppy. They decided to have her neutered (i think for health reasons) and sadly, the vet knicked (nicked?)a bit of bowel when doing the op and she got peritonitis and died a few days later (at midnight on christmas eve). She was incredibly happy for the short time she was with them :)
Even though she ws 14 ish, she acted like a puppy. They decided to have her neutered (i think for health reasons) and sadly, the vet knicked (nicked?)a bit of bowel when doing the op and she got peritonitis and died a few days later (at midnight on christmas eve). She was incredibly happy for the short time she was with them :)
Ok Ladybirder, current behavioural thinking is that from the dog’s point of view, he is continually being put into frightening situations that he doesn’t understand...behaviourally its called “flooding”
When its used to help humans get over things which scare them, they understand what is going to happen and why and also they very much want to get over their fear....and its still a horrible thing to go through. Now imagine that you are made to face your worst fear over and over again without understanding why.....
From the dogs point of view, their life becomes filled with fear and they have no idea why so the reaction gets more and more extreme...and that’s not the worst bit....some dogs do what is called “shutting down” which means they become so scared that they retreat inside themselves in the situation....so totally terrified by what is going on that they no longer react....and humans can see this as success because the dog no longer reacts so they keep taking the dog into those scary situations.
It used to be thought that if a child was scared of anything, the best way to get them over their fear was to force them to do whatever they were scared of....up to and including forcibly dunking them in water if that was their fear. Now we would call that abuse. Well its the same with a dog.
The way to deal with such situations is to totally remove the dog from whatever it is scared of for enough time for them to de stress both mentally and physiologically...no walks, at least no walks where there are other dogs, a peaceful reassuring life. While this is happening you teach the dog an alternative behaviour. A simple one is looking at the owner and being treated. You also work with the dog so that it feels that it can trust you, that you won’t do scary stuff or make the dog do scary stuff...again imagine if a child was made to live with people who kept scaring it for no reason it could understand....Once the dog is happy with this and doing it when asked, then you take the dog as near as it will tolerate to another dog.....and this may be at the other end of a long road or in the distance through a window. Ask dog to look at you, praise and treat and end the session....Very gradually you work with the dog being comfortable with another dog closer and closer. Some dogs who have had particularly bad experiences will never be happy with other dogs around. The other thing you can do at the same time is to teach the dog to be happy in a muzzle. This is NOT so you can force it to be closer to dogs than its happy to be but in case of accidents, a broken lead, strange dog appearing from nowhere and so on.
When its used to help humans get over things which scare them, they understand what is going to happen and why and also they very much want to get over their fear....and its still a horrible thing to go through. Now imagine that you are made to face your worst fear over and over again without understanding why.....
From the dogs point of view, their life becomes filled with fear and they have no idea why so the reaction gets more and more extreme...and that’s not the worst bit....some dogs do what is called “shutting down” which means they become so scared that they retreat inside themselves in the situation....so totally terrified by what is going on that they no longer react....and humans can see this as success because the dog no longer reacts so they keep taking the dog into those scary situations.
It used to be thought that if a child was scared of anything, the best way to get them over their fear was to force them to do whatever they were scared of....up to and including forcibly dunking them in water if that was their fear. Now we would call that abuse. Well its the same with a dog.
The way to deal with such situations is to totally remove the dog from whatever it is scared of for enough time for them to de stress both mentally and physiologically...no walks, at least no walks where there are other dogs, a peaceful reassuring life. While this is happening you teach the dog an alternative behaviour. A simple one is looking at the owner and being treated. You also work with the dog so that it feels that it can trust you, that you won’t do scary stuff or make the dog do scary stuff...again imagine if a child was made to live with people who kept scaring it for no reason it could understand....Once the dog is happy with this and doing it when asked, then you take the dog as near as it will tolerate to another dog.....and this may be at the other end of a long road or in the distance through a window. Ask dog to look at you, praise and treat and end the session....Very gradually you work with the dog being comfortable with another dog closer and closer. Some dogs who have had particularly bad experiences will never be happy with other dogs around. The other thing you can do at the same time is to teach the dog to be happy in a muzzle. This is NOT so you can force it to be closer to dogs than its happy to be but in case of accidents, a broken lead, strange dog appearing from nowhere and so on.
here’s quite a good article
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and a better one
http://
https:/
and a better one
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Thanks for the full explanation woofgang. Very interesting. It was two years ago since I had the experience with the psychologist. She is highly qualified. Maybe she has changed her approach. I think it must be horses for courses. My dog wasn't THAT scared I don't think. He was excited and keen to go out, very eager to get where we were going, couldn't wait to get out of the car and he was off. Very high energy mutt. If I kept his attention on his ball he wouldn't even look at another dog and if it wasn't a ball it was a food treat.
Here's some info if you are interested on the lady we saw. It's worth a read, she can clicker train chickens. She told me, whatever it is, if it eats I can train it LOL.
ABOUT JO-ROSIE HAFFENDEN
Jo is a behaviour counsellor here at the East Sussex Behaviour Clinic. She has a degree in psychology, which she specialised in zoology and specifically attachment theory in young mammals. She also achieved an advanced post graduate diploma in canine psychology where she specialised in aggression. She is also a full accredited behaviourist of The Pet Professional Guild which is the association of force-free training and behaviour.
During her course she travelled to India to observe and study bite inhibition in village dogs. Jo worked for three years at The Blue Cross animal hospital in central London where, amongst other things she created a nationwide project called Respectabull which worked at improving the control and management of urban bull breeds. As an employee of the charity, she also sat on such groups as the Dangerous Dogs Act Study Group (DDASG) which included members from Battersea, Mayhew, Dogs Trust, Kennel Club, Walthamstow Council, The Royal Veterinary Council and others, and aimed to draft a bill to replace the current Dangerous Dogs Act. She also assisted the vets in formalising the Service Operating Procedure for the treatment of dangerous dogs across the organisation and subsequently this Service Operating Procedure has been picked up and used in many veterinary practice nationwide.
Following her time at The Blue Cross she shadowed Dr Roger Mugford (The Company of Animals) for six months assisting in around 50 legal assessments including a significant number of both Section 3 and Section 1 cases. During her time at The Company of Animals she worked for the training and behaviour centre and was also able to observe other expert witnesses (Kendal Shepherd, Ian McParland and Candy D'Sar) conduct their assessments. Since then she has worked as an expert witness for the courts assessing and taking the stand for so-called dangerous dogs. As such she is accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service as an expert witness. Additionally she has been through the court process with her own Section 1, registered Pit Bull Terrier, Archie - who is now training as a scent detection dog. Also whilst at the Company Of Animals Jo represented the company with colleague Chirag Patel for Britain's Got Talent with their clicker trained ex-battery hens.
Since leaving The Company of Animal Jo came to join the East Sussex Dog Behaviour Clinic. She has a partnership with Raystede, Boxer Rescue (Southern) and is the recommended behaviourist for all their clients. She also takes mainline referrals from The Dogs Trust Shoreham, Southern Staffie Rescue and Great Dane Rescue (GDR). Additionally, she has cases referred from vets across the county.
Jo's first book - Stillness training for dogs is to be published in Spring by Corpus publishing. She also writes regularly for magazines and newspapers. Her most recent articles were published by The Brighton Argus (one considering changes made to The Dangerous Dogs Act, a copy of which can be found here: http://
Here's some info if you are interested on the lady we saw. It's worth a read, she can clicker train chickens. She told me, whatever it is, if it eats I can train it LOL.
ABOUT JO-ROSIE HAFFENDEN
Jo is a behaviour counsellor here at the East Sussex Behaviour Clinic. She has a degree in psychology, which she specialised in zoology and specifically attachment theory in young mammals. She also achieved an advanced post graduate diploma in canine psychology where she specialised in aggression. She is also a full accredited behaviourist of The Pet Professional Guild which is the association of force-free training and behaviour.
During her course she travelled to India to observe and study bite inhibition in village dogs. Jo worked for three years at The Blue Cross animal hospital in central London where, amongst other things she created a nationwide project called Respectabull which worked at improving the control and management of urban bull breeds. As an employee of the charity, she also sat on such groups as the Dangerous Dogs Act Study Group (DDASG) which included members from Battersea, Mayhew, Dogs Trust, Kennel Club, Walthamstow Council, The Royal Veterinary Council and others, and aimed to draft a bill to replace the current Dangerous Dogs Act. She also assisted the vets in formalising the Service Operating Procedure for the treatment of dangerous dogs across the organisation and subsequently this Service Operating Procedure has been picked up and used in many veterinary practice nationwide.
Following her time at The Blue Cross she shadowed Dr Roger Mugford (The Company of Animals) for six months assisting in around 50 legal assessments including a significant number of both Section 3 and Section 1 cases. During her time at The Company of Animals she worked for the training and behaviour centre and was also able to observe other expert witnesses (Kendal Shepherd, Ian McParland and Candy D'Sar) conduct their assessments. Since then she has worked as an expert witness for the courts assessing and taking the stand for so-called dangerous dogs. As such she is accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service as an expert witness. Additionally she has been through the court process with her own Section 1, registered Pit Bull Terrier, Archie - who is now training as a scent detection dog. Also whilst at the Company Of Animals Jo represented the company with colleague Chirag Patel for Britain's Got Talent with their clicker trained ex-battery hens.
Since leaving The Company of Animal Jo came to join the East Sussex Dog Behaviour Clinic. She has a partnership with Raystede, Boxer Rescue (Southern) and is the recommended behaviourist for all their clients. She also takes mainline referrals from The Dogs Trust Shoreham, Southern Staffie Rescue and Great Dane Rescue (GDR). Additionally, she has cases referred from vets across the county.
Jo's first book - Stillness training for dogs is to be published in Spring by Corpus publishing. She also writes regularly for magazines and newspapers. Her most recent articles were published by The Brighton Argus (one considering changes made to The Dangerous Dogs Act, a copy of which can be found here: http://
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