Forget my saga and digest Duggan is 18 months. He’s a very energetic intire male He’s post TPLO surgery and re-injured delaying the rehab process due to his hyper nature regardless of being medicated to prevent this. I’m stating this to show there’s hope to new puppy parents. Now for the interesting part. I spent three days doing nothing but watching him and maintaining our normal routine but what i did different was that I never once told him no or corrected a behaviour I didn’tike. I only rewarded things he did that I liked without asking for the behaviour. In three short days I have witnessed him calm down when we come home. Stop pulling on the lead and drop anything I ask for as well as him stopping the lunging and devouring anything my 18 m old daugher dropped. He hadn’t resource guarded and he’s been a treat. I write this in testimony to the adage that if you follow your dog around yelling no to every thing he does wrong all day you’d be thinking his name was no. Try capturing every thing they do right instead. This might b hard with new pups but with an 18 month old extremely hyper dog it worked. Life changing I did this because I counted my SO and myself yell “no” 26 times in about 90 minutes. Three days. Great results.
How are things with your wife and Duggan? You were pretty despondent about the situation a few weeks ago. It sounds like things are ok?
Oh that sounds wonderful! What a result. Keep up the good work... I'm sure you are all much happier... I think Duggan must have been confused and probably upset by being told off, and is now thrilled to be in a situation where he gets told what a Good Dog he is! He and you were in a negative spiral before, seems you may all have found the way to change that vicious circle. Just shows how powerful positive reinforcement is... Well done!!!
You have really done so well! Dealing with a young post-op dog needing crate -rest, limited exercise..well I really don't know how we would cope, and that's on top of some behavioural consequences you are also managing.
I listened to some of the CogDog podcast a couple of weeks back; it was about a dog called Kevin who suffered from awful anxiety. That wasn't the reason he ended up at the behaviourist, but is what he ended up being treated for and what changed his life and the life of his owner. In the process, the owner was instructed never to correct him, tell him no or anything negative. She had to change her entire way of thinking (as a previous P+ trainer) but she said how remarkable the change was in them both - and in their relationship - simply from just stopping saying "no". Well done to you, it sounds like you're making remarkable changes to your boy's state of mind. Go Team Duggan!
She could take him or leave him and preferably she'd like to see him gone but most days she’s okay with him. I’ve actually seen why he growls at her and am trying to get her to be calmer towards him but to be fair, I’ll never understand what it’s like to be pregnant while parenting an infant and looking after an excitable puppy. He is not stressed and has adapted to a less active lifestyle while he’s been restricted. He is a very well behaved animal and has tons of great attributes. Except for growling at his momma he’s a totally normal dog for his age, probably better trained and behaved than most. The problem she has with the dog is me. I’m the root of it and that started back when her mom was here visiting and was handling the dog. My post was more just to comment the power of capturing the many good things animals do all day that generally go unrewarded. I can’t wait to finally let him off lead to run with the wind in another month or so. I’ve taken him off the Trazodone so he’s been a bit more energetic and just wants to play. Find it has been very helpful but now he plays find it with the field mice tunneling under the snow while we are out for our physio walks. Lol. Hopefully this nose development will help him find wounded ducks next season.
Glad to hear this positive news. Is there someone around that could help out with Duggan when/if you go away again? Even a regular dog walker you could trust? Relive some of the pressure from your wife.
