Well, after being home for a couple of days and just observing the pooch, I would say that he is no worse than when we left, for the most part. Still some negative collar reaction, leery of going outside, won't come when called, snatching things and not giving them up....etc But at least he hasn't regressed, as far as I can see, anyways. He's pretty good about not jumping up, and is not nipping too bad anymore. Remembers the "sit" and "stay", and is still not pulling on lead. So, work can begin in earnest on the crate, recall, collar desensitization, etc. I've got lots of other things to do besides dog training, of course : but I'm looking forward to starting to make some progress on these things.
Re: Simba's report card That sounds great.....if you know what I mean...anybody else not knowing yours and Simbas story might think but it think its a great place to pick up from .....you did work really hard before you left and looks like it stood you in good stead.....I keep forgetting that Simba is really only a puppy .....good luck with your training and you are right,you have a life too...probably starting with a lot of laundry right now ! ;D
Re: Simba's report card That sounds pretty good, all things considered, Lisa!! Well done those boys, I would say... they did you proud looking after ol' Simba there...
Re: Simba's report card Hear, Hear! All that worrying Angela..... You have a good plan in place though - you and Simba will get back on track in no time!
Re: Simba's report card :'( :'( got an F today, I'm afraid....the whole thing of trying to get him away from something is an issue. Had a great day with him until supper. We are eating and he's getting his nose close to the table - we are pushing him away, etc , he keeps coming back. Sarah elbows him away, he nips at her. Hubby calls him away, gets him to lie down, but he doesn't stay down for long, etc. this goes on during supper. I go to clear dishes, have garbage open to scrape plates of chicken bones, etc and of course dog comes over. I try to close cupboard door (garbage under the sink) but we have put a child latch on it to stop Simba from getting in there so I have to get my hand down by his nose to shut the door and of course he growls so I pull my hand away but he's now starting to stick his nose almost in the garbage so I try again and he growls and snaps. Hubby can't see exactly what's going on as we're behind the counter and he thinks he's bit me so of course he's launching himself around the counter mad and, well, it wasn't a positive encounter, shall we say. :'( :'( Lesson learned? I have to keep the training lead on him, until I can sort this. That way I could use the leash to pull him away. And I have to train him to do something else while we eat....trained previous dogs to lie down while we eat so will try to do that. Sigh....but I would also like to overcome the underlying problem - I guess you call it guarding? Any ideas? Discouraged.
Re: Simba's report card Sorry to hear that Lisa, but maybe it was quite challenging for him - food probably at his eye level etc.? Pretty tempting situation for him... There is an article on the main site about food guarding, might help. I know you haven't got Simba happy with his crate yet. Have you thought about a pen instead? Depends on you having the room, of course, but I got Charlie settled and happy in a pen just by being in there with him, feeding him in there and playing in there. He was in it from day one though, he didn't come out at first as we went in to him, so I guess he just thought the pen was his new home.
Re: Simba's report card Oh Lisa I am really sorry this has happened. I don't have any experience of this kind, but I wonder would it help not to allow Simba to be around when you are all eating to avoid any incidents of this kind. We have a no dogs in the kitchen while we are eating rule. Hattie & Charlie can sit at the kitchen door but they are not allowed in. It took sometime to train but now when we enter the kitchen they stop at the door and we tell them "stay", as long as they can see us they are happy, but sometimes Charlie crawls in and thinks we don't see him : a firm 'go' sorts it out. Don't be sad you will sort this out I am very sure of that. Take care Helen xx
Re: Simba's report card Ah Lisa there will be 'discouraged' days I am sure ,and those are the days you come on here and wail.....and the other members will help you while I will just give you some cheer leading because you know I can't help you because Dex is our first dog blah,blah,blah ;D Dinner last night must have given you all indigestion,not nice.because I've not experienced food guarding I haven't read what is behind it to even offer any hypothetical advice to you.Hope today's has been a better day big hug and sorry you've all had a,scare with him x
Re: Simba's report card Done some reading on the resource guarding thing and have a plan of action....rolling up the sleeves and getting to work!! We are making some progress on the crate - he will voluntarily go in there to lie down now. Last night we were all sitting in the living room and he went in there and laid happily (happily chewing his blanket, at any rate :). In fact BEFORE the bad garbage incident we were talking about perhaps moving the crate to the kitchen so that we could put him in it while we ate and he would still feel like he was with us. But that crate is HUGE and space limited.... I am going to work on the resource guarding but for now I think the strategy will be to put him in the crate with his food and a stuffed Kong while we eat. That should take care of the immediate problem. Helen, I like your "no dogs in kitchen while eating" - how did you train that? Are they allowed in at other times?
Re: Simba's report card Lisa, I started by getting Hattie & Charlie to sit at the door and say 'stay' then treat and if they moved I just had to keep on getting them back where I wanted them and keep repeating the exercise, now when we enter the kitchen it's just a simple 'stay' and they stop at the door and don't need a treat anymore. They are not allowed in the kitchen when I am preparing food or when we are eating but they can come in otherwise. Hope this helps. Helen x
Re: Simba's report card Lisa, that sounds like a good plan - Charlie is good when we eat and and he used to get kongs on his mat while we were eating and now (plus mat / stay clicker training) lies quietly on his mat at our meal times or when I'm working in the kitchen.
Re: Simba's report card I'm sure you'll conquer this problem, Lisa Your plan sounds good. Obi is allowed near us when we eat but he has to lie on the ground. He, um, gets to lick plates at the end as his reward. Yes, I know, a bit mediaeval ;D
Re: Simba's report card oh my god lick plates i think i would collapse from day one i said to my son , never ever feed him from your plate,....he did used to jump up when we was eating, i stood up with my stern voice repeating no no no,...he never jumps up now, sit under our feet when we eat if we have any meat left on our plates i would put it in a different bowl leave it about an hour transfer it to his bowl so he didn't associate that the meat was off our plates when we eat now he just lies at our feet, for once i got it right
Re: Simba's report card Lynne, I'm kinda with you on that one....but I have to confess my previous dog did lick them while they were in the dishwasher But Simba hasn't tried that yet, thankfully!! One does wonder why, mind....!!! He already is too used to thinking "people food mine too" - I don't want him to continue to think the stuff on the table is okay for him to grab. I know there's a difference between giving it to him and him snatching it, but still.... Anyhow thanks for the suggestions, all. I will try them out for sure!
Re: Simba's report card lisa he is my first ever dog, so its on a learning curb to me i have got some things right and a lot wrong , the things i got wrong i am sure i will be able to work on grrrrr, we have just got to keep working on them, i do think you took a massive challenge on with simba and i am very confident you will solve them, he is a stunner , with them melting eyes,.....i wish you all the luck, i admire you for taking him on
Re: Simba's report card Oh I'm having a good laugh...Rachael's 'confession' and Lynne's horror!!you are both so funny in your own different ways x Dex gets told, bed...lie down ...which he does While food prep is being done.....if we eat at the table ( only when there are visitors : ) he slinks over,but not to beg...just to lie on my feet.....how can I refuse or send him back ?If its a normal night Chris and I have teas on knees ( scruffy i know!)then he will go and sit by Chris and try through the power of his death glare to levitate the food from Chris's plate into his jaws!then I ,the fun police arrive and point out to Chris that Dexters drool indicates he is begging and we ( usually me ;D ) tell him Away Dex and he moves away and lies down away from us... I find this very interesting as there ha been no training,rewards involved in this.....just the same routine every night with the same words said every night....in the early days there was a bit of Stay,stay,stay going on ....but he just behaves.......this process contributes to Chris's opinion that dogs more or less train themselves ......I think it could be more to do with the fact that he has NEVER had any human food whatsoever from us.....I think his expectations are so low,he knows he will never get anything ,he just prefers a snooze! He he.I love threads like this that tell me a bit of what goes on just in the day to day behind your closed doors!
Re: Simba's report card Back to the plate licking.... My sister-in-law tells a story of a friend of hers who owned a dog. She struck up an acquaintance with someone and this person began to drop by, quite frequently, and usually around the time they were sitting down for supper, necessitating an invite to join them. This began to get on her nerves, all hints dropped did not work, until finally, one night after they had finished supper with moocher present, she casually presented her dirty plate to the dog, who licked it clean, and then she put in back in the cupboard, proceeding to do the same with the rest of the plates. Problem solved.
Re: Simba's report card ;D ;D ;D ;D Think in October when I'm onto my 5th set of visitors Dexter might just get some plate licking action!ha ha ha! X
