Diary of using a new method to cure my aggressive dog.

Hey everyone!
Here i will write a diary of how i go about curing the aggressive behaviour of my newwest addition to the family, Quinn. It will be updated asap for everyone to read so please subscribe to this thread.

Quinn has a tendency to be aggressive towards people and dogs and this upsets me. I have lived with dogs throughout my life and occasionally come accross a difficult dog sometime using methods which work and sometimes not. A brand new method has caught my attention, which i am eager to try out.

I met a guy who tells me that he works with animals as his career and that he believes he has established a method of training the animal to overcome negative problems. He claims he can help any animal with any problem....i remain skeptical for the time being. Details of his work will be posted AFTER i have seen evidence that this works so you can also use the advice with your own animals.

SESSION 1

I met this guy for the first time today. A very nice man with a kind hearted personality and character. We sat down and talked over a cup of tea about the problems that i was facing. Quinn seemed to be aware of the new presence and although wary, he remained cynical. We talked through what was going to happen in the next few sessions and how this new technique works. It sounds exciting! I was eager to give it a go and so within half an hour, we were interacting with Quinn. I said i wouldn't give many details away but i shall let you know how he believes this method works. By using peace of mind and bringing our levels of thinking down, the dog can then relate to us in the present moment. Through doing this, gradually and with other steps, we can teach the dog to release negative emotions and teach a new behaviour in its place.
The effects, i must admit, are impressive. After an hour of becoming present and then letting go in intervals, Quinn had become alot more relaxed although still keen to raise the attention levels when he felt uncomfortable. When we got present, he would also join us in relaxation....but within a few minutes, he had gotten back up and started pacing warily around the room. I was told that this was ok and that with just half an hour practise or less each day, Quinn would start to get used to becoming present and then i was told, we could move on to the next stage of this method....

Pros: Friendly guy! Effective results seen straight away....
Cons: ....are these results related to the changing of the behaviour? No way of telling.

MotherTrust.

I would ask this person exactly how he plans on working and be very careful, what if he makes Quinn's aggression worse?

True! I will bear this in mind. He tells me that he will work over a few sessions with me and see what progress comes of it. Will keep you updated. Thanks!

MotherTrust.

What exactly are you doing to bring Quinn into the present?

I need some clarity, either I haven't had enough coffee yet to jump start my brain or I am missing something (or a lot).
Just what are the aggression issues and what is this guy doing to fix them in detail please.

Ok so Quinn is a aggressive dog in certain situations. When he is around people and sometimes around dogs. He tends to growl and display unnatural behaviour and does not seem to have any interest in his surroundings. Today i made sure he was kept in the same room with this trainer but made sure that i stayed dominant to him as he will listen to what i say unless he is too hyped about something.
The trainer as i said, uses what he call peace of mind. We sit quietly and focus our attention on a 'nothingness' and by doing this, apparently, the dog will join us in this state. Signs of this are the dog displaying released emotions such as relaxation, yawning (although have not got to this stage yet), and a completely deep relaxed sleep.
It apparently takes time for this to happen so i will be working with Quinn over the next few days by myself untill me and the trainer feel that we have progressed. THEN we can move onto whatever happens next....as i say, i can't tell you completely what will happen which is why i am keeping this diary.
I hope this explains it to you.

MotherTrust.

Why would you label him aggressive?? Does he bite or attack people or other dogs? Does he start problems or just gets vocal when in an uncomfortable situation?
Please explain why this dog is aggressive and are you sure it isn't fear aggressive due to being dominanted? What is unnatural behaviour? Sounds like he is an nonconfident dog and isn't comfortable in certain situations, that hardly makes him aggressive and btw being dominant over such a dog often makes them much worse.

Wouldn't it seem logical that when you were not being dominant over him and were non threatening that he would then become better??

Being calm when interacting with any dog, even a truely aggressive one, can change the dogs behavior. But to me this decribed method sounds a little too hocus pocus. I have seen the same results when handlers muzzles an aggressive dog. The handler is now confident because the dog cannot harm anyone, then the dog is calm because the handler is in control. Term it with any fancy label that you like, the best dog trainers and handlers are not emotional (out side of good verbal praise).

I would be interested as well, who labled your boy aggressive? If it was not a seasoned trainer or behaviorist I would doubt that the dog is truely aggressive. He may be slimply nervous or unstable do to enviromant, lack of socialization, or improper training for his temprament.

.........improper training for his temprament. What I mean by this is that some dogs are soft and training with harsh corrections or alpha rolls (and so one) can create a seeming aggresive reaction. Or a hard dog with lots of drive that has never been corrected for improper behavior. Training is not always one-size-fits-all.

Also your reaction to other people and dogs can trigger his behavior. Any time you see another dog and you go into "he's going to attack them" you get tence. Your dog can tell something is wrong and the only thing new is the other dog. He assumes now by your reaction that the other dog is bad and reacts himself.

So it could be 100 things that make him the way he is. Congrats on taking the step to find a trainer to help you, hopefully the guy is not a quack.

I guess I'm not getting what it is, specifically that this guy is using as a training or desensatizing method. Are you paying him for sitting around relaxing and drinking tea? LOL. If your dog is uneasy around strangers and other dogs, he needs something more pro-active than simply relaxing. Of course, being relaxed and calm helps sooth a dog so he can take in the lessons he is taught. They're very intuned to our mood, so being relaxed is a good thing, but it's not the only thing. If this relaxing is all the further this guy takes it, I'm afraid your dog isn't going to adjust to all the contexts and triggers that upset him. In addition, bringing the concept of dominance (either regarding the human or dog) is likely to cause more problems rather than fix them.

In other words, has this guy spelled out for you any specifics about his "method?" Or is it all comprised of relaxing. It sounds pretty "out there" to me. This "peace of mind" that he tells you IS his method seems to be leaving out huge chunks of behaviorism.

Okay, so you have begged thousands of people across a vast number of pet forums to "subscribe" to your thread and have promised all of these people the link to this "miracle worker"... so when do we get to see the link already?

I can promise you, it's not a lack of coffee. I'm on my 5th cup and am still in need of clarity.

Interesting. I'd like to learn this new method and market it to my clients. I could even learn to like drinking tea. opcorn:

I think I am qualified for this job...do I like tea? Yes. Do I like to relax? Yes. Do I like dogs? Yes.---ok, I am ready!:lol-sign:

Ok, so basically you sat in a room with your dog in complete silence and not moving. The dog eventually yawned and relaxed. Sounds like he was just bored.

I guess her dog isn't a corgi or a malinois.

And the advanced course would be sitting around, relaxing in front of the dog and drinking wine :rofl1:

And cost more per session!

can you skip right to advanced, I am really in the mood for wine right now, dont want to waste my time with tea

oh oh oh* raises hand* I already know how to do that one...Yipee I'm expensive.

and when do we hit the whiskey?

In a couple of months we will be able to use...laying in the sun while sipping margaritas by the pool training approach. You know...that one is going to cost some bucks.