What you don't know can hurt you.

I just got back from a private session with an elderly lady (very nice) and her little JRT/Chi mix. She called me to help with an excessive barking problem....at things outside...people walking by or dogs, knocking on the door, etc. He gets started and doesn't stop. So, I said I'd come over and go through it step by step. She said otherwise he has wonderful behavior and is a really sweet dog, which I found to be true....that is...until..............................he bit me. LOL. Ummm....I thought you said...

I did notice although he was friendly and licked my hand, was, for the most part pretty comfortable and interested, he did look a tad unsure about things, somewhat timid. She was holding him on her lap at the kitchen table and when I slid my hand-out across the table with the written instructions/homework closer to her, he latched onto my forearm and clamped down, but not with full pressure, so it was inhibited. It hurt a wee bit, but didn't break the skin.

'Okay, so I see we have a little resource guarding issue." "Oh yes, he has done that a few times, (he's protecting me) and...even to me when I try to take something away from him that he isn't suppose to have. But he doesn't resource guard toys or food....well....unless......" "Okie dokie....lets work on that and we'll get to the barking in a minute." LOL. So, never a dull moment.

So it turns out that this will likely be broken into several sessions. Come to find out, he also doesn't come when called, doesn't know how to sit on cue, pulls on the leash something awful, gets free fed, gets free everything. But he is a nice dog.

But I think someone has hit him. She admitted to doing that once and scolding him for various things, but not harshly. She got him at a shelter about a year ago. I can't imagine her being very harsh. She's quite old and seems so mild mannered. But he is definitely a little hand shy and wasn't 100% sure of me. But he did like the chicken tid bits I had for him and came around a little.

One of her daughters, probably around my age is a CM fan, so....? What has gone on? And the other daughter was there too and is going to help her Mom. Mom is a little forgetful, being quite elderly. This one was ALL about the positive reinforcement and very receptive and bright)

So, never believe anything anyone tells you. They may not be lying, but they sure want to give their dog the benefit of the doubt. And often down play the potential seriousness of certain things. I told her that this resource guarding, while not consistent or not as severe as I've seen it, can very easily escalate.

So, there's going to be more training basics to assist with the processes to get at the more serious behavior "issues." I tried to explain that other training helps in a global way and helps the dog learn to defer to her for his needs all around.

I hope they follow through and he turns out near perfect. People can definitely be in denial...or they just don't realize they're doing things to make the problem worse. Glad she's seeking help

Ha yes my parents

But I hope they stick with it and everything works out perfectly for them and their little guy

Thank you. Yes, he really, really, totally has potential. He IS a nice boy. I don't know what all happened in his past. He looks like he really likes people, he totally came up to me at first and was waggy, sweet, liked to have a scritch under his chin, licked. But he had that subtle look of unsuredness...just ever so slightly. So, I should have not been so quick to move my hand along the table like that. Sometimes I get overly trusting. So yes...I hope they will follow through because there's lots of work to do with that, I think over and above the barking thing.

I definately agree. One of the questions I ask potential clients on my phone intake conversation is, "Has the dog ever bitten anyone?" It's amazing that occasionally, the people who just described an ANGEL dog, tell me that yes, their dog has bitten a stranger who walked into the house. Which is great to know, because if I take on the client, I will be a stranger walking into the house.

A lot of people do just the opposite, too: they have a very nice dog, who they describe as some sort of demon. I guess they want to give you the worst case scenario.

People are interesting.

Yes, people are interesting and hard to figure out sometimes...harder than dogs. LOL.

I asked this lady if the dog had any other behavior problems and she reiterated what she had told me already at the beginning of the phone call, that the dog just barked his head off and other than that he was the sweetest dog ever with no other problems. And he did appear sweet and was. It's just that he's developed some kind of partial distrust and insecurity that maybe she didn't recognize. It's amazing how people don't see that in their dogs. The bulk of my calls are working with dogs that have bitten people. And the people tell me right off. That's why they're calling. So, when this one said no problems other than... bla bla bla,I figured, good. We'll work on that barking problem. LOL. But when I watched him a little more, I could see he wasn't quite as stable as she let on. I asked her then if he had bitten other people. She said, "no...well....yes, he bit me." And he snapped at someone else...I forget...a neighbor or family member...can't remember. But it didn't seem that it was a frequent thing or a bad bite.

I sure hope she takes heed and has me back to work on those other issues. I hope I made it clear enough that it is potentially very serious. I said it, but she was getting tired and distracted. She's quite old...probably in her 80's. I think I stayed too long for her. The dog was fine and having fun getting treats and beginning to learn a little about the clicker and how to sit. Her daughter was listening and taking it all in though and seemed to really like my no-punishing ideals and methods, especially with an already insecure dog. So, we shall see...

This is me - I paint Rage as this neurotic moron who will snap at you for looking at her wrong. She's actually quite sweet, just a tad anxious with people coming into the house at first... she's come light years in just the last year and I don't believe would ever snap at anyone again. I think I just like hearing people say "oh your dogs are so well-behaved and quiet!" So I paint them to be demons in case they try to embarrass me Swagger doesn't even really jump on people, and he only just turned a year. Liz has learned to lie on her bed and pretend to sleep when people have food.... they're really not the jumping, howling, slobber-slinging freaks I tell people they are.

I'm so glad you've worked with her and she's gotten so much better. I guess you still have to keep a watchful eye, just in case though. There's always that chance.

I just had this guy, an aquaintance, actually a friend of my son's, but older stop by the other day and we hung out on my porch and chatted. He actually came by to show me his new teeth. LOL. He had lost ALL but one tombstone-shaped tooth and he looked terrible. So, he gave me this big smile an Viola`! Nice, new, white teeth all the way around! LOL.

Anyhow, in another thread talking about Toker and her recently developed dog aggression, this dog of his, managed to scramble out of his half opened car window. She was quite timid, but a friendly too. She had been tied up all her life and he acquired her recently and has let her run, go with him everywhere, meet lots of people and dogs and she's made leaps and bounds from the extremely skittish dog she was. That was nice to see. She was a bit skittish, but not to the extreme.

I asked him what happened to his other dog I use to see. And he said the dog bit someone and he had to put him to sleep. He said the dog was being harrassed by some kids...older kids, that they were taunting him and scaring him and he bit one of them. That was the only time the dog had ever bitten someone. I was horrified and saddened by this. I asked him...couldn't he have managed him somehow...kept him away from those kinds of people and just watched more carefully? Was he a ragingly aggressive dog? No. He said that he had just always heard that if a dog bites once, that's it...they must be put down. So, he did, sadly. Oh my gosh, that just killed me. I think that dog could have been managed and saved. I remember that dog and he played with Toker here a couple of times and was very sweet and outgoing to my son and me. I couldn't imagine him biting someone for no reason.