Board & Train Charlie is one of the sweetest, most affectionate dogs I've had stay in a while but he has some serious resource guarding issues. He has bitten people over a tissue, including his owners. His preferred MO is to steal an object from a table and then run under a table or bed with it. If you pursue and try to take it - he will get downright vicious about it. If you tried to strongarm him or get physical about it, he has no hesitation in striking out. This is why I LOVE positive reinforcement. We have been working very hard on giving up low value items and have managed to create a semblance of a retrieve game but it is by no means full proof yet. He is truly a Jeckall and Hyde in this moment - one second a wiggly, wagging, open mouth guy with soft eyes and a big grin and then a hunkered down, super tense, low growling ball of unsprung defensiveness - but as soon as the object is removed it is like he blinks out of it, looks at you, wags his tail and doesn't even know what happened? There may be some neuro switching going on as the behavior seems a bit disconcerting to him as well.
I started by just being in the same area as him with this low value item then moved up to being able to be beside him with him remaining calm. I just wanted to show him I wasn't going to try and take it - I am not even looking at him at this point - just coexisting peacefully. So far so good. When he was ready, we started with me resting my hand near him then on him. He is okay with all of this. I can touch his ears and face while he is chewing a bone and he is good with it. Open mouth, no pause or tension at all, no hunkering down... His trigger is if you apply pressure to take it - then he feels he has to react. We had great success with getting him to leave, drop and/or give eye contact away from low-medium value items - but never a high value one such as a hearty chew, antler or rawhide. To avoid unwanted situations from arising - these things were simply kept out of reach and only given as crate rewards where he would not feel threatened. So when I saw him heading towards me with a rawhide chew that he had taken from another dog's crate in his mouth, I was a bit concerned. But I kicked it into Game Gear and started cheering and applauding for him and he started wagging his tail and brought me the rawhide.
I sat on the floor to encourage him to come closer and what he did next surprised me to no end.
He dropped it in my hand! Not only did he drop it in my hand, but I was able to get eye contact and getting him to look away from his prize has been extremely difficult. He was charged and ready to play the game... he then retrieved this prize rawhide 10 times in a row always dropping it in my lap or in my hand!
At the end of the 10 repetitions, I gave it to him to take back to his bed, and he grinned and walked away but kept looking back at me as if "what the game is over?" AMAZING JOB CHARLIE!
So Coco finished his month here and we hadn't gotten as far as I wanted with him. I offered his Mom another 2 weeks free since the first two weeks we couldn't do much training at all. These two weeks have really made a difference. Somewhere around week 4 we started to turn a corner and look at him now!
He is so much more relaxed and calm. And his recall is amazing - even with farmyard distractions. His reaction to the doorbell was pretty severe - but we are working on that as well.
I think we are turning a little bit of the corner with Coco now - the anxiety is by no means gone, but he is not pacing all the time and has been able to settle nicely with Charlie inside. We haven't been able to do much structured training at all due to the level of his anxiety - but his Mom wants him to stay and see if we can resolve some of this with him so we will see what the next few weeks show.
COCO: UPDATE Boy did I ever speak too soon about Coco. This poor boy has probably the most severe case of separation anxiety I have EVER seen. I had to leave him for about 30 minutes yesterday and his owner said no crating so I left him in my bedroom. I never expected to come back to anything like this. He was soaked from his muzzle to his feet with drool. The floor was a pool of drool and footprints. The inside of the door was dirty at least 4ft high. He was out of his mind with panic.
I immediately called his Mom and she said yes she knew (but didn't tell me). Hmmmm..... If I close a door between us the result is total chaos. He tries to bolt through doors to avoid getting left behind and will do so dangerously. He jumps and slams himself against the door, drooling profusely and crying. We are in for a long month! CHARLIE: UPDATE Charley has fit right in. She has been busy exploring and running out some of her energy.
Her "brother" Brooks is here for a few days boarding but he is more interested in toys and she is more interested in the other dogs! LOL
Name: Coco Breed: Mini Poodle Sex: Male Age: 6 yrs Duration: 4 week Board & Train Reason for B&T: General obedience work / social skills Background: Coco has been with his Mom since a pup. He has traveled with her through several moves and has taken several obedience classes. He hasn't had much socialization with people or dogs though outside of those classes. He seems to be a generally very settled dog who just needs to sharpen up on some basic manners and social skills. He doesn't seem bothered by too much at the farm so far.
What we are working on during his stay: OWNERS REQUESTS: * Basic Obedience Refresher- Sit, Down, Stay, Leave It * Recall - owner says he has an unreliable recall and has not trusted him outside off leash * Jumping - jumps on people and furniture * Barking - alerts to every sight and sound, esp the door * Dog Social Skills - doesn't really have any * People Social Skills - has been known to nip * Feeding - only eats people/table food
