Kingdom of Pets

Posted by MORY
Mar 21, 2010

Hi,
my hated neighbour called the police 2 days ago because my female dog LUNA, aged 8, broke the net that I have put around my garden and wanted to jump outside.
Luna is usually a very good dog, but since a couple of months she reacts aggressively to other female dogs. She has never injured dogs, not biten. If she jumps outside the net, she becomes very submissive and wants to return inside.
She not always respects me as alpha dog, especially when she is free in the wood and I call her back. For the rest she does what I say, I have noticed a strange behaviour too: she always wants to lik me, my face, my arms, my face. Does she see me as her puppy? Do i have to reinforce alpha dog rules?
This of the net is a big problem for me, next tuesday the police will come here and control the net...
Thank you for any suggestion (of course I will reinforce the net to make it secure, but how can I change her behaviour?).
Jasmine - Switzerland

Posted by kjd
Mar 22, 2010

Jasmine,

I'm not quite sure of your neighbor's problem. Luna broke the net around YOUR garden ~~is this the yard in which you keep her? Or is it a portion of your yard? If Luna is submissive when outside the net, why is your neighbor upset? What will the police be checking~~ that it is strong enough to hold her?

My dog Sunna likes to lick me too. Constantly and everywhere. The only problem is, when I think I've convinced her not to do it, I start missing it! Anyway, a puppy is more apt to lick the adult than the adult the puppy, I think.

You aren't going to change much in Luna's behavior between now and Tuesday. What you must do is convince the police that Luna is under your control. I don't know the dog laws in Switzerland, so am really sending this as more of moral support.

Try to meet the police with her inside, where she is good and obedient. Also, don't let her run loose in the woods until you know she will return to you. That could be very dangerous.

Let us know how things go on Tuesday,
kjd

Posted by timirving
Mar 22, 2010

It sounds like you need to reinforce yourself as the alpha dog. Try ignoring her when you get home until she is calm-submissive.... this may take 10-15 minutes but when it starts to happen, it will happen more quickly in the future.

Also, try pretending to eat out of the dog's dish before feeding

Always walk through doors or thresholds first

It also sounds like the back yard is not enough of an enclosed space for Luna. This will get better as you reinforce being the alpha but until then, you may want to restrict her to a smaller area.

Posted by MORY
Mar 23, 2010

Thank you very much for the suggestions. When Luna stands, her head is higher than the net, so she can jump over the net if she wants. This is so now, after she broke the reinforcement of the net, which was higher than her.
So when my neighbour (an old and acid woman) was near the net, Luna scared her standing.
The police has told me that today was not possible to come visit me, so I think they will come in the next 2-3 days. The policeman I talked to on the phone, said that the new law says that my net must be a lot higher, since Luna is a half german shepherd and is therefore one of the 30 "dangerous" races. (very stupid law!!! there aren't agressive races, damn!)

I will do as KJD suggests, and keep Luna inside and calm, showing the policeman that she is educated. I will show him that she is a good dog, and I must work on the alpha dog signals, it's true, thanks TIMIRVING.
I think that I will take Luna to some socialization lessons, in order to let her meet more dogs. Maybe she acts so just because she is a bit annoyed during the day while I am at work. Anyway I plan to build 2 nets, one along the garden area, and the second one some feet behind, in this way Luna cannot reach anyone. Fortunately I am sure that she isn't aggressive at all.
thanks again, I will keep you informed after the police has left..keep th finger crossed please (and sorry for my english, my mother tongue is italian)

Posted by kjd
Mar 23, 2010

No need to apologize for your English. I stand in awe of those able to communicate in more than their mother tongue. Of course, when I was growing up, you had to search to find someone who spoke something other than English. Now, I am determined to learn Spanish since we have so many Hispanic immigrants.

Our American Kennel Club is trying to fight off as many breed-specific laws as possible. However, it is difficult when you have puppy mills churning them out without any attention to character and bad people (especially drug dealers) choosing and developing aggressive dogs. If you lived in the county next to mine and had a pit bull, they would confiscate the dog and kill it!

I gather you cannot put up a chain link fence? It would be impossible for Luna to tear down. OTOH, she could climb it! But you can usually slant the top to the inside so the dog cannot climb over.

Good luck with the policeman.

kjd

Posted by MORY
Apr 4, 2010

Hi!
Meeting the policeman at home was all right. He said that he'd never seen a person keepingdogs so well as I do
It's forbiden to put dogs on the chain here in Switzerland, so I have to repair the upper part of the net (fence) and leave the 2 dogs on a smaller and well closed side of my garden, while I am at work. In the weekend when I am at home, he said that I can allow the dogs to go to the other side of the garden, where I have the net. There's a gate on wood which devides the two sides of my garden, so it will be easy. Nevertheless the problem remains: Luna the female dog, is a bit "agressive" inside and when other dogs walk along the fece she must learn not to act so badly. i will take her to a new dogs school..
Thank you very much for your attention and suggestions, really.
Bye.

Posted by timirving
Apr 4, 2010

One thing I have done with my puppy who seems to pay way too much attention to other dogs when she's in the yard and on walks is to walk her by yards with other dogs that will bark and jump up on their fence, turn both me and my dog's back to the barking dog(s) and wait until she is calm and not paying attention to the dogs.

When we've reached this state..... it's time to reinforce it with treats and calm, assertive praise. This has been working VERY well, so well that I have begun to do it with cats.

Even if you send to her to a new dog school, she is still going to need to modify her behavior at home and you will be the conduit for that.... Good luck!

Posted by kjd
Apr 5, 2010

Hi, Mory!

I'm glad the policeman approved of your care.

When I talked about chain link, I was not talking about a chain for the dogs, but a particular type of fencing. Unlike wooden fences, which can block the view, chain link fences are open. However, I just noticed that this type of fence is also called wire netting, so maybe you already use it. (When you said netting, what I saw was cloth netting.) If you look here: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain-link_fencing]Chain-link fencing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url] you will see an example of what I am talking about. The first picture is what I mean by chain link. The second fence looks like the type a dog could tear down.

When you speak of a net, is this what you mean?

kjd

Posted by MORY
Apr 19, 2010

Hi kjd!
Yes that's correct, I have this chain fence )) Now things are going much better, because I have highten it and Luna doesn't have the possibility to jump outside. She seems much more calm when people or dogs pass along the garden. Anyway I will do another dog course in may, because she must go on socializing with any new dog.
We must never give up with this.
Thanks for your support, and thank you to any other friend who hes written me here in this forum!

bye Jasmine

Posted by kjd
Apr 19, 2010

I'm glad things are working out for you and Luna, Jasmine.

One warning: I had one dog who would climb the chain links and drop over to the other side. When she stayed at a boarding kennel, they had to give her a kennel run with a top or she would visit the other dogs!

kjd

Excitement at the fence