Hello from a Diamond in the Rough

[heartless]

Hello all,

The Saturday after Christmas we adopted Diamond, a very sweet girl who had been at the local shelter since August, most probably because of her breeding, and possibly in part due to her lack of manners, LOL. Her breeding does not bother us in the least, that is basically a non-issue.

We dont really know any of her history prior to her shelter days, but she is about 1 yr 4 mos old, needs to have some basic training (working on that, she is very smart!) and she has some issues that I am hoping to get a little advice with here. She is very people friendly, but she has a bit of an issue with other dogs - including her own reflection!  (this is the issue we need help with)

This is our Diamond on adoption day.



Our last dog was a Pit / Shar Pei mix and he was something else! LOL We lost him at 13 yrs old to a tumor on the back of his tongue. That was last April. It was past time to bring another dog into our lives - the house was far too quite without one...

[suziriot]

Welcome! Congratulations on adopting your new family member. Diamond is absolutely stunning!

[heartless]

Thanks suzi.

She is pretty georgeous, isnt she! =)

[maryellen]

She is very pretty!! As far as the dog issues its common in the breed, some can be worked with to mind their manners and some cant.. I only met one who flipped put with her reflection in mirrors..

[heartless]

Hi maryellen.

it isnt just her reflection in mirrors, it is in windows (after dark), glass cabinet doors, the glass front on the electric fireplace - anything that she can even remotely see her reflection in. I have never seen a dog with this kind of visual acuity!

Thing is, I dont even know where to begin with this - she becomes ultra focused when she sees herself and gets into this zone - voice commands have ZERO effect, and she is not even remotely interested in treats or toys when this happens - we have to physically move her away, and cover the offending object somehow.

For the time being, we have made an effort to cover anything that she might trigger on - I even went and purchased some frosting film for the windows that dont have full length curtains. We live in an old house (100+ yrs old), so the windows come down quite low - easy for her to see out of/see her reflection in at night.

The good news is she has never been "aggressive" towards us - she does get a little mouthy during play time, but a quick voice correction and redirect cures that easily enough. She is VERY smart - working on some basic commands one day and I had her lying down after only three tries.

I am not sure if this is a "hate other dogs" aggression, or a fear thing, or frustration, or what...

[RealPitBull]

Hey there, welcome to the forum. Diamond is so pretty and her name really fits her!

[michele5611]

Welcome! Diamond is a real beauty!

[RealPitBull]

If you want to get more feedback on her behavior issue, can you post on the behavior/training board? We'd love to help! There are definitely things you can do to help lessen the issue. You are already on the right track by covering up shiny surfaces. The key would be to gradually introduce her to surfaces with clearer and clearer images of her, and desensitize her at each step (my preferred training method is clicker training, which is great for fear and aggression issues). We can def talk more if you want!

[heartless]

Thank you Mary, I will be posting in that area soon. was going to this morning, but ran out of time - had to get to work!