Post by RealPitBull on Mar 9, 2009 14:53:41 GMT -5
How much interaction does he get with people outside the home? On a daily basis?
It sounds like he's constantly getting pushed over threshold by interaction with people. I tend to agree with your trainer and have visitors completely ignore him. If you don't feel comfortable having him off leash, keep him on leash. At expose him to visitors only for short bursts of growl-free time. Removing him before he growls (i.e. by crating him or putting him in another room) will actually reward him for not growling. Growls = "I want distance!" We want to teach him that he can get distance by doing OTHER things.
If people DO interact with him, it should be short and sweet. Look for subtle signs that he is having a problem - panting, lip-licking, yawning, blinking, panting, head-turning. When you see those things, attention should be removed. Try and pick up the little book On Talking Terms with Dogs by Turid Rugaas. It's only a few bux at dogwise.com. The signals mentioned in that book are what you should be looking for and when he exhibits those signals, attention gets removed to REWARD him for using those behaviors instead of growling.
Just remember behavior only happens because it is getting reinforced somehow. Reed is growling because that behavior has been reinforced by people moving away when he does so. You need to keep him under threshold (i.e. at a level where he does not feel the need to growl), and look for subtle signs that he is beginning to get stressed. You want to try to reinforce THOSE behaviors instead of the growling so that he learns he can do non-aggressive things and have the same result.
I don't want to step on toes, because I know you are working with a trainer. Maybe you can show her these posts. But I really believe that Reed is having a problem dealing with the close proximity of people and is being inadvertantly pushed too far, too fast by people.
It sounds like he's constantly getting pushed over threshold by interaction with people. I tend to agree with your trainer and have visitors completely ignore him. If you don't feel comfortable having him off leash, keep him on leash. At expose him to visitors only for short bursts of growl-free time. Removing him before he growls (i.e. by crating him or putting him in another room) will actually reward him for not growling. Growls = "I want distance!" We want to teach him that he can get distance by doing OTHER things.
If people DO interact with him, it should be short and sweet. Look for subtle signs that he is having a problem - panting, lip-licking, yawning, blinking, panting, head-turning. When you see those things, attention should be removed. Try and pick up the little book On Talking Terms with Dogs by Turid Rugaas. It's only a few bux at dogwise.com. The signals mentioned in that book are what you should be looking for and when he exhibits those signals, attention gets removed to REWARD him for using those behaviors instead of growling.
Just remember behavior only happens because it is getting reinforced somehow. Reed is growling because that behavior has been reinforced by people moving away when he does so. You need to keep him under threshold (i.e. at a level where he does not feel the need to growl), and look for subtle signs that he is beginning to get stressed. You want to try to reinforce THOSE behaviors instead of the growling so that he learns he can do non-aggressive things and have the same result.
I don't want to step on toes, because I know you are working with a trainer. Maybe you can show her these posts. But I really believe that Reed is having a problem dealing with the close proximity of people and is being inadvertantly pushed too far, too fast by people.