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Post by emilys on Jan 15, 2012 14:07:41 GMT -5
she makes some interesting points. I love how she talks about mothers of other species naturally calming their fearful babies and questions how we got to the point of thinking we shouldn't try to calm our own babies/friends.
and then there's the "please don't vomit on me" anecdote.. ;D
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Post by johnr on Jan 15, 2012 14:57:29 GMT -5
she makes some interesting points. I love how she talks about mothers of other species naturally calming their fearful babies and questions how we got to the point of thinking we shouldn't try to calm our own babies/friends. and then there's the "please don't vomit on me" anecdote.. ;D Great vid! I work a lot with fearful dogs and I've had some really good staff and volunteers over the years who work well with them. When I teach new staff or volunteers, I tell them rule one is to slow down and stay calm yourself. Don't run from a fear biter, but don't come in on them like a run away freight train, either. Slow down, stop if need be, chat the dog up calmly. I've seen some real transformations. Some of the most gratifying work you can do is to bring around a fearful dog. Oh, remember my foster girl Lil Liz? I posted a video of her awhile back. She started out at the shelter morbidly fearful. I worked with her solo a bit and she made good progress, but even after she was on the adoption floor, she was shy and tended to retreat to the back of her kennel and hide under her blanket. (She was the "invisible dog", so effective was she at squeezing her fairly long and lanky body completely under even a not terribly big blanket!) But after lots of positive interaction with lots of staff and volunteers, she became a total social butterfly and love slut! She was still nervous around dogs in her first meet, but a few days at my place and she was TOTALLY into running with the pack like a little loon, her youthful vigor actually getting a little overwhelming for some of the guys here! It's so rewarding to see a dog like her progress so far. |
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daves
Full Fledged Poster
Posts: 188
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Post by daves on Jan 16, 2012 10:50:00 GMT -5
[quote
I work a lot with fearful dogs and I've had some really good staff and volunteers over the years who work well with them. When I teach new staff or volunteers, I tell them rule one is to slow down and stay calm yourself. Don't run from a fear biter, but don't come in on them like a run away freight train, either. Slow down, stop if need be, chat the dog up calmly. I've seen some real transformations. Some of the most gratifying work you can do is to bring around a fearful dog..[/quote]
Getting a fearful dog (or one that hates men) to come around have been the most rewarding things I have done at our shelter. I don't have the extensive background that John has so I keep it simple.
1. No loud noises or voices.
2. No fast movements.
3. No eye contact.
You can't fake calmness - I use a breathing exercise that I found in Paul Owens book to relax all my muscles. Think happy thoughts - I believe that dogs are perceptive to certain qualities of your voice so how you say it is more important than what you say.
It probably takes me longer than John to get results so I probably need even more patience and persistence.
Any helpful hints for me?
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Post by johnr on Jan 16, 2012 12:17:01 GMT -5
Getting a fearful dog (or one that hates men) to come around have been the most rewarding things I have done at our shelter. I don't have the extensive background that John has so I keep it simple. 1. No loud noises or voices. 2. No fast movements. 3. No eye contact. You can't fake calmness - I use a breathing exercise that I found in Paul Owens book to relax all my muscles. Think happy thoughts - I believe that dogs are perceptive to certain qualities of your voice so how you say it is more important than what you say. It probably takes me longer than John to get results so I probably need even more patience and persistence. Any helpful hints for me? Sounds like you have a good system down. Interesting idea, that breathing exercise! I have a friend who is a yoga instructor. Maybe I should have her come in and teach a self-calming class! You definitely want to avoid looking at the dog with anything that they can interpret as a hard stare. I, however, don't avoid all eye contact. I arch my brows, tilt my head, chat the dog up in "silly talk" and nod a lot, always dipping before raising my head. Those are all good calming cues in their own right. If a dog does seem easily spooked by any and all eye contact, then I do of course just watch them in peripheral vision. (The shock collar "trainer" who all but wrecked Angel back in the day said to never ever make eye contact or come close to her face. I love to snicker at that now when I nuzzle "muzzle to muzzle" with her, looking her in the eyes. Of course, I didn't do that from day one, but it was a goal from day one to break her of her "eye spookiness"! I guess if I had just gone through several months of someone shocking the hell out of me, I'd probably freak if anyone looked at me!) How long it takes depends a lot on the dog and whether you are working alone or with others with the dog. Some dogs who come in looking like all but hopeless cases turn around with a speed that astounds me. Others reach a certain point and then plateau. Some generalize quickly and trust others soon after they trust that first person. Some take the world one person at a time and after they learn to trust 20 people, still consider the 21st a serial murderer or whatever until proven otherwise. Those dogs are sadly very, very hard to place. Having others work alongside you can be a real boon if they do it well. But it can be a total bust if they screw up and undercut what you are doing. So while I like to have others involved, I strictly limit who those others can be. As hard as the fearful guys are, I have found that the sort of soothing work they need fits the attitude of a fair percentage of animal lovers and a lot more people can really help with them than can with severely unruly, let alone the occasional dominant dog. The biggest challenge is to get shelter workers, who have a job to do that they want to get finished, not too rush and bustle too much around the dogs. That can be a real challenge sometimes, but management backs me up and workers can get written up for inappropriate interactions. |
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Post by loverocksalot on Jan 16, 2012 15:01:01 GMT -5
[quote I work a lot with fearful dogs and I've had some really good staff and volunteers over the years who work well with them. When I teach new staff or volunteers, I tell them rule one is to slow down and stay calm yourself. Don't run from a fear biter, but don't come in on them like a run away freight train, either. Slow down, stop if need be, chat the dog up calmly. I've seen some real transformations. Some of the most gratifying work you can do is to bring around a fearful dog.. Getting a fearful dog (or one that hates men) to come around have been the most rewarding things I have done at our shelter. I don't have the extensive background that John has so I keep it simple. 1. No loud noises or voices. 2. No fast movements. 3. No eye contact. You can't fake calmness - I use a breathing exercise that I found in Paul Owens book to relax all my muscles. Think happy thoughts - I believe that dogs are perceptive to certain qualities of your voice so how you say it is more important than what you say. It probably takes me longer than John to get results so I probably need even more patience and persistence. Any helpful hints for me?[/quote] Rocky posted this video on his FB. He says that he looks forward to thunder and fireworks now because he knows it brings Hugs and calm pets from mom. daves I still have to stop by and meet you over at the shelter. Someone from there has recently again sent me an email hoping I could come for the training. I just have been too busy and I have that lecture coming up at library I am working on. I would like to just volunteer to hang with the dogs and do some training etc. I love to just sit calmly with dogs at the shelter. I think that is all they need sometimes is for someone to just hang out with them. |
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Post by suziriot on Jan 16, 2012 15:09:55 GMT -5
Dave S., I really like that breathing exercise idea of yours as well! It's so important to be in the right mental and emotional space when dealing with fearful and/or anxious dogs. And with unfamiliar dogs. I try to get myself in a good space before doing a temp test, but I never thought of doing some breathing exercises too. I could use my yoga breathing. Great idea!
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Post by loverocksalot on Jan 16, 2012 15:55:36 GMT -5
Funny that DaveS should mention Paul Owens and the breathing as I had just watched one of his videos and researching Paul Owens site and the breathing thing was something I was going to do at the lecture Im doing next month. Here is a clip of that section of his videos that is available for free. The Art and Use of Focus with Paul Owens www.raisewithpraise.com/DogTrainingVideoLibrary.htm#freebies |
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Post by johnr on Jan 16, 2012 19:33:34 GMT -5
Funny that DaveS should mention Paul Owens and the breathing as I had just watched one of his videos and researching Paul Owens site and the breathing thing was something I was going to do at the lecture Im doing next month. Here is a clip of that section of his videos that is available for free. The Art and Use of Focus with Paul Owens www.raisewithpraise.com/DogTrainingVideoLibrary.htm#freebiesCool! Thanks! |
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I look forward to learning much here