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Location: Illinois, USA
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 2
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Misbehaving Service Dog Candidate
Hello, everyone!
Some of you may have seen
my post in the introductions forum, in which I introduced myself and my Autism service dog candidate, Shiloh. For those of you who haven't seen the post, I'll sum up the relevant info regarding Shiloh: he's a four month old intact male Anatolian Shepherd who, due to his breed, needs a lot of work to master basic obedience skills and advance to public access training.
Since bringing him home just over 3 weeks ago, Shiloh's response to the basic obedience commands he already knows ("sit" and "down") has gotten much better than it was when he first arrived. He's still working on learning "come," "stay," "off," and "heel," but it's obvious that with hard work and patience he'll master them soon enough. In fact, I can't think of any basic commands that I don't know how to train him to do; the problem is training him not to engage in several of the unwanted behaviors he's been displaying.
Shiloh's main behavior problems are barking/growling and nipping/roughhousing at inappropriate times.
He barks/growls whenever someone he doesn't know approaches or enters our house, comes to close to him or me, or speaks in a way that startles him; he also barks/growls at me and my family members when he wants us to play (it's way too loud and threatening for any of us to be comfortable with) or gets startled by us. He starts nipping and roughhousing at random times, like in the middle of walks and right after resting with my family and I.
If anyone has suggestions regarding how to correct these behaviors in a positive manner or with minimal corrections, I'd love to hear them.
Thank you in advance!