|
Location: Sheffield
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,856
|
|
Ooh now here's one I can give benefit of my experience on!
Takara had loads of socialisation as a pup but I didn't know about forced positive socialisation so a lot of the stuff I intro'd her to actually scared her.
She became quite wary of children (you would if they ran at you screaming each time they saw you) and became
really nervous of large dogs.
I socialised her with dogs a lot but around us there just weren't many large breed dogs bigger than labs so if she met a rottie or similar sized dog she'd pee her pants.
She always reacted by removing herself from the situation but the dog would often follow so I decided to try to alter her emotional response to dogs (creating a 'conditioned emotional response').
I did this using clicker training and highly recommend it for anyone with a food motivated dog (can be awkward if the click has to be followed by ball throwing in certain situations!)
So I always suggest:
Start with a low intensity trigger - for instance - a smaller bloke that is stood at a distance from him and not looking. You may wonder why you'd want to reinforce this as he's ok with it, but you do it anyway as it relaxes them a little more.
Taking baby steps, build up his stimulus. Move the 'smaller man' a little closer, still not looking and continue to reinforce his presence.
When you want to up one criterion (ie. get the man to look at him) then make another criterion easier (ie. take a step or two away) etc. etc.
That's a situation to set up.
For situations that arise, I keep an eye out as soon as I see a trigger, I wait for dog to see it and click before the dog gives any response. Click and feed for looking and remaining calm.
If you do get a bloke coming up, I'd ask them not to look at him but to throw a treat on the floor for him. That way he's not having to take it from their hand but the food is coming from them and gradually you can start moving to taking it from their hand - still not looking.
Takara has always been aloof with people and never liked them fussing her. I don't see this as a problem, she never grumbled or barked at people but unfortunately because she is a dalmatian everyone wants to fuss her and feels they should be able to.
So I went through the same thing with you (tbh, it was mostly men, but anyone I could find really) and asked people to feed her.
Be warned - she now pulls (ever so slightly) on her lead to get to people when on walks!
She's far more of a joy to have now that she can cope with these situations and I found the clicker invaluable because it got through to her regardless of her emotional state.