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Location: SW London
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 4,509
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Hmmm, not convinced
Feeling a bit mixed up, a bit guilty and not sure where to go from here...
Roger appears to be a very nice man who obviously cares for dogs a lot...but I really don't know if his approach is for Cain.
It started when we first tried to introduce them. Cain took one look at Roger and went bananas barking
I've never seen him react like that to someone over the babygate inside the house. Roger told him to sit, which he did, and three him some treats. Problem was that he started moving closer to Cain, telling him to sit in a very firm voice and stared at him. Cain went ballistic again
I honestly have never ever seem Cain react so badly to a person. I felt gutted as I'd always tried to make visitors a positive and Cain had never had a bad experience with a person in the house (expect one slight reaction to my brother once), suddenly Cain is kicking off big time.
We left him behind the babygate and had a chat. I then was told to muzzle him, put him on lead and bring him in. Cain was calm at first but then Roger caught him eye again for a few seconds too long and Cain kicked off big time
He also lunged repeatedly, which is MOST unusual, if he reacts normal it's just one "get away from me" lunge then he stops. He did calm down a bit and was letting Roger touch him etc,
Roger took his lead and took him into the garden. Cain was allowing him to stroke him, Roger then decided to test my theory that it was eye contact that was causing Cain to react, so he stared and Cain went nuts again
We went outside and when Roger passed me a poo bag, Cain went mad again and if he hadn't been muzzled, I think he would have bitten Roger
I haven't ever seen Cain like this, it's the first time I think he's really attacked with intent.
Then he wanted to take him out so we walked to the little local park. Sunny day, after school so heaving with dogs and kids. Roger didn't avoid anything and let Cain greet all the dogs who approached. He was also letting the owners touch Cain. I jumped in to stop children touching him, however a couple were not listening and managed to get a pat in before I physically removed them
normally I avoid kids like the plague, but we ended up surrounded by a family. To Cain's credit he didn't react to any person and was very good with the dogs. At one point he got totally surrounded and Rogwr said how well he did but I said he looked really uncomfortable. Then we went home.
Roger forgot his cheque book so I didn't get my refund yet. He wants me to visit the centre to do some training with strangers. He said there may be some fear there but he thinks Cain is dominant.....
I don't know how I feel
I'm really unhappy that Cain felt so uncomfortable to react on numerous occasions when I've worked so hard to make sure that he never goes over threshold. In the other hand he DID do very well in the park and I wonder if I need to stop avoiding and start confronting and give him a chance to prove he can be ok. However I have concerns that Cain was behaving simply because he was over threshold and overwhelmed so he just shut down a bit.
Feeling really bad now that Cain got so stressed and I'm worried it might set us back. I am tempted to try again at the centre though as Roger said he would ask the people not to stare, and it's not often I can try to train Cain in a controlled environment with savvy willing strangers.
I don't know how I feel. Roger was nice but his methods appear a bit too confrontational for Cain. On the plus side he carried the pet corrector and I don't think he had to use it...