Thought I would give you all an update on Zara, and her behavior issues.
Zara is now 9 and a half months old, and previously I had posted (a couple times) about her aggressive and obnoxious behaviors.
I called my local all breed club (no dane club nearby), and the person who helped me get Ari's CGC and TDI, got a few names, and found a local person on everyone's list. I did interview a few behaviorists, and found one who seemed like she would work for my daughter and I and Zara.
We had almost a 3 hour consultation, and a 2 hour follow up home visit. Lynn interviewed my daughter (a teenager) and I, she observed our interactions, and came up with some really good ideas for us.
We are doing some very simple exercises that can be done in the house, at random times, by my daughter or I to help Zara to focus on us - (rather than getting crazy over some little thing). We have taught her to "touch" our closed fist as a target, and are now working on teaching her to target each others hands across a room. We also are teaching "look at me" something we had not done before.
She showed my daughter how to make Zara move away from her when Zara is treating my daughter as a sibling, and not an authority figure. It was funny, because one of the only things that Zara respected in terms of a boundry was a chair or a baby gate. So my daughter was either picking up a chair (see lion tamer here) or a baby gate, and walking straight into Zara to get her to give her space. This worked in less than a week, and now all daughter has to do is get up and walk toward Zara, and she backs off. Hopefully, another couple weeks to get it on a verbal or hand signal.
Out of the house, I am taking Zara back to obedience class on a pinch collar, without my daughter who cried at the sight of the "torture" collar. Zara has made some good strides in class, and is really DOING "sit" and "down" and "stay" this time around. It may take us a few more 8 week classes to get the pinch collar off of her, and be able to do it in a martingale, but I see so much change in her.
She is a smart dog, and is more highly strung than most other danes I've had/met.
She still gets growlie when a child or adult approaches that she (for whatever reason) has deemed scary, but she has completely stopped lunging, and can be (about 50% of the time) re-focused with treats, and commands to "touch" or "look at me" --- without having to give the collar a jerk.
So, it can be done; it's not easy, nor do I expect it will be, but I can see that she is going to turn into a great girl one day!!!
Andi
Zara is now 9 and a half months old, and previously I had posted (a couple times) about her aggressive and obnoxious behaviors.
I called my local all breed club (no dane club nearby), and the person who helped me get Ari's CGC and TDI, got a few names, and found a local person on everyone's list. I did interview a few behaviorists, and found one who seemed like she would work for my daughter and I and Zara.
We had almost a 3 hour consultation, and a 2 hour follow up home visit. Lynn interviewed my daughter (a teenager) and I, she observed our interactions, and came up with some really good ideas for us.
We are doing some very simple exercises that can be done in the house, at random times, by my daughter or I to help Zara to focus on us - (rather than getting crazy over some little thing). We have taught her to "touch" our closed fist as a target, and are now working on teaching her to target each others hands across a room. We also are teaching "look at me" something we had not done before.
She showed my daughter how to make Zara move away from her when Zara is treating my daughter as a sibling, and not an authority figure. It was funny, because one of the only things that Zara respected in terms of a boundry was a chair or a baby gate. So my daughter was either picking up a chair (see lion tamer here) or a baby gate, and walking straight into Zara to get her to give her space. This worked in less than a week, and now all daughter has to do is get up and walk toward Zara, and she backs off. Hopefully, another couple weeks to get it on a verbal or hand signal.
Out of the house, I am taking Zara back to obedience class on a pinch collar, without my daughter who cried at the sight of the "torture" collar. Zara has made some good strides in class, and is really DOING "sit" and "down" and "stay" this time around. It may take us a few more 8 week classes to get the pinch collar off of her, and be able to do it in a martingale, but I see so much change in her.
She is a smart dog, and is more highly strung than most other danes I've had/met.
She still gets growlie when a child or adult approaches that she (for whatever reason) has deemed scary, but she has completely stopped lunging, and can be (about 50% of the time) re-focused with treats, and commands to "touch" or "look at me" --- without having to give the collar a jerk.
So, it can be done; it's not easy, nor do I expect it will be, but I can see that she is going to turn into a great girl one day!!!
Andi
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