Sunday, June 27, 2010
A New Routine
Aurora is showing a lot of progress in her social reconditioning. Three months ago she barked outrageously at any dog in the vicinity. She now only barks at dogs within a 20 to30 yards. We have made improvements by posting up at spot in which dogs are in her view from a distance, and then gradually decreasing the distance between her and the other dogs. I get a lot of bad looks from bystanders because of her behavior, but they don't understand that her barks aren't mean. She is barking because she wants to meet the dogs but doesn't know how to communicate with them. This is a direct result of having been around only one older male dog through her adolescence. A dog must be properly socialized with dogs of various ages within the first 16 months of their lives or they are unable to learn how to properly communicate with them. This is not a hopeless situation. She can be conditioned to learn a new behavior when she is in a given situation. Today we set up a chain in the front yard that allows her walk across only half of the yard. Under my direct supervision, we sit on the porch together so that she can get acclimated to random dogs walking by on the side walk. Today we sat outside for about twenty minutes, but we didn't see any dogs go by. I suppose the weather is keeping people inside, because usually dogs go by relatively frequently. Perhaps on Tuesday I will be able to give an update on how our newest plan of action is panning out.
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Have you ever thought about the radio collar technique? Although some consider it a bit barbaric, it is an effective method, namely because it initially surprises the dog with an uncomfortable electric charge, and once the Pavlovian effect keeps the animal from barking at other dogs, the animal is forced to observe and then take an interest in other dogs by other methods besides barking. Not a practice for all people, but for other folks swear by this technique.
ReplyDeleteWe had a dog that barked constantly. And he also constantly tugged at his collar to get to know the other dogs. I've heard of a lot of things that are cruel in my opinion such as choke collars, and snipping the vocal cords, but with our dog, we would hold her nose and mouth shut when a dog went by and gave him a treat after the dog was out of sight. Then after about a week we stopped. And when he barked the next week we would not give him a treat and when the next dog walked by when he started barking we covered his nose again and gave him a treat. Took about a month and a half but he learned not to bark at walking dogs. When he did bark at the door or a scary nose we also gave him treats. Knowing he's ok to bark at intruders is always good anyways.
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