Snore
One sleeping puppy, but usually she is running around like this:Had a set back with Sky last night. Went to feed her and she had severe food aggression towards me :( Seriously made me think about giving her up (which will always be an option if it turns into something that I cannot handle), but after thinking hard about it and getting a message on Facebook about the situation, we have decided to see if we can work on the problem. Its a shame as she can be such a nice puppy, the problem is that no one has taught her any manners, so she needs to be taught them, which should have already started 2 months ago, not now. The food aggression could have been caused by so many things, but I'm leaning towards people not feeding her enough, or at all since she wants to hoard the food we give her. But we hand fed her today, and she seems to be all right with that, no sign of aggression and sat when we asked her too. After at least a week of that, we can try a few other things, leading into her having her food in her bowl. This should help *crosses fingers*
And we are going to get a crate, which worked wonders for the Rottie we had. Slowly introducing the crate to Sky should help as well. And would mean that I could draw for half an hour a few times a day when she is sleeping :p
I really just don't want to give up on her after less then a week and after so many other people all ready have.
I am so glad you are going to try to work with her. I was disappointed when I saw your FB post about your troubles but glad to read now that she shows signs of improving. A crate is an excellent idea. Helps with housebreaking too. I used a book, Mother Knows Best by Carol Benjamin when training our springer. You can probably find it at a library. He will now sit with a morsel of food held right in front of his nose for ever without trying to grab it, until you say, "okay". Something I learned to teach him from that book. However, swiping and shredding tissues are another matter :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm so thrilled you're trying to hang in there. Sky's so lucky to have found someone willing to give her a chance. Remember when you first start bowl feeding her to hold the bowl too and use a different bowl all the time rather than the same one. She's so pretty! I hadn't realized, looks like she's the same breed(ish) to our little orphan Phlee. She's so sweet :)
ReplyDeleteSky is soooo very cute and that is a very Labrador things, to want all the toys in your mouth. I am sure she will master it. I love how she runs to you, with her ears all alert, when you called her.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that with your love and patience she will be fine.
am glad you are working with Sky to help her with her issues. gonna be hard work worth it!
ReplyDeletelots of love teen & Pops xx
I'll never advise you to keep an aggressive dog, but it sounds like you are doing the right things. Could be just 'growing pains', 'settling in' and 'bad habits'. The food thing could be that she was in a situation where she had to defend her food rights to get enough to eat. You have a great plan to go forward with, and soon you will see her 'true colours' with that plan--may she shine like her name.
ReplyDeleteI hope everything works out! I've never had a dog - always cats!
ReplyDeleteI remember an episode of the dog whisperer about food aggression and how to handle it. he made the process simpler than i have seen in books - perhaps you might want to see if you can find info on this on his web site.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cesarsway.com/dogwhisperer/
good luck - the pup is cute!
rj
What a cute dog! I am glad you are sticking it out with her, she just looks so sweet.
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteOh please give her time to get used to her new surroundings and you. She looks like a cute and playful dog and I am sure she will learn to behave in the near future.
It's so hard when they are misbehaving. The adjustment time with new dogs is always longer than I expect. Best of luck with this cutie. :-)
ReplyDeleteann, I will have a look for that book :) lots of people have suggested books so I am going to try to find some of them. Can't hurt to read what different trainers think :)
ReplyDeletewendy, she is a sweet little thing, and i am glad we are trying to help her get over the food aggression issue. we make her sit and wait for it and only let her have it out of our hand when when tell her she can. hasn't snapped or growled at us once so far :)
cindy, she is very cute when she runs. but i just wish she would stop before she gets to me lol she runs almost full force into my legs with the toys :p
tina, thanks :) I've had both, and a cat that thought he was a dog lol
rj, I know lots of people use cesars methods, but she is way too shy and nervous for them, but thank you for the suggestion :)
kerry, very sweet and cute, and uses that to her advantage lol
norma, she is very playful :) we are trying to get her to let go of the ball when she brings it back, but so far not really happening lol
tara, thank you :)
She seems to be part Border Collie, they are high energy very intelligent dogs. I hope they made you aware of this when you adopted her.
ReplyDeleteTo get her to let go of the ball trade the ball with something else. Give her a treat, another toy, something. and when she lets go, use a command "drop" or something similar. Then she will learn that drop means to let go of the ball. :)
About the eating agression, that is probably a adolescent phase. Seen this with a few pups at this age. Just keep working with her making sure she understands you are the alpha and that growling is unacceptable. Eating out of the hand is a good way to show you are alpha providing HER with the food. I think you are on the right track! :)
wishing you the best.