She's "at that age" now...

Hi everyone. I have a small question regarding the 'teenage stage' and my Doberman pooch.

I've had her since she was around 3 1/2 months old. She's now around 6 months, and is showing signs of nervousness, I suppose. She charges strange dogs and often growls, barks and nips at them.

Now, under recommendations from other Doberman owners on a supportive forum I visit, I've purchased a long light-weight rope that extends 60 foot. This was entered into the training yesterday. I also have an ILLUSION COLLAR, designed by Cesar Milan. This has been 'mutated' so that, rather than clipping the long-line onto the slip-collar part, it clips onto the solid 'support' of the collar. I use the collar so that there's no too much pressure on one point of her neck if she hits the end of the long-line at fast speed.

She's always been weary of other dogs and people, but for the first three weeks of us owning her, we carried her everywhere with us - or rather, I carried her everywhere with us - making sure she had good experiences with people and strange places. People who came to say hello were asked to give her a treat before petting, then pet the top of the head, then the side, then under the chin if they wanted to touch the underside of her face. (Lots of detail here! :eek: )

I'm putting a lot of effort into her training now, and am working on distance training (currently at 15ft. "Sit", working to 7ft. "Down") and recall. She's doing well with the Wait command, but badly with "Stay" as I haven't taught her this yet. She's got a few basic safety commands (Stop, (Be) Careful, Steady) which she responds to by slowly her pace to a stop and turning to look at what I'm doing.

Now that you have a tiddy bit of background, (feel free to ask for more) here's the question...

How do I allow her to greet other dogs?!

I'm currently getting her into the "Sit, Wait" position next to me while I have a brief conversation with the owner. Sometimes the owner mimics what I d, getting their dog to sit, and sometimes they just let the dogs shove over and sniff at my pooch. Which is fine. But then I'm stuck with the task of correcting my pup hen she nips at the dogs' neck, or tries to back away. I don't want her to think I'm forcing her to stay, even though I am. I also don't want her to think it's alright to run away from dogs or bite, growl or bark at them.

Because she's a Doberman, she'll always have the protective instinct, which I'm fine with. I just don't want her thinking it's alright to charge at other dogs or people, bark at them, growl, nip, scare or otherwise injure them (mentally or physically). Because she's going to be a BIG dog with a BIG bark and an even BIGGER bite...I'm getting desperate! No matter what I do or how I act, she seems to be agitated and nervous around strange dogs. I know I must be doing something wrong. I just don't know how to let her greet other dogs. I know how I WANT her to greet other dogs...But I don't know how to help get that.

Anyone got any 'words of wisdom' for me? :confused:

Have you done any obedience classes with her? This is a tricky age for any pup, and you seem to be doing the right thing in general, whenever she gets nervous, redirect her focus to you, not the other dog, just say her name calmly, maybe offer hit a bit of treat if she stays seated and still, or a bit of praise - whichever she likes better. If you can, tell the other person "we're working on training right now, she's a little skittish, so can you keep your dog still for a minute?" Being happy and yet calm with her when she's being a good girl, even around other dogs should help. Remember, as a Doberman, she's very smart - use that to your advantage! And the more tired she is before you see the other dogs, the better - take her for a long walk or run BEFORE the dog park, for example, if that's where she's meeting other dogs!

Thanks Karen.

I've been taking her to a qualified obedience trainer since she was able to go out. (She was able to safely walk on the ground on a Monday, and the classes are on Thursdays.)

She's fine at the classes, and loves playing with her "Best Fur-friend", who is a large Mastiff mix. Bee* is friendly, but barks excessively for play, hence why she's at the class. My pooch hasn't yet barked at her in play, but, at the start of the classes, she did nip at her tail if we were walking behind. That was, erm, "nipped in the bud" and now she's cool with walking behind any dogs or person in the class. :D

I'm not sure if the fact Bee* barks during play has anything to do with the way my pup greets other dogs. It doesn't seem like it. But it could be. A tiny bit. Maybe. :p

My girl also goes on a walk every Saturday with a friend, our other dogs, and her Staffordshire Bull Terrier (Very obedient, well mannered, friendly, quiet...the list goes on!) so she does have a lot of play with other dogs that have a naturally good personality. We also walk five days a week with a little Jack Russell who shows slightly nervous and very submissive behaviour to other dogs, but greets them nicely, plays, and loves people.

I've been given some great advice by other "Doberman people" and was told that it's "normal Doberman behaviour" but I don't remember our other girl acting like this at any age. Seeing as I've never experienced this with the three other Dobes we've owned, I'm taking the advice I've been given, which was to use a long line, stay calm around other dogs and people, brush up on training and do more 'strict' training session.

My pooch is most motivated by her ball, so I take that out with me, as well as a "bumbag" (think America calls it a "Fannypack" :D) stocked with: treats, a clicker (yet to be used for her), spare lead, more yummy treats, a 'lure treat', and a small rattle bottle, which I'm hesitant to use. Do I really want her to associate dogs with loud/scary noises? Naw...I'll need to get more opinions on that and learn when to actually 'zap' it. My trainer loosely suggested it, but wrinkled her nose at it, saying that dogs will react differently, and it's not the best idea unless you know what you're doing.

I want to mention that she was 'attacked' by a Black Labrador before. We were in the OB class, and I was talking to the owner of the Lab, who was described as "boisterous and just wanting to play" (WRONG!) and my girl was lying down next to me, as she was pretty pooped after class. The Lab was sitting under a table near the owner, and he crept forward so slowly, we didn't really notice. We noticed he was closer when we saw the really intense stare he gave my pooch. She looked away and tried moving away slightly, but the dog lunged forward and nipped at her. She backed away slowly and calmly, which was good. The trainer stepped in and got between the Lab and my girl, but they weren't allowed to greet each other again. Fine by me! No physical damage was done to either dog, but it did cause a bit of a 'mental problem' for mine.

That was the first Black dog she's seen, aside from her siblings, and now she's very weary of Black dogs. I allowed her to greet a neighbours calm Black Labs, and she growled and backed away. I stayed up there with her for a few more minutes, with her in the Sit, Wait position. I didn't let the dogs get too close, because mine didn't relax at all. You could see the whites of her eyes and she was really rigid, glancing between the dog and the house. So, after about five minutes, I took her in.

She's still pretty weary of black dogs. We're working on it slowly, by putting her back on the lead around black dogs and asking if they an say hello calmly. I have her in the Sit, Wait, and give her a treat every 20-50 seconds when we're greeting Black or Dark grey dogs, and, if the owner's fine with it, I give the other dog a few, as well. I treat them both at the same time if possible. I never give her toys when other dogs are around. She had a tiny problem with 'property aggression' as a very young puppy, but that was only once. I'm keeping her out of possible-problems' way, every way I can. There's really no need for her to have a toy when there are other dogs close by. I'm not going to cause problems by giving her one.

I usually do a quick up and down the lane trip prior to heading to any public parks or woodland area's with her. It gives her a warm-up focus heeling exercise, as well as a little less energy, but not so much that she refuses to do anything. I'll make sure to give her a quick run up the field, where she can go off lead safely, before taking her on her 'social walks' into town every Saturday.

Considering she's only six months old, and has only been walking for about two months, she's doing really well. She can go off lead reliably, but, as she barks and charges other dogs now-a-days, I keep her on the long line (training purposes), she greets MOST people nicely...Though, today, we were walking back from the local shop, and some guy really scared her (and me!) by 'jumping' out from behind a bush. She barked and pulled into the road, which was pretty worrying, but I can completely understand why she was shocked. Neither of us were expecting it. I'm just glad no cars were coming. It wasn't just herself she dragged into the road! :eek:

She's only been able to go for proper walks since mid-February (14th), if it makes much of a difference to further posters.

:)

I talked about this with friends on the radio show I do, and they said to, instead of having her "sit," and "stay," work on Heel instead, and make "heel" such a fun thing that she'll be interested in that, instead of the other dog. It is important, of course, that you are calm, and very consistent, and if she snaps at another dog, or backs away, you need to correct her, and bring her focus back to you with a command. She's a Dobe, so whip-smart and growing, so getting this behavior corrected now is important! If you need to, you may try a muzzle when you are at the dog park, just to be sure she cannot do any damage to anyone else, but for now, try "heel" and making that fun, refocus her on you, and see how that goes. Remember, Momma Dog will cuff a misbehaving pup, I'll never forget or Saint Bernard, who never had pups of her own, pinning down a friend's puppy who was being obnoxious and giving him a low growl. The next time he tried it, she swung with one paw, and he rolled like a bowling ball across the lawn, but didn't attack her again!

And one of the hosts said to tell you she looooooves England, and finds it very doggie friendly!