hi i'm new here and need help please

hey i'm 22 live with my parents yeah 22 live with parents i'm not thrilled about it:rolleyes: anyway we have a toy poodle named scarlett and we have had her since she was a puppy.she is about 3 years old now and is very aggressive:eek: on x-mas she bite my thumb really bad.she does have a sweet playful side but my parents said if she doesn't shape up that they will get rid of her.i said i'll take her when i move out.but i have epilepsy (seizure disorder)and am on ssi.so if i move out i won't be able to afford to keep her.anyway is there away i can straighten her additude.i read that laying her on her back till she calms down would do it is that true.they said its not easy either.anyway please help me i have had her since she was a pup,if you have any ideas i'm all ears thank you and take care:)

scarlett

hey scarlett,
first of all, welcome to pet talk :):) i hope you stick around.
second, i am really sorry about your seizure disorder and about your dog. i am not too good with advice but there are tons of people here who are great with it so stick around :D

You have to start from scratch and retrain the dog. I will email a couple of our experts, and alert them.

1. This is NOT hopeless.

2. When does she become aggressive? This is important to know.

3. Has she had any kind of training? Obedience or something?

4. Does she have activities that she enjoys, like a particular toy she likes to play with?

5. Who feeds her? And how often?

You need to be specific, so that we can help. Was it during play-time that you were bitten? What behaviors do they mean when they say "if she doesn't straighten out ..."

hi. the laying on the back thing is good. but its because YOU dominate the dog. lay her on her back and STARE at her til she turns away. do that from time to time. not when she is "bad" just sometimes, when you are petting her, or playing.... she has to learn that you are the "boss"/alpha.
karen's right you have to star over. she has to learn that YOU are the boss/alpha/parent and that she depends on you. can you go to your local library? check out dogs for dummies or puppies for dummies (its a really great book with a really silly title). it teaches you how to be the alpha with your pet. i used it. and love it.

look for ads at community centers for dog training classes, those tend to be less expensive. you can also rent videos at blockbuster and hollywood video. they arent great but can help. i work with adults with disabilities, and understand how money can be tight.

good luck and keep writing for more suggestions!

Hi welcome to Pet Talk.

Like Karen said the situation isn't hopeless and there's bound to be people on the board who can give you some helpful info but we do need some more info Karen covered all of it.

As for the flipping her on to her back thing, opinions varies on this one. I wouldn't do it personally because I believe that there are kinder, gentler ways to establish your self as the alpha member in the pack. In fact sometimes flipping the dog on the back could just add to the problem.

I have had several fosters some of which were fear aggressive, others just plain aggressive. The one thing I learned was to reward positive wanted behavior and ignore unwanted behavior. A trainer friend of mine told me once that it is easier to reinforce wanted behavior with positive reinforcement and by making it fun rather than punishing unwanted behavior because it could just increase the problem rather than decrease it.

Good luck with your pup.

I haev an 8 motnhs odl Aussie mix named Chewy. Chewy also is agressive. Waht we do is reward his good behavior or the behavior we like. Like when he is laying by the couch and aloy someone to come over and talk to him he gets so many dog biscuits that I can't even count! Also, when peopel come into our house they have to ask chewy to sit and then give him a dog biscuit. Your dog may think he is belwo you and you need to assert that you are above him. Because I am above Chewy I cna not help him but the people who he beleaves are below him haev to work with him. I have svral friends who come over once a month to help out. What happnes is there are 4 of them. And they each come over 2 in one week to see Chewy. All tehy do during this half hour is have him do comands and then the next week diffrent people come and then at the end of the month my fasther has his tlc (group of 8 people) come over and they all do comands with Chewy for an hour to 2 hours. I try to switch it around as my whole Church has offered to help us help Chewy. This way your dog will learn all peole are above him, not just certain people. I'm ot going ot lie to you, it is going ot take a long itme and alot of paitince. I have been working with Chewy for almost 2 or more months and have only see slight changes in his behavior. Contact a behviorist or trainer.

Most importnatly DON'T GIVE UP. If you ever need to talk please Pm me I am more then willing to help. I know alot of tiems I feel like giving up on Chewy and wish I had some one to turn to who would just say look how far you've come you can't give up now and if thats what you need then Pm me. I am always willing to listen.

I tried the flipping on the back/looking them in the eye with my former aggressive snot husky puppy, and it just made him flip out. It didn't help, he would just bite more!

I think that varies with the dog...

Please reply with more info (like Karen said)...we need to know more before we can help you.

I also have a toy poodle. He's now almost 17 years old. He never had any sort of training, we didn't work with him...we didn't know (I know better now). He's always been...snotty...you can't mess with him, he'll bite. He's even worse now that he's older. That's just Smokey. lol. It seems smaller dogs are usually more nippy.

p.s. Ash I think that's awesome what you have going on there...all the people coming over to help! Good idea! I think it's great all you are doing to help Chewy. :)

i would consider obedience school :) oh by the way welcome one of my friends dog was wild and they took it to obedience school and now it is the most kind dog now i hope that helped:)

she needs to stop barking at her i guess were called her masters but that doesn't sound right.anyway and she needs to stop biting us she's a angel around strangers.

anyway can witnessing a seizure scare scarlett so bad that she turns on me and even my parents?i had a seizure awhile back and i think she saw me have it,but i'm not 100% sure cause i have the kind where i go uncounsious (sp?)ever since then she won't let me near her or touch her (meaning she won't allow me to pet her.i blame myself for her bad additude i know i shouldn't but its hard not to.why is she like this is it cause i had a seizure and she saw me have it.thank you for the ideas i'll give them a try :)take care:)

sorry i took so long to reply i've been having a rough time and now i have a migrane:(

scarlett

i know this sounds like really stupid but when my dog tried to bite my dad he would take her paw or her tail and put that in her mouth so that she bit herself>>>its sounds crazy but for her it worked :D but then again you might not be able to get her paw in her mouth depending on the ways she is sitting/standing when she bites you


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