Big Blouse or what?

Christine Young · GAL Newsletter Editor

Big Blouse or what?

Suzanne · Guru

Hi Christine - cant be of much help but Murphy falls under the category of big girls blouse too. Some days he is full of confidence & will speak to every dog he meets, others he spends his walk with his tail firmly clamped between his legs & buttocks tucked under ready to bolt, unless he meets another youngster & its play time again...I often think he does himself no favours as that tends to be the time other dogs will react & chase him if he is acting all submissive. One sniff from a dog he isnt sure off & tail is under belly, he spins round on the spot & if they persist he bolts. This just antagonises the other dogs into giving chase...there arent very many nasty dogs where we walk but this response from Murphy always gets a reaction...shame...Thing is he can meet one dog one day & be fine with it - next time we meet it & hes gone all woosy again.

Missy · Master

Hi

We had something like this with one of our Labs when I was a teenager. It is possible that Vegas has been bitten by a smaller dog when he was younger or perhaps he was bullied by the other pups (i.e. more than one) hence the fear now.

Or perhaps he just doesn't like his butt to be sniffed at !!

I would suggest that maybe if you can is introduce him to one/two small friendly dog that will not attack to show Vegas that little dogs are not frightening.

When people say that dogs have short memories I do not believe them.

We had two pedigree labs when I was a teenager and one of them started to hate small dogs only because the next door corgi got through the fence and tried to pinch on of her pups and ever since that happened Cindy would go for any dog that was smaller.

Maybe Vegas's fear has stemmed from the reverse of the above maybe he was the puppy !!!!

Just a thought !!!

Katrina

Christine Young · GAL Newsletter Editor

Hi Suzanne and Missy

Thanks for your replies. It's possible Vegas associates smaller dogs with being bitten. A few months after we got him from GAL he had a chunk torn out of his flank by a female collie/GSD cross. The attack came out of the blue - no indication or warning that she was going to bite. The dog has since been put down because she went for a small boy. Vegas needed seven stitches and was sore for a few weeks. It could be that incident springing to his mind every time he meets another dog, but the collie X was a single dog.

None of the dogs we meet on our walks are as nasty and most are great fun for him - it's just every now and again he decides to take fright from ones he doesn't know and I've noticed it's always more than one dog.

It's a good job he has excellent recall. Once he's out of sight of the 'scary monsters' he comes back when I call. It doesn't happen often, but I'll try to take note of his body language and maybe with time I can nip his running off in the bud. It's strange Suzanne, like Murph some days he seems more prone to doing this than others.

Christine

Lesley · Guru

When we first got Sim he was nervous of everything and every new situation!

To increase his confidence I took him to the local dog training class - not because I want him to turn into a competition-winning-obedience dog, but just because I wanted to increase his experience of new situations and also work on his attention-to-me when out (anxious - not great recall - you are lucky).

The first 10 - 20 minutes of the class is leads off and all the dogs mill around sniffing each other, some bark, some play, some are quiet and some are noisy - if any are too boisterous or bordering on aggressive they are kept on the lead. There are all sorts and sizes of dog from tiny pups to huge GSD's and an Italian Spinoni. The first time we went Sim just stood in the corner and quaked and tried to get out of the door every time it opened. I did everything I had been told: ignore nervous behaviour, don't fuss him as that is rewarding nervous behaviour etc. I even had to stop another woman from comforting him - she must have thought I was a pretty heartless cow ignoring my quaking dog.

Now when we go - he is in among all the other dogs: sniffing and socialising. He still tries to get out of the door sometimes, but he is hugely improved. He still gets very distracted in the class, but his attention to me is improving also.

I wonder whether something of the sort might help Vegas get over his nervousness of other dogs.

Christine Young · GAL Newsletter Editor

Thanks Lesley - I'll certainly keep a Training Class in mind for Vegas if his terror of some small dogs gets any worse. It puzzles me that he'll play and run with most dogs big and small, but the few that have him running scared are a good bit smaller than him, always more than one dog and tend to be female. The feisty wee madams! Maybe they're the ladettes of the dog world!

I keep a close eye on his approach to other dogs he doesn't know well and most of the time it's waggy tails all round. But if I think his strange reaction to meeting groups of dogs is happening more often, a Training Class may be the very thing to boost his confidence!

Christine