| The incedent with the weimaraner happened before class, during the period of time where everyone is just arriving and EVERYONE's dog is making the rounds greeting. I do NOT allow him to approach other dogs during class when we are working...it's a distraction to him and other dogs. Even when resting between exercises I demand that his focus is on me...which is something that he's pretty good about and getting better as we go along. This is the 3rd class we've been to, we did a puppy class with him, but we had very little play time and socialization...something that I felt unconformtable about long before I learned enough to know what a missed opprotunity it was. We then did a basic obedience class with the same trainer which ended up being pretty much the same thing, just working on the basic behviors we learned during puppy class. There are 2 dogs in class with him now that were also in the same puppy and basic classes, so he's familiar with them and often greets them when we meet up every week for class. Generally no problems there, although he desperately wants to wrestle with Annie, the female yellow lab. I don't allow it because I can tell that he'd just end up playing too rough with her...it's very evident in his manner.
As far as age, he's soon to be 11 months and currently uneutured. I have no doubt that hormones could be contributing a great deal to these new behaviors, but I'm a firm believer in behavior behing primarily constructed from conditioned responses and cannine instincts and drives. I would like to pursue training to the limit of his potential, probably in obedience and utilitly competion, possibly agility (though he is a bit of a lug) Conformation, I think he has enough cosmetic faults to really keep him from doing well, but I've held off on having him neutured parly in the hopes that someone with more experience and impartialness can give him a good evaluation and help me determine if he might be suitable to compete in that area as well.
I've seen plenty of other dogs behave in public and at the club behave as badly, most often worse than the few incedents we've had with him. There was a dog in another class the other night (a boxer I believe) that bit the instructor (deep enough to require medical attention) during an examination and then promptly turned and bit the owner. This week he was muzzled. I really respect because to me that indicates that this club isnt' going to turn away a dog that DESPERATELY needs professional training...they'll just take the necessary precautions and do what they can to correct the behavior. There have been incedents where Jaxom growled at other dogs that were obviously instigating him, and other incedents with dogs that were jumping and slavering at the ends of their leads trying to get at him and he was completely aloof and calm. There has never been an altercation that resulted in actual contact of any kind, just a lot of show and bluff and there has always been a bevy of warning signs that lead up to it.
We did sitting stays for examination and the GSD sitting next to us repeatedly tried to engulf the trainers hand in it's jaws as he tried to place a hand on the top of it's head. Jaxom was approached, sniffed the hand offered, and gave it one tiny lick on the way up...very solid about being approached and handled by strangers, all while sitting next to the same dog that he'd early barked and lunged at. I can't get a handle on that, bark and lunge at the same dog while heeling, but sitting next to it while a stranger approaches to handle him and he's completely benign.
This basically is what I feel si the root of the problem, he's not had the chance to interact with enough dogs to learn how to behave around them. He's young and awkward and staring to have powerful hormones raging through his system, prompting strange and unusal behaiors. Is viewing him casually approaching dogs as a warning sign and completely isolating him from interaction really the way to improve this sort of behavior? I can't accept that. How is he supposed to get better around dogs if he's never allowed to interact with them?
Back to my original question which still hasn't really been answered...what warning signs could I have overlooked. Is calmly approaching a dog and sniffing muzzles in a seemingly friendly fasion actually dangerous behavior? Jaxom generally plants his nose firmly in the rump of dogs (and usually people) as a greeting, so should I have been suspicious that his nose was investigating the wrong end. Is there a way to allow him to interact with other dogs without being tense and keeping him on a tight leash (possibly CAUSING aggressive behavior) and yet still maintain enough control that if he does suddenly decide to snap, I can get him away deftly enough that no damage is done.
There isn't a question in the household about 'pack' structure and Jaxom is a definitly a solid 3rd, under my wife and I but comfortabley above Dee, the ferrets, and various fish. Blaming natural dog behvior on dominance issues due to lack of a strong alpha figure in the household is a poor excuse in my opinion, I feel it's actually a lack of understanding on our parts of what makes dogs tick and learning how to modify our interaction and training with them to get the behaviors that we deem acceptable. It's the main reason I'm so fascinated with dog training and dog phsycology, because it's so intrinsicly different from our own learning process.
I'm familiar with NILF and incorporate a lot of it into everyday life. You want petting, you have to sit. You want food, you have to get in your crate and calmly wait until I put it down for you to eat. You want to go outside, you have to wait at the open doorway until I tell you it's okay to go. I dont' see how that applies to unexpected behavior, I can apply correction after the fact but whitout understanding the causes, I can't effectively prevent the behavior unless I completely avoid any situations with the possiblity of it occuring. In my mind, that's not really training. It would be akin to keeping your dog chained up outside 24/7 and saying he's housebroken because he's never pooped on the living room carpet. Bah, my dog deserves better from me.
Enough babbling from me.  |