Fear Aggression??? Or Authority Issues???

[BrightEyez]

I didnt really read all of the replies so i dont know if anyone has suggested this already but why dont you use treats? If you catch her on the couch, take out a treat and show it to her and say, DOWN. If she gets down, reward her.

[BuckshotSableMolly]

Diane ~ Thanks SO very much. I appreciate your experience and knowledge being shared. We had a GREAT weekend. Lexus is a very fast learner and is showing many signs of willingness. Our trip to the vet Friday went fairly well. The vet did agree that she has moderate fear aggression. Once she knows that you are not going to hurt her, she calms down and warms up to you. She also said that she probably welped a litter of puppies about 3-4 months ago... She said that her agression should subside with time and even more so when she is spayed. Our vet seems to think that she should settle down nicely. Lexus is very attentive to everyone. The only problems we had this weekend were, (1) still working on 'giving' her ball when she is playing outside, and (2) 'giving' q-tips up (she thinks they are to eat, thankfully she only found 2... :-) ) I am hoping that she will continue to progress. I will definitely keep you posted. If you know of anything that I might look for, please let me know and I will feel free to try it.

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

I'm glad to hear things are going well. Someone did mention the treat and I do use treats to modify behavior. It might sound like you are rewarding the couch but the reward comes when the dog stops the behavior and gets off the couch. When I got Asa he was 8 weeks old there are many ways to train a puppy to go into a crate from carrying and putting him, to walking him in with his leash and collar. Realizing Asa's food drive was so high I would show him the treat have him follow me to the kennel say "Kennel up" and toss the treat in. Within in weaks if I showed him a treat he would run to his kennel and wait for me to get there. He is 19 months and if he even thinks he is getting a treat I have to call him from his crate. He goes there and waits for his treat.

Do not give the treat to her while on the couch make her come off the couch or anything you want her to give up trade for the treat.

A dog like this takes time and a committment, be consistent and be honest if it looks like someone is at risk at anytime than you might have a decision to make. It sounds like this dog has been through alot, once she learns she can trust you sign her up for obedience. Just do what you are doing, taking things day by day.

Good Luck.

[spidey]

Originally Posted by BrightEyez

I didnt really read all of the replies so i dont know if anyone has suggested this already but why dont you use treats? If you catch her on the couch, take out a treat and show it to her and say, DOWN. If she gets down, reward her.

I agree, except I wouldn't use "down" as the command for this, since most people use "down" to mean "lie down", you need to make it easy for the dog to understand what you mean, so don't use the same command for different behaviours. Some people use "off" to mean "get off the furniture", I use "floor" to get my dog off the furniture, and I trained the whole thing as a big fun game, with "up up" to get on the furniture (treat), and "floor" to get off (treat) - he was jumping up and down with a ton of enthusiasm in no time, and now he knows what the cues mean.

That said, I would keep a collar and leash on this dog so you can enforce the getting off the furniture safely.