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Note: I am not a training professional This is all my personal experience which may or may not work for you. You may also want to look at some of the books I've consulted during my efforts with Shadow. Shadow's background: I acquired Shadow at 7 1/2 weeks from a breeder in Montana. Shadow was bred from German lines, by a breeder active in Schutzhund. She was the alpha puppy in her litter. In her early days, she really seemed a very dominant, wild puppy. She was always challenging us. Some of Shadow's aggression problems are probably genetic --she has a dog-aggressive dog in her lines. Since neither of her parents were known at that time to be aggressive, her breeder didn't even think about the possibility that a problem might show up in the litter. As it happens, Shadow's sire did have some severe aggression problems and was ultimately euthanized. This was the breeder's first litter and my first German shepherd. We learned. Her puppyhood was pretty normal except that because she was such a wild biter most of my friends stopped coming to visit with us. Also, I was worried about puppy diseases and wasn't even thinking that her social skills were suffering, so I seldom took her to public places. These are mistakes I will never make again. With another dog, maybe this wouldn't have been a problem but with this dog it was a big mistake. On reflection, Shadow was probably not the dog I should have acquired, but I've worked hard with her and she has taught me a great deal. She started to show herself as very cautious in approaching new things or people probably as early as three or four months. If something new appeared in the yard (a wheelbarrow or a new shrub) she circled it warily, barking all the while. Because we didn't have a lot of people in, she didn't like them invading her family circle--she barked at them and they usually went away. This was exactly what she wanted, so eventually it became a behavior that made her feel powerful. It began in fear, but ended up a way she could control her environment. It may also have just been fun. She escalated to jumping and snapping, although she has never bitten anyone, either in anger or in fear. I should point out here that she is absolutely wonderful with the humans in our household. Our children helped a lot by supervising Shadow for several months after we got her since it was summer and they were out of school. Shadow is very, very gentle with us all and readily admits that we are above her in the pack order. She is also not protective of her food or toys. We attended puppy kindergarten classes at the age of four months, and she behaved fearfully there but not with aggression. She didn't like to be touched by anyone and would shy away, but would approach and take food. Shadow is very food motivated. She also didn't like me to touch any of the other puppies and would jump on me and push me away from the puppy if she could. She made some social progress during that class but it didn't cancel out the lack of early socialization. Shortly after that class, she was spayed (this was when she was diagnosed with hip dysplasia) and then was treated for demodectic mange, so again I kept her away from other dogs and people. The mange took us almost three months to get rid of. Over the course of her first year, she became increasingly alert to (and protective against) our neighbors and their dogs in their own yards. Her behavior consisted of racing toward the fence with intimidating barking, completely ignoring me. This appeared to be sort of a "focus" problem with her--she seemed to be so fixed on whatever was bothering her that she couldn't hear my commands. It was as if she went deaf. Visits to the vet became a nightmare. Shadow would bark, lunge, and throw her body around in a terrified frenzy at the end of her leash as we entered the office. We were generally ushered into an exam room where we could wait without being too disruptive. She also showed more and more dominant behavior with Cricket, our sheltie mix, until the episode which opened my eyes to the significance of our problem when Shadow was nearly a year old. I had been outside with the dogs and was letting them in--when I opened the door, Cricket ran past Shadow, and Shadow attacked Cricket, grabbing and trying to bite. Cricket cried and tried to run away, which seemed to enflame Shadow. At this point, I asked my vet for a recommendation to a trainer, who barely looked at Shadow, but immediately informed me that she was dangerous and should be euthanized. I spent that weekend asking myself why I wanted to try to save her and if she really could be saved. Her good qualities include, among other things, her loving nature with us, as well as her unbelievable intelligence (this just boggles my mind--she loves to learn and is very quick to catch on). I also talked with my vet and his staff, who were shocked at this trainer's suggestion. They agreed that she had some big problems that would take a lot of work to correct, but that she was worth the effort--their opinion was that I should try. So I contacted another trainer, who agreed to try to help us. My main focus for Shadow has been her relationship with Cricket, visitors we have in our house, and our neighbors (and their dogs) in their own yards, while keeping her from getting into any trouble. What we've done: We began by teaching "quiet" to start controlling that wildly intimidating barking, using a volunteer who sat in a chair in the back yard. I would take Shadow out on leash and parade her across the back of the house--she would bark, but if she was quiet AT ALL, she got praise ("good quiet") and a treat. Teaching of all commands has been motivational. We implemented a behavior modification program called Nothing In Life Is Free, where the dog has to work for any attention, praise, reward--anything. I taught her to bark on command so I could teach her to stop barking on command. We began working very hard on her "house manners" and general obedience. This doesn't mean I wasn't training her at all up to that point--I had been, but her response was sloppy. I had been working with her on my own because I felt I simply could not put Shadow in a group class. The ultimate goal here is to train her to a level where she obeys me regardless of the distraction. I had to (and still have to) manage the dogs so they don't get into any kind of dominance struggle. One way I do this is to keep them separate. I used a wire basket muzzle on Shadow when she and Cricket were together. Cricket is so much smaller than Shadow that she would be severely hurt in any serious conflict. The muzzle removed any risk of injury to Cricket and also relieved my stress so I wasn't sending any anxious vibes. I made some initial changes in my routine. Since I have to keep my dogs apart, this involved using the baby gates and crating one dog if the other had to be in the same area. They go out separately and eat separately. They both sleep crated in the bedroom. All this has been a small nuisance but worth it to keep Cricket safe. Over time, while Shadow seems mostly to want to play, Cricket has become increasingly anxious around Shadow.I have had to end their time together as it was causing Cricket so much stress that she was having housebreaking accidents. At one point I began having them together again, but keeping Shadow tied to me so she couldn't get to Cricket. This had the advantage of keeping Cricket safe while allowing me to teach Shadow to leave Cricket alone. I could immediately correct Shadow since we were "joined at the hip". While this was better, Cricket still didn't cope very well and again I discontinued the exercise. I worked on Shadow's attention. I had to modify some of the exercises I did with visitors because the trainer had her attention on the visitor, and this was stressful for her. I talked to him about it and tried instead to have her focus exclusively on me while the visitor just sat there ignoring her. Shadow was always muzzled in these cases, which eliminated any risk to our visitor. In fact, we used a muzzle in any environment where there was risk to anyone. As time has gone on, we've been using it less and less, but when we need it it keeps her from biting anyone in fear, and also makes the people around us realize that we're working on her problems. The desensitization to visitors has been a very slow process. We began by just having a visitor sit in a chair in my back yard. I would take Shadow out on lead--and she would lunge and bark like crazy. I had to make some changes, though, because the lunging and pulling was hurting me badly. I have awful shoulder problems and can't let her pull me. This was when I acquired the muzzle. Then I could let the visitor sit inside or outside and I could muzzle Shadow and just let her loose. Actually, she reacted much better when she could check the person out. During the previous on-lead work, she was never allowed to get close to the person, and I'm sure it frustrated her not to be able to find out who that was sitting so suspiciously over there. I would give the visitor a baggie with small treats in it. If the wild barking got too much, the visitor could tell Shadow to "take it" and drop a treat on the floor. It didn't take long before she realized that visitors could mean good things for her. The trainer suggested I have the visitor start giving Shadow commands and reward her. But the exercise broke down at this point (at this stage we'd been doing the exercise for about five months). Most of my friends may like dogs and may even have a dog, but their dogs are nice, normal, laid back creatures. So they don't have any idea how to use a command voice or that their timing and voice on the reward have to be very good. Shadow lost some ground before I decided it would be better for me to do all commanding and rewarding while the visitor was just there. I liked this better anyway. I'm sure it was confusing for Shadow to have this stranger giving her commands and since she needed work keeping her focus on me anyway, this killed two birds with one stone. Basically, the whole program of dealing with Shadow revolved around desensitizing her to situations where she reacted badly and working as hard as I could on her training so even if a problem arose in her environment, I could count on her responding to me. While we haven't reached that stage yet, she has improved dramatically. The other thing I've had to do is manage her so she doesn't get into trouble. Shadow's behavior seems to be contradictory to me. With other dogs (particularly when she's on-lead) she puts up a very aggressive front. I found out by accident that if the other dog persists, she turns to jelly. I was walking her very early one morning and met a jogger with his two unleashed dogs. Shadow did her usual lunging/barking routine, but the other dogs weren't intimidated. They kept coming. Her deep, aggressive, get-away-from-me-because-I'm-one-mean-girl bark changed into a high-pitched, worried, get-away-from-me-because-I'm-scared-to-death bark. This, coupled with a visit from a 'net friend and her German shepherd in Oct. '95 made me realize that Shadow is less sure of herself than I'd thought. Shadow behaved very submissively with the visiting German shepherd, who wasn't a particularly dominant dog. With people, too, she's inconsistent--she may bark and lunge, but will obey their commands and take treats from them. The trainer was very surprised when she obeyed a down command, since that's a submissive position. Even in the early stages of our work with him, she would let me do training exercises in his presence. The key, I think, is in her focus. If I have and can keep her attention, she will ignore everything going on around her. It also helped a lot to allow her (muzzled) to approach the person on her own terms. The person must ignore her--no eye contact or attempt to touch. I have tried to let her explore the neighbors and their dogs, keeping everyone on their own sides of the fence. As she has become more familiar with them, she has been less inclined to behave aggressively with them. Also, if she's playing a game with me, she will completely ignore them--Shadow is very play motivated. We have regular short training sessions and I give her random commands during the course of our free time. Unfortunately, while all the behavior modification exercises were making a small difference, Shadow still was having severe problems with fears and focus on me. Another attack on Cricket necessitated a last-ditch effort to gain control. Beginning Mar. 21, 1997 and following a consultation with a veterinary behaviorist, I began Shadow on medication to help control her fears and associated aggression. She is currently taking amitriptylene, Soloxine (a thyroid medication to correct her underactive thyroid function), and a multiple B vitamin injection. Where we are: Shadow's reaction to visitors is much better. She happily sniffs them and focuses on me and my commands or explores elsewhere in the house. Selected visitors have been able to stroke Shadow. She doesn't actually like it, but will permit some touch. She is no longer muzzled during visits, and has not shown any signs of aggression toward visitors. She listens well to me most of the time. Shadow's relationship with our neighbor's dogs has also improved. She was "best buddies" with the collie on one side until he died in July '96--the two played together along the fence and sniffed each other and just hung out together. With the dogs on our other side, too, she has made remarkable progress. While she may initially bark at any of these dogs, she quickly settles down. If we are playing ball, she's perfect--she ignores them completely. If I have physical control (collar and long line) she also behaves very well. If I don't have physical control, she knows it and may misbehave. With Cricket, however, she hasn't made particularly great strides because Cricket is understandably terrified of Shadow. Since Cricket tends to squeal and run when she see's Shadow, she pretty much becomes prey. While I had some success with having Shadow and Cricket together by attaching Shadow's lead to me, I was forced to discontinue the exercise. Cricket was far too anxious during these episodes and it wasn't worth it to me to put her under that sort of stress. Since beginning the drug therapy, Shadow has appeared more focused and able to listen to me in all environments. The changes in her behavior have been very gradual but very steady. Shadow is great at the vet's office these days. She walks in without any kind of scene and we're able to take care of bills and appointment scheduling at the front desk rather than in the exam room. Even when there are other clients/pets in the waiting room, she behaves admirably--then again, she knows I have control. The staff at the vet's office often remark on the difference in this dog. I love it when other clients smile at her and comment on how well behaved she is! |
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