(VICT) Re: Input on Behavior
- From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:49:53 -0800
Good grief! It actually sounds like you kept your cool, and that Thane =
did
well. Since you could not determine the other person's behavior, you =
can't
know whether he was teasing Thane, simply holding his attention and =
speaking
to him in a soft voice or doing something more sinister. You did very =
well
to keep you cool enough to keep your dog calm, as well.
For a young BC, a couple of barks could simply be an alert to you -- or =
a
communication with your mysterious stranger. The type of herding work =
in
his lineage involves communicating with a handler at a distance and on =
many
levels, as well as with the sheep, cattle, etc., the dog is herding -- =
and
with any other dogs also working the herd. Again, I think you did the =
right
thing by simply taking yourself and him out of the situation without
creating a fuss. I don't know how much of the tone and timbre of his =
barks
you could hear to pick up the emotion behind them, but BC's are so =
stkinking
smart he may very probably learn to communicate with you more =
effectively as
you two continue to work together.
As for the perils of future barking.... I'm ust throwing out some =
thoughts
here. That's such a big deal guide/SD work because of public relations
issues, that it's always a big worry. Mitsy's not a nuisance barker, =
but
she can be very vocal. Someone broke in one night and slipped a =
megaphone
into her voice box, so even casual barking is something we have to =
prohibit
around the apartment. /lol/ When the neighbors a couple of doors donw =
say,
"We haerd Mitsy barking, so we knew you were awake," you just have to
cringe. I don't know about you, but I'm always horrified by the sudden
vision of my sweet boo barking in harness and getting us into all sorts =
of
terrible trouble. /shudder/
From the start, I've been working to redirect and settle her guarding
instincts, as well as her natural greeting barks, her come-and-play =
barks,
her wolflike howls... From what I've read the canon approach is to =
supress
such instincts and behaviors entirely, but I would rather teach her to
manage the buarding and use it to alert me quietly to something she =
thinks I
need to be aware of. I sort of do the same with the barking. I taught =
her
"quiet woof," in the beginning as an intermediary step. My funny girl =
would
be dying to bark and nearly strangle herself trying to manage the quiet
woof. But, of course, I rewwarded her. If she barks on the porch or in =
the
courtyard and can't quiet down on comman, I "ground" her and simply put =
her
in the house alone. Dire punishment, indeed! She gets the picture and
remembers to refuse temptation as much as she is able. After a year's =
work
and maturity, she does pretty well, especially after 10 pm. When we're =
out
at the park or hiking in the woods, I do go ahead and let hre get it out =
of
her system, so long as she doesn't get obsessive. She doesn't carry on =
a
whole lot, and she has enough capacity for distinction to follow =
different
rules for different venues.
So far this approach seems to be paying off, more so as she continues to
grow up, so that approached worked for us. Part of growing up and =
learning
her position and responsibilities as an adult "pack member" seems to =
include
occasional surges of guardiness, but I can simply use a slightly =
dominant
soothing hold and talk in my quiet voice, which remindds her of the =
"quiet
woof" to let her know she can settle down and does not have to bein =
charge
of protection detail. But I do encourage her to alert me in less =
offensive
ways -- touching my hand or shifting in the harness -- so that she can
communicate her concerns to me for further processing. So far, so good.
I don't know if any of that will help with Thane, and I don't think I =
would
even recommend our way of doing things just because it has worked for me =
and
Mitsy. Just a thought.
Keep up the good work. /smile/
Tami Smith-Kinney
-----Original Message-----
From: vi-clicker-trainers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:vi-clicker-trainers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Karyn and
Thane
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 5:06 PM
To: Vi-clicker
Subject: (VICT) Input on Behavior
I could use some input on something that happened today. Please remember
that Thane is young (will be a year soon) and has only been with me a =
couple
months.
We have not had much success with leash training but I am trying hard =
and
know we will succeed. I am not happy with any of the gear I have for =
Thane
and honestly the GL is worse than anything but hopefully the gear =
problem
will be rectified soon as I am going to make him a harness.
Anyway we went for a short walk this afternoon- only because Thane kept
showing me my shoes Smile
Thane loves people so rather than trying to fight with his love to go =
say
hello to the world and ruin my shoulder even worse, sometimes I opt to =
just
stop, put Thane in a *sit and let people pass by. Today we got in a =
weird
scenario though. I knew someone was there by Thane's reaction but it =
took me
a while to figure out just where. This person would not move on to save =
our
souls. If they said anything it certainly was not loud enough for me. I =
was
getting a bit uneasy about the situation. All of a sudden Thane barked a
couple times. I finally decided to take him home rather than deal with =
what
could have been an unsafe scenario. I did not know the person whether =
they
were male or female and it was far later than when school buses drop off
kids here.
How could i have dealt with this differently but in a manner that I =
could be
in control of the situation. I suspect Thane barked because the person =
was
not following the *rules* as he had become accustomed to- that is, they =
did
not walk by when he was placed in a *sit* and I pulled over. I don't =
want
him thinking he needs to take control of people who are not following =
the
rules. Chances are this person was standing there *gaulking* at us. I =
have
gotten that more times than I care to count since using a guide cane =
along
with my wheelchair. No one gaulked when Met was guiding me so enough
already ya know.
On the other hand, I want to be sure I am not overlooking a problem =
erupting
behaviorly with Thane. I doubt that is what it is but would really like =
to
hear others thoughts about the situation. Once he had barked at whoever =
this
was, I just felt more comfortable leaving since I had no idea who this
person was or why they had refused to move when offered before he even
considered barking- I just had no idea what this persons intentions were =
and
I felt a bit unnerved, Being deaf blind does add additional =
complications as
many of the approaches usually used to gain information about ones
environment when they are blind just are not feasible when one is deaf
blind. I am just hoping that I can get some input on how to handle =
things
differently before Thane feels the need to bark at the person.
Karyn and Thane
Other related posts:
