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Thanks so much for your response, I wanted to answer all your questions, so it took some time for me to get back to this post. I have been using Applied Behavior Analysis to try to get to the bottom of this issue. My best assessment so far is that it is a combination of resource guarding and dominance aggression. The dominance aggression is usually in the form of a protest growl when he doesn’t like something; for example, when I take his collar off before sending to the kennel (see the video). I am implementing the resource guarding and dominance blueprints. See my answers below. My question is specific to the protesting behavior: should I continue to desensitize and counter condition this behavior with treats and toys
· Hi David!
I will share a post with how I dealt with resource guarding but I also would consider nutrition if the dog is abnormally voracious in seeking out sticks and (specifically) cattle/horse manure. Nutrition has more implications than people often realize.
I am feeding Royal Canin Medium dog puppy food at recommended rates (supposedly one of the better brands you can buy). My brother is a vet and my daughter is in vet school and both think he is at a healthy weight.
As far as growling or barking while in a command I always praise the dog as long as they are holding the command. I instruct clients to recognize that the dog is doing the behavior in spite of their feelings about it. As they mature in their training and relationships that usually goes away on its own. I have lots of video examples if you would like.
I would like to see some of those videos. I think I saw it in your most recent Luna 7/19/24 video. Luna is remaining in heal but barking at the other dog.
I have had several herding breeds recently with the same behaviors you describe, although these behaviors can be non genetic and usually a result of leadership or unpredictable communication. I have a few more questions: is the dogs food ever removed from him? No Is he ever punished for aggression or barking? I have been working on a speak and quiet command and have punished the dog for not responding to or continuing the quiet command but have not worked on that for some time. As for the aggression, at first I ignored it trying to counter condition and desensitize, then I started trying to correct it and a couple of times I tried harsh leash corrections (this is a holdover from my old school training) It didn’t work and I know it is not inline with FSDT which I really want to use. Is there a possibility that the ecollar training came too quickly? I don’t think so I use the checklist and only move forward on the commands when the dog is showing the appropriate responses. I have found that proofing p2 is super important and that generalizing the commands can be easily overlooked. Proofing and generalizing is the most time consuming portions in my experience. I see generalization on the chart only after phase 3 do you use it in phase 2? What ecollar are you using? Dogtra 1900s How is the command structure is being used mechanically with p2 and p3. Does the dog understand the conditioned punisher? Yes, I use it when I think the dog has tried to respond to the command but not followed through. When exactly does the dog receive stim? Can you provide an example? I only apply the stim on commands that have are at the phase 3 level. An example is: P 3 Sit Avoidance- I start by saying his name then the command sit if he does not respond and does not try then I repeat sit and use the nick at the level that he is responding to. If he then sits, I say good. And use Ben free to release him from command.
With a situation like this I wouldn’t feed in the kennel but I would always give high value rewards for going in. Is there water in the kennel? Is the kennel comfy? He is ok with going into and spending time in the kennel. He was chewing up his bed so I had to remove it, I am slowly building up the amount of time he can do a down stay on his bed outside of the kennel with rewards so that he doesn’t need to spend too much time in the kennel. How big is it? Big enough for him to stand and lie down comfortably, I just upsized as he is a growing puppy. Is it secluded? It is in a separate room off the kitchen, I followed the process of starting with the crate beside my bed and slowly moving it further away. He is not showing signs of separation anxiety. Has he ever been punished or received ecollar stim in kennel? Yes if he has not responded to quiet command but I have not done that for a month or so. If so why and how was it applied? If the dog was barking excessively in the kennel, I would first make sure there was no good reason for the barking and that all his needs had been properly provided for. I would say his name and give the quiet command if he responded I would say good boy if he should some response but didn’t respond fully I would say no then quiet and apply a stim if he didn’t stop.
This is copied from my client facebook page so forgive the sing songy teacher voice. Thanks I have read it good info!
