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Originally Posted by gemy  Karen, I'm so sorry to read this. Unfortunately I don't have any more suggestions to offer, other than the ones that you have tried.
I will how-ever talk with my trainer, and see if she has some suggestions.
If I could recap my understanding of his behaviour history, he is okay in the training with his pack mates, runs, plays normally,
Yes. We've had our "family" dogs there with him and he was fine. We didn't try to do anything other than a couple of sits and downs. Other than that we just let them run around and play.
and he is okay in the training room with you and other human strangers doing obedience?
I haven't taken him for a visit to the room since the Christmas break. At that time he was what I'd call cautious. His tail came up some but he wasn't himself. We weren't trying to really do any training. The humans that were there were familiar to him (teachers in the school).
He is okay meeting other dogs large or small on the street?
Absolutely! He doesn't appear to have any fear or discomfort meeting other dogs anywhere else. I really do believe in the theory that small dogs don't know they're small. I suspect he would be having the same issues if he were a large dog.
The problem is when other dogs come into the training and in that room only?
He has some issues with the room itself. He's not really comfortable there but it does seem as though perhaps when he's there he's kind of waiting for the dogs to show up. As I said, I haven't had him there by himself lately. That's one of the reasons I'd like to start taking him there every day. If he's comfortable around other dogs when he's not there, perhaps if we could get him to be more comfortable in that room, maybe other dogs wouldn't be an issue there either.
Let me know.
I applaud your persistence, and obvious love and concern for your pups. I just wish I had some advice to offer in this moment.
Hugs to you |
Gail,
Thank you so much. I'd really love to ear your trainer's thoughts. I've learned a lot about how dogs are compartmental learners. When they learn a behavior one place they don't automatically understand that it applies everywhere. They have to have experiences in multiple places in order to generalize them. That's working to our advantage here in that he hasn't generalized his fear. I am very conscious of our surroundings when I'm out with him. I'm careful not to coddle him but I sure don't need him having an experience that allows him to start generalizing this. I really want so badly for him to get over his fear though. This is the only true positive training facility in our town outside of Petsmart. Maybe I could talk them into moving!
This is something that we all (up until this) love. I'm working there as an assistant trainer. It's been such a positive hobby for all of us.