Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingNimbus  Honestly... this is going to sound weird, but the closer I get to her... the more she feels a little bit of myself.
Defensive, cautious, protective, selective of people/friends, in a ways a mix of short tempered yet highly tolerant. Tolerant for most things, but things that are her off switch and she goes balistically mad.
A few weeks back she got so furious at my brother she bit his heel. Kind of like a nip. She chased him around. But I think it was only because he raised his tone with me and I felt highly uncomfortable and probably upset too. But like I used to be, her bark is worse than her bite.
She's easily spooked by things and she's quite alert. Not in a terrified way alert. More like observant of her surroundings. What weirds me out is, I have poor eye sight but my hearing is a lot better. I guess from not blasting music like people of my generation typically do?
So whenever someones pulling up in the driveway and I am in the livingroom or even my bedroom-- I am usually the first one to be aware of it. The second one would be maggie, and the third one would be sasha. Sasha only responds if she hears a door close or someone walking close to the door- which she reacts by barking. Maggie doesnt bark but you can tell she knows someone is there. If someone goes in and she cant see who it is-- she goes in what I call defensive mode. Defensive mode is usually initiated with a few steps.
First step is she observes the individual or the potential threat.
Second step is if it walks farther in than say the couch by the entrance-- she starts growling.
Third step is if its a perceived strep and it doesnt heed the warning her growl gets more vicious and its as if shes breathing air in while doing it (Through her mouth)
Fourth step if it gets closer it starts barking.
Fifth and last step is if gets any closer than that she will immediately go after the person and bite them either in their heels, hands, legs, and any other sensitive area.
I notice she has 3 types of growls. One is kind of like a Bleep off kind of growl, the second would be the you're overstepping her boundaries and now shes mad kind of growl, the third growl is the one where she cant contain any longer and shes as angry as it can be which is usually followed by biting.
So far she's only bit him, and it's because he's sort of instigated her a few times. Now she doesn't because I am not in the picture. Like if shes alone she wont bother with him, but if shes by me she will get defensive.
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The other day the neighbors behind us who are nice and all (they're these old nice people) had their family over and two of their grandchildren were being complete asshats, primarily the older one (he appeared to be either 18-20).
The older one was taunting her and purposely making noise like clapping his hand (in a way that you would to try to startle someone/something), then he went by the fence with a stick and started hitting the fence with the stick. Man I had to go back inside because I was fuming mad and I think she picked up on that and she went to the fourth defense.
I had to wait until later that night to walk em outside to do their business because when I took em out it was 4 and they were still there until like 9:30pm.
Now it makes me wonder if these are the same kind of people who would piss off a dog on purpose, then if the dog bit them they'd sue the family and ask for the dog to be put down like it happened to one guy here in NJ.
A dog is supposed to be trained, but that doesn't mean a dog should be put down because they bit some jerk. Like I forget who it was on here who had their neighbor constantly harassing the dog by the window.
P.s. she never had clothes on before and she tolerated it when I first put it on her. She just chewed on it the first few days. Now shes okay with it. I assume the same will be for the shoes.
P.s.s. I dont think shes aggressive. Just defensive. I can definitely say she's had a lot of trauma. |
Have to agree with the lotta trauma.
Appox. how old is Maggie, I have forgotten since your last post of when you adopted her
As for nipping at your bros heels, dogs feed off our emotions, this is your dog, you are the one that walks her, feeds her, and sooths her when she is frightened. By the tone of your voice and your inner emotions, Maggie was defending you.
Her being easily spooked / alert, again, you don't know her past, she may have had to lived on the streets, always being alert to her surroundings, other dogs, mean ppl.
Dogs know / sense what our disabilities are, she is aware of your poor eye sight therefore goes into protective mode with her 5 steps. It sounds like you keep Maggie away from ppl that come into your house, I am just assuming this by what you wrote. If this is so, by keeping her from not meeting these ppl is telling her they are a danger and reason she goes into her 5 stages. Also sounds like she has not been socialized with all types of ppl since you have her.
The neighbor incident sounds like those two kids were teasing Maggie, not a good thing for her and it was a wise choice to go indoors, why have Maggie upset and set her off.
Getting back to ppl coming into the house and Maggie's 4 growls the 5th-biting. Is it possible when you know someone is going to be coming into your house, put her harness on and attach the leash, have treats on you, while holding the leash allow her to meet / greet the ppl or person, let her sniff them so she will learn their scent, let her ease into this and reward with a treat if she doesn't growl at them, then take her back to where ever she was before you put the harness on her. Repeat this when ever someone comes to your house, you can also give the visitor a treat to give to Maggie, Maggie will then associate this person or ppl as a good thing because they give her treats. By not allowing Maggie to meet the ppl she is growling at is like telling her these are bad, stay away, so what Maggie is doing is protecting you from these bad ppl.
Putting bootie's on a dog is a lot different then putting a sweater or coat on them. These are their feet and covering their feet is weird to them, some will freeze like a statue. not move lol, funny. It' s a very strange feeling to them and they need to learn how to walk with them on, that's why you need to get the correct size for them, it is not a "one size fits all". You need a lot of patience and have her wear them and practice how to walk one step at a time and reward with treats when she takes each step with the booties on. These practice lessons should be indoors. Don't expect to put booties on her, take her out and she'll go trotting off, nope, not gonna happen lol. She has to learn how to walk in the booties.