I love my dog -- he is the best! but i think he is a little crazy. now we have only had him for like 5-6 months (we got him from the SPCA) and he is starting to be very tempermental. Everytime i take him for a walk which is like 3 times a day -- anytime he sees anyone all the fur on the back of his neck stands straight up and he starts growling and jumping around. and if he really doesn't like someone or something all of the fur from his collar to his tail will stand up on end-- he looks like he has a mohawk. When we told the vet he said do like a "your grounded" kind of thing and when he starts to act up bring him back home. Now that hasn't worked. The vet also said that if he gets much worse we may have to drug him. I don't think i want to do that. Does anyone have any suggestions or have you had a dog like mine? anything would help.
I agree. Time and patience. I used to have a dog that acted that way. She would try to run after people when I took her for walks. She didnt like anyone outside the family. What I did was, I brought treats with me on every walk....and when someone else would walk by I would make my dog sit and I would hold her with one hand and hold her mouth (not tight) with the other hand so she couldnt bark at them and I would tell her in a soothing voice "its ok. Good girl." Then after the person had gone by and sasha (my dog) didnt lundge and bark at them (of course cause I held her) she got some treats and praise. We had to do this for a long time...but eventually when someone would walk by she would look at me first and I would say "no sasha, sit" and she knew to sit and be quiet untill they passed. Granted....it felt like forever untill she did it on her own. But eventually it worked. Then unfortunatley, 2 years later, a little kid climbed over our fence to pet our dog while no one was home and sasha bit him. So because of that dumb kid who was 11 years old and perfectly able to read the "beware of dog" sign....we had to give sasha away to avoid any lawsuits should this have happened again.
What kind of dog is he, what kind of home did he come from (before the SPCA, if any), and what kind of people doesn't he like? Some dogs, after being abused by, say, white males at a young age, will be conditioned to fear/hate white males. I'd recomend getting an animal behaviorist or a dog trainer who works with positive renenforcement methods to help you out. Make drugging him up a last resort.
He's a lab/collie mix .... we're not sure where he came from the SPCA said that they just found him walking on the streets in the middle of Febuary. He will run after anyone -- no one in particular. We have had him in group training for about 1 month now ... it is working wonders ... i will keep you all posted
