Today's Sunshine

Today Monster and I came across a man thinning the forest (or rather, "forest" as we both scoffingly rolled our eyes at the tiny stand of trees) along our usual walking path. He was wearing bright orange protective clothes, a giant hat with a visor and built in ear mufflers, and wielding a chainsaw. Naturally, Monster was... troubled. I BATted a few tries against this frightening apparition, until we got close enough I could see the man was looking at us. I stopped and called out to ask if he minded if I worked with Monster to not react against him, and he called back and asked if the dog was aggressive around people. I answered that yes, he tends to overreact, he's never actually attacked anyone but he certainly puts on the show that he'd like to, and he's loud and rude. The man called again that it was OK, and got back to work.

So Monster and I spent some time (I again have no idea how long, as I didn't check a watch and know from experience that I completely loose track when I'm training Monster) working against this man, us along the road and him among the trees. He moved around a lot, sometimes toward us, sometimes farther away, and made lots of horrible noise. Occasionally a tree would fall.

Monster was interesting. Initially he'd stare intently at the man, and look back often even as we were moving away, but after we'd been at it a while he seemed to lose interest... I don't know if it was extreme displacement behavior, or if he was genuinely that unconcerned. He'd start digging by the side of the road, pick up sticks and try to play tug or fetch, and generally ignore the man except for short periods when he did something extra interesting. He did get freaked out when trees fell, though, and would shy away keeping his body low. However that only lasted for a second or so before he was again moving forward trying to get a better look, so I simply ignored him and gave him the full leash length to move around in.

Yeah, I know there's some weird guy behind me, but I found a stick!

After some time, we were perhaps 15 feet away from the man, and he turned the chainsaw off to talk to me. Monster started barking when the man turned toward us and addressed me, so I asked him to sit and petted him whenever he was quiet. He calmed down in about twenty seconds. The man and I talked about what he was doing, where we were from (both of us from places with real forests), the pathetic collections of sad trees they call forests down here, and about animals. While we were talking, he slowly sat down and started removing scary things like the weird helmet, and I equally slowly let Monster get closer and closer. When Monster got within touching distance, the man looked away and held out his hand, fingers lightly closed and knuckles first, a little bit toward Monster. Monster sniffed him, and decided he'd found a new friend.

Things like this make me so happy. If only we could meet more people this understanding and helpful! It really was great!

Of course, when the man got up and picked up his helmet (which Monster had sniffed very carefully when it was on the ground), Monster had a bit of a "The scary thing must die!"-episode. But it only lasted for a couple of seconds, and I still think it was a great meeting even though it could have ended even better.

What? It was a scary helmet, I tell you!

Check This Out!

I just found a goldmine!

Behavior.org | Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies

This seems like a great resource. I've only browsed around a little so far, but I think I'll be able to find lots of interesting things here. Hopefully it'll at least help me understand enough to make it easier to continue learning more.

It'll be nice to have some more solid sources than silly little books about being nice to the poor little puppy (not my words), and shove them down the throats of the "one good correction will teach him his place"-people!
(Hello, there's that aggressive primate.)

Today's Sunshine

Today Monster and I met a man out walking his two dogs (Labrador/Border Collie mix, and a little white Fuzzball of some sort, both ladies). They are very well behaved, and he always walks them off leash. He's one of the very few (perhaps the only one by now?) who isn't scared of Monster, and he first walked up and greeted Monster (invaluable, Monster needs experience with greeting strangers), and then convinced me to let his dogs greet Monster over on a green by the side of the road... I don't really believe Monster is going to hurt anyone, he's really quite friendly once he gets over the terror, but I do worry his behavior is going to freak people out. When a dog looks like Monster, people aren't going to cut him the kind of slack they'd give a Poodle.

How could anyone prefer a Poodle to my handsome self?!

Monster did certainly growl and tense up, but when they didn't back away he became interested enough to drop the act. They played together (Monster still on the leash) for quite some time. Eventually I was talked into following the man and his dogs to a much more remote area (OK, this is starting to sound weird... It's not that kind of story, all right?), and there let Monster off the leash to play more freely. It was awesome! Monster really needs positive meetings like this, and I feel happy for him that not everyone hates him too.

Now, if only I had a reliable recall...

Natural Born Killer...

A lot of people looking at Monster and me will say (to themselves, to each other, or to us) "Of course he's aggressive! It's the breed."

Watch it!

Now, this is something you come across very often if you own certain breeds of dog. If your dog is badly behaved he's just as they expect him to be, and if he's a marvel of obedience, pleasant manners, and superior calm he cannot be trusted! Possibly, a very well behaved dog of a "dangerous breed" can be accepted as an exception... But he could still snap at any moment!

Who, me?

Let's try to look at things rationally, shall we? Come on, give it a go.

Monster is a very badly behaved dog. He shows severe aggression towards other dogs, and has redirected that aggression towards his owner at times. He fits perfectly with the stereotype of "dangerous breeds", doesn't he? Never mind about all the excuses and reasons for why he behaves the way he does, isn't it true that he is exactly what people talk about when they say "dangerous breeds"? He's flat nosed, big jawed, muscular, and his ancestors have historically been used to guard stuff, and now he's aggressive, it's all right there!

Yes.

But Monster has nine littermates, who don't share his behavior problems. He has older siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc, who don't behave this way. Now, I may be misunderstanding something, but aren't they also the same breed as he...? Somehow, Monster's behavior is the illustration for the nature of his breed, and his relatives' lack of aggression issues are all exceptions?

I don't follow your math, would you mind walking me through it?

Mmm, yummy steak...

As for Monster being a natural born killer: yes he is! That's natural selection for you. All carnivores are natural born killers, it's in their job description. That goes for you too.