Witt Update

I just got back from our appointment with the trainer and I am feeling good about it. She evaluated him and showed me the differences in his body language in different situations. One, he is protective of me when he is somewhere like the truck, the house, yard etc...a place he considers his. Take him out into an environment thats not "his" and have someone approach and it's totally different. His tail drops, his head drops, he avoids eye contact, avoids the person, slips in behind me, moves to the other side of me in a effort to stay clear of the approaching person. He is fearful of strangers. He does all the avoidance things if he can...if he is pushed, like someone directly approaches him and maybe tries to pet him he then will growl. I did not expect to see him react at the evaluation...because I thought he was not having any behavior issues on leash...how wrong I was! When I control him on leash he does as I wish...and I was sending him the signal to behave with my own body language. However when she asked me to hold the leash but offer no corrections, commands or movement while a person walked towards us, he growled, and I mean he growled. His body language started out with avoidance type things but as she kept approaching he then took a defensive stance. So he will act out on leash too when pushed too far out of his comfort zone. The good news is that she said he is very young maturity wise, still a big baby. He has not had "bad" handling, meaning I have not yelled at him, smacked him or been harsh with him for growling. ( I have always been grateful for the warning) and he warms up quickly to people when they allow him to. So our plan is to work with him together weekly. Desensitize him to people and situations that make him nervous. She wants me to keep doing flyball with him with a few adjustments, and she wants me to continue taking him everywhere I can where there are people. She is confident that he will gain confidence with obedience classes or anything I do with him like that. We will also work on my handling skills and my ability to read him. I was confusing his behavior with other dogs (very confident and alpha bullyish) and people. Not only that..but he acts differently with people depending where we are, "HIS" place or a strange place. Just sorting it out and understanding that makes me so dang happy and filled with renewed excitement about his training (our training!)
I am telling all you people who have a dog...have issues...feel frustrated...GO SEE A GOOD TRAINER! It cost me $15 for this evaluation, the training to follow will be more of course...but just knowing what the issues are helps a great deal. This is also more fair to Witt, I now know what it is that is causing him to act out in the way he has, I can now slow things down for him in that area and take it one step at a time in getting him more comfortable with people.
One more thing...you all know how I started to doubt myself about keeping Witt all to myself, not letting the kids maul him when he was a puppy etc. Taking him with me EVERYWHERE...I was starting to think his behavior was my fault for keeping him sort of segregated or protected. Well the trainer said that if I had not handled him that way it could have been disastrous and he would probably be 10 X worse than he is. She said he is a one person dog and always will be, but that he can definately become way more comfortable around people and that this situation can improve greatly.

 

That is good news that she is givng you direction and understandng what is in Witts head. if oly the could talk. thanks for the update

honeybear

 

This is great..I'm glad to hear that is issues can be helped. Be sure and keep us updated on his progress.

 

I am so glad to hear you guys were able to figure this out. Best of luck to you and Witt with his training. :lol:

 

That's great to hear! I wish I could find a trainer like yours. I am still searching for the right trainer. And the right vet, as well.

I think I should move to Portland.


Jamiya

 

HI Maisey, i guess you were able to sit at the computer a little while longer today, you must be feeling better It sounds like you have a renewed joy of training with Witt again That's great!

Good luck and have fun!

Susan

 

I am feeling better, thank you Susan.

I am thrilled to have some answers, even if they are saying I have been reading my dog a bit wrong. In thinking about it I have realized that although I take Witt everywhere with me and he has been exposed to many situations, many of those are dog events and my concern has always been with keeping a space around him so that he was not able to be Mr. Butthead with another dog, he is VERY confident and very much a bully with other dogs, buffering him from that or concentrating on that I missed his reactions to strange people. In addition everything I have read and learned about the catahoula says that they are "stranger wary", I took this as a normal trait and more of a protectiveness, guarding thing, rather than seeing that he was actually afraid of strangers. Complicating that is the fact that he does act differently when it's a stranger on "HIS" turf, again since that provoked a different reaction...one that was way more worrisome I concentrated on that. Add to all of this the fact that I am sooo bonded to this dog and just couldn't admit that he may have a serious issue...because in my head that may have meant someone saying, "it's not solvable, and you should not keep this dog". I have also been afraid that I may have caused his behavior. Talking to this trainer has definately taken a huge load of worries off my shoulders and allows me to see a path that will lead us to better behavior, better understanding, better handling and more confidence. Stay tuned...next week I may be frustrated and whining,lol.

 

Maisey that's wonderful! We as women (and some men) always blame ourselves with issues such as yours. I'm so glad that you now know that it is NOT your fault, and there is an answer as to why Witt is the way he is. It's always better when we have a plan to work with, isn't it? Good luck!

I know what you mean about that special bond, I have that with Casey, I think that's why I worry so much about her...I love Freebie too of coarse! but it's not the same...(but he doesn't know that)

Susan