Anyone with dog training experience?
 

We have an 18 month old lab mix named Lucy that we rescued from the SPCA when she was about 6-8 weeks old. She is a very smart and affectionate dog, but she has always been nervous and skittish. Her reaction to strange things or new people has started to become growling which is just not acceptable to us. There are multiple kids in our neighborhood and everyone plays at all the houses. She has snapped at one child that put their hand in her crate once.

We have considered one of those "Doggy Boot Camps" for a couple weeks but those are around $800. Does anyone have any suggestions for training tips to get her to socialize better? Any books or resources I should check out?

ND, in my very humble opinion, two of the hardest things to break a dog from is separation anxiety, and leash aggression. you dog snapping is a form of leash aggression.

i have owned the only dog to FAIL the mt diablo dog training school. she wanted a piece of everybody when she was on leash. off leash, she was more normal. it will take some serious convincing for me to adopt another pound dog. it was hell. the only time i have seen a dog fixed, it on that dog whisperer show. and i dont know what he does.

good luck.

Check with K9Handler.

I'm not an advocate of crate training, she (dog) is protecting her territory if she snapped from w/i the crate. Does she behave the same way out of the crate?

It's all about reward and punishment...have scooby snacks handy.

Dog will most likely expand it's "territory" to include the rest of the house, the property and the rest of the pack when outside/off her territory.

Behavior needs correcting.

Some dogs just don't like kids. Usually the toddlers, they are loud, move quickly and tend to be at the dogs eye level which some dogs find confrontational.

you will want to look around locally - ask your vet for an animal behaviorist who can help you (that's YOU) train YOUR dog.

don't have somebody else train your dog "for" you; also you means everyone in your family

the boot camp things are to be avoided, in general

Yes, she tends to growl when out of the crate as well. She has never snapped at anyone out of the crate (and to be fair we aren't SURE she snapped at the kid while in the crate either).

I think the issue was she felt cornered because she was in her crate and had no where to run to to get away from the child.

She is due for her yearly vet appt this month, I will talk with the vet then.

Good on you for the SPCA rescue, and good luck. I think you have a very uphill battle, though. IMO, dogs are like people in that they are individuals, with individual innate "programming" (either born with, or developed very early on) that is difficult for your average owner/family to significantly alter. Particularly nervousness and skittishness (and aggression).

Not saying it can't be done, but it is tough for you and your family to do.

Best tip I ever got on dog handling. The way the alpha dog disciplined pack members id by grabbing & shaking. When your dog exhibits the behavior grab him up by the jowls forcefully, give him a good shaking while yelling "no" or "bad" in his face. This teaches that the behavior is unacceptable better than anything I have ever done.

The problem with that, IMO, is that it only works for YOU, the perceived alpha dog. When you grab a dog and do that, yes, you will likely get that dog to accept you as the alpha dog, and the dog won't show any aggression to you.

But it does show the dog aggression, and the dog, many times, is going to want to assert itself as high as possible in the pack. So yeah, it will view itself as below you, as a large man, and it will accept that.

But it will likely view itself as ABOVE a smaller woman or child (or any stranger from outside the pack), and try to assert itself against them, particularly when you aren't around.

You miss the point. he is taught that aggression to other "pack members" is not acceptable.

You miss the point.

He is not taught who the other "pack members" are.

Strangers are not part of the pack at all.

We tried the doggy school training with our very alpha GSD. The classes were more about training the people vs the dog. We loved and trusted our GSD with our immediate family, his "pack", but could not trust him with anyone else - most importantly my kids friends. After sinking $1K in training we ended up having to make the hard decision to let him go - the risk was too great. Lots of great points already made on this thread but every dog is different. Good luck.

Sounds like you need the dog whisperer

I'm going to have to agree with the people saying that personality and fearfulness in dogs is largely innate and very hard if not impossible to change. They are animals, (some a lot more intelligent than others), and will behave as they see fit or out of instinct when afraid or when agitated. As correctly stated above, unsupervised children will usually act in a way that agitates a dog at the very least.

As much as I like the concept of rescuing dogs, I want to see both parents of any puppy that I am going to spend the next decade or two with. That is the only true indicator of temperament, especially since I will be a stranger, (albeit accepted/invited), into their home when puppies are nursing. This will really show how friendly or tentative they are, how fearful in general, etc...

In a pound setting, most all dogs are friendly to a perceived rescuer. Even the dogs that mauled a child to death 3 days ago always look nice on the news in the pound cage, wagging their tails and smiling. "Get me out of here and I'll be fine", they seem to be saying.

You might have a perfectly good dog and you just need to train the kids not to agitate her. Study the dog with children in some controlled situations and you will see if the dog is the problem. Good luck.

yup. my most recent adoption was a schnauzer that was put up because the owner passed. sad story, and the dog was sick. she was a great pet! i miss that dog the most, although she actually stayed with us for only 3 years till dog cancer took her. best dog ever! i will only take dogs like this now. no mystery dogs from a crate at an adoption center. they all look good until you take them home. i am gun shy now. but i bet i pass up on some great pets.

Positive reinforcement is the key. We have a choc lab that was a handful and did about 12 lessons with her, 80% of the training was the owner.

My suggestion would be to stock up on hot dogs and string cheese. Whenever a visitor is to arrive get some small bits of hot dog and string cheese ready. Planning may be necessary, meeting in the drive out front.

Have your friends give your dog the treats when they arrive so your dog begins to associate strangers walking in with a happy thing. People Food!!

Always have them hold the treat to their mouth so the dog makes eye contact then feed the dog straight down from the face so the dog looks at them, this is important, once the dog begins to make eye contact it will begin to trust and this is where you want your dog to look at you always anyway.

I would start with this maybe reinforcing this positive action over and over while the guest is there.

I keep beggin strips and dog biscuits in my work truck, I am a Land Surveyor and I have to go in your backyards. Over the last 20 years it is a rare dog I cannot win over with treats.

Denis, you are wrong about everything except the last two sentences in your post.

Jim is right about training the owner,
the dog will also pick up on your anxiety...
you see new folks and hope all goes well..
dog sense's something not right , protect mode..
Rika