Forums

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by nononono
Thanks, all. Betty Ford says I'm still good to go.

The dog is 6. Has been mouthy, nippy, at times aggressive/possessive about being asked to get off whatever he's sleeping on throughout his life (yes, accept and acknowledge that his human parents owed him some additional behavioral training long ago that he never received). He had been improving in general behavior (he is of a very independent, not particulrarly obedient breed), but lately had been stealing food, disobeying, bitching about going in and out of the garage, etc. He disobeyed a particular set of commands last night (to get out of the kid-room, as it was bedtime), as he was on a mission to find crumbs of food or something, so I swatted at him with a magazine. He whipped around, snarled, paused and then lunged at my leg. I have a nasty bruise, it's sore, and there was some minor skin-breaking (through the pant-leg), but no external bleeding. Motherfucker. He was ashamed, etc. I take a huge amount of blame, as I believe the theory for this breed is that positive discipline works much better than negative (negative also showing that I'm not the calm alpha he needs to stay in line), but I'm not now sure what to do. Checked with the relevant rescue, and they won't even take a dog who's bitten. Considered at different points along the way finding another home for him, but like losers, we made excuses for him and focussed on alleged improvements or boundaries we felt he had, rather than getting serious about training and, if that failed, letting him go.

http://www.slate.com/id/2149364/