Behaviourist help

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good behaviourist, I'm in the Warrington area and looking for someone to come and assess Ciara and possibly to arrange one on one dog walking sessions to socialise her. She is very fearful of dogs but as you know is getting better with some clicker training.

However, she has now started to 'displace' (I think that is what my trainer called it) which basically means sometimes she will purposefully avoid looking at a dog as she thinks if she can't see it then it can't see her, I orginally thought she was just being calmer but turns out she's purposefully avoiding the situation.

I've googled but there are a lot of options, I've seen something called BarkBusters but does anyone have any experience of this company? Ciara is starting to do a low growl when anyone comes into our house as she is scared of them, I want to nip this in the bud ASAP before it escalates into anything more and before she starts barking at people on her walks as well.

She was pretty good yesterday at Zeus' birthday party, curled up on the sofa with the other dogs, I'm giving her more time to get used to the clicker but I just wanted to know if anyone knew of any good behaviourists in the area incase I need one in the near future to reinforce and more particularly to get to the cause of the barking etc rather than just stopping the symptoms by controlled socialisation.

Thanks in advance

[J&J]

Melissa

Sorry I can't offer advice on a behavourist as I'm not in your area, so can only suggest that you have a word with your vet, or perhaps give a couple of vets in your area to see who they would reccommend...

As to growling when visitors arrive, I know that there is some tips of this so if you do a search..

But a lot use a gate so dog stays behind gate, visitor comes in ignores the dog completely, the visitor throws a treat without making eye contact still ignoring..

Hopefully Anni or somebody else will be along to explain it better than I..

[LOVEGSD]

Good idea to get someone to help hun.....I haven't heard good things about Barkbusters, have a look here to find one in your local area
CAPBT - COAPE Association of Pet Behaviourists and Trainers

Thanks so much for the link will check it out now.

I've been doing the same thing as suggested, ie getting visitors to ignore and then getting them to throw treats, only when she is comfortable taking them I will eventually (if they are gonna be in our house for a while) ask them to offer her a treat out of their hand, if she backs away we go back to throwing treats and let her approach them, often though she has took the treat and then settled back down and relaxed.

I have to add that she literally growls the first time she sees them, then she settles and doesnt growl again. Not long ago my dads friend came round and got very loud when Warrington scored at rugby, she looked up but then put her head back down and went to sleep, its just the initial moment when someone comes in.

But its good to know im doing the right thing I've got a friend who will be sleeping over next wk who hasnt met her but I've told her the exact same thing, ignore and throw treats, don't speak to her or look at her.

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it, she's hard work but I'm not giving up

I'd go with COAPE person too.

The growling when someones comes in I've always used the carry on as normal (don't react to growl) + high value treat and not look at the dog. If you want to section the room off then that's fine. Depends how nervous she is if apart from you.

Recently I visited a patient who has taken on a patterdale rescue (he's had 3 homes already due to aggression issues). He growls and barks when anyone arrives or leaves. He didn't hear me arrive, patient was expecting me though.. so I went in back door - ignored dog but gave it a piece of liver cake, and greeted patient.

No bark. One confused dog ! He then went outside and did a couple of barks at nothing, came back in and was fine.

Hopefully if you can work with rewarding her good behaviour in a similar way then she'll feel less threatened. Have you done clicker training with her?

Originally Posted by Anni

I'd go with COAPE person too.

The growling when someones comes in I've always used the carry on as normal (don't react to growl) + high value treat and not look at the dog. If you want to section the room off then that's fine. Depends how nervous she is if apart from you.

Recently I visited a patient who has taken on a patterdale rescue (he's had 3 homes already due to aggression issues). He growls and barks when anyone arrives or leaves. He didn't hear me arrive, patient was expecting me though.. so I went in back door - ignored dog but gave it a piece of liver cake, and greeted patient.

No bark. One confused dog ! He then went outside and did a couple of barks at nothing, came back in and was fine.

Hopefully if you can work with rewarding her good behaviour in a similar way then she'll feel less threatened. Have you done clicker training with her?

Yep, I've been doing clicker training to help with the barking at dogs when on our walks, she's come on brilliantly since then. I think I sometimes expect progress too quick from her as I know she's a excellent learner in most things, I take things to heart easily but with help I'm learning to realise these things will take time.

Is this right, for instance, someone walks through the living room do, she growls, I say enough, she shuts up, I click? If I know someone is coming I get my bag of treats ready, I always leave the kitchen door open so she can go out if she can't cope but she chooses just to lie down.

[kelpiemad]

I would carry on with your clicker training try this link it has lots of free training videos using positive training methods
Free Video List