Ellie's BAAAADDDD Behavior!

I wouldn't worry too much Lahree. Your pup is at that teenage, rebellious stage of puppy hood. Keep doing what you're doing and keep working at establishing yourself as alpha. See if the trainer is willing to work with you. If not I'd say find another trainer. It sounds like she's pretty good though.

Sadie went through the rebellious stage at that age too, only she expressed her dislikes by relieving herself on the new carpet months after successful house training. I didn't think she would, but she did get past this and all of her other bad puppy habits as well (She also liked to chew on wood furniture when she was mad at us). I'm so proud of how well behaved she is now that she is almost two. It took her 2-3 months to grow out of that phase of her puppyhood.
 
Last Night's Class

Well, last night's class was a big lesson! Ellie showed herself to be about 85% improved over last class. We were sitting in between mellow lab puppy and well-behaved black post-abused mixed dog and in walks mop-dog (MD). MD just cannot resist snarling and lunging and agressively barking at Ellie. Ellie reacted by barking and lunging, but it only took me about 35-40 seconds to calm her down. I held her still and gently took her face in my hand and had her look at me while saying her name in a calm manner. She was able to get a grip and for the next 45 minutes she occassionally looked in the direction of MD and did a low soft growl. Each time she growled I said her name, which made her look at me. When she stopped growling, looked at me and relaxed, she got a treat. Her greatest progress was when MD was snarling and barking and lunging at the really super cute and super mellow mixed breed puppy that came in and was sitting next to her. Ellie's ear were forward and she tensed up slightly but SHE DID NOT BARK! Hooray! That was a big temptation to resist! The worst part of the night came about when we were split into two rooms to practice "come." MD and owner were supposed to stay in the room we were in and Ellie and I were to go into the other room to practice with the two nice mellow dogs sitting around us, but MD's owner must have misheard directions or didn't care or something because before I knew it MD and owner were right next to us and MD got away from its owner and it attacked Ellie!! Ellie is fast, so MD only got a mouthful of her feather hair on her front leg. I pulled Ellie back and MD's owner finally got MD's leash and pulled back and so the little $#*! bit ME! She barely got me and I don't think she meant to get me, I think I was calateral damage, but still! :mad: Ok, get this--MD's owner says NOTHING to me. NOTHING! There was no, "Oh gee I'm sorry!" Or "Gosh, I'm sorry, she got away from me!" Or "Are you ok? Is your dog OK?" There was nothing said to me, she just grabbed the leash and walked into the other room. It took me about 1 minute that time to get Ellie to calm down using the techniques I learned and I don't think that's bad at all for being the victim of an attack! About three minutes after MD left our room, you could hear her snarling and barking at some other poor dog in the other room. Those two are a menace! The teacher did not see the actual attack, I told her after class. She was horrified.

I was SO proud of Ellie! Under the cicumstances and being a baby--she did fabulous! One mroe class and then I will register for the advanced class IF MD is not going to go. I will change nights so I don't have to be in any other classes with her. I want Ellie to learn and it's hard to have a dog that agressive around to have to watch out for all the time.

Oh, and remember the big huge really aggressive black lab? That dog has turned out to be quiet and well behaved. I think the poor thing just needed someone to tell him what to do.
 
ohhh poor ellie!!!!!! That is just horrible with MD...I would tell her next time she tries to come near you to back up/off....That is the one thing I have learned with showing you have to be your dogs advocate and speak up, I am a shy person so it was hard for me in the begining to tell people in front/behind me to contain their dog or back up...Now I have no problem call me a bitch jerk whatever im going to protect my dogs from anything I dont like!! :wink2: Lets hope the last class goes well for you, its horrible to try to learn when your watching an owner with an out of control dog!! It just takes the fun out of the whole experience!
 
Oh poor Ellie! I am glad that she did so well, and she did. You should be so proud of her. I cannot imagine how awful it must have been. After reading how the owner 'reacted' or should I say, did not react, I can see why this dog, MD, is the way it is - it's the owner's fault. He/she should have corrected MD right away, and established that that is not proper behaviour, but it seems that anything goes with the owner. No wonder that dog is so aggressive. I bet you the owner is aggressive in ways to which we don't even know about. But he/she should really be carful, because if MD does attack someone one day, MD will pay with it's life, and the owner can get sued too. I hope it never comes to that, but that owner is extremely irresponsible. I too would be looking for another class without MD in it. You handled it very calmly. I personally would have flown off the handle with that owner, and everyone would have known what happened right there and there. People like that make my blood boil. They give all of us good dog owners a bad name.
But good for you and Ellie!

Oh ,you should change the name of this thread to "Ellie's GOOOOOOODDD Behavior!"
 
Lightplum said:
ohhh poor ellie!!!!!! That is just horrible with MD...I would tell her next time she tries to come near you to back up/off....That is the one thing I have learned with showing you have to be your dogs advocate and speak up, I am a shy person so it was hard for me in the begining to tell people in front/behind me to contain their dog or back up...Now I have no problem call me a bitch jerk whatever im going to protect my dogs from anything I dont like!! :wink2: Lets hope the last class goes well for you, its horrible to try to learn when your watching an owner with an out of control dog!! It just takes the fun out of the whole experience!
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I wish I would have said something! I was just so shocked it happened. I'd like to say that I didn't say anything because I was trynig to stay calm so Ellie would be calm (which is true to some extent), but added to that, I am a chicken in a lot of ways. This is what is weird--if I had not been in the class with this woman--in other words had she been a stranger--I would have snapped her head off. I didn't want to cause a scene in front of everyone, but I wish I had said something. :no:
 
Ania said:
Oh poor Ellie! I am glad that she did so well, and she did. You should be so proud of her. I cannot imagine how awful it must have been. After reading how the owner 'reacted' or should I say, did not react, I can see why this dog, MD, is the way it is - it's the owner's fault. He/she should have corrected MD right away, and established that that is not proper behaviour, but it seems that anything goes with the owner. No wonder that dog is so aggressive. I bet you the owner is aggressive in ways to which we don't even know about. But he/she should really be carful, because if MD does attack someone one day, MD will pay with it's life, and the owner can get sued too. I hope it never comes to that, but that owner is extremely irresponsible. I too would be looking for another class without MD in it. You handled it very calmly. I personally would have flown off the handle with that owner, and everyone would have known what happened right there and there. People like that make my blood boil. They give all of us good dog owners a bad name.
But good for you and Ellie!

Oh ,you should change the name of this thread to "Ellie's GOOOOOOODDD Behavior!"
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am not sure why MD's owner signed up for this class. If you are not going to try and change yourself and your dog's behavior--why bother? She may be embarassed by the behavior and that's why she doesn't say antyhing. I know some peple are like that. They just want to slink off in a corner when their dog is bad, however, she never corrects her dog. In class we are free to ask the trainer questions at any time and I am always asking a million questions: "How do I get this kind of behavior?" "How do I get her to stop this?" "What's the best way to do that?" I have never heard this woman ask anything like "How the *$&@^ do I get my dog to stop acting like a complete aggressive idiot?" Or "What should I do when my dog acts aggressive?" Again, I wish I had said something to the woman, but I didn't, so I can't change that now. :rolleyes2:

I guess I could change the thread to "Ellie's CHANGED Behavior!" :lol:

Yea
 
I'm so proud of you and Ellie!!! Maybe it's best you didn't say anything in the class, since some dog-owner's would not come back. I think the Trainer might want to get rid of MD, at least in group classes. After all, if she keeps the dog in the class after MD bit you, she might be held responsible if someone else gets bit by MD. Glad you guys are okay, and Ellie has everything in order again. Congratulations!!
 
Crystal1 said:
I'm so proud of you and Ellie!!! Maybe it's best you didn't say anything in the class, since some dog-owner's would not come back. I think the Trainer might want to get rid of MD, at least in group classes. After all, if she keeps the dog in the class after MD bit you, she might be held responsible if someone else gets bit by MD. Glad you guys are okay, and Ellie has everything in order again. Congratulations!!
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There's only one class left and we won't be learning anything new. We are going to have one-on-one consultations with the trainer. We are going to demonstrate all the things we have learned and then she is going to answer any questions we have and help us with any of the lessons that we don't "get." I will be avoiding MD and owner at all costs. :yes: I will try to go first so we can just get our consultation and then leave. I do want to go further with Ellie. I think she could actually be a good therapy dog or at least get her cannine good citizenship certificate. This trainer also offers private classes. I think she is a good trainer and I agree with her training methods., so I may look into private classes. It's been a good experience overall because it taught Ellie and I both what to do in stressful situations. :biggrin2:
 
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