sad and discouraged

grrr good trainers are soo hard to find who understand shelties, they are very few and far between! so in other words ingore the jerky neighbor! What makes Shelites such great little dogs is their ability to pick up on your actions/emotions without you even realizing. They can look at you and read a million different cues...which makes them great little sheep herding dogs but sometimes diffucult to redirect when you are speaking one thing but your body and emotions is saying another...now with that said it at times makes training a reactive dog frustrating. They are looking at you for their cue, you are looking at them and thinking ohhhhh god please behave please dont freak out and yes they are picking up on that body language and reacting..

Start out small scale, start in a nice quiet place and treat, than work up to people in a distance if she is calm and not reacting treat..and work up to more and more people..ect..also work on getting her to sit. When she starts to go into freak out mode make her sit and focus on you, it will divert her attention enough so she can come back to looking at you in a calmer manor/situation and focus on something else that what is causing her anxiety..

Now with all that said she may just always bark at your neighbor...they can pick up on cues and sense people they just dont trust....thus the barking..I had neighbors like that for 10 years...they just moved this spring its been wonderful:biggrin2:!!! the new neighbors who have 5 dogs and I think 15 cats and the dogs could care less about them coming or going...I always said the old neighbors were weird!
 
I am so sorry that people who don't get "doggie language" are pretending to (and making your life harder). I am so thankful when I come across someone (anyone) who can see that Gavin is barking because he wants to PLAY with their dog and not because he is vicious. Unfortunately, that is a rare occurance.

Just remember that you know your dog best, are being responsible in keeping her on a leash, and are working on it. That makes you a great dog owner :D

I live in an apt, and most people (neighbors) here are pretty good with the barking. as long as it isn't early in the morning or late at night.
 
The "used to be trainer" needs to lighten up a bit. "Used to be" sure doesn't know the sheltie breed. I had someone act like that with Lucky once, and I just looked at her. Well I think she saw daggers come out of my eyes. People don't bother me, say what you please, don't mess with my family or my dogs.

Your boy sure doesn't like anyone near your girl. That wasn't it at all. He was barking "look at me". He is a dog, he barks, and when I say SHHHH he shuts up. Oh she burnt the heck out of me. Lucky is so darn sweet, he is the bestest.

Tell this guy to go where he used to be. Hell is right around the corner. I think people act up, say stuff when they are trying to find their own self worth. Well this guy should keep on looking he hasn't found his.
 
Oh boy, strange man walks up to me and yells at me to lie down and I'd be doing more than barking. Sorry, but what an a***hole - probably watched a couple of episodes of the dog whisperer and thinks he's an expert. I think Kyara had every right to be worried about this neighbour and I am sorry he upset you so much.
 
well, your dog is agressive, fear agressive or otherwise, it still is. At least that is what present definition of agression is.
There are dog trainers and there are dog trainers... some of them are really gifted in "talking doggie language" and if you find one nearby it will be well worth time and $$$.
 
SheltieChe said:
well, your dog is agressive, fear agressive or otherwise, it still is. At least that is what present definition of agression is.
There are dog trainers and there are dog trainers... some of them are really gifted in "talking doggie language" and if you find one nearby it will be well worth time and $$$.
Click to expand...

it's clear that the poor dog is scared out of his mind, he wouldn't move forward and attack, so labeling it as aggressive, whether it is the correct definition or not wouldn't be very helpful.

Plus the way these wanna be dog trainers and self help dog trainers misuse the word aggression (like her neighbours) makes me sick and disgusted. It's so overused, just like dominant either word makes me wanna throw up!!!!! It's been so misused by famous and infamous dog psychologists and made into pop psychology.... seen it on TV so it must be true... it's just awful!
This stuff is setting real dog training back 20 years :no::dead:
 
I am sorry that I have no advice but I can send encouragement that things will improve for you and Kyara soon.
 
:smile2: Wow thank you so much everyone for your replies! Please know that every singly one of your messages have brought some encouragement to me.

It makes me feel reassured that I am not the only one going through this and it gives me hope that we can help each other. I also feel very well understood by all of you! Others mentioned having gone through this and have done progress with their dogs. How great to think that it can get better! Thank you all for your compassion and suggestions.

That neighbor is really an idiot :rolleyes2: , hopefully I will not run into him often but if I do I will simply nod, walk away and ignore. Some people are just not worth getting worked up about. And obviously, I was very annoyed by the way he approached us and screamed at my dog, I can clearly imagine how these emotions contributed to Kyara's panicking and barking.

The way I picture an aggressive dog is one that would attack someone, like actually go towards the person and bite them. My Kyara would not attack anyone, even cornered, she simply shuts down. I understand that the term aggressive could also be used as in fear aggression but the point really is: who is that guy to come towards a total stranger, scream at their dog and claim that their dog is aggressive :mad: . Even if she is, I have her on a leash, I am in front of my door which the guy is approaching for no reason whatsoever (luckily we do not have a collective entrance to our condos, we each have front doors that give directly on the street) and I am not letting anyone come close to her. I am not taking ANY risk to see if she WOULD bite someone.


I truly think it was simply uncalled for but hey! we have no control over how others react, we only have control on how we deal with it. Next time, I will not let it affect me as much because I know I am doing all I can to get a well behaved Kyara. I am also doing my best to avoid disturbing the neighbors with her barking. All in all I just need to keep on doing what I know is best for my girl. Train and train and desensitize. It's one step at a time and if it fails, move back and start again.:yes:
 
Toffee's Mom said:
it's clear that the poor dog is scared out of his mind, he wouldn't move forward and attack, so labeling it as aggressive, whether it is the correct definition or not wouldn't be very helpful.

Plus the way these wanna be dog trainers and self help dog trainers misuse the word aggression (like her neighbours) makes me sick and disgusted. It's so overused, just like dominant either word makes me wanna throw up!!!!! It's been so misused by famous and infamous dog psychologists and made into pop psychology.... seen it on TV so it must be true... it's just awful!
This stuff is setting real dog training back 20 years :no::dead:
Click to expand...
By that definition Sca is aggressive at flyball. He goes nuts and pulls and barks. But reality is he just wants to run and chase. Of course he likely also wants to embarrass me :o Anyone that has met him would label a ham sandwich aggressive before him :yes:

I have noticed that people with fearful dogs benefited from obediance or agility training. Seems like it gives the dog focus and confidence.
 
As I've mentioned before, Colonel Underpants can be fear aggressive. He lunges and bluff-growls. My heart goes out to you -- it's so hard to hear criticism when you know how very far your Sheltie has come. No one knows your Sheltie like you do. Be proud of how far you both have come. :yes:
 
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