Alex is a young man who likes to take his five-year-old Airedale, Jesse, to the pub with him. Unfortunately she bites hands.
It sounds perfect, doesn’t it.
However, he has a big problem. Jessie doesn’t like people to enter her space, bend over her and touch her, and in a pub atmosphere this is sometimes hard to prevent!
She bit a man
The other day she bit a man she knows well. He was standing at the bar beside her young man and she was between them. All this person did was to casually drop his hand onto her head. Suddenly her teeth were in him.
As he withdrew, she bit again – as though to make sure he really was going away.
Jesse has always been uneasy about being approached, never willingly coming over for attention unless under her own terms when she wants something. The only way the man can show her affection is if he goes over to where she is lying – and then she may growl at him.
She now bites hands
This is since, a while ago, someone ignored all her signals and repeatedly kept came back to touch her. Biting was the only way she could make it stop.
You can understand why – she looks like a big teddy bear! Eventually she was so provoked that she went for him. Unfortunately the person had learning difficulties and should have been protected – as should Jesse. Telling people to back off can seem unfriendly and rude.
From that time she has been a lot more unpredictable. Her unheeded warnings have proved pointless, so she goes straight into the bite.
Her relationship with the young man
If it weren’t sad, how she treats her male owner would be quite comical. She sits with her back to him and I can only call it disdain. She ignores him. To quote him – she’s ‘indifferent’. The only times she does willingly communicate with him are to get him to jump to her tune.
Making all the decisions is no better for a dog living in a human environment than it is for a child.
I saw Jesse come to life towards the end of my visit when I called her over. She came promptly instead of the usual repeated calls followed by causal sauntering up sniffing things on the way!
I asked her to do a few things for me, quietly and just the once. She became focussed and looked very happy. She was no longer that dog that bites hands.
I see with many dogs I visit how they love to work for someone when they understand exactly what is wanted of them and when they find it rewarding. This is the sort of relationship the man needs with his dog. It’s easy for me because I have no past history and can start with a dog the way I mean to go on.
Expectations
My expectation is for Jesse to cooperate, the owner’s expectation is to be ignored. The respective tones of voice and attitudes are self-fulfilling.
As her ‘guardian/leader’ it’s up to the owner to protect his dog from unwanted attention – and as politely as possible to be forceful. This is something I now find a lot easier than I did at his age!
I am sure that when Jesse feels less wary when people are nearby and more relaxed, she will become much more tolerant of the occasional mistaken hand placed on top of her head, even if never really enjoying it.
