Many humans feel it’s the right thing to do to play wildly exciting games (‘but the dogs love it’) or give manic greetings to dogs. They don’t understand that they may be pumping them up to such a degree that something eventually will have to give. It’s hard to convince people that it’s kinder to wait and respond to the dogs only when they are reasonably calm.
Considering they have eleven dogs – a mix of various Springer, Cockers, Poodles and Cockerpoos all age under the age of six, these dogs are a tribute to their owners. The lady is a groomer and the dogs are gorgeous. A full-time job.
It isn’t surprising, however, that with those numbers there are a few issues.
Beagles Tilly and Cassie are both exactly the same age – two – but not sisters. They play together and sleep together in harmony. Up until about a month ago they got on famously. Fights Then they had three very scary fights, with blood and leaving scars. It seems that Read more
Then very unfortunately to my mind, they enlisted the help of a dog trainer. They advocated spraying water at her, shaking a bottle of stones at her, shouting at her, intimidation and domination. The wrong kind of training. Already more sensitive than the other dogs, Autumn is now really nervous.
Ellie does quite a lot of growling, especially when one of the other dogs walks towards the lady (to whom Ellie will be as near as possible and who will probably be touching and tickling her). All growling is a warning of sorts unless in boisterous play (and I wouldn’t encourage that either), and should be taken seriously.
As disobeyed commands are a catalyst, the first thing to do is to find ways to get the dogs to comply non-verbally for now. Most commands, when analysed, are unnecessary anyway. People find it very hard not to give commands or to stop saying ‘no’. It can be a real challenge.
The three dogs were at each other most of the time. As soon as anybody came in or went out, which happened frequently, the excitement caused some sort of turmoil.