Always when I think things are going swimmingly
something happens to awake me from the dream...
Yesterday, I needed to run some errands in a nearby town and decided to take Kimmy with me. She hasn't been in public for a while, and I thought now was a good time to start taking her to town with me again.
But she was like a raging maniac! Instead of holding her leash with one hand and Ben's hand with the other, I needed both hands to hold on to her because she lunged at people and other dogs. It was awful.
At least she didn't bark at people, just tried to jump at them, but with other dogs we met, it was a disaster. She would lunge at them, barking really angrily, and I had a hard time holding her down, because at 10 months of age, she is strong like a horse. I did manage to rein her in and put her in a sit, but not without some struggle, and of course, the minute or two it took me to handle her was enough to scare the other dog's owner and people around.
I felt horrible, sweat ran down my body in streams, I capitulated and decided to cut the errands short and head back to the car immediately. We had to pass through one last street of the town centre (pedestrian zone), with a small café that had tables outside where people could sit and have their drink.
At one table, the people had a small dog under the chair, I didn't even notice the dog until all of a sudden Kimmy lunged under the chair, with me attached to her leash like a flag, barking very nastily. I lost my footing and she dragged me a couple of meters with her, effectively pushing several chairs (with people in them!) out of her way with my body, until she was millimetres away from the poor little dog.
I started dragging her away and it took all my power to do so. I was painfully aware of the shocked looks of people and honestly wonder why the dog owner didn't call police on me, I was so not in control of my dog, it was absolutely dreadful :(
I dragged Kimmy to the car, got in and cried. I am such a failure of a dog owner! If I saw someone in the street with a dog behaving like Kimmy did, I would think the dog was a disaster in the making.
I am just sick to my stomach from this. Kimmy behaves so calmly on our walks, even when we meet people or other dogs, but yesterday showed me how uncontrollable she can be and shattered my hopes that she was "trained".
It's clear - I can't handle her :(
Yesterday, I needed to run some errands in a nearby town and decided to take Kimmy with me. She hasn't been in public for a while, and I thought now was a good time to start taking her to town with me again.
But she was like a raging maniac! Instead of holding her leash with one hand and Ben's hand with the other, I needed both hands to hold on to her because she lunged at people and other dogs. It was awful.
At least she didn't bark at people, just tried to jump at them, but with other dogs we met, it was a disaster. She would lunge at them, barking really angrily, and I had a hard time holding her down, because at 10 months of age, she is strong like a horse. I did manage to rein her in and put her in a sit, but not without some struggle, and of course, the minute or two it took me to handle her was enough to scare the other dog's owner and people around.
I felt horrible, sweat ran down my body in streams, I capitulated and decided to cut the errands short and head back to the car immediately. We had to pass through one last street of the town centre (pedestrian zone), with a small café that had tables outside where people could sit and have their drink.
At one table, the people had a small dog under the chair, I didn't even notice the dog until all of a sudden Kimmy lunged under the chair, with me attached to her leash like a flag, barking very nastily. I lost my footing and she dragged me a couple of meters with her, effectively pushing several chairs (with people in them!) out of her way with my body, until she was millimetres away from the poor little dog.
I started dragging her away and it took all my power to do so. I was painfully aware of the shocked looks of people and honestly wonder why the dog owner didn't call police on me, I was so not in control of my dog, it was absolutely dreadful :(
I dragged Kimmy to the car, got in and cried. I am such a failure of a dog owner! If I saw someone in the street with a dog behaving like Kimmy did, I would think the dog was a disaster in the making.
I am just sick to my stomach from this. Kimmy behaves so calmly on our walks, even when we meet people or other dogs, but yesterday showed me how uncontrollable she can be and shattered my hopes that she was "trained".
It's clear - I can't handle her :(
posted by Katie @ 11:33 AM
6 Comments:
At 6:31 PM,
Meggy said…
I've read your comments about Kimmie from when you got her and have resisted saying anything for risk of sounding harsh. I knew everyone would jump on me.
Kimmie needs to be in DOG OBEDIENCE LESSONS NOW, with you.
And those cute pictures you take with Bennie sitting next to her face, over and over, are asking for a disaster AGAIN. By the time she snaps again, he'll be scarred for life before you can pull her off him.
Kimmie is not a person. She's a dog that was bred through generations to be agressive. At this point, she has NO idea who the alpha male in the family is. And she needs to know that. Your breeder has done you a disservice by not telling you this.
If you want some of my ideas, let me know. I'd be happy to tell you.
Yes, I've trained dogs and shown them for many, many years.
Bo
At 9:36 PM,
Katie said…
I think she needs a male master, not a female weakling like me :(
At 12:53 AM,
Meggy said…
Has nothing to do with being male or female. She just needs to know who's in charge, and you can teach her that. Go into your local phone book and find the name of a kennel club. They'll have obedience classes. Make sure they know you're dealing with a "dominance issue". They'll put you in the right direction. I can even give you a few ideas right off the bat, if you're interested. But first off, STOP PUTTING BENNY'S FACE NEXT TO HER'S!!!!
At 12:11 PM,
PeachBellini said…
Katie you're not a failure. At all. However, you need to be the alpha for Kimmy. I agree with Bo re training her and doing so without Benny. You were the victim of bad advice from two trainers and a mad breeder. Have you spayed Kimmy? Because if you haven't, please go and do it now. Alternatively, if you think this is too much to handle, please don't feel like a failure, just leave Kimmy wit a Dobie shelter or similar and inform them of the issues.
At 5:22 AM,
Meggy said…
It's not too late for Kimmie, but you need to get on it NOW. Stop waiting. She needs an Alpha. Dogs are pack animals and if they can be top dog, they will. And if they can only be top dog over one or two other 'dogs' in the pack (i.e. Benny) then they will. It's up to you to train this out of her. There's help available. It's driving me nuts to see this happen to a smart and gorgeous dog. Time is passing! I can help you get started, but you need professional help!
At 1:10 PM,
jzygail said…
Katie, It's not that you're a female, but like Hans and Bo have said, you can't train Kimmie when you're out and about with Benny. When you take her in public, at least for the immediate future, it should be when Benny isn't with you. This way you have full attention on Kimmie and her behavior.
You know from Kimmie's experience with her dame and littermate, she comes from dog-aggressive stock--heck Kimmie is the mild one from that bunch--and that's to your credit.
But she's nowhere near trained yet. I'd advise you contacting the posters on Delphi who gave you good advice before, go back to the "you get nothing that doesn't come from me" training you started after the bite incident. and get her spayed. As soon as you humanly can.
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