Mr. Woofus

So the wifey and I have had Woofus for 6 weeks now. He seems to be getting used to us now. The only real problem we're having is that every once in a while when he doesn't want to do something he starts snarling and barring his teeth. For instance, he didn't want to go into the bath. I tried putting him there and he didn't like it. He also just did it when I tried getting him out of the car and he didn't want to. He's a rescue so we don't know what he's gone through. Any advice would be much appreciated

Mikey T

There is often the asumption that if a "resuce" has a behaviorial broblem it is because it was abused. Actual that is rarely the case. It is much more likely that the behavioral issue is what landed him in the resuce in the first place.
Was Your Dog Abused?

1. Check with the rescue they may have resources i.e. a behaviorist, trainer etc to work with you

2. Start recorded the details as soon as possible after each incident where, when, who was there animals and humans, what they were wereing curcumstances proceeding and after the incident. The reason that this is imporant as it will provide incite into the triiger ie. cause of the behavior.


going out on a limb with only two incidents but it seem like the cause of the growing is when you get physical with him. ie. pick him up for a bath, pull, tug to get him out of the car etc. This is not uncommon. Think of how you would feel if the boss dragged you around by the collar. This problem can generally over with training so you do not need to get into a physical confrontation.

How Much Does Your Dog's Cooperation Weigh?

Relationship based Approach to Training

This is the reason basset and other breeds of their ill are labeled hard to train. They have a very low need to please. If they are going to do something it is not to please the owner it is because they percieve it to be in their best interest to do so.

Dog is on the front seat of the car, which is very comfortable, why should it move. Because you want him to, hardly. Now if each time he got out their was a treat for doing so, stayinh on the seat might not look like the best option any more.
The "secret to training bassets is to make it in their best interest to do what you want them to do. see Hard to train
Using Food in Training

You want to avoid geting into a physical confrontation with the dog. The first step is to avoid those situations which causes the dog to growl in the first place. This is where keeping the histories above helps out it lets you identify triggers and likely triggers.

Be creative in thinking of non-physical ways to get your dogs cooperation.

Mr. Woofus

Thanks for the info Mikey. Most of what was said in the articles we are trying to do. It make me feel a bit better and at ease.

BigBloo

My dad raised and trained beagles for 40 years and I clearly remember his advice on this subject as being, "Don't appeal to their better nature, appeal to their self-interest-- it'll give you more leverage".

Good luck!

Welshtyke

Be careful with this dog psycology, because if you get hooked youve had it. We have a rescue and have experienced some inappropriate behavoiur. Once you start delving into the world of dog psycology you will find it a very absorbing subject.

If you read some of the threads on this forum you will see that the Alpha Male theory is looking dead in the water. I started a thread "Who's Boss" where MikeyT has posted some very interesting posts.

Mikey T

FWIW Behaviourism , skinner et al while generally taught in "phsycology" cirriculum is nearly anti-psychology. It is the basis of modern dog training techniques and behavior modification. But does not deal at all with how, why, a dog thinks or feels, rather it is based only on the dog behavior, what it does and how it reacts. Things that are measurable.

Behaviorism
[quote]
Behaviorism (or behaviourism), also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior), is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things that organisms do—including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors.[1] The behaviorist school of thought maintains that behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as the mind.[2][quote]


Behaviorism
Behaviorism

Welshtyke

This is quite a debatable point, in a broad sense I agree, but there has to be an environment for this situation to arise in the first place.

When you consider abuse you automatically think of a dog being robustly mistreated phsycally or neglected. However given the reading I have been doing since being on the this forum (which is very good), it would appear abuse can be much more subtle, and maybe the wrong word to use.

Are we once again here looking at the situation where owners believe they are doing the right thing who love and care for a dog but its all got to be on the owners terms, veering once again to an Alpha Male / Dominant position, rather than more empathy and leadership role shown in latest research.

Therefore you could argue that most rescues have behaviorial problems because of abuse because something has to predetermine their current behavior. But I belive (after the reading around things) it comes down to how you term abuse. You could suggest that abuse could related to a lack of understanding giving rise to mishandling rather than mistreatment, to the point point where the dog throws its paws in the air and says enough's enough and as a tantrum.

I have said time and time again this is a fascinating subject and you could debate long into the night.