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27 October, 2006Time for doggie boot camp
If Kyla was allowed to participate in Halloween, I’d probably dress her up in this dino suit. I got this last year in a crafty doggie swap and she’s only tried it on once.
As you can see she’s totally stoked about being a dino. But anyway, Kyla is not allowed to participate in Halloween. That’s because Kyla hates kids. Other things she hates: people, other dogs, the mailman, rabbits and AIR.
I don’t know how much I’ve talked about Kyla’s issues on here, but Kyla had a crappy life before she came to me last November from the rescue group. And she doesn’t trust anyone or anything. She hates being petted by strangers and if you force yourself on her, you will get bitten. If you’re a male and you come in my house, you will probably get bitten. If you are ANYONE coming in my house, there’s a good chance you’ll get bitten on the way out.
Now one thing I will say about her, if you ignore her and if I keep a watchful eye, after 20 minutes or so, she can tolerate people being around, and she LOVES Jimmy and my family members (kisses, snuggles, normal dog stuff). But they all had to go thru bite and/or headbutt initiation. Sometimes she forgets that she likes them, and bites them anyway.
Kyla has serious trust issues, and needs to stop communicating with her teeth. As a result, it’s doggie boot camp time. I’ve found a behaviorist that I’m really excited about working with, and starting tomorrow morning we are going to work together on a regular basis. My goals are:
- Kyla will tolerate or ignore (best case scenario… actually like) strangers that come into my home
- Kyla will stop biting. Period.
- Kyla will not have to be crated when I have a party or more than two guests over
- Kyla can be around kids
- Kyla can be around other dogs without attacking them
- Kyla will not be terrified of riding in the car (she does fine once we’re in the car and driving, but she’s a freaking wreck if the leash comes out and I don’t say “wanna go for a walk”)
I don’t expect all this to happen in a week, maybe not even a year. But I received several references from other ex-bitey-dog-owners who this behaviorist has helped, and so I have hope for Kyla.
Parts of this are gonna suck: me having to be consistent 100% of the time, Kyla not sleeping with me or taking over furniture (I’m still not 100% clear on the rules of this yet, will find out more tomorrow), trying to make sure my parents are on board with everything when she stays with them, etc. But I want this dog to stop living in fear and stop being aggressive. I’m gonna be paying this lady big bucks to see results, and so I’m going to follow her advice 100%.
She slept in her crate last night. She did the “I’m annoying and I want something” bark about a thousand times, but she got over it. The world didn’t end.
Ugh, wish us luck!
Comments
Good luck! And sorry Kyla, but no matter how much you glare and put, that is still one of the cutest doggie costumes I've seen. I think the glare may actually be making it even cuter.
good luck on this journey. poor kyla...she must have been thru a lot to make her so angry and unable to trust.
the costume is wickedly cute.
Poor Kyla.
I can't beleive people can be such assholes to animals.
My cat Andy was deathly afraid of brooms. He also had this "ridge" in his jaw where the Dr. thought it looked like bone that didn't heal right.
Made me so sad to think the 2 might be related.
OH MY! that picture nearly made me squeal and jump out of my seat in the computer lab at school! haha!
good luck with kyla.
my dog behaves in a similar way, but it's only because she has had 0 behavioral training.
It just breaks my heart when dogs or any animals for that matter have a bad history. I think there is a special place in hell for animal abusers.
I really hope the animal behaviorist helps you and Kyla. I really think it will - if anything it will bridge the communication gap, and she'll be able to understand you better and vis versa. I'm sorry. I wish you the best.
p.s the picture is OMG cute. She's totally giving you stink eye.
It just breaks my heart when dogs or any animals for that matter have a bad history. I think there is a special place in hell for animal abusers.
I really hope the animal behaviorist helps you and Kyla. I really think it will - if anything it will bridge the communication gap, and she'll be able to understand you better and vis versa. I'm sorry. I wish you the best.
p.s the picture is OMG cute. She's totally giving you stink eye.
Aww, Kyla. How did you get her to start trusting you?
Don't know. She headbutted me once when the rescue lady brought her over, and I guess I just didn't let it faze me.. I picked her up and played with her and she must have figured it out, because she has never bitten me. So I'm hopeful that I have a little bit of natural leader in me, I just need to not slack on it, and make her trust me (and therefore start trusting others).
Good luck to you and Kyla. But she looks so damn cute in her little dino suit. Pehaps she knows that dinos are supposed to bite? Just kidding.
I hope she does well, and am sorry her previous owners were not very nice.
If whoever it is doesn't work out, I'll nominate you for the Dog Whisperer!
good luck with boot camp! my boyfriend's dog actually went to sleep-away bootcamp (heh) for two weeks, but it didn't really help because he's not consistent with the training AT ALL and then wonders why the dog still shits all over the house. stay firm in the face of that annoying-as-hell bark! Nino does it too but it's like this ridiculous squeak coming out of his 80-lb body.
I hope everything goes well with Kyla. I didn't know she had such trust/biting issues; it's good that you're taking a responsible approach to handling it.
The glare is priceless. She apparently doesn't know how cute she looks as a dinosaur.
I echo the comments from everyone else: good job on responsible pet ownership. I am sure you and Kyla will get through training,with both of you happier and more comfortable. Good luck! sounds like you've got a good handle on it.
And you know, I'm not even a dog person, but the thought of someone being mean to a dog just makes ME want to bite people.
Hilarious picture of Kyla in the costume - poor thing!
Also, not to discourage you or anything, but from my experience, it's next to impossible to properly train a boston terrier. I've tried and tried with mine and it's just not happening - the little bastard has a mind of his own and that's all there is to it. I can't even imagine working with one that was previously abused, but I wish you luck!
