looking for a man.... :D

jsabina

... ops... wrong site.. sorry.. :eek:

Joking..
so here the thing... the lovely Jago is a very nice dog.

He has always been friendly with 98% of the dogs and people/kids.
He didn't like of course people coming to the house like the plumber or electrician making bad noises..
Around 1 year ago I noticed that he started to be a bit shy/afraid of tall men.
Nothing that I know never happened and I got him at 10 weeks or so from his mum... so nothing in the past.

I think the problem is getting slowly worse.
He has never been really aggressive or bit anyone but..

If he is off leash in the park he just ignores people.
If a man approach to pet him he would look a bit afraid and just go away.

With my current flatmates / friends coming to the house he has no problems at all and he love playing with them and getting attentions (it took a couple of weeks though to completely accepted the new tall flatmate).

Today we went to the vet and he was very stressed and barked at the tall vet. I had to muzzle him for ear inspection and vaccintion and with the muzzle he was very calm giving him the paw and so.

Then we went to the mechanic and the guy approached him in a right way, but jago that was on leash started barking at him not happy.
Not showing teeth or trying to attack, but under stress for sure.

He didn't even like the woman at the vet that was petting him.. not barking and letting her do, but he didn't look very happy.

So.
I believe I need positive reinforcement?
I don't want him to love all the people and it's ok if he doesn't want to be petted, but I wouldn't want the problem to escalate and Jago becoming unfriendly to people at all.

I have a limited amount of male tall friends
what should I do?
Stop people on the road and ask them to give him a treat? :eek:

Suggestions in general to approach the problem?

(we go every day for walk on leash and off leash, he just ignores people, also people talking to me.. so I would really need people trying to get slowly closer to him, I believe?)

jsabina

(should I change title of the thread? I was only joking.. )

aonb

No need to change the title of your thread - it made me smile and go to read it first!! If its not a PUPPY thread, then an amusing title like yours makes a lovely change (the COOL smilie on the title lets us know its funny)

Im sure someone will come along to give you advise re Jago/tall men - my collie hated all men but he came from a dreadful background - is it an instinct of dogs to be worried about men? My daughters horse is and always has been wary of men in general. My JRT would approach a woman more relaxed than a man

DBB

I think what you say about him ignoring people out on walks is important... When he's allowed to call the shots he chooses not to mingle with people. But when he's indoors, and/or on lead, that choice is taken away from him and he has to resort to defensive behaviours.
I would not ask tall men to give him treats, because although they may be giving him nice stuff, it also forces Jago into very close proximity with them, and he may or may not take the food off them. You just have to be a little careful about luring a dog in too close to scary things with food, because their love of food might override their fear temporarily, but once they actually get the food they realise they're wayyyy too close to the scary thing for comfort, and this can be damaging.
Scared dogs need to be allowed to call the shots as much as possible. So, I would get my clicker out, were I you. If you haven't done clicker training before, you need to "load the clicker", by clicking, then reaching for a treat from a nearby container and giving him the treat (don't present the treat before clicking). Practise some old things like sit, and down etc over the next few days using the clicker at the point he gets it right, just to get it into his head that certain actions of his cause the click, which means there's a treat on the way. The clicker captures that moment so well, and starts to make the dog get a little wash of happy hormones when he hears the click.
Then I'd head out to the park and find a spot near-ish to where people pass, but far enough away that they'll not come too close to you.
When a tall man passes, and Jago looks at him, CLICK! And treat. Always produce a treat for a click, and for now at least use very highly rewarding treats, like chicken, frankfurter, chorizo, cheese, whatever he likes!
You should find that with repetition, he starts to deliberately look out for taller men, wagging his tail when he sees them because they make the click happen, and the click makes Jago feel good.
With time, you can move closer and closer to taller men. But I would urge caution, if you see Jago looking unsettled or anxious at any stage, licking his lips, whining, looking away, trying to duck or move away, respect these signs and give him some distance from the person, and start working with him at a slightly greater distance than the one that started him becoming anxious.

jsabina

i bought the clicker... but never did clicker training..
starting now..
just did sit down paw with click, he really looks at the clicker surprised

today we met a lot of men but they were not interacting with us, so no issues at all.
Also when we went to the park I was chatting with a tall man owner of another dog and Jago didn't care, but he wanted to say hello to Jago a sat down to call him and Jago ignored him and kept playing with the ball.
At least he was not stressed!

I'll follow the idea of the clicker, thanks!

tk123

Funny I've noticed the same with Lucy lately - she's a bit wary of men at night time but fine during the day. Bailey is hit and miss with men after having bad experiences with male vets. A big no-no for Bailey is a man on his own (as in no other people) with a plastic bag - he'll always bark at them and there's always at least one in the dunes so I have to be careful when he's off lead! He's not too bad if my friend is with me but when I'm on my own with them he take more notice of men - if it's a couple he doesn't care as much but a man on his own with our without dogs and he's on alert.

DBB

jsabina wrote: »

just did sit down paw with click, he really looks at the clicker surprised

This might be a little pedantic of me, but I prefer not to show the dog the clicker at all... you want him to develop the association with the sound alone. If he's watching your hand and the clicker as well, it just might become "part of the cue", i.e. Jago will learn not to bother working for you if he sees you don't have the clicker in your hand!
Also, I find that if you have the clicker right up front, a lot of people start using it as a remote control pointing it at the dog before clicking!
I keep the clicker in my pocket (a big coat pocket) or behind my back when training

tk123

DBB wrote: »

lot of people start using it as a remote control pointing it at the dog before clicking!
I keep the clicker in my pocket (a big coat pocket) or behind my back when training

My friends use to do this :mad: - clicking like mad when their dog ran off trying to get his attention when they were actually rewarding him for being bold..and there was only one dog paying attention and sitting beside them when they clicked - Bailey Boy!!:rolleyes:

Anyways DBB sounds like you need a clicker ring lol! :pac:

jsabina

oh really? I didn't know!
I just started without reading anything, so yeah, I believe I was using it as remote control
beginner's mistakes!
I will google a bit now and look for some training tips with clicker, I am sure there is plenty of them, I just don't know why in the beginning I didn't like the idea of clicker training so I never started!

(if you have any recommendation of reading is welcome )

DBB

www.clickertraining.com

The website of the doyenne of dog clicker training, Karen Pryor, who I just found out today is 80 years old!:eek:

muddypaws

DBB wrote: »

www.clickertraining.com

The website of the doyenne of dog clicker training, Karen Pryor, who I just found out today is 80 years old!:eek:

She is not :eek: Huge irony in this house today, my foster dog has been clearing my bookshelves, and today she got my Karen Pryor book :rolleyes: