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Many of you have heard me talk about my hyperactive pit bull mix Clay. I have received tons of tremendous training tips and advice from the behaviorist working with us in training him to become better socially.
Working with an aggressive dog take a lot of patience and the ability to remain calm in all circumstances.
A perfect example is last Friday while arriving for our behavior training. I arrived about 10 minutes early and parked in the back area away from people and dogs (or so I thought). I wanted to make the most of our time, so I went into the back of the car with Clay (who had been really good and calm on the raod trip out). Once I shut the door 2 toy dogs popped up in the car next to me sending clay into a lunging barking agrressive frenzy. I was nipped in the shoulder...not serious, but enough to draw blood. Clay then proceded to jump in the front seat gining me time to get out of the car.
I did yell a loud OWW!!!, as that is our cue that his mouth is too hard...he knows a soft mouth. His anxiety had him oblivious to everything around him. He eventially went back to theback seat so I could get into the fromt seat and move the car. There is nothing quite so frightening as a 70lb solidly build dog barking aggressivly 2" from your ear.
Once the car was away from the toy dogs, he immediatly calmed and behaved well. Throughout the entire ordeal, I did not yell, hit, smack, grab or react in any way to show I was out of control. I told the behaviorist (who works with AC so the bite was reported, but not offiicially).
This is just 1 example of many things I have had to deal with since adopting Clay. Positive Reinforcement training is working wonders with him and I am willing to share the knowledge.
Please note, at home Clay is very well beahved for my wife and I. He loves his new girlfriend (read about her in new years recue under the genral topics) and loves our cats..(though they still are very accepting of him). He is as gentle as a lamb 95% of the time. The 5% is reserved for when we have company over, meeting other dogs/people of walks, or contractors working in our neighbor's yard and roof. He is not a lost cause, and I currently refuse to give up on him.
Clark
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