Annoying Beagle encounter

[Aint Doody]

Sorta on the same topic--I have a friend who says he had a friend who used a dog whistle when being chased by dogs. I've ordered one. Anybody have any experience with those? I thought that would be great to hang around my neck and just blow like mad when the dogs head after me. My experience with Halt is that the dogs around here seem to have figured out just how far to stay away from the stream. I also had one dog that I got right in the face with Halt, and it never even fazed him.

[xeney]

Heh. The Dog Whisperer cracks me up, because it is always really obvious when they are setting up the worst possible behavior for him to come in and magically fix. And I bet they just don't air the segments where he fails.

Dogs aren't computers. Training is important, control is crucial, but the idea that if a dog still has a behavioral problem, that automatically means that the owner just hasn't worked hard enough to find the magical solution ... to me, that sounds like a fantasy land, and I would never trust a trainer who made a claim like that. Particularly not in regard to a fear issue.

We took one of our dogs to one of the top behaviorists in the country because her fear problems were so bad when she was a puppy, and she told us straight up: you can make this dog safe, you make her a dog you can live with, but you can't make her perfect. Let go of that idea, because she is always going to be a fearful dog. Dog fears are almost as complex as human fears, and in some ways they are harder to treat because a dog can't take an intellectual approach to her fears.

(But none of my dogs are even slightly afraid of or even interested in bicycles. In our house that would be like fearing the coffee table. Bicycle pumps, on the other hand ... just because of that one time when my husband made a tire explode. That was a couple of years ago but they still try to hide behind me whenever he gets out the floor pump or takes a wheel off a bike.)

[pooks]

One of our dogs cowers whenever my husband carries a flashlight into the yard. We've had her since she was a wee pup so we wonder if someone came into our yard and hit her with something like a flashlight at some point when we weren't home. It's possible since the electric meter is on our house and the meter readers have been known to leap over the fence and come in to read it. (Now they just use binoculars to read it from outside the yard.)

When I was riding last week I was on a bike trail passing by a small pond when I saw a herd of geese all gathered on the trail ahead of me. Some were laying down; a few were standing and stretching their necks (not at me) and none were really looking at me. I've always heard geese can be agressive so I regretfully got off my bike and walked it around them, giving them a wide berth.

But boy did I want to just sail through the middle of them yelling and watch them all flapping and honking and lying away in a tizzy.

[PinkBike]

i was riding on the multi-use path thru the greenbelt and a guy was feeding the ducks from the lake right in the path!!! i rode right off the path thru the grass to the street til i got waaaaaaayyyyyyyy past them. you just caint trust ducks

[lph]

I ride through a flock of Canadian geese every day in summer. They can see me coming, they have a humongous grass field to wander around on, and they still manage to get all het up when I ride through on the path

I try to aim right at their backsides though, they're pretty good at speeding up and getting out of the way but not very good at stopping. In fact they would probably try to take my shin out if I passed in front of them. Silly birds.

[li10up]

Heh. The Dog Whisperer cracks me up, because it is always really obvious when they are setting up the worst possible behavior for him to come in and magically fix. And I bet they just don't air the segments where he fails.

Dogs aren't computers. Training is important, control is crucial, but the idea that if a dog still has a behavioral problem, that automatically means that the owner just hasn't worked hard enough to find the magical solution ... to me, that sounds like a fantasy land, and I would never trust a trainer who made a claim like that. Particularly not in regard to a fear issue.

We took one of our dogs to one of the top behaviorists in the country because her fear problems were so bad when she was a puppy, and she told us straight up: you can make this dog safe, you make her a dog you can live with, but you can't make her perfect. Let go of that idea, because she is always going to be a fearful dog. Dog fears are almost as complex as human fears, and in some ways they are harder to treat because a dog can't take an intellectual approach to her fears.

(But none of my dogs are even slightly afraid of or even interested in bicycles. In our house that would be like fearing the coffee table. Bicycle pumps, on the other hand ... just because of that one time when my husband made a tire explode. That was a couple of years ago but they still try to hide behind me whenever he gets out the floor pump or takes a wheel off a bike.)

I saw him work with a very aggressive dog that they had to put a muzzle on - that dog was nuts. If he was ever going to quit on a dog it would have been that one! That dog would have torn into him if he had a chance. I agree that sometimes they play up the dogs aggressiveness a bit but I really do think he knows dogs. Dogs that are fearful are really tough. My dog gets scared when I take the top off of a tube of Chapstick. If I make a strange sound with my mouth, like a click or pop, the dog comes unglued. Why would those things bother him. I can't seem to figure out how to get him over all his fears but I'm still trying. But if his fear caused him to lunge after other people or dogs I definately would keep on trying to resolve it.

We have a lot of ducks that hang out around the trail by the river. I'm always amazed when they just sit there and let you work your way through them. I always expect a bunch of wing flapping and feathers flying. But they are just as calm as can be. I guess because they are used to lots of people being around. It's still weird though.

[fikustree]

When I was a little girl I was riding my bike down the big hill in our neighborhood and this stupid annoying Scottie dog named Pebbles burst in front of me mid hill. I screamed, tried to get out of the way, ran over him with the bike (I will never forget the sight of him belly up under my wheel), then I fell off and cut my face. I still have the scar! So I can totally feel your pain.

As for Cease-

A lot of people in the dog behaviorist community are really critical of Caesar's show because he teaches an older form of "training" that might encourage people who don't know a lot about dogs to unknowingly hurt them physically and emotionally.
This blog discusses both sides of the issue.

As for annoying Beagles- I certainly know about that, I have two! I would never let them outside unleashed because they are bred to be independent hunting dogs that for generations were taught, "If you see something run after it barking" it is pretty hard to undo! I grew up with a Cocker and they are the same way.

[Momof5]

I was running in a small town near my home on Easter Sunday when I was bitten by a doberman pincher on my calf. It was really frightening to say the least and the dog owner initially denied that it was his dog. I spent the entire afternoon in the emergency room, not to mention the anxiety of not knowing whether or not he had gotten his shots. (he did). I am not someone who's normally afraid of dogs but this experience and the fact that it was so quick and aggressive has raised my anxiety level about dogs. I'm now sticking to my neighborhood which might be faulty thinking bit I do feel safer.

[Aint Doody]

Wow, Momof5--that is scary. Did he sneak up on you?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I was running in a small town near my home on Easter Sunday when I was bitten by a doberman pincher on my calf. It was really frightening to say the least and the dog owner initially denied that it was his dog. I spent the entire afternoon in the emergency room, not to mention the anxiety of not knowing whether or not he had gotten his shots. (he did). I am not someone who's normally afraid of dogs but this experience and the fact that it was so quick and aggressive has raised my anxiety level about dogs. I'm now sticking to my neighborhood which might be faulty thinking bit I do feel safer.

I hope you are pursuing the matter legally. At the very least you should get all your medical bills paid (and then some) and it will also strongly encourage those owners to keep their aggressive dog securely restrained. If they go scot-free this time, the next person bitten might be a toddler in the face.

[Momof5]

Hi robyn, i was told a couple of days ago that the owners were putting the dog down. apparently he had been getting into trouble around the neighborhood. I will pursue this legally for at least the medical bills. the other day i was with my girls. one of them delivers newspapers. my youngest daughter bent down to kiss a small dog on the face. I felt terrible afterwards because i reacted with such alarm she couldn't believe it. It's amazing how an experience like this can change your thinking.