Doberman Behavior

We now have a nearly 3 year old female spayed Doberman adopted from a home
only four days ago. We also took her little buddy, a small 10 lb, spaniel
mix of some sort. All is generally fine, and both are taking to heeling,
sitting, etc. training reasonably well. Two questions.

1) The Doberman is always distracted and/or disinterested. When sitting,
she continually looks around, paying little attention to me. She is not
food driven, so treats do not get her attention. May need to go to
something more attractive, like liver bits. It is hard to get the dog to
stay focused. She is walked on the street, and there are many things to
look, sniff, etc., and that does not help, but have little other place to
go.

Diana...

***************************

You've only had her 4 days, she's bound to be a little disorientated.
Bonding takes time and trust. At the moment you should be working on
building that, not worrying that it hasn't automatically come.

Handsome Jack Morrison...

I agree!

AnimalBehaviorForensicSciencesResearchLaboratory...

INDEEDY. You AGREE with dallygirl and diana aka lush, who BOTH HAVE
VERY LONG CASE HISTORIES of MENTAL ILLNESS and PARENTAL ABUSE.

Just imagine how you'd feel if you'd been through the recent life changes
she has.

2) More troubling is her behavior if she see another dog. Supposedly, she
will play in a dog park, but I am not so sure. If she sees another dog, on
the street, or outside her home, she becomes very alert, excitable, and any
heeling or sitting is out the window. I don't know if she would attack, or
just run over and check out the other dog. But, her behavior doesn't look
or feel friendly. I could be wrong. She needs to be under much better
control with other dogs. She gets better a bit each time this happens, but
not sure how to get her consistently reasonably calm when she spots another
dog. People are scared enough of Dobermans. I'd prefer she not act in a
way that fuels that fear.

Diana...

Give her a honeymoon away from other dogs for the time being. Just a few

Handsome Jack Morrison...

Including her "little buddy," too.

AnimalBehaviorForensicSciencesResearchLaboratory...

HOWE COME, tommy? THAT'S INSANE.

weeks to settle in and build up some trust in you, her new dad. Once that
has begun to develop, gradually introduce her to your friends dogs, so long
as you know that they are of an easy going nature.

Pushing her into more scary situations now could do more harm than good and
slow down the bonding between you. I do understand your anxieties at this
early stage in your relationship but remember that a dog is not a car - you
can't just jump in and drive - she has feelings and emotions which need to
be taken into consideration.

Handsome Jack Morrison...

Again, I agree.

AnimalBehaviorForensicSciencesResearchLaboratory...

INDEEDY! On accHOWENT of YOU'RE A LYING DOG ABUSING
MENTAL CASE like dallygirly and diana aka lush <{) : ~ ( >

This dog may require several months (or longer) to settle in and bond
with her new owner/handler. The dobe forms strong bonds with their
owners, and the dog's current "disorientation," etc. is probably the
result of the dog missing (even pining for) her previous owner(s).

The cure is TIME and lots of OBEDIENCE TRAINING, IMO.

AnimalBehaviorForensicSciencesResearchLaboratory...

BWEEEEAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!

AnimalBehaviorForensicSciencesResearchLaboratory...

PERMIT The Amazing Puppy Wizard to give you a
hand with that tricky little pin, tommy... THERE.

GOT IT.

NHOWE HOWELD THIS:

HOWEDY janet,

AnimalBehaviorForensicSciencesResearchLaboratory...

'AUSPICIHOWES', janet? That so? SEZ WHO?

tommy? tommy WORKS FOR THEM, janet.

Their BEGININNING was their AUSPICIHOWES DECLINE, janet.

AnimalBehaviorForensicSciencesResearchLaboratory...

Well, to be FAIR, it AIN'T JUST suja, dog lovers.
taragreen2 from NYC bein a PROFESSIONAL TRAINER
has WORKED WITH several of the monks dogs and SAW
the PROBLEMS SHE REPORTED RIGHT HERE with her very
own eyes:

From: Tara

Subject: Re: good dog training books?

Not at all in my case.

I've personally seen their methods (as applied by
them) NOT work on dogs they themselves have bred.

IMO, their methods actually made the underlying problems
*worse*. In three cases, where they both bred and trained
the dogs, they subsequently washed their hands of the dogs
and suggested euthanasia....and then promptly tried to
talk the owners into taking another one of their own pups.

Since I have serious issues and doubts about the
practices and ethics of the Monks, I obviously
only support the latter two ;-)

Tara

AnimalBehaviorForensicSciencesResearchLaboratory...

Oh? You mean, LIKE THIS?:

From: bob...@aol.com (Bob Maida)
Date: 2000/06/24
Subject: Re: Best behavior book?

The Art of Raising A Puppy by The Monks of
New Skete (and NO, the Monks book does not have the
"alpha roll" in it)

dallygirl...

very very well said diane, could'nt have put it better :)

- Phil