Mike has started to build a fence for us in the back yard, and he was using a roll of string to measure the specs. Anyway, he left the roll of string in the backyard on the grass.
Yesterday morning, I went outside with Lexi, and she saw the roll of string and freaked out. She’s such a fraidy cat (dog)! She snorts, growls, barks and lunges toward & away from whatever she’s afraid of. I just try to ignore her and see if I can get her to “make friends” with the object.
It happens all the time, when she notices something unusual in her environment! It’s good entertainment for us, because it makes us giggle. Reminds me of a younger Mindy when she was afraid of the “pillow lady” – LOL. They are such crazy dogs!
Lexi is going through her bratty puppy phase, and she tortures poor Mindy. It’s payback, Mindy was a brat to all the sweet dogs we met while camping. But I don’t think she remembers that! LOL
These were taken at the beginning of April:
Sometimes I think they would be at this all day if I let them!
Lexi, Mindy, Terrier Behavior, photos | Terrier Mama | May 23, 2009 | 
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New research from University of Pennsylvania that disputes the “aversive” training methods of Cesar Millan the Dog Whisperer:
http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/research/030509.html
I personally had a negative outcome with Mindy when I tried to incorporate this method of training a couple of years ago. We are still trying to reverse the result.
Mindy had issues with food aggression, and I finally realized that a punishment of taking away the food bowl wasn’t working and actually making it worse. Once she realized that I wasn’t going to keep taking the food bowl away if she growled, she learned to trust me again. Eventually, she eased out of her food bowl aggression, but unfortunately, she still has very big issues with bones. But we are still working on that.
We started working on Lexi early. She started growling with her food bowl and with bones, and I just kept sticking my hands by her head, and moving the food or bowl without removing it. She learned that it was okay when we came near her when she was eating, and now there are no issues.
Now, if Mindy walks near her bowl, that is a different story. Don’t know if that can be solved, but we watch them very closely when food is involved.
Lexi, Mindy, Pet Training, Terrier Behavior | Terrier Mama | April 4, 2009 | Comments (0)
dog whisperer, dogs, growling, Lexi, Mindy, training, UPenn
