It finally came to me last night, after seeing how ichigo tried to attack random joggers and childern during our walks and alos how he tried to jump up, baring teeth and growling at my friends yesterday, i can conclude that ichigo has fear agression.So i went to read up about fear agression.
Fear or nervous agression is due to lack of the human’s leadership in the ‘pack’ . The dog in the ‘pack’ know instinctively that there must be a leader for the ‘pack’ to survive. Ichigo’s ferocious attitude towards strangers is probably his way to repelling intruders he believes poses a threat to his ‘pack’.and what i saw as an assistance was probably the opposite for him.
Tackling the problem :
Establishing leadership is important.So the moment i enter the house, there should be no acknowledgement towards the dog. That means no eye contact and no touching.This will convey to it that i pose no threat.
Amichien bonding :
Amichien bonding takes the form of four seperate elements.Each correlates to specific times when the pack’s hierarchy is established and underlined. On each occasion , the dog is confronted with a question which we must answer on it’s behalf
-When the pack reunites after a seperation, who is the boss now?
-When the pack eats, what order do they eat in?
-When the pack is under attack or there is a fear of danger, who is going to protect them?
-When the pack goes on a hunt,who is going to lead them?
All four elements must take place in conjunction with each other, and must be repeated constantly, day in, day out.The dog must, in effect,be blitzed with signals. It needs to learn that it is not it’s job to care for the house, that all it has to do is sit back and lead a comfortable life. It’s a mantra that must be repeated over and over again. Only then will the dog get the message that itis no longer in charge; only then it will be able to exercise the most powerful form of control, self-control.
I’ll post more on the four questions in the next post. Please feel free to add up on anything i missed out.
[taken from, The dog listener, Jan Fennell]
Sometimes it’s not always about the dog. Take a look at the strangers. What’s their body language? Eye contact?
Dogs take eye contact as a threat. Children like to STARE at dogs.
Fear aggression (or any form of aggression), after owner fails to overcome this during puppyhood, will stay with the dog for life (unfortunately). There is no way to cure but you can only manage.
If Ichigo does this often, bring treats with you every time you bring him for walks. Not just normal treats but food which he LOVES. Whenever you see the things or people he dislike approaching and you know he is going to react, feed him the treats like a buffet. So he knows strangers/children means something good.
Anyway, when Ichigo reacted, was he on a leash? Did you restrain him?
Thanks for the advice ,i’ll try that, and yes i’ll usually ask him to sit when he starts going crazy.
I read The Dog Listener. Unfortunately too many problems with dogs are associated with this “lack of leadership”. While this may be true for some problems, the one that Ichigo has really isn’t. If it were then he would have had that problem a looooong time ago.
I agree that it is fear aggression but even if you put all the amichien bonding principles in place in all your interactions with Ichigo, I am almost certain you will not see a difference. His behaviour is not for want of a leader.
I used to follow the Amichien Bonding principles but then realised after awhile that some things just didn’t make sense and didn’t have any effect. I prefer the Nothing In Life Is Free principle. Dogs and wolves have different social rules. If you observe dogs and watch wolf packs you’ll see a biiiiig difference. (I really spend too much of my time researching all this. Sigh.) Ichigo incidentally, also does not strike me as the type who wil seek to assert his authority over his people. He really doesn’t seem to be the sort.
You would be better off reading about desensitizing Ichigo to his triggers. Ichigo’s problem is not uncommon. It just takes a lot of understanding and time. Patience is key. These things don’t change overnight unfortunately.
Let me send you an ebook that I have – that should shed some light on this topic as well.