Anti-bullying

I'm a big fan of a couple of dog blogs.  Last Friday's blog posting on a Love and a Six Foot Leash changed the way I related to B the second I finished reading it.  In fact, I re-read it again... and then printed out the study to read it at home.  The link to that posting is here: http://loveandaleash.com/2012/08/23/do-unto-others-intimidation-in-dog-training/ 

I was horrified to think that all my good intentions were making B aggressive or fearful of me.  While I am such a big fan and an advocate of Positive Reinforcement training, I often thought telling B "no", pulling her collar and making her walk when she stopped, and going into her mouth and making her give up the chicken bone, cat/human feces, whatever-gross-thing in her mouth was the right & show-you-who-calls-the-shots thing to do.  It made me so sad to think I was only causing her more aggression & fear.

So, since last Friday, I made a commitment to B & to myself.  I'm focusing more on the "Watch Me" command, ceasing my yelling of "No!!" to B & jerking of the collar, utilizing the "trade" & "drop it" command instead of going into B's mouth, and allowing our relationship to grow more on a respect foundation rather than a look-who's-boss kind of fear.  It's only been a couple of days but seriously--I'm already seeing a difference.  B follows my lead on walks anymore.  She looks at me like she trusts me.  And that is my goal.  To let her understand that I'll keep her safe no matter what.

Most importantly, I see the difference in myself.  I'm more grounded and patient after reading that blog post.  Dogs and humans don't communicate the same way but there are a few techniques that work better than the confrontational ones.  

I'm totally sold!

the cat who feared nothing

if anyone were to ask me, b does not like cats and yes, she does have some prey drive.  if anything were to run from b, she will chase.  i repeat, she will chase.  until she met Smokey the cat.

Smokey the cat

i have a theory that Smokey thinks she is a dog.  she had no fear of b the crazy pit bull despite her posturing and silly barking.  Smokey approached b like it was another day in the life.  this confused poor b so much.  why doesn't this cat run away like the rest of 'em??  Smokey came up so close that b got to sniff her butt-- like she would to a dog.  b was sooo confused.  b was even scared because she's never been that close to cat and didn't know what to expect.  after the intros were done, b was cool around Smokey.  we've met Smokey another time, where Smokey even followed us as we walked past her house.  b and Smokey met again and it was another successful cat & dog date.

cats and pitties can get along!!