These two articles will explain what is going on and how to fix it.
http://www.suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/handling-lead-aggression
http://www.suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/he-just-wants-say-hi
So my dog walker allowed Tucker to get into a fight with a samoyed in the heighborhood. She explained it like the dogs were getting along fine and then all of the sudden their leashes were tangled and Tucker got the bad end of the deal. Obviously the samoyed outweighed him by twice. He has, according to her, and eraser sized hole/cut in his right front leg and he's limping on his left. Is this all in the day of a dog, as in, sh!t happens, or should I be worried? I am away during the day and can't help but be worried about him… No whining or anything, just limping a bit. What to you ladies/gents think? (are there any gents here aside from me???) :p
Also, since it's getting colder, I started allowing him to stay inside since he's improved so much since I got him a little over a year ago (he still has access to his typical daytime home - the balcony). I left him inside yesterday in a leap of faith and he proved to be worthy of the trust. No peeing, pooping, no chewing, no holes in the walls, no ripped draperies and nothing at all was out of place. My question is: do you think he'll lash out and piss everywhere or tear something up now that he got his a$$ kicked or will he see it for what it was? As in, it was a dog, not me, that messed him up and therefore, if he wants a little payback, he should take it out on that $^*%Y&^@!! samoyed rather than our condo?
In honesty, I've seen that dog around and heard from other owners that it's a terror and has bitten most dogs in the neighborhood. I've been kinda wanting to cross paths with it so maybe Tucker would teach it a lesson. Unfortunately, I've never seen this dog up close and didn't realize it was so much bigger than Tucker. :rolleyes: Does that make me a bad person?
As some of you know, Tucker has issues with aggression and has bitten people and dogs randomly. The walker knows better and learned another valuable lesson today. I reiterated that part of Tucker's management involves keeping him away from people AND dogs for now, until he can see a behaviorist (incidentally, you'll all be happy to know that my brother hosts and facilitates a website for the people who kennel and train his dog so they are going to 'hook me up' with some training/behavior doodleahickin' for Tucker when I can get him down there).
If he sees the other dog while he is out on the balcony by himself, do you think he'll take a literal "leap of faith" to go and settle the grudge? I think that would be my main fear.
Pat
No, he's had plenty of opportunities to 'take the leap' but is too scared to make a jump like that. He'll jump like a kangaroo onto/off from anything else, but he seems to understand that leaping off the balcony isn't a wise idea. He doesn't countersurf either. Apparently, he won't jump on anything that isn't solid, like a railroad tie wall or a concrete/brick wall. If it has an overhang or is like a fence, he won't even think about it. He's jumped onto a wall chest high before, but I can't for the life of me, get him to jump the net on a tennis court because it isn't 'solid'.
There's another dog in the 'hood Tucker really hates and that dog is always out in sight from the balcony, Tucker has never even stood on hind out there because with the constructin of the railing (1/2" steel tubes vertical with a bottom square bar and 2" top crossbar), he can't get a solid footing on anything. He could clear the rail if he applied himself, methinks, but he simply wont. He's too smart for that.
We have a cabin with a loft. We discovered that Cory would stand up there and extend her body between the slats so that her head and her shoulders would extrend through. After we saw that for the first time and got over our heart palpitations, we tied green plastic chicken wire in front of the balcony so she can't stick her head through and decide to suddenly "join us downstairs". Our daughter's comment was: "If you use chicken wire INSIDE your home, you are definitely a redneck!"
Pat
I'm not really worried about Tucker taking the leap. He's had access to the balcony for 14 months now and I lock him out there during the days in the summer because he simply loves it out there (he spends most of the time I'm home out there watching the neighborhood 'goings on' and hasn't jumped yet. Simply stated, if he wanted to, he could have already done so. He's even rolled a loaded kong off the edge stuffed with stuff'n and hasn't gone after it even though he can see the tasty treat filled apparatus sitting there on the lawn below. The bars to too narrow for him to slip through. I'm more concerned that he'll shred my sofa in rataliation of getting his butt whipped…
Anyone have any experience with their B 'lashing out' on their home for something that happened outside of the home, similar to my situation?
Where in GA do you live, BTW? I grew up in Atlanta…
Dash tears up things in the house for the love of destruction. Can you crate him? Then there are no worrries.
I could see why Tucker did not have a chance being tangled together. The other dog is larger and stronger.
For a basenji to be effective he needs to be loose so he can use his speed and skill to confuse and tire the other dog, before he lunges to take him down.
They bounce & circle, duck & dive. Being tangled he had no chance.
Where in GA do you live, BTW? I grew up in Atlanta…
We live in Savannah. Neither of us are originally from Georgia; the Army sent us here and we just never left. Cory was born in Atlanta.
Pat