. . . in the distant, early morning . . .

More progress with Milton, and a trip to the dog park

I haven’t taken Elka to Hondo dog park in a long time. She’s not good there with some dogs.  She can play great but bring in a super submissive dog, or a lab, and she gets overly rough, including holding onto body parts and shaking - the most worrying of which is shaking the neck.

But it had been a long time, and she hadn’t shown any of that the daycare and she’s great with Milton (after a few instances that were quickly stopped).  Milton hackled at the park and was at first uncertain but took his cues from Elka and they both did great for about 20 minutes.

I remember thinking at that point, “I should leave.”  but I didn’t.

A black lab entered the park.

Elka went and roughed him up and I interrupted.  With Milton’s help Elka was easily distracted away.  About 5 minutes later another black lab entered the park.

Elka immediately went after him, wrestling which was ok at first.  Then you could almost see the switch in her head and in mid-air she grabbed him and started shaking.

I didn’t manage to catch her because they were both running around like maniacs.  The first black lab got a frisbee and she and this lab played “kill the frisbee” together for about 5 minutes.  Then she went after the other black lab again.  I caught her and leashed her.

Thankfully being on leash doesn’t make her reactive, so we hung out for a bit.  She tries to play with that lab again on leash but was already holding on, so did not get any freedom back and i moved her away.

Milton finally came to us so I leashed him up and let them run around the winter area for a bit.

So - no more dog park for Elka.  Or rather; if we go, it’ll be 6-7am when no one else is there and it’s just a big place that Milton and Elka can run around in.  Or, if we go back, Elka will have to be muzzled. 

Now mind you - this is not aggression.  I believe, based off my research, that this is predatory drift.  It’s different as it’s not size-related, but it is submission related and it’s usually breed specific, and happens only in the great outdoors.  In any case, Elka gets over-stimulated and goes from play to prey. 

Not being aggression doesn’t make it more acceptable, but it is a different approach - one which I’m not sure how to handle quite yet.  Perhaps a behaviorist is our next step, as I’d like to be able to bring her to the park.

Milton, however, had a grand old time playing once he settled in.  They’ve been passed out most of the day since.

This evening I fed Milton and Elka.  While I was working with Milton I decided, on a whim, to remove his food bowl.  He was eating so I took the bowl and gently pulled it up and toward me.  Milton looked at me, stepped back, sat down, and made wonderful eye contact.  He looked so trusting and loving, and I can’t believe that in less than a month, he and I have overcome his food aggression.  I need to test this with other people and help him learn that it’s not just me that can be trusted.  But one step at a time.  I am so proud of my boy.  And, of course, he got his bowl right back along with a huge amount of praise and love.

Had some other non-doggy adventures today but that’s for another post at some point.

And… even if Elka has a bit of an issue and is a brat, I love her to pieces.  What she does is completely manageable and, quite frankly, if this dog park didn’t exist I wouldn’t know she had an issue.  Of course, I think she learned this behavior at the dog park…. I’m not sure I’m a fan of bringing impressionable young dogs to the dog park anymore given that they can learn some pretty bad things there.

It is what it is, eh?  I love my li’l brat-a-log.

-Lisa, on May 11, 2010 at 6:09 pm .::. Comment (0)