Fault Lines.....

[donnieo]

I was just reading the most recent Bad Dog Laszlo posting again, and something she wrote that resonates with me right now is "every improvement he makes will come through a fault line". I think that this is what I'm experiencing a bit with Jinxsie: lately, she is sometimes spooked by noises from outside the house, and when this happens she glues herself to my leg. She also tends to follow me around the house a lot. My partner says that she doesn't seem as relaxed in the house. Other than that, she will occassionally snap at the cats if they jump near her to get on the couch or will hover over them if they're too close to my stuff (though she's always kind of done that).

I'm not completely sure if I totally understand what's going on; I trust the process because I have certainly seen positive changes - most notably a more reliable recall and she is pushing like a champ now. I feel like in a lot of ways she is more like the dog that I first adopted (before I tried to get all "pack leader" on her), the one that ran right up to me, jumped up and put her paws on my shoulders. I do think that I train her too long, probably out of my own fear of failure. I've noticed that near the end of our training sessions all she wants to do is root around in the park. I need to find the discipline to end it on a high note when she's still energized and focussed on me to leave her wanting more or take more breaks. Currently I don't crate her; she sleeps in my room most nights. However, something tells me that this is a missing piece of the puzzle.

Anyway, if anyone can elaborate on the "improvements coming through fault lines", I would appreciate it. I think it will help me understand her behavior and help me explain to my partner how this is a part of the process.

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Originally Posted by donnieo

I was just reading the most recent Bad Dog Laszlo posting again, and something she wrote that resonates with me right now is "every improvement he makes will come through a fault line". I think that this is what I'm experiencing a bit with Jinxsie: lately, she is sometimes spooked by noises from outside the house, and when this happens she glues herself to my leg. She also tends to follow me around the house a lot. My partner says that she doesn't seem as relaxed in the house. Other than that, she will occasionally snap at the cats if they jump near her to get on the couch or will hover over them if they're too close to my stuff (though she's always kind of done that).

The idea that improvements, or even areas that still need to be worked on, will show themselves along a fault line just means that a dog's repressed energy or unresolved emotion is most easily released in behaviors where the dog's "armor" is weakest, or where your own personal issues are calling out to the dog. "Hey, Jinxsie! Come show me where I left my fear of failure!" (Or something along those lines.)

The fact that noises spook her indicates a lack of emotional stability when she's inside the house. The fact that she glues herself to your leg shows that you're her ground wire in that scenario.

Noise > emotional imbalance > push against daddy to feel balanced.

In reality, the best way for a dog to feel balanced is to bite something. Since the noises are coming from outside, and since it sounds like it's unlikely that you could get her to bite a chew toy or bone in response to those noises, remember that aggression cures fear. So while it's not necessarily a long-range goal to have Jinxsie bark at strange noises, it might be a good first step. Once some of that nervous energy comes out (along the fault line), it'll be much easier to redirect the rest of it into a chew toy.

I learned this lesson about aggression curing fear a long time ago from a Sheltie named Duncan. During the very stressful period when Freddie was having his panic attacks I ran into Duncan and his owner one day. I told the old man about Fred's problem and he said that Duncan used to be afraid of thunderstorms.

"How did you teach him to get over it?"

"I didn't," the old man said. "He did it on his own."

"How?"

"One day he barked at the thunder and that's the last time he was afraid."

Whenever you're uncertain about what to do, ask yourself 3 questions:

1) Where is this energy coming from?

2) Where is it trying to go?

3) What, if anything, is it telling me about myself?

LCK

[donnieo]

This gives me a huge insight into what's happening right now with her, but more so it confirms what my gut was telling me. There IS emotional instability inside the house and a lot of it surrounds the two cats in the house that constantly fight through the door we had to install to keep them separated.

She does occasionally bark at passing dogs, but when I've tried to get her to "speak" she barely lets out a bark so I can see how this would be a good first step.

My NDT book arrived last week and reading it really helped flesh out my understanding of the methodology. I find a lot of the discussions that you and Kevin have on his blog to be a little more theory than I can handle right now though they are very interesting. However, the more I work with Jinxsie, the more I understand her behavior and the more I see those theories playing out right in front of me....