Sunday, September 9, 2012

Play biting and more

Orlando is growing up. He sleeps through the night and knows more our habits. He also goes out for walks now but he is still quite scared of cars, other dogs and all the "moves" towards him. I think it's normal though as he's spent 2 weeks and half walking in the house and/or garden only. He needs to adjust to yet another environment which does not seem safe to him: cars, bicycles, noise. He is getting better but needs more time and walks outside. 

He is also improving (with us) as far as play biting is concerned but he behaved really badly with my mum yesterday night. We went out for dinner and he stayed with her. First, he knows her house but doesn't stay there after dinner. Second, he runs and plays a lot while we watch tv and our house is bigger so he runs around etc. To cut it shortly, he played biting with my mum a bit too hard and apparently he was so crazy that it was impossible to stop him (and my mum knows how to deal with dogs). My mum had cuts on her arms and hands and there was even blood on the couch! This is NOT admissible. 

Rough playing is NOT good at all. We're trying to figure out how to stop rough playing. I'm reading this and this morning I took Millan's advice: gently but firmly cup the neck with the hand curved into the "claw" shape that mimics the dog's mouth. Well: it worked! The only issue, as the author points out, is timing "don't overcorrect, don't pinch, don't hold on too long after your puppy has relaxed" because it could be interpreted as a further challenge. I'm still working on the timing issue, but this seems to be the right way to stop Orlando. We'll see.

On a different note, I'll leave on Wednesday. I'm going to Varna (on the Black Sea) and I'll have almost a full day to visit before throwing myself into work. It seems an interesting city, more than I'd thought to be honest. 

Perhaps I'll write from there. 

Buona Domenica 




3 comments:

  1. For what it's worth - my solution to any bad behaviour is to pick the dog up by the scruff of the neck, always lifting his feet off the floor.

    The only other animal to have done this is the dog's mother.

    For me, this has always worked.

    p.s. Have a good trip. Can't wait to see you when you're back.

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  2. Thank you, Andy. I'll try.

    i'm NOT leaving anymore due a second grade burn on my left arm.
    :-(
    I'll write a post about it.

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  3. Oh - not good! Sorry to hear that.

    He won't be happy when you do it and might squeal a bit - but it does work. I still do it with dino sometimes (although Dino is big and it's more difficult).

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