After a short honey moon period, Cooper became a very playful ball of energy. He was having a great time pouncing on everything that moved. This was when we discovered the tick-tock in his tail. The harder he wagged, the longer the pause was in his tail. It was so funny to watch! We thought he might outgrow it, but he never did.
He was an energetic little scamp. We then were finding out that we had cause to object to a few things... like biting. He would grab everything with those needle sharp teeth. Not to chew or destroy things. We were lucky not to have a chewer. He was more interested in just grabbing things he wanted. Hands, toys, feet, toys, hair, toys, hands again... I tried to show him the difference between body parts and toys. One being ok to 'grab' and the other one HURTS.
He was a very determined puppy. He knew what he wanted. If he was corrected he would grab harder. When we continued correcting, he would become angry and growl and snarl. Oh no! Unacceptable! We couldn't have that. Aggressiveness would never do. Unfortunately, I had NO IDEA what to do. It hadn't even been a whole month yet and I was already stumped. It seemed that no matter where I touched this little world-wind, he had TEETH!
I didn't want to resort to punishment. I had intended to guide this puppy, not be his drill sergeant. I continued with my best efforts, to no avail. Yup, I was stumped. I knew I was beat when I had a dream that I was battling a fuzzy white alligator. If that doesn't tell the story of my inner turmoil I don't know what will.
I'm not really sure who turned me on to the Dog Whisperer, but BOY did I ever need that kind of help. I hadn't been stumped like that while training a dog since my teens with the Llasa Apso who didn't want to pee outside. I wasn't going to loose this battle, and with the Dog Whisperer I knew I'd win. Oh, and by the way, Cooper would win too.
I didn't have the National Geographic channel, which was the only place you could watch the Dog Whisperer. I almost never watch tv, so I wasn't going to buy a bigger cable package just so I could watch one show. My remedy was to find him on line and watch clips that had been posted. I found plenty of them on NationalGeographic.com and on youtube.com. He wasn't hard to find at all. So for a whole weekend I watched all the clips I could find. Since I had grown up with dogs all my life, and usually had three or four at a time, I was very familiar with body language and how they behaved together as a pack. When I understood that I would have to assume the roll of Pack Leader, I was in business! I got it! I understand that in a pack, there HAS TO BE A LEADER. Dogs understand and live by that kind of pecking order. Therefore, if you don't assume the leadership roll, he has no choice but to assume the roll himself. EVEN if he doesn't want to.
OOOOOO-K!!!! I am going to tell you something that you may find hard to believe, but I swear it is the honest truth. When I took on the roll as Alpha Dog (aka Pack Leader) I got results with Cooper in less than ONE MINUTE! I'm not kidding! Cooper was in one of his 'grabbing me with his teeth' moods, and I used the technique I had learned and practiced a little on myself. Cooper stopped short... made eye contact with me... I maintained eye contact. He started grabbing again, so I did it again. Cooper stopped again... made eye contact again and sat down. I maintained eye contact and Cooper laid down. Laying down is submitting... The game was over! He got it that I didn't want to play. With that being accomplished, I could show him that I would play when he was biting toys, but when he bit me the game would end. WHAT A BREAKTHROUGH!
I know you want me to tell you what the technique I used
was that led to that breakthrough. If I thought I could do
justice by teaching it in words I would. My best advice is
for every dog owner to watch and learn from an amazing
dog and people trainer. Seek out the Dog Whisperer and,
don't just watch him - study him. Do anything it takes to
understand first, then USE IT. You won't be sorry!
So after my amazing breakthrough, Cooper became a willing listener/learner. He loved to learn new things. He knew his roll. It was harder to teach the people in my house than it was to teach him. I think Jesse and I were really the only two consistent care takers Cooper had. I had my mother living with me and usually one or two of my kids at a time. They sometimes would go against his training. I could usually tell. Dogs don't keep secrets. I could tell from his behaviors and his manners what he was allowed to get away with when he was with someone else.
We had learned a lot from each other during that struggle. Jesse just let me handle it. Cooper and I fought for the roll of Alpha. I won the battle and became respected by him as his teacher. He was willing to follow directions and learn new rules as we went along. He was a quick learner. There has always been a stubborn streak in him though. Even to this day he knows his own mind. He's a thinker. You'll find out in a later blog entry how I used his ability to 'think' to our advantage.
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