Now that you have an earworm... We made it through the night (another earworm).
One issue that is starting to arise is the pseudo sibling thing with The Prisoner. Prisoner is becoming more demanding of Mommy attention. When Ember is in her crate at night, The Prisoner will come in, but not want to stay in his own suite. He wants to be with me.
In the middle of the night, though, I am accustomed to keeping kitties out of my room. I do not anticipate changing this. So I sat with him on my lap in the family room, petting him and telling him how much I love him. Things continue to evolve.
Saturday morning I had an appointment to take the car in for its oil change. I managed to get Ember into her harness and leash on after a minor skirmish or two about being polite and keeping our teeth to ourselves.
We rounded the regular morning block pretty well. We even managed to avoid another dog out walking and keep ourselves from swiping the flags marking the sprinkler heads in the front yard.
Friday evening she had swiped one pink sprinkler head flag, and two orange cable marking ones. This morning I found orange plastic in her poop. Sigh.
So, back to Saturday morning. I put her away in her den while I took the car in. So far, so good.
When I got home, we had some play-time and I really do not know what got her started, but she decided that she wanted to play with my shoes/shoelaces.
I tried to correct this behavior and she decided my arms were an appropriate communications tool, using her teeth. I'm sorry, folks, I am just not good at this part. I tried to get her to gently let go, but she's still showing teeth. I grab the scruff, pick her up by the belly and she goes all dead weight on me.
I opened the back door, loosing her on Poor Prisoner, who was out on the deck. I closed my eyes and turned my back, praying that The Prisoner would nail her little nose and get away!
I doubt he nailed her hard enough, if he did at all, but he did escape. I decided on distraction as strategy, and took two tennis balls out and chucked them onto the patio. She chased them, but when she brought them back, she wanted to continue to wrestle with me, and I'm afraid she nailed me but good, the deepest wound she had yet inflicted on my right arm. It wasn't just scraped off skin, it was puncture wound.
I bandaged it up, and in tears called the dog training place. I'm going to take her for a private session on Tuesday to focus on this specific problem. Clearly the things I have tried to do have not worked, and some of my responses to it only seem to escalate the problem.
She had a time out while I was doing all this. She was contrite coming out of her den, allowing me to get the harness on.We clipped on the leash, and I figured we'd have a nice walk, clear the air, etc.
Nothing doing. The pink flags got in the way of that plan.
Ember nabbed the one in the corner and was in no mood to give it back. I called an end to the walk, right there in the driveway. Back up the steps, in the door, unclip the leash and let her chew on the blasted flag. At least she proved that it goes all the way through and out if she swallows it.
In any case, I was later able to retrieve fragments to put in the trash.
After cooking some lunch for me, and filling the wading pool for the pooch, I am feeling somewhat more positive. Perhaps this private session will help. Perhaps we'll have a blessed visit from Angel puppy between now and then.
Ready for paw-cooling. But Ember bit the plastic bucket I was using to fill, and earned another time-out, so the pool is empty of puppy for a bit.
Still obsessed with the flags.
And the bandage has already been reduced to a plastic strip.
Wish me survival skills for the rest of the weekend and into the week ahead.
Life is good. Spark on!
OMG.
ReplyDeleteI feel there is a bit more than usual in all this biting. You'll figure it out.
Well, she doesn't bite the vet, the vet tech, the groomer, my kid sister... just me. It's a relationship thing, that she thinks it's OK until it's not. So that means I am either failing at the bonding or failing at the communication of expectations.
DeleteGlad you’re getting professional advice….all those wounds are certainly no fun AND very frustrating, I imagine…she’s a smart pup, I’m sure this behavior can be corrected! Kudos to you for hanging in there and going above and beyond daily to help Ember develop into the wonderful Lab she will become!
ReplyDeletePoor Prisoner….maybe they will learn to peacefully coexist… wouldn't that be a dream! Karen (Eissa7)
Thanks, Karen. The passage of time helps with assimilation of what happened and analysis. Thank goodness for the trainers that do YouTube videos, as in "why puppies bite". I really do think all the disruption in what she can expect in her life is hurting our progress. I do hope I can learn to be a better human partner for this dog, because she is truly a sweetheart.
DeleteIn the midnight hour, when I came down to offer a potty break, Ember headed straight to the couch, not interested in outside. I sat beside her on the couch, and we even got to the bonding point of head on my lap, on my shoulder (briefly). Two hours later she went outside and did her business. I may be missing some sleep but I'm feeling much better about the puppy and me.
Oh, my goodness! Big, huge hugs. Those wounds look very painful. Watch for infection, as I'm sure you will, but the mom in me thinks it needs to be said anyway. I hope you will be able to get the training that she needs. Soon she will be too large for you to handle if she attacks. Does your son have any suggestions? Have you showed him what she's done to your arm?
ReplyDeleteWishing you a calm, bite free weekend. 🤗💖🤗💖🤗
He has seen the arm, and his comment was "This has to stop, Mom." At the time, I felt we were making progress on it, but Saturday's incident was definite regression!
DeleteAnyway, yes, I am looking for signs of problems, washing and changing bandages as indicated, etc. The weather isn't helping as we had a brief thunder storm roll through, and we were outside when a particularly loud rumble went overhead. Zoomies, immediately. But she's not cooperating about the harness this morning. Perhaps she will when I next let her out of her den. (She was there so I could put away a mat she was chewing on.)
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Survival skills and relationship insights 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
ReplyDeleteEmber surprised me last visit when I felt teeth. I blamed it on being absent for a week, but maybe it’s a phase. Hope the private session gives you skills and insights ❤️❤️❤️
You sound a bit tired. Any chance you could call the puppy sitter (DS and DIL) for a couple hours of rest?
They have lives of their own (the puppy sitters), and a dog of their own. She may be starting to teethe, too. But clearly, the extra time in crate on unusual days hasn't helped (electrician, car appt, etc.)
DeleteI am considering boarding her for my colonoscopy to come. But that's a week and a half away.
Possibly Ember is an alpha female and asserting herself as pack leader !?! Our third Eskimo Spitz was that way and sadly the bad behavior progressed as she aged (but we weren't on the same page as to working with a trainer at the outset, sigh). She was banned by the groomer and from the Vet's boarding kennels.
ReplyDelete(((Hugs))) Good luck with getting things sorted out and under control.
PHOENIX1949
Thanks for the good wishes, Susan! She seems to do better in the mornings, most of the time, and better when we can adhere to a routine. Like most young things, she needs order around her, and there hasn't been a lot the past couple of weeks.
DeleteOh, my goodness, that must have been hard, having your dog banned from groomer and boarding! So far, Ember has been good for everybody but when she gets overtired, overexcited, etc., it's not a pretty picture and I'm the one who has to recognize when it's coming and get her needs taken care of, be it a nap, food, some activity for her brain and body, etc.
As far as working with a trainer from the outset, at 71 years old with a breed that grows big? I really HAVE to do this, because we can't have a dominant lab misbehaving either toward me or toward other humans.
Oh Barb! I am sure you already know this, but be sure you are putting some neosporin ointment on your wounds!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are going to get professional help on this! All dogs do want to please their humans, but some just need a little guidance how to do that. Hang in there.
Oh does Ember have a Nylabone? That is what saved us from baby teeth bites when Miss Lilly was teething.
hugs and healing
barb
1cd
Oh and PS . . . are you up to date on your tetanus shot? Good idea to do so if you're not.
Yes, up to date on tetanus, I believe. Will check with Dr's office to be sure.
ReplyDeleteEmber has many appropriate chewing toys, including Nylabones. There are certain situations that set her up for trouble, and same is true of me.
Ouch, ouch, ouch!!! She’s old enough to control her bite strength now for sure - I would make her fear for HER LIFE if she bit me that hard!
ReplyDeleteThis is one situation where I would yell, scruff her, body-slam her to the floor and, as I said, make her fear that Momma may have brought her into this world (so to speak) but may very damn well take her out!!!
“The 3-second rule” - you only exhibit anger/correction for 3 seconds, then all is forgiven.
Your son is right - this can not continue honey!
Your friend who is not a dog trainer but has dealt with lots of bad actors…
Val
We'll see what the trainers say. She is not in a reasonable state when these things happen. Interruption and return to sanity is what I am looking for. She is so good most of the time, I just need to find the formula, and I doubt very much that making her afraid of me would work when she has been triggered by fear.
DeleteI get far more success with gentleness. If I can interrupt the fear cycle I can get her to calm down.
Take this morning. Something set off the zoomies in the back yard, and after a couple of loops, she jumped up, behind me, paws on my back, teeth on my sweatshirt.
I cued her to "off", and she took hold of my wrist (not yet biting hard). I grabbed her collar, asked her to let my hand go (in words and actions), then sent her searching for treats as a distraction. We did the search game all the way to the house, and by then she was herself again.
Sometimes "show me what you need", "show me what you want" works. But I agree with both my son and you... this can not continue.
OUCH!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are def preventing me from even looking into getting a pup. I frustrate WAY too easy to put up with broken flesh.
-RunKeeper Dee
Every puppy is different, Dee. Each has his/her own set of challenges. Funny thing, a neighbor who has a 4 year old lab says her puppy used to do this with her but eventually "just stopped". I doubt it was that simple. Puppies don't "just stop", they learn. Praying for a fast learning track on this particular issue!
DeleteI remember with our puppies we immediately did dominance training (at our vet's advice and booklet he provided) and we didn't have the puppy mouthing/nipping issues.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you're struggling to get this nipped in the bud, and hoping the private session helped/helps. Your poor arm!
Your comment sent me searching for "dominance training" examples on the web, and it's what I thought it was. Different training methods and trainers use different terms but the concept that your dog has to recognize you as the leader is usually present in some form in all of them. Be it "the giver of all things good" or the "alpha" of the pack, it's there.
DeleteYes, it's been a fair few years, but the daily routine for the first little while was along the lines of: require them to roll over and allow you to touch/pet their belly (puppies too big were lifted from behind while we touched/petted belly), require them to allow you to fiddle with their paws. Growling while holding their scruff if they resisted was done if they did not comply.
DeleteThere were othing training things for behavior, but those were first and foremost. I didn't train for much more unless to break a jumping on people habit or something similar.
We used it on an actual puppy, but also with dogs up to about a year and a half; we tend to take in pound puppies. It seemed to work well without hurting or overly scaring the dogs involved. I will say, the best trained dog was one my daughter took to one of the pet supply stores for training which sounds a lot like your Ember is having ... that dog literally "dropped it" in an eyeblink when she had victoriously come to show us the squirrel she'd finally caught and killed.
I'm so glad you're getting some extra help with Ember and the puppy biting ... your poor arm.
Believe me I am grateful for the professional help with her, the availability of the various training videos, and in the end it's a heart thing between the dog and the owner. My mission is to give her the best possible life I can, and that HAS to include being socially acceptable to people in the community!
DeleteAs for my "poor arm", it's getting better, day by day. Old scabs from earlier wounds are itching and falling off, and new wounds are rare, any more. I did get a toenail on the arm this morning that cause the skin to split. But honestly, while painful at first, I'm a pretty tough old lady, and it doesn't hurt terribly for terribly long!