Hi all,
Rosie has been going to the same day care for many months, since she was about 12 weeks old maybe? She's 9 months old now. She always gets picked up by the same person (who runs it). She would always go flying out the door with him at top speed, no hesitation whatsoever--literally couldn't get to him and the front door fast enough. The past 4 times she was picked up, she had what appeared to be an approach-avoidance conflict. She would start to go to him, barking, then pause 5 or 10 feet away from him before going any further, sometimes crouch and crawl slowly all the way over to him, belly to the ground, sometimes pee, require coaxing or for him to physically come over and take her by the collar in order to go with him. We're concerned about this, and maybe should have pulled her out immediately, but we kind of didn't want to jump to conclusions if it could have been just something that spooked her one time. When we asked him why he thought she was crouching, he said, "submission."
Disclaimer/acknowledgement: You may remember I'm the one who's not big on dominance correctives or Cesar Millan techniques, even for aggressive behavior--don't take it personally if you don't agree, just where I come from. I've read that some of those correctives can backfire and make the dog fearful and/or more aggressive.
Regardless, what do you think about her behavior? Would you assume she was frightened of him, or could it be something else? We can see her tail wagging once he gets her to the van where the other dogs are, it's when he rings the bell and comes in to get her that she seems freaked. I was leery of posting this on the internet since we haven't made a final decision about what we will do, but could use some advice.
Thanks, Sarah
Rosie has been going to the same day care for many months, since she was about 12 weeks old maybe? She's 9 months old now. She always gets picked up by the same person (who runs it). She would always go flying out the door with him at top speed, no hesitation whatsoever--literally couldn't get to him and the front door fast enough. The past 4 times she was picked up, she had what appeared to be an approach-avoidance conflict. She would start to go to him, barking, then pause 5 or 10 feet away from him before going any further, sometimes crouch and crawl slowly all the way over to him, belly to the ground, sometimes pee, require coaxing or for him to physically come over and take her by the collar in order to go with him. We're concerned about this, and maybe should have pulled her out immediately, but we kind of didn't want to jump to conclusions if it could have been just something that spooked her one time. When we asked him why he thought she was crouching, he said, "submission."
Disclaimer/acknowledgement: You may remember I'm the one who's not big on dominance correctives or Cesar Millan techniques, even for aggressive behavior--don't take it personally if you don't agree, just where I come from. I've read that some of those correctives can backfire and make the dog fearful and/or more aggressive.
Regardless, what do you think about her behavior? Would you assume she was frightened of him, or could it be something else? We can see her tail wagging once he gets her to the van where the other dogs are, it's when he rings the bell and comes in to get her that she seems freaked. I was leery of posting this on the internet since we haven't made a final decision about what we will do, but could use some advice.
Thanks, Sarah