Lolz, Chris, re: that woman's comment,
i learned that loving dogs,
and understanding dogs,
are two different and often unrelated human qualities.
I've known ppl who adore their dogs, but don't understand the first thing about what dogs need or want. at all, and treated their dogs in ways i think borders on abuse, such as making their dogs helpless, obese, bored creatures who have lost their zest for life.
but yeah, sure, they love their dogs...
When ppl call out horrific advice to me and my dog, who can indeed, put on a most impressive show if i fail to prevent it,
i smile and say, "Yes, he is a gangsta. He's out on the work-release program!" and laff.
cuz i know, my dog is doing the best he can. He doesn't 'want' to be a nut.
and very few ppl have much understanding of dogs with issues. Most are full of wrong ideas on many of these issues, imo, and often unsolicited advice is often horrific. shiver. Just horrific mindsets out there, on how to best help a dog who is having an issue.
Yes, like i said on other post,
petsmart is sooooooo super exciting to most dogs, that they are almost over their threshholds to even attempt to control their own selves just being in there.
I'd save that one for last. My dog also, can't do petsmart for more than about 10 minutes, and he blows a fuse.
My dog is dog-aggressive, a total gangsta, and once, in petsmart, he went off on a cardboard picture of dog....for real, a cardboard picture of a dog.
Lunged at it, snarling and growling and attacked a freakin cardboard picture of a dog.
That was the day i realized, "This isn't really fun for *my* dog." and i then set a 10 minute limit to Buddy being in there. I also go on weekdays, when there are fewer dogs in there. We have to avoid dogs, staying in areas that are dog-free.
Although my dog's issue is not same as your dog's concern,
it seems we both love dogs with time limits on how long they can tolerate certain things.
These time limits can be worked on, but it's best to do this by not allowing the dog to cross his own limits into crazo-zone.---by removing dog before he hits his limit.
If i took him for
short sessions _
daily_ to petsmart, he does become more able to relax in there. I once spent a few months, working with Buddy on a less exciting, smaller pet store in my area. We practiced calm behaviors outside of the store. If he could calm outside of the store we went in.
(i used "dog language" to help tell him "calm down")
if he couldn't calm down------------ we backed up to a distance he COULD successfully calm down. and slowly moved fwd, a few feet a time, and left while he was still successful, even if that meant we left for home and the closest we got to the door was 50 feet away, *that* was my dog's limit. I had to learn pushing or forcing my dog past his limits, is a set-back, not helpful. I think my dog has learned increased trust in me,
to keep him out of situations that he really just can not always handle.
After a long time of doing this, daily, Buddy was able to act pretty normal in this shop, but, sadly, i did not keep up the daily lessons, and now, it's sort of like staring all over again, almost from scratch. And of course, when he is in any pet shop, i keep him away from dogs,
but do use the opportunity to give him treats for looking at those "enemy dogs" lolz, to help him make new associations in his own lil messed up mind. And then we move on, leaving before he blows a fuse.
My dog is a gangsta, but we're working on it!
You have an advantage, there, in that Valentine seems to have a consistent timer you can watch for, to take her away from whatever is freaking her out/upsetting her BEFORE she blows a fuse.
One remark a trainer once said to me, that i often tell myself, is, "Every minute that Buddy spends out of control, is helping him to
keep that wiring in place."
.
I don't know.
