So today was HUGE lesson learned. It started out like every training night with Spudz. We play for a little bit, do exercises, then play some more. I wait to capture appropriate behavior when he is just playing and being a normal dog. Then click/treat as we capture the good behavior. It is a fairly simple process and about as exciting as watching paint dry. For that reason I normally try to make Spudz feel like he's in a normal home. I read, I do work in my journals, I act like a basic normal human being who apparently lives in a rescue facility. (I do not live there but to Spudz, I do. His half of the facility is my home when we're together.)
Tonight we had an unwanted visitor. It was small, furry, cute to most, and was a kitten. We did good avoiding the C-A-T until said creature pooped. Suddenly I had a beautiful pit bull with the prey drive who went into overload mode. One second my student was parked in front of me saying please and then working on his nose taps to my hand and next second he was hunting the smell and was determined to find it. Becky acted quick and put the kitten in a wire crate to get it moved as soon as possible. This, to Spudz, was not good enough. As soon as he caught sight of the kitten, he was game on.
Without thinking as I knew I had to get between him and the kitten I grabbed his collar. (Bad Dee, no cookie) and put my arm in front of his nose as I moved him away. This to me was his ample time to redirect on me. Instead, as soon as his nose hit my forearm, he looked up at me and turned his head away from my arm to avoid his muzzle being near it. Progress! He knows human from another creature!
Our training session was ruined even once the kitten was moved to another area in the crate because Spudz can't de-stress and bounce back from an incident like that quickly. He paced, sniffed the area non-stop and was in "hunt" mode for about an hour. Then suddenly as I was sitting at the table he came over and sat down. He would still wander over to the area where the kitten was and sniff and check to make sure it was gone but he would return and sit and ask politely for love. Yep, he's a vicious agressive animal who needed to be put down.
On a side note, we have changed his diet completely! He is on Turkey and Potato blend (grain free) of Blue Buffalo. He gets Calming Shen and Salmon Oil with his food and his treats are turkey based. This way he is getting the L-Tryptophan through his food intake. This is a good article to read here about this. Article on L-Tryptophan for dogs with anxiety
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