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Old July 1st, 2010, 05:33 PM
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tenderfoot tenderfoot is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Boulder, Colorado
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Food can be great to get things rolling but often a fearful dog is too scared too even look at food. The food can help to create a positive association to the holding of the collar, but it doesn't neccessarily change the dogs reactive nature when they are scared.

Dogs have a few choices when they are scared - fight, flight, or freeze. Your pup is choosing fight to stop you from holding her. You want her to learn to think instead. If she learns to stop and think through problems and look to you for advice then she will grow to become well adjusted and calm.

Remember it all comes down to love, trust and respect. She isn't trusting you when you go for her collar. Your calmness will help, repetition will help and teaching her that calmness (not fighting) will always win.

Correcting a puppy is perfectly natural and appropriate sometimes - the mother dog does it all the time. That is part of her routine for teaching a puppy bite inhibition, she will give several warnings and then say "enough". The mother always tries to use the least amount of energy at first and then increases gradually as the puppies behavior requires it. The puppy doesn't fear the mother for correcting her but learns to respect the mothers consistency. The key is that you use the right amount of energy when correcting - DO NOT scare the puppy but be clear. If you aren't clear then the puppy will simply blow you off and continue doing as she pleases.

You want to be able to build trust, and through repetition show your puppy that you don't have bad intentions, and you will love and praise her for staying calm and relaxed.
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