Progress Report: Food Aggression

threenorns

Well-Known Member
tonight, lily ate her food with dandy lying down not even two feet away. she tried to pick it up and run off, but i blocked her, then patted her and spoke softly while she stared at me fixedly, then she looked at dandy, looked at me, looked at him for a long moment, then her entire body melted and she calmly finished eating her food. she tensed up both times dandy reached toward her with his nose sniffing, but when i corrected dandy, she relaxed instantly. she didn't interrupt or change the pace of her chewing, though (didn't speed it up or slow it down, i mean).

i was also able to have both her and dandy on my lap pretty much throughout the day with minimal growling and snapping from her - a few growls, but only one attempt to snap at dandy. he's a groomer - likes to sniff and clean ears and the fur down the spine - and she doesn't like him touching her. this behaviour actually improved most once i corrected her sharply for trying to mount him (nothing physical, just a stern voice and facial expression and when she still wouldn't get off him, i prodded her in the chest until she hopped off). dandy was surprisingly good - he clearly didn't like it but his normal reaction is to do a fast spin - that would've thrown her off and could've hurt her but he let me deal with her.
 

threenorns

Well-Known Member
lol - i know. the kids aren't here and without them around, my sister is much more receptive. she, like me, is loud - but she has that "trailer park shriek" kind of voice (if you know what i mean? rather like roseanne barr's voice?) but without the kids around, she's much calmer and she's not shrieking at the dog anywhere near as much.

she wants me to take lily "just until talos comes home and then i'll forget to come get her back". i said that's not right - she gave the dog to talos, she can't just steal the dog away from her.
 

brody_smom

Experienced Member
Is Talos your sister's daughter? That would be a pretty cruel trick to give away her dog while she's away at summer camp or something. Is your sister interested at all in continuing the training you started? It sure would make her life easier if you just took Lily, but as you said, not the right thing to give her daughter's dog away. I guess you live too far away to make regular visits?
 

threenorns

Well-Known Member
yes, talos is my sister's daughter. she's 16 - my sister shipped her and her 8yr old brother off to france for a month. my sister is one of those like my hubbie- "i HATE animals! nasty! dirty, filthy things messing up the house - they belong in a barn!" but when nobody's looking, it's all mooshie-mooshie-"oh, you want some of my bacon? here you go....". i outed her - i told her (and hubbie) to stop the act - if they actually hated animals, the dogs would have nothing to do with them and both dandy and lily love my sister (and my hubbie) to bits.

yeah, i live about 3hrs away which wouldn't be a problem if i had a car.

or a driver's license. living in canada without a driver's license is just about impossible unless you want to confine yourself to the major metropolitan areas.
 
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