Hi Ingrid...

i have one question before i type a long winded post.

Have you tried to have people just totally ignore Ladybug at first?
Even if she comes up to them ask them to not even respond and just act like she's not there. NO eye contact, NO touching, NO coo cooing over her, i mean absolutely ignoring her.

If you have tried that, what was the response then?

Wendy

Hi Wendy, First of all pretty girl you have there. The ignore thing I have seen used with dogs. There are several NASDN (North American Search Dog Network) trainers that will use that when walking up to a strange dog and handler. They do not look at the dog, and stand with their backs turned slightly to the dog and talk to the handler. Most dogs took little notice of the person and some even bumped their hands for attention after a few minutes, but I don't think any of these dogs were people aggressive (not really a plus for a SAR dog). You may want to give it a try though, but keep a close eye on your dog and make sure you have control of her so nobody gets hurt.

Sandy

Many years ago a friend was house sitting at a place that had a dog who would come up to new people in a friendly manner and then bite them when they went to pet him. When I came over for a visit my friend instructed me to ignore the dog. I did as I was told, while the dog followed me around looking perfectly innocent, with his head conveniently close to my hand. The dog never showed any aggressiveness to me. He was probably secretly hoping to throw me off my guard so he could get a chance to bite. :laugh:
I think the "ignore them" method definitely has it's merits.

Hi Wendy, No I haven't tried telling people to ignore Ladybug. That sounds like a really good idea though. She should not feel theatened by someone who is ignoring her. In all probability she would actively seek attention by bumping the hand of a person or if there were a way, she would climb up and get her face right in the face of the person. I've seen her do that. It scared the heck out of me but since I did not have a leash on her at the time, it hardly seemed like the time to show fear. When visitors come to my house, Ladybug is much more relaxed if they ignore her. Great suggestion! I'll try it with a leash on, of course!

 Quote: Sandra Vernlund

Hi Wendy, First of all pretty girl you have there.

Hey Sandra...I'll let HIM know you think he's pretty..lol.

 Quote: Ingrid Halonen

Hi Wendy, No I haven't tried telling people to ignore Ladybug. That sounds like a really good idea though. She should not feel theatened by someone who is ignoring her. In all probability she would actively seek attention by bumping the hand of a person or if there were a way, she would climb up and get her face right in the face of the person. I've seen her do that. It scared the heck out of me but since I did not have a leash on her at the time, it hardly seemed like the time to show fear. When visitors come to my house, Ladybug is much more relaxed if they ignore her. Great suggestion! I'll try it with a leash on, of course!

Hey Ingrid,

I just thought that maybe the dog was perceiving people as threatening when they approach. You never know how a dog perceives some body language, just a second of eye contact could set a dog off or they could see a hand approaching them as a hand coming in to hurt them, especially if they've been hit before (not by you, i mean by the previous owners). Remember it only takes one negative experience with a situation and it usually stays with the dog until they are exposed to a positive experience in the same situation.
I just thought that it might be a good idea to see how she is with someone who completely ignores her and to not respond to her for a bit, even if she nudges them or follows them around. Give the dog a chance to familiarize themselves with the person in their own time. When it seems like the dog is comfortable i would still tell the peson to avoid looking directly at the dog and maybe get them to feed her a high value treat from their hand. But still no looking at her or trying to pet her or talking to her. See how she re-acts to a strangers hand that is doing a positive act (treats)and not something negative (reaching to touch her). Once you see if she re-acts better we can go from there and work through the problem.
Go slow, and yes, definately keep her tethered to you while this is going on.
Let us know how it goes.

Wendy

Oops Wendy. Please apoligize to him for me. Hope it didn't upset him to much. Good boy!

Another possibility, if you ever reach the stage where you want people to interact with Ladybug, is to have them reach for her chest with the palm facing up and initially scratch with just their finger tips beore flipping their hand over to rub her. Since most aggressive gestures involve the palm facing down, I feel this method is less likely to cause confusion. It also slows a person's approach and makes "looming" and head petting harder.

I don't have any studies or anything to show its effectiveness. It is just a method I have always used with hand shy dogs or dogs with unknown pasts and it seems to work pretty well.

Edited by Leah Christian (02/12/2008 02:02 PM)
Edit reason: spelling error

This is a great book by Brenda Aloff regarding body language:

Canine Body Language

She also has another one that LB used to sell, but it is not on the list anymore but I found it here:

Aggression in Dogs
There are used copies available in the above book as well. Just click on the "24 used and new" link under the description.

They are both great reads and very informative.