by Rachel Fahnel

Created on: November 05, 2008   Last Updated: July 20, 2010

Bear is energetic, outgoing, but a little crazy. We discovered quickly that there were some behavior issues there.

I discovered right away that this dog did not like to be picked up, nor did he want his legs, rear, or stomach touched. He would place his mouth on your hand and if you didn't get the message in moment or two he would apply his teeth.

Still he was a good dog. It quickly became apparent that some things had happened to him, this was not simply a lack of conditioning. His behavior was not his fault, and I could not punish him for doing something that he obviously felt he had to do to protect himself.

That did not mean I could let it continue.

In order to get anywhere with him I knew I needed to establish dominance, because I could try to train him until I was blue in the face and it wouldn't get me anywhere if he didn't know I was the one he was looking to for guidance. I tried several methods and finally I got down to the primal instinct. Wearing a long sleeved shirt and jeans to protect myself, I forced him onto his back and held my hand on his throat, tight enough to keep him down but not enough to deprive him of oxygen, just as his pack leader would do if he were in a wolf pack.

He struggled and fought but I held on until he stopped, talking to him the whole time, telling him to calm down. When he stopped struggling I let go and petted him for a long time, telling him I loved him and he was a good boy, etc.

I know this sounds like the opposite what one should do with a damaged and fearful dog but I was at wit's end and what do you know, it worked. I could tell that he was in touch with his pack instinct already, so using a naturally-occurring animal "signal" seemed like the right choice. This situation could have been dangerous and I certainly wouldn't try it with a large dog or one I did not know but establishing pack dominance is imperative in getting the dog to obey you. This isn't the only way to do it, but one way that will not work is spanking or swatting. A fear-conditioned response is worse than the bad behavior.

Then the work began.

I started by feeding him out of my hands, although it took a while for him to accept anything out of my palm. He began to realize that I would not be causing him whatever pain and distress his old "family" caused him. He began to bloom, in a manner of speaking, happy that he was being released from his prison of fear.

I continued using food rewards, as well as calm petting in areas I knew he enjoyed, such

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