The dog is a 7mo old Australian Shepherd. I am her third owner. She was not mistreated but obviously mishandled. I have done pretty well traing other dogs but am having trouble with this one. When I first met her she was aggressive and did not like strangers. It took me about 10min to get her to submit and be calm for me, but now all she does is submit when I ask her to do anything. How can we overcome this behavior?
your dog is being submissive to tell you she respects you. many Aussies are soft-temperament dogs and cannot handle rough training methods. try teaching her some fun stuff like rollover or shake hands– using only positive methods and make it FUN for her! use food too… when dogs are eating their brain chemistry is incompatible with fear or worry… so use food to help her relax a little. keep your methods positive and your voice light. it sounds like you will have a really easy time training this one once she trusts that you aren’t going to hurt her.
Please google “positive dog training”. You said that originally you “made her submit.” Well, you got your wish. She’s now submitting.
This is where all the dominance/submission bs in dog training gets you.
You have taught her to be afraid of you. In the first 10 minutes, what she did was be fear-aggressive, and you punished her. In her mind, she was trying to protect herself, and she was punished for it. Now she’s afraid of you. You will need to spend many weeks and months gaining back her trust.
I would suggest you look into some information on teaching trust to an abused dog. She may not have been physically abused, but she has been abandoned, obviously not loved and never had anyone she could trust. She submits because she doesn’t understand what you want, and does the only thing that has gotten you to accept her; submission. Do *not* punish her for this or you will only make it worse. Don’t use “structured” training sessions, and especially not ones which use punishment. Use only positive training methods; ignore the things she does wrong (unless they’re serious like biting or running into the street).
Here are some sites which may help:http://www.wonderpuppy.net/canwehelp/abu…http://www.lucythewonderdog.com/train-ab…
Keep in mind that there is no such thing as Dog training in the dogs eyes…
It was a good idea to get your dog to be calm and submissive. But did you make her roll on her side when she was aggressive w/ the other dogs. If you did then this might be the reason. You only roll the dog on its side when dog disrespect pack members or actually get in a fight (dog has to start the fight, of course) , not when disrespecting other dog.