Odie Allan Sanchez – What am I going to do with you?

When I adopted Odie a little over a year ago, he was as timid as a mouse, would do anything to please anyone and was snugly to boot. In the past year I am fairly certain I have turned him into a ferocious monster! In my attempt to give him the life that I felt he deserved after being left abandoned on the streets of Logan,I think I may have made him feel like he was the Alpha dog – and in doing so the terrible Chi from within has started to emerge. Other people call it LDS or Little Dog Syndrome, I call it failing to be a good alpha leader.

I am not one to stereotype a breed which is why I am blaming myself for Odie’s recent bad behaviour. In the past year he has bitten just about everyone I know, (myself included) and I have decided I need serious help…

I have been doing a little bit of Googling this afternoon and that combined with my current knowledge, (which isn’t too much more than having Cesar Milan recorded on my Foxtel) I am going to attempt to fix my dog.

Something I found interesting was the following info about the signs to look for to see if your dog is scared, anxious or ready to bite.

• Yawning when the dog is not tired
• Licking the lips (or just flicking the tongue in and out of the mouth) when there is no food around
• Panting even though it’s not warm
• Raising one paw and holding it up tentatively
• Turning the head away
• Curving the body or turning the whole body away
• Blinking rapidly
• Lowering the head
• Tucking the tail between the legs
• Trying to move away from a situation.
• Freezing in place (standing very stiffly)
• Staring
• Raising of the hackles (this is when the hair on the back of the neck, and sometimes even the whole spine, stands up)

When dogs are cornered or otherwise forced to remain in a scary situation despite giving the signals mentioned above, they may escalate to more obvious signals, such as the following:

• Drawing their lips back to show their teeth
• Flattening their ears back
• Growling
• Snarling
• Lunging

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The Animal Welfare League of Qld (AWLQ) has a new owner support that has loads of information on dog traits and training which I will be researching and incorporating. Click here to see more
I have also found a website on dog aggression and I am hoping it will help me help Odie. Click Here to see more

I will keep you posted on his progress. Do you have any suggestions on how to train ‘small dogs’?

Side note: how cool is the nail polish below? Appropriately called ‘my chihuahua bites’. I think I MUST buy some…
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