@Adirondackwannabe The strange thing is how many people treat dogs like humans yet they really are a lot more like wolves than I think we want to admit.
I think when dogs have problems it is because of the way they are being treated in the house. It is like personalities clashing and what we are and are not teaching them.
I for example haven’t quite figured out if I am doing something wrong with my Shepard or if indeed he actually does have a neurological problem. For all I know my leadership skills for him may not be top notch, whereas my other dog is more laid back and much easier to handle. I thought I am doing everything right, but 10yrs later and he is still afraid of fireworks. I mean they are going off tonight and I had to stop typing so I could help him as he forgot his fear of the 10inch gate and went into the room he is not supposed to be in…lol
I know it sounds silly a Shepard who is afraid of a small dog gate but he is. And then a few bangs of a firework and he forgets he is afraid of it. But then when you want him to come back out he won’t so you have to lift him and all he has to do really is step over the gate. :/
That just reminded me of this dog my parents used to have that was an escape artist. We used to say she must of been houdini in a former life. We could put the dog in a certain part of the house and when we got home she would be there greeting us at the door. If there was any opening at least 1.5 inches the shihtzu could squeeze her body through it and be waiting for you on the other side.
On another day we were on the foundation of our new house being built, the dog was just following and she decided to try to jump from one side of the cement wall to the other, of course there was no floors just a foundation and a hole in the ground with the cement frame of the basement for the house. She jumped missed the wall and went straight through a basement opening landing 8ft below on gravel floor. She then just looked up at us and looked around jumped a few times like she thought she could jump back out.
If she could talk I am sure she would of said “that was death defying awesome, now get me out of here!” Luckily we found a ladder and got her out, she was completley fine.
Later on she would be reffered to as “houdini the death defying superdog” for the fact that while she flew 8ft down her ears were straight out.
She would also later on figure out how to escape the crate which so we would put her in the biggest bathroom but then she chewed a brand new bathroom door trying to escape that way. So we put the baby gate up and she got out. So then we realized she just couldn’t be locked up anywhere she didn’t want to be.