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Amber's transition to adulthood

Amber will be 1 year old on 03 December 2012, her body is currently undergoing changes to become an adult, she will have temper, dominance and characteristics issues, how much she is going to change will depend on how much we allow her to develop these behaviors further.


I noticed she wants more attention now, always sitting at the door, trying to get into our room, and she would always turn her belly up when she sees us, hinting us to give her belly rubs. Although it is a good sign that she trust us by showing her belly, it is also important for us not to give in to her needs every single time she wants a belly rub.

example of wanting a belly rub

She starts to test our patience further, like pooping right when we take her out for walks, just when I leave the door, she would poop right outside the doorstep, we live in a flat, there is no grass or whatsoever that would make her feel like doing it, although dogs would usually clear their stomach whenever they go for exercise, it is definitely not okay to poop at the doorstep, we have to teach her when and where to do it, we are still experimenting and teaching her during this process.

if you see this it means your dog is going to poop, in about 5 seconds

Amber's tolerance and aggression is starting to develop, this is very important because this period will more or less define her adult character, we want her to have about 20% and 80% rights for us. Meaning to train her tolerance power at 20% towards any human or animals encountered. We want her to be towards the submissive side, not getting angry easily but still has a limit, if anyone gets pass her 20% limit she is allowed to get angry and perhaps bite back for self defense, this is to give her the rights to protect herself in time of needs. However recently her tolerance is only at about 35-40%, she gets aggressive more easily than previously, probably because she is still growing, but we cannot afford to give in.

She bit me when I pushed her down after she poop outside the door, I grabbed her by her neck, she got even more aggressive for about 10 seconds before crying, I then said "no bite" and slowly put her down. There was once she did not obey the "down" command, I pulled her by the collar downwards and she bit me hard, I grabbed her neck again, she cried and I put her down, then asked her to go "down", she did not listen, once again I grabbed her collar and she bit me again. When this kind of thing happens, you get to know what your dog really hates, but the key is NEVER to give in. Giving in means you agree to the dog's aggression, in future it will use the same way to treat you whenever you do something that it does not like/agree. When i knew Amber hated me to grab her by the collar, i did not stop doing it, but instead of pulling it down, i held onto it and monitored her reaction, she still hated it but did not bite anymore. So now i would know, her limits is at holding it, once i pull she will start to bite, i will train her by getting her used to grabbing by the collar more frequently, this is how i would train a dog to get rid of unwanted behaviors, one step at a time.

This is a form of self-defense that still needs to be taught

Amber also hates her clothes now, she would try to remove it, the good thing is that after removing she never rips them apart. It's kind of a self defense thing, not fighting back once she gets rid of the uncomfortable scenario. Because she hates her clothes, she became quite sensitive to me touching her back, especially the butt area. She attempted to bite me yesterday during walks when I tried to shift her clothes, I punished her, I also noticed that whenever she gets aggressive she forgets that it is my hand she is trying to bite, after I scolded her I would reach out my fingers right in front of her mouth and she would lick it continuously, showing a certain amount of guilt.

We will take note on her current issues closely, hopefully she will learn and get better soon.

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