Dear Stephanie

My Dog Koga

Hi Stephanie,

A friend gave me this article that you wrote on animal communication.  In this article, you wrote about a Dachshund named Mikey.  He mentioned that you may be able to help me with my dog, so I am writing this letter to you to see what you can do.

My dog’s name is Koga.  He is a black and tan male Doberman Pinscher.  He is 2 years and 3 months old.  He has a scar on his left nostril from since he was sent to me from my breeder.  

The issue with Koga is that he is very submissive with both people and dogs.  He has been like this since I got him.  I live in Calgary and he was sent to me from Toronto at around age 10 weeks of age.  I first noticed this when I took him to the pet store and tried to socialize him after he had received all his vaccinations.  He met a small French Bulldog who happened to be the same age at the time (4 months old).  The French Bulldog was about the size of Koga’s head, but Koga shied away and tucked his tail (if he had a tail).  I then took him to puppy classes to better socialize him.  On the first few classes, Koga would be at one end of the room, while the rest of the puppies played at the other end.  He just refused to socialize.  I also brought him to the dog park to socialize him.  He was attacked by two different dogs on different times, so I stopped taking him to the parks.  Each time whether it was the puppy class or the dog park or pet stores, he would always try to tuck his tail and run.  In addition, when the instructor told us to pick up a puppy that does not belong to us, Koga would pee all over the floor when someone tried to pick him up.

I have spoken to my breeder regarding this issue as this is the second dog that I have received from him.  My first Doberman died at 5 years, so Koga was sent to replace him as was the guarantee from the breeder.  The first time I spoke to him, he mentioned that Koga is just being aloof. Aloofness is a trait of Dobermans and a trait that I know very well because my last Doberman was very aloof to both people and other dogs.  But I know that Koga is not being aloof as I have read and studied dog behavior in efforts to better train and communicate with my dogs.  I told him Koga is being skittish but the breeder thinks otherwise.  He said that Koga will grow out of it and to train him away from any distractions and he will come out, so to speak.  

Koga and I continued to go to puppy class and he started to get better.  I transitioned him to adult classes but noticed that Koga would not listen to me after dropping him off at adult classes.  I noticed this when I took him to the dog park.  He took off and would not listen so we ended the adult classes and I trained him as the breeder had mentioned.  But all throughout this period of growing up, Koga still would not socialize with anyone.  It was very frustrating.  Koga noticed my frustration and would pee on the floor.  But after a while, I noticed that he would pee when he was excited or when he just wanted my attention.  All the tricks that I learned to train a dog would not work.  When I spoke to trainers, they were also out of ideas as I had done all the things that I was supposed to do with him.  I have also noticed that Koga would not respond to the usual things that dogs normally respond to.  When a puppy bites your hand, you are supposed to yelp like a dog and walk away.  This shows the puppy that his behavior was not acceptable and it will result in a stoppage in play and no more attention from the human.  But when I did this with Koga, he would just continue to bite me each time with the same amount of force.  With my first Doberman, I would just have to do this once and he learned it immediately.  

We also purchased a French Bulldog 3 months after we received Koga.  His name is Appa and he has developed very quickly as a dog and has no issues.  Going back to Koga, I have tried everything I could think of to bring up his confidence.  A few months ago, I tried to bring Koga to the park once again to train him.  When a wolf mix approached him, Koga dropped his toy and tucked his tail and ran.  This set off the wolf mix and he instinctively went into stalking mode with Koga.  I chased the wolf mix away.  This is not the first time I have witnessed this behavior.  I noticed that Koga tends to bring this out in other dogs because of his behavior.  In addition, Koga tends to bark too much, but these barks have no confidence in them.  When he sees anther dog, he will bark and this attracts the dog towards Koga.  When the dog approaches, Koga would tuck his bum and run.  

I have only recently curbed him of his peeing behavior, but had a setback this weekend.  About 2 weeks ago, I brought him back to the park to see what I could do with him.  Koga finally went and played with other dogs and I noticed that developmentally, his barks were becoming more confident.  But this last weekend, he became skittish again and each time a dog tried to touch him while he was playing with them in the park, he would yelp.  This set him back and when I came home one day, he peed all over the floor.  

This is not an exhaustive account of what has happened over Koga’s life, but I am trying to give you highlights of Koga’s usual behaviors.  Koga has peed so much in the house that I have just become so frustrated that I just want to get rid of him.  I just want a confident dog like I had previously.  Dobermans are supposed to be proud and confident dogs.  I hope that you are able to communicate to Koga and bring out his “Doberman” side.

Thank you,

Johnny Wong

I forgot to mention this to you about Koga until I was feeding him tonight.  Ever since he was young, I have had a problem feeding him.  He seems very timid with his food.  I have tried different kinds of foods and it has only been the last few months that he is starting to eat well.  I notice that this appears to be associated with his confidence.  The more confident he is, the more he is willing to eat.  But it has been very difficult until only recently.  He is eating more now, but he still sometimes will revert to being timid.

Also, Koga is very good with our French Bulldog.  Since they grew up together, Koga plays very well with the Frenchie (Appa).  In dog language, Koga is very polite and communicates very well with Appa and the puppies and dogs he played with at his classes.  He is very “text book” when he communicates with me and our guests.  So, he does not have any social deficiencies, except for the lack of confidence.

I hope you can help him.

Thank you,

Johnny

 

Dear Johnny

In my communication with Koga I sensed him to be very “sensitive” and a little sad. “Sensitive” animals are almost “hyper aware” of everything that goes on around them and thus they are more apt to be shy or display odd behaviours. It is as if they are over stimulated and don’t know what to do with or how to handle all of the stimuli they are picking up around them.

Koga’s sadness is related to feelings he is picking up from you. It is very important that you visualise him as being confident and proud instead of skittish and shy. He is picking up on the images and feelings you may be having about him and is responding accordingly to those. Socialising him is also very important. Animals learn how to socialise from their parents and if they have been taken away from their mother at too early an age in their life they won’t know how to behave properly. You need to teach him how to be with other dogs, thus emulating his parents. Rewarding him with praise and or treats for doing what is right will also help him to build confidence.

Perhaps there is an area in your life in which you are lacking confidence or needing support in? Koga may be mirroring this for you to be aware of. I would recommend giving rewards when he does what you want as well as telling him that he is confident and strong every day. The Bach Flower remedy Larch, specifically for boosting confidence, put into his food or water [4 drops 4 times a day], would also assist him to bring out his “Doberman” side.

Blessings to you both,

Stephanie