Bad Behavior part I

School violence may be sparking a new fade in England, wearing armor to school. This is another case of treating the symptoms while ignoring the problem. The problem isn’t kids being stabbed (something that shouldn’t be happening) but the willingness to stab another person.

As I have said before, I have four mutts in the house and they don’t always get along. Tex (if you look real close to the picture, he is the white Jack Russell mutt) has always had a bad habit of nipping at the Smokey’s face (Smokey is a Australian Shepherd/something? Mutt) when he (Tex) gets excited. No actual damage is done, think of someone coming up and poking you in the chest several times. I call this being a jerk. Recently Smokey has gotten tired of this behavior and has done the “throw down” on the smaller Tex. I should have addressed the problem more serious before. Till now had just pull Tex away after he had started, hence addressing the symptom but not the original problem. Things changed when Smokey actually drew blood on Tex. As a temporary base, a muzzle has been introduced, not to Smokey who actually caused the damage but to Tex the original aggressor. This has reduced the behavior back to an annoyance and a fight hasn’t broken out again. If this was the only thing I did, then another fight would be in a very short order. I could walk them separately (Tex’s behavior is most prominent during walks) but once again it would only allow the behavior to continue and elevate to situations when I could not be an influence. It is not practicable to separate Tex from the rest, nor am I willing to give up on him. He has to be shown that his behavior is not acceptable (and no I do not mean beating him at any time). During the walks, I pay attention to his state. When he gets into an excited state, his lease is shortened so he cannot get to any of the other dogs and of course he is wearing a muzzle. Other than the shorting of the lease, his bad behavior is ignored (the walks continue at the same pace). Good behavior is re-enforced such as when he is walked with just the oldest dog (Candy is the hard to see black Cockier Spaniel mutt), the muzzle is not used since he does not nip at her. There is all ready an improvement in behavior in Tex and Smokey no longer feels the need to lay the smack down on him (Tex). When his behavior improves enough, then the muzzle will come off and he will have the full rights of the pack.

Tex is the aggressor, therefore the source of the problem. It is his behavior that needs to be addressed. Protecting Smokey from the “jerk” behavior does not solve the problem because I cannot always be there. Permanently separating them only creates another problem, what to do with Tex? Putting him to sleep is drastic and completely overboard with the problem (most of time all four get along very well). Giving him away is not easy and would only pawn the real issue off onto someone else.

Bad behavior, such as stabbing another person or as simple as a dog nipping, needed to be identified and addressed as soon as possible. Ignoring it only makes matters worse and then requires more severe action. Aggressors need to be shown that type of behavior is not tolerated. Protection for the victim should always be temporary until the real problem can be addressed, because the protection is usually accompanied by a loss of freedom.