The Puzzle of Aggression

Part 2 — Check list 4 yo Weimaraner                          

Copyright Ozuna 2023

1.  Genetic high defense drive. Observed in both parents.

            Remedial focus: Drop defense drive, reward focused prey drive. Hand feeding at least half of food daily.

2.  Genetic low biddability.  Observed during training.

            Remedial focus: Hand feeding at least half of food. Increase eye focus, attention, and engagement.

3. Genetic low prey drive and subset genetic low hunt drive.

            Remedial focus: Increase food drive, increase ball drive.

4.  One trial learner for adrenaline based behaviors.  Multiple trial (and slow) learner for cognitive based behaviors.

            Remedial focus: Constant calibration of the following:  How much information to give. What rate/speed of information flow. What rate of sequencing. Duration of down time between training sessions.  

5.  Practiced aggression.  Endocrine reinforced OCD reactivity behavior.

            Remedial focus: Building replacement behaviors.  All the standard obedience commands for language   stability. Building more balanced metabolics through repetitive rhythmic movement. Building an offleash recall and 2x a day pack walks at a moving trot for a .5 hour. Herbal tincture (Tranquility Blend by Animals Apawthecary).

6.  Too high arousal levels.  Super high flashpoint, high prey drive when at arousal levels. Goes from 0 to over   the top with no middle ground. (Low prey drive when at normal arousal levels.)

            Remedial focus: Proprioception, proprioception, proprioception, nutrition (lower carbs, increase quality of absorbable proteins) and herbal tincture.

7.  Touch Diva. Intolerant of touch anywhere on her body.

            Remedial focus: Dr. Cheese Whiz — truly an unexpected ally. Very fond of her cheese whiz.

8.  Low proprioceptive quotient — impacting learning capacity through all six stages of learning: absorb, retain, sequence, generalize, extrapolate and problem solve information.

            Remedial focus: Proprioception exercises both through obstacles and out on the trail.     Simple movement puzzles (combinations of movements) using obstacles and the trail increasing in complexity.  Slowly increasing complexity of sequencing.

9.  Nutrition — original food at home decent but ever so slightly high in carbs, low in assimilable animal proteins.  

            Remedial focus: Dropped carbs, increased assimilable proteins. Observed a reset of arousal levels about every 5 days.

10.  Middle to low-ranking beta.  Admittedly used as an emotional dumping ground with no boundaries, limitations, clear structure or expectations during core developmental periods resulting in high levels of fear and insecurity in the dog.

            Remedial focus: Confidence building — touch, proprioceptive exercises, movement, commands,sequencing, clarity, reward.

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Maryna Ozuna
http://www.dog-trainer-arizona.com
http://www.dogbodycare.com
movementmarkers@gmail.com