Poppy's protective instincts: the nature of nurture

When I opened a recent e-mail from Derek Harris and viewed the pictures, my jaw dropped and I was in awe. The pictures were so beautiful! They show Poppy, who is our Paika's sister. Poppy was a late bloomer and she stayed with us longer than other puppies. She lives with Derek (wildlife biologist/hunting guide) in Texas, and she is quite a dog. This is what Derek wrote:

Dear John and Jolanta,

I wanted to write to just say hi and give ya’ll some updates on Poppy. She is definitely my best friend and we don’t do many things apart from each other.

I have attached some photos of her with the a calf that lost its mom about a month ago due to the severe drought we are facing. When I brought the calf home I knew Poppy could tell it was in bad condition. She instantly started licking it and looking over it. She actually didn’t come in the house for over 72 hours. I had to bring food and water outside to her. Any time the other dogs would come close Poppy would get in between the dogs and the calf and show her teeth and even bite the other dogs if they got too close. A couple weeks later when that calf was doing quite well another calf was brought to me that was in terrible shape. Instantly, Poppy took to it as well and would not let the now healthy calf or dogs near it either. And now she is protecting Rhea eggs (large bird like an emu) the exact same way.

We are lucky enough to live on a 40,000 acre ranch where she is exposed to several species of game every day. I have been feeding the deer alfalfa just on the other side of the fence to get her used to deer and realize that we don’t track all of them. At first she would run to the fence and bark obsessively, now she barely even lifts her head to look. I have worked hard to expose her to as many different environments and situations as I can. The thing I still struggle the most with is her social skills with people. She likes things to be “me and her” only and she is very protective of me, the house, etc. She is great at a social BBQ, but when it is time to “work” I can tell she still has a problem if there is a crowd. I think one of the down falls of us living on the ranch is the lack of company we have out here. My heeler has got a lot more aggressive/protective toward strangers since we have lived such a secluded life as well. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

This touching picture shows Poppy with the calf she was nurturing. I have a feeling that Poppy will have very strong maternal instincts.

Poppy has always loved to swim. This picture was taken at sunrise.

My response to Derek's question was: "Poppy needs to learn that other people are a source of pleasure and positive experience, and that they are not a threat. If she is food oriented, let them give her treats that she really likes. Don't force her to interact with people if she does not want to, but don't let her to be aggressive towards them either. Some dogs are just not very social (just like some people are not), but she needs to learn to tolerate starngers. If she is not aggressive, then don't make a big deal out of it. If she is distracted by other people's presence when she is working, ask them follow at a greater distance if it is possible. I think you might want to experiment a bit what is a good way to "manage her" around strangers but for this you need to have access to strangers, and this seems to be a challenge to do where you live in isolation. Let me think about it more."

John added: Jolanta wrote she needs more exposure to people. In your rare shopping trips to town take her along and walk her on a leash down busy streets. This will help. You don’t want her to be distracted by the presence of strange hunters to the point that she will not track.

Derek replied:
Thanks for your responses. Yes, tracking comes first and it’s something I am passionate about. I recently got back Zimbabwe where I was on a leopard hunt with dogs. I was very impressed with the houndsman and all the advice he gave me. I showed him pictures of Poppy and he had nothing but good things to say about the breed, and he was actually looking for a WHD himself. I can’t imagine how neat it would have been to hear the 2 of you swap stories.

I will continue to take Poppy to as many crowded places as I can and I hope to find her a lot of tracking work this upcoming season. I am going to Kansas with her again this year and am really looking forward to that.

Thanks for the feedback and I will keep you updated with her progress.

Derek M Harris
http://www.aimstraightoutdoors.com/

Do you have any suggestions how to help Poppy with her problem?