Hair and tail pulling

So Sasha at The Wonder of Wysdom asked me did I have any suggestions about hair pulling and I am pleased to say I have had some success with this behaviour.

Of course we tried OUCH, stop, gentle, no - etc etc all to no avail.

Instead I have redirected his fascination with hair into positive behaviour

• Initially I started with playdough/sand/the top of the table (I know that sounds weird but stay with me here)
• I used KEY words like pat, and rub and a hand over hand technique initially to show him the meaning of the words and what they feel like.
• we did this every day - salt and peppered throughout the day for a few days
• when he was let near hair again he would GRAB and PULL and I would immediately say RUB, RUB, PAT, PAT and guess what - he started rubbing and patting and then we would say awwwwh thats so nice and gentle rub rub, pat pat Good Boy etc laying on the positive reinforcement pretty heavily.

He will still grab at my hair every now and again but as soon as I say those key action words he drops my hair gives me a pat and rub and is very gentle with me.

I have also used this technique to teach him to be gentle with our new (rescued) dog Shadow. We got him at New year (after losing our dog 5 years ago we finally felt ready to have another) we spotted Shadow on the RSPCA website and fell in love with the old fellow (he is 5 years old) he has the most amazing nature, so gentle, placid and cuddly, and Owen really tested him by pulling his hair, tail, ears and beard at every opportunity. As soon as I saw him making a grab I would remind him to pat and rub and he would do that instead - but it has taken a few weeks for Owen to learn just to pat and rub (cause that tail is just made for pulling isn't it ???????)

This is a photo of our new addition Shadow with the boys