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Toxx posted:The one furthest to the right has two greyhounds. Our yards don't actually touch, but he can see the greyhounds if he runs to the corner. I cannot calm him down or get any response out of him when he sees them. He barks non-stop, he yelps and cries and pants. I have to go out and wait for him to 'calm down' enough to leash him and walk him in. (I use calm down in quotes because he freaks himself out so much he just walks back and forth panting) I've tried going out with treats, crumpling his treat bags, walking up to him with said treats and he ignores me. When I took him inside today and had to leash him, he wouldn't even try to eat the treat - just panted. Normally he is really responsive to food (My treats are usually cooked chicken or cheese) It sounds like your dog has anxiety and dog reactivity, possibly stemming from him being territorial or barrier reactivity or even a fear of off-leash dogs. The crying/panting/pacing back and forth is definitely an anxiety/fear reaction. His not being able to eat or pay attention to you means the he is over threshold and his brain is stuck in fight or flight mode and unable to learn. You won't be able to work with him when he's like that, so you'll have to do desensitization to get him to a point where he can learn and the counter-conditioning will have a great effect. This means that you will have to limit his access to these dogs either by blocking off the part of the yard where he can see them or making sure they aren't out when he's out. If they are out, take him out on a leash so that you can keep him at a distance where he is under threshold. Find the distance or part of the yard when he can't see them entirely, but still knows they are there, and then work on your counter-conditioning. If he won't eat, you are too close. Also, feel free to ask your trainer in CGC class if they recommend any behavioralists in your area. They would be able to come out to your house, bring a dog, and set up situations where you can work on it in ways that might be hard to coordinate with your neighbor's dogs.
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Mar 7, 2012 20:59
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Why does our dog get upset sometimes when my Wife leaves, but never when I leave? He doesn't do it all the time, but every so often, when my Wife leaves to go to work or run an errand, he will bark in his crate for a short time, then calm down. Never does it with me, ever. Do dogs just play favorites?
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Mar 7, 2012 22:01
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It's pretty common for some dogs to bond more to one person than another, whether it's because they spend more time with them, get more attention/food from them, or that person lets them get away with more poo poo. Shadow is more bonded to me than my boyfriend and therefore listens to me better. This is mostly because I handle his training and to him I am "The Awesome Person That Takes Me For Walks and Lets Me Chase Squirrels."
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Mar 7, 2012 22:22
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Very interesting. Thanks for the response. He really is doing so well other than that, although it really isn't a problem at all. What age did everyone let their dogs stay out of the crate while they were alone? I've given my dog several tests while I ran to the store and he was pretty okay. He also got to sleep in the bed with us last week for the first time and slept through the night no problem.
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Mar 7, 2012 22:28
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^^^Entirely depends on the dog. If your dog isn't destructive or easily bored or overly curious or barks at windows, then you should be good to go as long as your house is puppy-proof. What Skizzles said and also, remember that dogs don't generalize well. So when you teach them something (on purpose or by accident) in one context, you will have to expand it to other contexts as well. Or it's possible that your dog learned that barking when she leaves is rewarding (maybe she came back one time?) and so is going to keep trying it for a while. My dog freaks out when my husband comes home and starts barking as soon as he pulls in the driveway and will sometimes continue to bark at him until he's fully in the door. With me, she doesn't make a peep and just comes over for some greeting when I'm all the way in. I never pinned down why, but it could be any number of things from the obvious sometimes he sits on the phone in his car for a few minutes before coming in to the not so obvious body language he has when he gets home. Dogs are complicated. 
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Mar 7, 2012 22:29
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Yeah crating really depends on the dog. I've never crated Shadow because he's excellently house-trained and has never had the faintest interest in destroying things. I even leave his treats in an open bag on a chair near his bed. He doesn't pay them any mind unless I give him one. I'm never sure if he's just a perfect angel or just really dumb.
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Mar 8, 2012 00:13
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We have this fleece blanket we drape over the back of our couch that I'm pretty sure he would chew on if I left it out again. The first time I left him alone for about 20 mins, I came back and he was completely wrapped up in it like a burrito.
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Mar 8, 2012 00:52
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Kiri koli posted:That all makes a lot of sense. I'll talk to the CGC trainer, as a behaviorist is a little too much cash for now. She might even be willing to help. It makes sense that he gets over threshold - I was just having a tough time figuring out how exactly to progress in the situation. There's no telling when the neighbors will let their dogs out, and as soon as he notices them it's over - Yet in class he's totally cool all the time.
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Mar 8, 2012 05:21
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Toxx posted:That all makes a lot of sense. I'll talk to the CGC trainer, as a behaviorist is a little too much cash for now. She might even be willing to help. It makes sense that he gets over threshold - I was just having a tough time figuring out how exactly to progress in the situation. There's no telling when the neighbors will let their dogs out, and as soon as he notices them it's over - Yet in class he's totally cool all the time. Dogs often have problems with things in one context and not in another, even if those things seem the same to us people. I understand that veterinary behaviorists are often prohibitively expensive, but you can also ask about certified behaviorists (they are trainers with a certain certification) or even just a trainer your CGC trainer knows with a lot of experience or a good reputation. It can really help to just find someone who is used to dealing with behavioral problems because it takes a lot more experimentation and ability to read body language to help a dog with a behavioral problems.
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Mar 8, 2012 13:30
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When there's nothing the dog wants more than to fence fight, the best training option would probably be Premack. However, it's not exactly easy to implement. Basically, the theory is that if you reward good behaviour (like eye contact, or a sit, etc) with the ability to go do that thing the dog really really wants to do (like fence fight, chase a squirrel, etc) the reinforcement the dog gets from the second behaviour makes the first behaviour a more appealing thing to do. If done correctly, the first behaviour can be reinforced so much that it becomes equally as reinforcing as the second behaviour. Eventually, you could have a dog who finds it more enjoyable to work with you than bark at the neighbours' dogs. It would take some time to play around with thresholds and timing. I've personally never done it for this kind of behaviour, but have seen it done. Perhaps ask your CGC about it. E: Also, consider putting a name to the fence fighting. The basic idea is for you to name bad behaviour, get it under stimulus control, and then only cue it rarely (or not at all). This is not something you'll be able to do off the bat since your dog is so far over threshold, but keep it in mind as you work more with your dog and get his arousal levels more under control. a life less fucked around with this message at 13:46 on Mar 8, 2012 |
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Mar 8, 2012 13:43
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Bella has been excellent about sitting at the door now. About our only issue now is when I take her to the groomer's. I usually go to Petsmart. She'll walk into the store but flat out refuse to go into the grooming section. Unfortunately for me, the salon is right by the exit. She'll walk through the store okay and usually I can coax her in after about fifteen minutes of walking around. Eventually she'll go in, but there are times where she will just sit and refuse to move. The staff there are really wonderful and I'm sure they've seen more... reluctant dogs in the past, but I'd really like to work on this with her. I'm starting to take her into the store without going to the salon, so she doesn't associate the store only with the unrelenting horror of getting groomed. She won't take treats from the staff, but she will from me. My goal here is basically to lower her stress level so that going into Petsmart isn't the most horrific thing in the history of the world.
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Mar 8, 2012 15:26
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e: redacted
Skizzles fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Sep 9, 2012 |
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Mar 8, 2012 19:08
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Since it's been officially announced, JUDY MOORE WAS FIRED FROM TENDER TOUCH VETERINARY HOSPITAL FOR KICKING A DOG TWICE IN THE FACE. Said dog was being harassed by a muzzled dog until she decided enough was enough and gave the muzzled dog a warning bite. Judy then threw the unmuzzled dog to the ground, pinned her there, and kicked her in the face twice in front of its owner. Since we're speaking about trainers with questionable standards and all.
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Mar 9, 2012 04:02
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Nothing to see here 
Rixatrix fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Sep 9, 2012 |
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Mar 9, 2012 06:01
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Hope this is the right place to put this, just wanted to let everyone know that Crufts 2012 is going on right now, and running through the weekend with Best in Show on Sunday. You can watch it live here http://www.crufts.org.uk/ And for UK goons the highlights are being shown on More4 every evening at 19:00 (the BBC dropped it after controversies surrounding pedigree dogs). Last night was utility and toy breeds, tonight is gundogs! Even if you're not into the show ring aspect, Crufts also do working demonstrations with the dogs, scent trail contests and so on. They also have a major heelwork to music competition, and flyball. I'm watching it right now and there is a tiny little poodle yapping it's head off as it tears around the agility ring. If that doesn't tempt you in then I don't know what will.
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Mar 9, 2012 12:15
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Dr Scoofles posted:Hope this is the right place to put this, just wanted to let everyone know that Crufts 2012 is going on right now, and running through the weekend with Best in Show on Sunday. Riiseli posted:Great news from CRUFTS, well at least sort of great. Best of breed English Bulldog and Best of breed Pekingese have failed the compulsory veterinary checks and have been denied their Best of breed awards and will not compete in their respective groups.
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Mar 9, 2012 12:25
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e: redacted
Skizzles fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Sep 9, 2012 |
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Mar 9, 2012 15:44
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I spoke with my Mum today, she read the email I sent with all the replies from here, and talked to my Dad about things-and from what she said, he seemed to be totally on board with it all, surprisingly (I thought he would get defensive or think I was overreacting) and they even spoke to my brother about the situation, though no idea how that will go. The first of the two books arrived today too and she said she'll start reading it. Hopefully things will turn out fine
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Mar 9, 2012 21:50
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Awesome! It's REALLY nice when people aren't stubborn and close-minded about things like this.
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Mar 11, 2012 00:56
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Question: How do I make my dog poop? So my mom takes him out around 9pm before she goes to bed, then I take him out around midnight. I'll pull him from the crate, slap his collar and jacket on, and take him out. The thing is, he'll pee then immediately try to go inside, won't walk or anything. If he doesn't poop at midnight he'll wake my mom up around like 1-3am asking to be taken out. Gotta be a way to deal with this right? Also now I'm imagining a dog that can poop on command.
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Mar 11, 2012 03:11
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Bash Ironfist posted:Question: How do I make my dog poop? So my mom takes him out around 9pm before she goes to bed, then I take him out around midnight. I'll pull him from the crate, slap his collar and jacket on, and take him out. The thing is, he'll pee then immediately try to go inside, won't walk or anything. If he doesn't poop at midnight he'll wake my mom up around like 1-3am asking to be taken out. I've never taught my dog to do it, but you should be able to do something like this. 1) Feldman squats to poop, in an appropriate location 2) Click, say "Go potty!" and treat. Maybe use a high value soft treat as harder, chewy things seem to make my dog stop pooping so he can concentrate on chewing. 3) Repeat a bunch of times. If you have been using a marker word or phrase (I go between "Good boy!" and clicking) you can use the marker word to mark the behavior, then treat. I've always been bad about figuring out when to add the cue. Just remember that dogs are bad at generalizing. Make sure to mark the behavior in multiple different appropriate locations so you don't wind up with Feldman thinking that the only place he can poop is one area that you don't always intend on going to.
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Mar 11, 2012 03:24
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Bash Ironfist posted:Question: How do I make my dog poop? So my mom takes him out around 9pm before she goes to bed, then I take him out around midnight. I'll pull him from the crate, slap his collar and jacket on, and take him out. The thing is, he'll pee then immediately try to go inside, won't walk or anything. If he doesn't poop at midnight he'll wake my mom up around like 1-3am asking to be taken out. Can be done. I wouldn't click (/ use a marker word) for squatting as at least my dogs would stop what they are doing and come get their treats, which is not what I want them to do while pooping even when learning a command for it. I don't think it needs to be a 100% behavior. I've been satisfied with a word that gets my dogs to think about going, which in turn results with them going quickly, if they need to go. Basically I've just praised my dogs mostly with the cue word as well as with other words. I guess you can treat after they are done too. I haven't used treats, but it still works for the older dogs and I'm sure TyTy will pick it up eventually too.
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Mar 11, 2012 04:12
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e: redacted
Skizzles fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Sep 9, 2012 |
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Mar 11, 2012 19:32
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Riiseli posted:Basically I've just praised my dogs mostly with the cue word as well as with other words. I guess you can treat after they are done too. I haven't used treats, but it still works for the older dogs and I'm sure TyTy will pick it up eventually too. Yeah, the act of elimination is actually a mild negative reinforcer on its own, so a lot of times you can get away with not having to use treats as long as you can add in the mild positive reinforcer of praise successfully enough.
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Mar 11, 2012 20:48
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Also, I'm going to be helping out my mentor with her Feisty Fido class over the next few weeks. I'm pretty excited.
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Mar 12, 2012 01:26
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Ok this question is stupid as hell but you guys were talking about it further up on the page. How do I get my dumb dog to love me more? It's not like he hates me, I know he loves me but argh he just loves my boyfriend more. It's like my bf is the ultimate jackpot for him. Mind you he doesn't really listen to my bf anymore than he does for me but he's always way more excited when my bf asks him to do things. I do everything for that dumb mutt and my bf gets all the credit argh it's so frustrating. Granted I also do most of the stuff the pup hates like give him a bath or crate him before we leave the house, but I try to make it rain treats so he doesn't view this sort of stuff as a punishment. Do I just stuff his face with some super delicious jackpot treat like hotdogs when he does stuff for me or am I doomed to have an dog that just likes me  ?
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Mar 12, 2012 05:49
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Is your boyfriend the one who get's down on the ground and wrestles with him? Maybe you're the dog's owner and the boyfriend is the playmate?
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Mar 12, 2012 06:07
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Well at least you have a dog that shows affection. I added more padding to my dogs crate, and now she prefers her crate over sleeping next to me. Meaning, the only reason she ever slept on the bed at all was because it was more comfortable than her crate...
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Mar 12, 2012 06:36
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I think training is one of the best tools for improving the relationship with your dog. Consider making it your goal to teach your dog a trick a week. People tend to put a lot of pressure on their dogs when training basic obedience terms like sit, down, stay, come and heel. Tricks are fabulous because no one gets stressed out if the dog isn't spinning in a circle fast enough, or bowing deeply enough. You're simply learning how to interact with your dog as your dog is learning to interact with you. And of course it's fun. Buy a clicker, do a bit of reading about its use, and set aside a couple 2-3 minute sessions a day to work with your dog. The easiest tricks to teach are things like spin (both ways), paw, wave, roll over, back up, bow, speak, weave walking, fetch on cue, etc. Creating a fun history of productive reinforcement should go a long way to cementing your relationship with your dog over a long period of time.
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Mar 12, 2012 13:07
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Bacteriophage posted:Ok this question is stupid as hell but you guys were talking about it further up on the page. How do I get my dumb dog to love me more? This also has to do with how much time each person spends with the dog. Rarer "treats" are inherently higher value. We see the same behavior with my wife and I. My wife stays home all day long, so she is, to some degree, boring. When I get home from work, there is a great deal of excitement because "Dad" is home. That said, if my wife sleeps in and I get up with the dog early, there is a great deal of frantic searching for my wife because the routine is broken. There's usually a lot of whining about it too.
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Mar 12, 2012 17:20
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Hdip posted:Is your boyfriend the one who get's down on the ground and wrestles with him? Maybe you're the dog's owner and the boyfriend is the playmate? Haha I think you nailed it. Thanks everyone else for the advice. We have used the clicker with him and he's responded very well but lately all of our focus has been working on his DA behavioral issues. Maybe it's time we start mixing in some more fun training along with the behavioral stuff.
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Mar 12, 2012 17:38
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trainedbyshibas posted:http://youtu.be/cg5wx80P-Zs Remember Elee from this video? Apparently she won Crufts Factor this year (which is like a dog talent show X Factor sort of deal.)  http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/4208/23/5/3
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Mar 12, 2012 19:37
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I've got a 6 month old puppy that I brought home from the SPCA a few days ago. She's doing pretty well with basic commands so far, but she's got a couple of annoying habits that I would like a bit of advice on. First, she likes to bite me and my girlfriend. She'll put her mouth around our forearms, nibble on our fingers and feet, and she likes to chew on my girlfriend's jeans. She does this most often after we've taken her for a walk, or when we're trying to get her to wind down a bit. I realize that she's probably teething still, but we have chew toys for her that she uses, and she still goes after us. She hasn't hurt anyone yet, but I want to nip this in the bud before it becomes an actual problem. The other one is eating things off the floor. We constantly watch her and try to stop her as we go through the house, and literally every chance she gets, she's just sniffing and licking things off the floor. It doesn't matter what it is, food, dirt clods, hair, dust, our floors are now more immaculately clean than they have ever been because she literally does this all the time when she's not on her bed or the couch. What's the best way to break her of that habit?
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Mar 12, 2012 20:09
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I have a 9 week old puppy who we are trying to crate train, but she doesn't seems to mind gong in her crate and sometimes goes out of her way to pee in her crate. What can I do to stop this behaviour?
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Mar 13, 2012 01:22
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neogeo0823 posted:I've got a 6 month old puppy that I brought home from the SPCA a few days ago. She's doing pretty well with basic commands so far, but she's got a couple of annoying habits that I would like a bit of advice on. What sort of toys do you use? If she's teething, she could be seeking soft stuff and her toys might be too hard. Encourage her to gnaw at her toys, not at you. If she makes contact with your skin, yelp and put her in a time out area. Praise enthusiastically if she chews a toy, and try to be proactive by offering her a variety of toys when you get home, etc; when she would be most likely to chew you. For eating things off the floor, I can only think of tethering her to you. I've not had to deal with that myself though.
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Mar 13, 2012 13:43
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I love when the behaviorist tells me that I'm doing everything right and she has nothing she wants me to change or work on more  Major and I went to our monthly group click-in last weekend and he was so much better than the first time. He spent more of the time chilling on his mat playing Look At That and we did some mini BAT work with a 3 legged pug and were able to get about 8 feet away with no problems (the pug is DR so we didn't push things). He started ramping up to have an outburst a couple times but I was able to redirect him easily and he let it go quickly. He didn't take offense to barking dogs and although he wanted to go in the room where they keep their office bunny he didn't scream about it like a wild beast. Much much better than the 3 meltdowns and oodles of stress signals from last time. A bunch of the dogs there this time were reactive towards people so there were a lot of "scary stranger" games going on. The strangers decided that they really wanted to work with Major too because he's a handsome guy and everyone wants to pet him all the time. They approached super cautiously and looked away and tossed treats and he just marched up to them and started self petting and leaning all over them I'm thinking by the end of the year we'll be able to be in regular group classes again and the behaviorist thinks he'll be ready to participate in some group hiking sessions she's leading in July. I can't wait to actually do normal dog things with my dog!
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Mar 13, 2012 16:56
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Awwww, good job, Major and Instant Jellyfish. It's always so wonderful to see results like that.
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Mar 13, 2012 17:51
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Fraction posted:What sort of toys do you use? If she's teething, she could be seeking soft stuff and her toys might be too hard. I'm progressively buying her a couple toys a week and seeing what she likes. At first, she really loved this stuffed bear that we gave her as a temp thing for the night, but now she just sleeps next to it a lot, which is in and of itself. Next, I bought her a basic plastic squeaky toy, but in 20 minutes she had one of its arms off. She still likes to chew it, but we have to be very careful to not let her swallow the pieces she tears off, so that's out. Next, I tried giving her a squeaky toy that my mom had from a past dog, and she played with it at first, but began ignoring it after a day or so. Today, I bought her a set of peanut butter Tuff Balls and she is in love with them. We'll see if/when she loses interest in those. I also bought her one of those toy balls that you fill with kibble that she's supposed to roll around to get it out, but she instantly tried to sink her teeth into it, and I'm not sure how to get her to take the hint that you need to roll it to get the food out. I don't want her chewing it open before she figures out that she needs to roll it, so any tips with that would be helpful.
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Mar 13, 2012 18:57
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neogeo0823 posted:I'm progressively buying her a couple toys a week and seeing what she likes. At first, she really loved this stuffed bear that we gave her as a temp thing for the night, but now she just sleeps next to it a lot, which is Our dog really likes hooves and antlers that are cut in half so he can get at the marrow easily. We ALWAYS have a couple hooves/antlers lying on the floor for him to chew on. He likes bully sticks too but giving him access to one all the time resulted in runny poop so it's just a special treat now (one every once in a while is fine). I posted in this very thread about my frustration with him biting at our shoelaces, especially when he got really excited. He eventually taught himself to redirect and now will pick up sticks if he's outside, or a hoof if he's inside, instead of mouthing at us. I can count on one hand the number of things he's inappropriately chewed up, and I think it's because he has constant access to things he likes to chew more (hooves are way more delicious than remote controls!).
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Mar 15, 2012 15:58
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| # ? Jun 5, 2024 09:45 |
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Yeah, I saw the antlers at a local pet shop while looking for new toys for her. They look nice, but the bigger ones for her are $20. I guess I'll need to let her try to chew one in the store next week and see if she goes for it. For now, she's still playing with the tuff balls, and we're constantly trying to teach her different things, so there's not a whole lot of time for her to be distracted. We're trying to crate train her this week, so any downtime is spent in there. She's already napping in it, but if I'm in the room, she can tend to start nibbling and chewing on the latch, so it's still progressing. As for chewing on us, she's not chewing a whole lot on me as of now. When she does, I yelp and whine in as high a pitch as I can manage, and I think she gets the message that it hurts me. The GF, on the other hand, has never had a dog before, and does the standard reaction of quickly retracting the body part away and pushing the dog, which is just telling her to keep on playing. So basically, what I'm saying is that I have a puppy and a girlfriend to train. Lovely. EDIT: I just taught Casey about rain. She had been out and I knew she didn't have to go to the bathroom, but she was scratching at the door because we hadn't taken our daily walk yet. The reason for this is because the moment I let her back in, it began pouring rain outside. Still, she wanted to go out for a walk, so I put on my coat, hooked her to her leash, and out we went. She made it out the door, but sat on the steps looking confused as hell at the water falling everywhere. Then she walked out onto the lawn and started freaking out at all the little pokes she was getting from the rain drops. Then it thundered, and she went "ah HELL naw" and ran straight back for the door. Learning is fun.
neogeo0823 fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Mar 15, 2012 |
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Mar 15, 2012 16:14
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