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I have a pee problem. My boyfriend and I got a Borzoi as a gift from my parents around Thanksgiving. He's 1 year old and had little to no training other than some house training and standard manners like "don't jump because you're the size of a full grown person." I have trained and rehabilitated many dogs before in my life, but always from fixing problems like shyness and socialization. I've never had to deal with the opposite end of the spectrum. We have another dog who is 7 years old. He's half Borzoi and is very calm, cool, and well the most perfect dog ever since we worked with him. Here's the problem. The new dog, Hyperion, is great for my boyfriend. No accidents in the house at all. However, when I'm home the dog will pee on anything and everything. I will take Hype outside and he'll pee immediately for me. I'll think things are great and then I'll come inside and 10 minutes or 2 hours later he'll pee on the couch or in the bed. And it's not just on our furniture, it's in his crate too. If I go out in the middle of the day and crate him I'll always find him sleeping in a big puddle of piss when I get home. He has no shame! Mind you, this does not happen if the boyfriend isn't working and we leave him together. Just me. Only me. As far as training him in general goes, I have been doing a bit of clicker training but I have gotten very frustrated. I give him treats when he uses the bathroom outside still, but I haven't even been able to so much as teach him "sit." It's been like 5-6 weeks and I try every day. The boyfriend doesn't try to train at all though. He was into it for like the first week and then stopped. And also Hype is getting a lot better with our cats, as I think he's learned his lesson from the multiple scratches on his big nose. Any advice appreciated, as it's clear me training him not to go in the house is not the issue here. Oh, and he's not fixed yet. We're scheduling to have it done this month. I thought it might be some sort of marking thing trying to get dominance from our older dog, but why does he only do this when I'm home? 
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Jan 2, 2011 22:57
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 06:59 |
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Emasculatrix posted:Dogs pee when they're scared or unsure how the situation will play out. He's nervous around you, and is peeing so you'll leave him alone. I don't think this is true because he always does it when I'm out of the room. Say I leave and go to the kitchen or I run to the bathroom myself. I rarely ever catch him doing it since it's always when I'm gone for a split second. Also I really don't think he's nervous around me because he's a super cuddle bug and pretty defensive if other dogs approach me (we're working on that). I was wondering if it had something to do with training. My training methods are the standard click/reward for command. I don't do any classic training as I know sighthounds aren't really good with that. The only times I've lost my cool were the two times he peed on the couch. I know it was wrong but god it's like rage took over.  I am starting to question my method when I found out his history though. He was an only puppy and raised with another litter of Bull Mastiffs. How I got a Borzoi that acts and howls like a Mastiff is beyond me. I don't know ANYTHING about mastiffs. Oy  As far as the crate goes, it's as big as I could get and it is still a little small for him. He's fine laying down but he definitely bumps his back when he stands up. He is a super tall dog at over 3'.
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Jan 3, 2011 05:58
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I'm back - we've developed another behavior problem with Hyperion the 1yo untrained Borzoi. On a walk one day we got charged by a huge bulldog. Before this he was just excited to see other dogs and was well socialized. Now he /completely/ freaks out when another dog is in sight. The other day he went after a very calm little dog on a leash and pulled so hard he yanked me off my feet and actually dragged me down the sidewalk. It hurt. The woman walking the little dog had to catch him in a neck hold >< I am not strong enough to hold him back! I know the whole distraction training method, but I can't seem to get him distracted. Any suggestions? And the "safe distance" deal doesn't work either, since it's anywhere in his line of sight. At this point I can't take him to the vet to get neutered, I can't get him to obedience class like planned, I can't get him on any walks for exercise, and i'm afraid he'll hurt someone's dog...
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Jan 11, 2011 00:27
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Hello! I'm back with my Borzoi behavioral problems. I'm having a rough time finding a way to train him that works due to some limitations and him being dumb as a brick (but super loving). There are two main things I would love to get opinions on. A little about his history though; Hyperion is just shy of 2 years old. We've had him about 1 year now. He came from a show handlers home and only saw one other dog. He was also an only puppy so he really has poor bite inhibition. We have one other dog who is nice and corrective but generally ignores him. 1) His reactivity to other dogs while on the leash. When I got him he was fine, but then a week later we were attacked by a pit bull. Now he is super reactive when he sees other dogs while he's on the leash. I don't see him as aggressive even though he bites (the biting is from the only puppy thing). We have him on a muzzle and unfortunately a pronged collar. I have to use the pronged collar because he is SO STRONG and it's the only device I've found that won't let him pull me off my feet and drag me down the road (literally, this has happened). And sometimes he'll react even when he just thinks he sees another dog or hears keys dangling like a leash noise. Treats work a little bit but he still freaks out. I feed him treats until he reacts to the other dog then I stop. The problem is, I don't have a friend with a dog that he's not used to and I hate walking around for 3 hours hunting for dogs I may or may not find. Besides when he gets tired after a really long walk he doesn't give a poo poo about other dogs. As for introducing him to a new dog indoors, I've found all I have to do is distract him with treats when the other dog comes in the door. He doesn't even look at said strange dog. We did this just last week and I was very proud of him. Once I stopped with the treats and let him out of his crate he was a little invasive with the sniffing but he was corrected. He allowed the other dog to sniff him as well. 2) Seperation anxiety. OH MY GOD. This dog doesn't know what he's doing to himself. So the second I leave the driveway apparently he howls for ages. The second I close the bathroom door or go outside even, he'll pee or poop even though he's housetrained and just went out 30 minutes prior. When I'm present he'll hold it all day until I take him out. I don't know how to fix this because a) I'm not ever there when he does it and b) he's housetrained so it's got to be something I'm unfamiliar with, like seperation anxiety. For a while I could leave him out of the crate when I went to work and just had to worry about cleaning up some poop when I got home. Now I can't anymore, because the fucker learned he could jump the kitchen gate. He not only counter surfs, but opens the drat cabinets with HIS LONG NOSE and eats EVERYTHING. Not to mention it's dangerous for him because he eats tinfoil and also breaks glasses which he then continues to walk over for a very long time. I came home twice to his spaws being completely bloody and his nose covered in uncooked ramen sauce packets. I'd like to leave him out of the crate. And just like the potty training, he doesn't go near the kitchen when I'm home. He's been taught the command "out of the kitchen." Any advice is appreciated. He's come a long long way since we got him but now I feel kinda stuck. It's really important we get this fixed, or manageable in the next 2 months because we're moving to San Francisco. This means lots of other dog encounters and a landlord that is probably not as cool as ours now. Thanks in advance! edited for very appropriate image.
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Aug 5, 2011 21:08
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Fraction posted:What sort or 'style' of reactivity does he have? Lunging, barking, snarling, snapping, biting? All of the above? You say his biting is related to a lack of bite inhibition, but even so he really wouldn't greet a dog by biting them simply because of that - that is aggression. He gets a fair amount of activity. Currently he has four dogs we exercise him with. Sadly he gets no off leash time because dog parks aren't an option for him. I am currently clicker training him. We go on daily walks or jogs. We also provide him with toys and raw hide. We have a new issue of him barking through the window for no reason though. I call him and use a happy voice and pet him when he gets near me but it doesn't seem to stop him at all. He'll just do quieter barks. His reactivity is LOTS of lunging. He growls and barks and jumps straight up in the air like a gazelle. He's super hard to handle. The reason I have to use the prong collar is that I'm a tiny gal and he pulls me down and drags me. I've got scars and been terribly bruised. With the pronged collar I can handle him and not get injured. quote:If he knows your friends dogs, then why not arrange a meeting outside? You can work on approaching a dog that he probably won't recognise from a vast distance, and slowly decrease the space between them. When he realises that he knows this dog, he'll be thrilled. Your dog doesn't have to be reactive to another dog in order to practice the basics of counter-conditioning with it. If he meets a dog he knows on the leash he doesn't have a problem, so unfortunately that wouldn't work. I did just call up the Borzoi rescue woman that lives about half an hour away. She agreed to work with me one evening with her older and calm Borzoi at her place. quote:What do you mean, invasive with sniffing? And how did you correct that? Oh this isn't really a problem. I just told forceful sniffing is a slight dominance thing, though he's definitely not the dominant one in the house. That would be my 8 year old Silken Windhound who is totally chill. quote:If he's non-destructive outside of the crate (other than counter surfing, etc) then could you shut him into a different room, so he doesn't have access at all to the kitchen? Maybe try shutting him in the bathroom, or your bedroom, etc. My pup used to have serious crate fear, going from silent to screaming in seconds, but would generally be quiet if just left in a room when I had to go. I can't. The only room to put him in is the bedroom and if I do that he pees on the mattress. I have a very nice mattress
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Aug 7, 2011 03:36
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Kudaros posted:We recently adopted a second great dane, Leon. This guy is 15 months old, 120 lbs. Kind of nervous, energetic, ill-mannered, poorly trained and all that. On top of it, his former owners fed us some... inaccurate information concerning his relationship with cats. i just want to say I'm sorry and know how you feel. I was fed a lot of misinformation too, especially about the cats and I have four. My method was to put my dog in his crate and put the cat in a carrier next to them, so they could see each other and the cat couldn't hightail it to the closet. When our dog started ignoring the cat I'd give him a treat. The cat sure wasn't happy about it but it helped him get used to them. he still tries to play with them but now it's as friends and not prey. They still hate his guts though
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Aug 7, 2011 03:38
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Had this huge reply typed out and GOOGLE ATE IT. Dammit. So this will be less detailed.Fraction posted:It sucks that you can't give him off leash time. I honestly don't know how you guys with leash laws deal with exercising reactive dogs, I couldn't really take either of mine to a specific dog park but Lola can run around at our normal park. Could you maybe add in another 30 minute jog or two in the daily schedule? Ideally you want him as tired as possible whilst working on this. Basically here there are no leash laws so all the dog parks are dog parks and none of them are fenced in. Had I known this I might not have moved here. It's hard to exercise sighthounds without a drat fence. You just have to pray they come back. quote:This sounds like a mix of boredom/frustration and learned aggression. If he was bored one day, saw some dogs out of the window and barked at them, and then they went away, then barking out the window is a good thing in his eyes. He could be barking because he's bored, and/or to keep other dogs from approaching, because if his barks make other dogs go then why not keep on barking to make sure none come past? I can put the shades down, but blocking would be impossible. He'll still hear the rattling of leashes or keys through the window but I'll do the best I can while not turning this place into a sauna. Any ideas on how to entertain him? He goes on a daily jog unless my back hurts then it's a walk. Each 30 min in length. He gets plenty of human interaction but the other dogs ignore him and seem to just want to cuddle and sleep with us humans. He also gets kongs and toys. We clicker train him 2-3 times a day. I have to admit he's a lot better behaved with me than my boyfriend because my boyfriend is not willing to interact with him or put forth any effort. He just wants him to magically be like our other dogs and act like a housecat. quote:Will he not even react if they're far enough away that he knows "a dog" is there, but not too close so that he realises he knows the dog? Or is he only really reactive when dogs are pretty close? It could be that he's actually picking up cues from you, too - if you know that he knows and will be okay with the other dog then you're relaxed, and so he's more inclined to relax. Is it just you who walks him, and if not is he the same reactivity-wise with other people? Far away he doesn't even notice them. It's not until 3/4 to 1/2 of a neighborhood block that he starts barking, and about 100 ft when he starts lunging, sometimes less. This is a huge improvement from where he used to be, but something that needs to be fixed. His reactivity is more calm with me than when my boyfriend walks him, so my boyfriend quit. He doesn't know how to deal with it and I'm not sure he's willing to try. So I've been training my boyfriend by having him walk the other two dogs while I walk Hyperion. Then I do the clicker and give him a blow job when we get back. We had a good encounter for BAT last night. No reaction til we were 20ft from the other dog, who was sitting on the porch. I did the BAT method and praised him until we got too close then turned around and walked across the street. There he was going crazy over some people in a garden because got soooo wound up. Once he calmed I had him sit, clicked, gave him a treat, then asked the people to come over and pet him. I figured this would be a good example to him of how not every thing is a spooky scary monster. He usually doesn't bark at people but it was twilight and that's the worst time to take him out.
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Aug 7, 2011 21:53
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Edit: Double post
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Aug 7, 2011 21:55
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a life less posted:There's this blog that I really like that deals with a lot of reactivity issues called Reactive Champion. Today's post is about the possibility of medication. Some of the things the author mentioned reminded me of your problems. Check out today's post, and maybe poke around some of her older entries. Wow, thanks. I am seriously considering putting him on medication since the move to San Fran is so soon and we are running out of time. His behavior might get us kicked out of apartments or worse. He reacted today on our run and someone called him a bucking bronco. Not too far from the truth. Now to find the money for the vet bill...oh lordie.
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Aug 8, 2011 02:45
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 06:59 |
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Fraction posted:So he's getting either a half hour walk or jog, or both? If the former that doesn't sound like much for s young hound. Would you be able to give him another half hour walk or two? Even if he usually lounges around, extra exercise will tire him out more and make him easier to manage. On good days he gets an hour walk & run but most days it's 30 minutes. It's limited to my health, to be honest. I suffer back problems. when I'm feeling good he gets lots of exercise and so do I. I like the hide and seek idea........if he was smart enough to get it. Oy At least sometimes he'll play fetch! He does love his kong. Yay for kongs!I think we're going to try medication since we have to get him in shape so quickly and he's been stalled for so many months. It's not something I want him on permanently but at this point I think it would really help his separation anxiety and reaction.
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Aug 9, 2011 01:24
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