Difficult Miniature Schnauzer - Help Please??

[Clare4883]

Hello,

I have a 2 year old schnauzer who is the most loving, affectionate and kind natured little character however this is ONLY with people he knows and trusts. With people that he has not met before or who he is unsure of he is a nightmare, he constantly barks and growls at them and on a few occasions has gone to bite there feet!! As you can imagine this is not ideal and my husband and I are really concerned with this problem, if anyone has had a similar problem or has any ideas on how we can stop this problem it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BigPaws]

Where does this happen, when new people come in to your house or when you're out in the park, walking down the street, etc?

PS. Welcome to the forum, bring your friends, etc!

 

[Clare4883]

Hello!! It's anywhere although the majority of the issues are while at home.

 

[eingana]

Hi Clare

Have you had him since he was a puppy? If you have, when did this start? Can you identify what initially happened around the same time as this started?

What have you tried to date to alleviate this behaviour? How do you introduce new people to him?

What exactly happens? Do you attempt to stop him, and how?

Sorry to ask loads of questions, but there are a lot of variables here.

 

[Clare4883]

Yes' we've had him since he was 10 weeks old and the funny thing is is that he used to love feet and often used to fall asleep on our feet!

I can't recall 'a moment' when he started to have these behavioural issues however over the past year it has become increasingly worse and he has even drawn blood on my friends foot before.

We have tried lots of things - getting people that come into our house to give him treats, praise him when he is behaving, keeping him on a lead etc but nothing seems to be helping.

I think it's more of a fear thing with him (Ian) as he tends to hide behind me when people come into the house and jump up on my leg pawing me however if the people in our house make any sudden movements he just lunges for there feet, we have been telling him off in the past however we have been told not to do this as it can make things worse!

 

[eingana]

I've got a really big scar on my ankle from a GSD that behaved similarly when I made the mistake of moving. She was across the room, bitten and back across the room in under a second, and it was quite clearly a fear response. I'd take things much further back than allowing him to meet the visitors to be honest and look at keeping him calm from much earlier on in the interaction.

Have you tried combining visitors ignoring him completely (whilst still being the source of good things) with him being unable to get to them?

What I'd do is to install a baby gate between his bed (in the kitchen or somewhere) and the room where visitors are going to come in, so he can observe but he has no physical way of getting towards them, and then I'd get guests to ignore him completely apart from flicking treats towards him occasionally and just talk to you. No body language either direction and no eye contact between him and the guest.

If he is calm then he can stay at the baby gate, if he barks then you or your husband go, put a lead on and take him somewhere else behind the baby gate then shut him in, give him a time out for a minute or two and then try bringing him back. If he comes along without barking then he can come back behind the baby gate, but the moment he starts barking or getting worked up he goes back into the time out.

It may take 15, 20 or more times through doing this before he gets the message that he can be at the gate but only if he's calm, and that's likely to drive you to distraction the first time you do it, but it's important that he does get the message. No need to say anything to him or to tell him off, just calmly remove him and put him in time out repeatedly until he realises that he won't be allowed to make a fuss and be around people. Potentially a very long hour or two, but it should only need to happen in this way once.

During this time whoever isn't doing the moving backwards and forwards should sit calmly with the visitor, paying attention to each other and with calm body language, chatting quietly. Again, don't pay him any attention or look at all bothered by whatever fuss he's making.

When he can sit calmly at the baby gate then he can have lots of treats flicked his direction by you and the visitor(s), but they still aren't going to look at him or pay him attention. Neutral body language and no eye contact takes away from whatever threat he feels them to be.

After you have done this with several visitors (it should get easier each time you do it) and he's prepared to sit calmly behind the gate then you can move on to allowing him a little nearer to them on a lead, again with treats being just gently dropped by visitors that are ignoring him. If he kicks up a fuss or starts getting over excited or barking he goes back behind the baby gate and if he doesn't calm down there then he goes into the time out room. Most dogs don't need to go back into the time out room, just as far back as their most recent step (in this case the baby gate) for them to be calm.

Teaching him that he will only be allowed to get closer if he's calm, and at the same time reinforcing his good behaviour and making the visitors look a lot less threatening with some fabulous tasting treats and no 'issuing threats' by looking at him, should at least help him to understand what behaviour is accceptable. It's not easy to do this sort of thing without showing your frustration or getting annoyed by it all, but it sounds like you love your boy and if you want things to improve in his future then it's a good investment to make which uses the removal from the room as the only negative, so no telling him off is needed.

I hope you find a way through this for the sake of your visitors' ankles

 

[kathy2007]

He seems to be uncomfortable with new people in his home and feels strongly about it. He just wants them to go away. I would suggest you seek a behaviourist in your area to see what's actually going on when he does these behaviours as there is so much that needs to be seen to see triggers and his signals ect. I would suggest you ask your vet for one he recommends to you or you can go to. I am in norfolk and I guess you are far away. Should you seek a trainer behaviourist they would need to make you aware its an ognoing process for life and they should be happy to be there for for the rest if his life if you need support. Hope this helps

 

[banana]

Great Advice!