Help Please

[Luke Stevenson]

Hello everyone,

I'm in desperate need of help with my Lurcher/Collie/whippet/deerhound. Think she is more Collie mixed, she is from a rescue centre.
We have had her for over a year now. She is a clever dog and sits when she wants a treat and even gives her paw. Recently something has become worse though and that is when anyone leaves the house she turns into aggressive mode and goes for the person leaving, biting, jumping up but very aggressively, its not only confined to leaving the house but leaving a room also. She also gets very hyper when someone enters the house but not as aggressive. She barks at people walking down the driveway and gets quite frantic. At night she tends to get worse and is constantly barking at us.

I need advice urgently as can't really afford a trainer and want to curb this and see what methods people suggest. I have tried the ignore approach but she still bites, a firm no but still doesn't work.

All feedback much appreciated.

Many Thanks.

 

[JudyN]

How old is she? What do you feed her? What is she like when she's left alone in the house? (If you're not sure, record her.) Is she treat-oriented?

What is her nature like in general? Is she generally calm, or prone to nerves?

Also, what is her daily routine - how much exercise, training, play, etc. does she get? With her collie genes, she might need more mental exercise than your average lurcher.

 

[Luke Stevenson]

sorry only had her 6 months, she's a year old. Feed her dry food with a little mixed wet/meat. She seems to go to her bed but have had the occasional howl when left alone but the problem is with Covid she hasn't been left alone a lot. In general she is quite a hyper dog and seems to be on alert most of the time.

In the morning she has her food and has a play in the garden, play fetch. Goes for a walk in the evening but only on lead as she is too hyper with other dogs at the moment, but when we prepare her to go for a walk, she goes all quiet and doesn't want to go, she doesn't like it.

 

[JudyN]

Could you give the exact brand/variety of food, please? It's a long shot, but some foods/additives can make dogs hyper.

It sounds like she has some degree of separation anxiety. In a way, lockdown is the perfect time to work on this, as the general approach is to always work within their comfort zone, even if that is simply opening the front door and closing it again. And even if you can't 'go out' as often as you'd like to, you can stand silently outside your door for several minutes a few times a day... There's more info about SA here: Separation anxiety

I think she could do with a whole lot more structured play and mental stimulation - could you make a sort of agility course in your back garden, or mock-up a sort of flyball activity? Train her to retrieve hankies with a particular scent, or give her other scenting tasks? I know a couple who are very experienced lurcher owners who really struggled with a collie/kelpie x lurcher. The dog was eventually adopted by collie owners who introduced her to agility, etc., and she became a reformed character.

I'm wondering if you could work on her reactivity when you leave the room by regularly standing up, throwing her a treat, and sitting down again. If she's then happy in anticipation of a treat when you stand up, you could take a step towards the door before giving her the treat, then sit down again... and so on, until you leave the jar of treats outside the room and have to go to get one. But it does sound as if your dog's issues go a bit deeper than this, and I'm not an expert so hope that someone else (@Hemlock ?) can make suggestions.

Finally, my dog has had a similar issue when my hubby gets up to go to bed (I go up a while earlier to read). We've not totally managed to fix it, but you might find some useful advice in the thread I started: Bedtime problems

 

[Hemlock]

I'd be going for scenting games in the garden rather than exciting stuff. Strikes me ( and I stress I only have what you have written to go on) that she needs to learn about being calm while enjoying using her brain. She does sound very "collie" and bear in mind that she may not be the mix of breeds you have been told - it might just have been guesswork.

You can get agility equipment to use in the garden BUT use it not as an exciting activity but as a calming one. Set weave poles far apart, forget high things and jumps but teach her to climb on a low tub and wait, fill a garden trug with water and encourage her to splash in it with a paw.

Somewhere on the Board (JudyN pleeease find) is a list of actvities that will tire dogs out because they are using their brains rather than them getting all fired up running about.

 

[JudyN]

OK, maybe flyball's not such a good idea then - if a dog's not loopy when he starts doing it he can end up loopy!
Here's the link Hemlock mentioned: Mental enrichment for dogs

Another couple of things: lurchers can be horrible as teenagers but improve enormously as they mature. Deerhound lurchers seem to have a reputation for this, though I'm not sure why, as deerhounds seem laid back. Also, if there are young children in the household and you think there's a risk someone could get badly bitten, then you may have no choice but to either get a behaviourist in or rehome.

Kikopup on Youtube has a few vids that might help teach a calm settle:

 

[Luke Stevenson]

Thank you for the response both of you. I'm going to try the things you said in the garden tomorrow so will keep you updated. Fingers crossed we can get to the bottom of this! I will try get some video captures so you can see her behaviour .

Many thanks