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What are you working on?

Josie

Josie

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We would all love the perfect dog but in reality that often isn’t the case! Although we love our dogs dearly, there is usually something that we would rather they didn’t!


Our lab Dennis always barks at the doorbell! Is this a good thing or bad thing?


What are you working on? Let us know and we can keep checking in on everyones progress!
 
As to the barking, I think its a good thing, if people looking for places to break in ring they note you have a barker and not wanting to attract attention they leave you alone. However with my Whippet all she does is rush to stand near the door wagging her tail not a peep out of her. In fact the only times she makes any noise is during play and when she Roo Roo's.
 
Biker John said:
As to the barking, I think its a good thing, if people looking for places to break in ring they note you have a barker and not wanting to attract attention they leave you alone. However with my Whippet all she does is rush to stand near the door wagging her tail not a peep out of her. In fact the only times she makes any noise is during play and when she Roo Roo's.
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Aww maybe she’s the silent but deadly type!? ;)
 
After we had decorators in for a couple of weeks Jasper was stressed out and hated people coming to the house. Unfortunately his way of dealing with this was by trying, with menaces, to stop me getting up and answering the door:mad: It took a few weeks, but we fixed it - every time OH or my sons came home they rang the doorbell before coming in and then gave J a treat. He still expects a treat when anyone comes to the house now!

As for what we're working on: I'd like to teach him to stand to the side of a path/narrow lane to let cyclists or cars past when necessary. At the moment, when I lead him in to the side, his bum swings out into the path, like a badly steered narrow boat, effectively blocking the path. I haven't worked out the best method yet... his rear-end awareness isn't great and he doesn't like being shoved into position.
 
It’s crazy to think what happens to them when they’re stressed. Glad you were able to sort it @JudyN - they know when they’re onto a winner with treats!

Den has no rear awareness either! Especially for bikers, so I feel your pain!! If I don’t catch him in time he just kind of wanders into the path of oncomers.
 
Josie, A Whippet is normally silent ok but deadly, never. Unless of course she sees a rabbit or squirrel. As to the cyclist problem, yes she is the same. She is very good in that if she sees a cyclist heading towards her she come up to me and waits, she often sees them before I do, but her back end can often be stuck out and needs guiding in.
 
We are working on closing internal doors because Mr F has a terrible habit of leaving them open so Timber may as well do it. We are getting there with pushing them closed; pulling them will be harder.
 
I am working on- Not pulling my arms out on a walk
- Not barking at every other dog he meets on a walk,
- Not lunging whilst barking at every other dog he meets on a walk.
- Not twirling like a demented ballerina whilst lunging and barking at other dogs he meets on a walk.
- Not barking at every sound he hears in the house, fridge clicking on, bass on TV...
- Finding food that he can eat!!!!
 
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doggie1 said:
I am working on- Not pulling my arms out on a walk
- Not barking at every other dog he meets on a walk,
- Not lunging whilst barking at every other dog he meets on a walk.
- Not twirling like a demented ballerina whilst lunging and barking at other dogs he meets on a walk.
- Not barking at every sound he hears in the house, fridge clicking on, bass on TV...
- Finding food that he can eat!!!!
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Bottom one sorted - I hope it's OK to say that, it usually backfires on me.
Second one up, a bit better, mostly sounds outside or hearing something bang upstairs or on the telly. As for the rest, no he is just as bad, in fact worse. I don't know what to do with him.
 
doggie1 said:
As for the rest, no he is just as bad, in fact worse. I don't know what to do with him.
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For reacting to other dogs, have you looked at BAT (behaviour adjustment training)? You start off by never getting close enough to a dog that he reacts, and when he sees one you reward him for looking at you, rather than the dog. Eventually over time you can reduce the distance. The difficult bit tends to be avoiding other dogs in the first place! There's a good website with more details here Behavior Adjustment Training: A New Approach to Problem Behaviors
 
not pulling on the lead... and barking at cats but its only nature...
 
Recall! He used to be brilliant but he hit 6 months and now ignores me most of the time. If there is another dog in sight then I've lost him.

Little wretch
 
JudyN said:
For reacting to other dogs, have you looked at BAT (behaviour adjustment training)? You start off by never getting close enough to a dog that he reacts, and when he sees one you reward him for looking at you, rather than the dog. Eventually over time you can reduce the distance. The difficult bit tends to be avoiding other dogs in the first place! There's a good website with more details here Behavior Adjustment Training: A New Approach to Problem Behaviors
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I've looked at all of that Judy, he's great in the house most of the time. He looks at me, will sit and wait for his dinner, he will sit and stay when I've ut a treat on the floor a few feet away from him. He will look at me, sit on command. As soon as he sees a dog outside, I don't exist. He just goes into a frenzied barking session. I try look at me, turn him, but he fights so much to look at the dog and bark. Doesn't stop me from trying but it does wear a bit thin after a while.

It's such a shame, I feel like we're finally bonding in the house, even on the walk when there are no scents or dogs. I've taken him two behaviorists and now he goes to a group class. He barks the whole time. He has to be turned and taken from the group, then brought back gradually. Last week he just lost the plot with the barking. As soon as all dogs were off the lead he was fine, running around then just playing on his own with a ball. We think he's definitely been a hunting dog in the past and I think we're fighting that. Can a hunting dog be domesticated?
 
doggie1 said:
We think he's definitely been a hunting dog in the past and I think we're fighting that. Can a hunting dog be domesticated?
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Do you mean a dog that's been used for hunting? If so, then they should be as good with other dogs as any other dog would, and they'd have been taught when to hunt. He sounds like he might just be overaroused and excited by other dogs. I'd guess there's a distance at which he can see another dog and not react, even if it's half a mile away. It might be that his group classes are simply too arousing to be of benefit to him right now, because every time he gets worked up, his arousal levels can remain high for a day or more. But I'm not an expert, and I haven't seen him - this is just what I've picked up along the way.
 
I would agree with what @JudyN suggests above. He will have an invisible radius of space around him where he feels secure (called flight distance; anything within that radius is a threat that his first choice is to flee) . Find out what that is and keep him far enough away from other dogs that he is relaxed. Reward his calm behaviour.
doggie1 said:
I try look at me, turn him, but he fights so much to look at the dog and bark.
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If he reacts like this or even at all, you are too close. Gradually, over weeks and months, not days, work on reducing the distance. But - be aware that if your dog has had a stressful episode the stress hormone can stay in the body for up to 48 hours so a distance he was comfortable with the day before might be too close that day. So the safe distance can change, watch his body language. For that reason also you might want to avoid all triggers for at least 48 hours before you start working on this so he has an empty stress tank.

You might find this interesting - it's quite in depth but a good read.

Start Here - Care for Reactive Dogs
 
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