I Have Bad Dogs

[Guest Shermanator]

Echo is a mess, she's a bundle full of excitement, and I am losing control.

1. Walking does not solve her problem. She has a bad leg, and cannot walk very far. However, we do short spurts of play in the backyard.

2. She is so excitable. When we come home, or someone comes to the door, or its time to eat, etc., she's nuts. Jumping barking, bouncing all around, and putting he paws on me, standing on her hind legs.

3. Getting into the trash. All. The. Time.

4. Dictating when she wants to eat through barking, whining, and jumping on me.

5. Barking. All. The. Time.

6. Travel is starting to pick up her habits. Monkey see, monkey do.

 

We let them get away with it, since we kept telling ourselves, they are young and new to us, and we're seeing their personalities emerge. No, we realized, Echo's rude. Our fault. And, we are afraid of making Travel learn, sit, stay, down, since she is a spooky girl, We've made progress with her, and are afraid she'll freak out, and return to her spookiness.

 

I do not know where to start. The boys were so good, we never worried about them. Do I clicker train, or what? Where is the best place to start?

 

Don't get me wrong, when Echo's lazy, she's reeeeeaaalllllly lazy. That's more time than when she's beresrk. However, her berserk behavior is ridiculous, and we are losong control.

 

No agression or snarkiness, but when she jumped on the exterminator yesterday, and freaked him out, I realized we have a problem we created, we jus have to solve it.

[Guest happygrey]

She sounds just like our Bentley. How young is she? Bentley is turning 3 in July.

 

I found a basic obedience class with him to be very helpful. In some areas he's improved, but the jumping up on people has been the hardest to correct. He's definitely not there yet. I have solved the jumping with others by always leashing him when people come into our house. I can control his jumping best if he's leashed.

 

I'm interested to hear what other ideas people offer you.

[Batmom]

Echo is a mess, she's a bundle full of excitement, and I am losing control.

1. Walking does not solve her problem. She has a bad leg, and cannot walk very far. However, we do short spurts of play in the backyard.

She needs more of whatever exercise and mental stimulation she *can* handle. You might consider one of the interactive toys (treat ball, Nina Ottoson game, etc.) for @ 1/3 of her daily food allotment.

 

2. She is so excitable. When we come home, or someone comes to the door, or its time to eat, etc., she's nuts. Jumping barking, bouncing all around, and putting he paws on me, standing on her hind legs.

Teach her what you want her TO do -- sit, lie down, whatever. Reward that and ignore the rest. Might also want to teach her an "Easy" for meeting new people so she has some guidance in behaving around them. Despite her bad leg, an obedience class might be a good option for you -- positive methods, and one where the instructor understands she may need to take a break or opt out of some exercises.

 

 

3. Getting into the trash. All. The. Time.

That one's easy. Put it where she can't get it. In the garage if you have one, behind a latched door ....

 

4. Dictating when she wants to eat through barking, whining, and jumping on me.

Teach her what you want her TO do, such as "Go lie down." Or (what's done in our house), a sorrowful "It's just not time yet" and ignore their antics until the proper time. If we caved, we'd be feeding dinner about 3 hours after breakfast, and we'd have beach balls rather than greyhounds!

 

5. Barking. All. The. Time.

If she doesn't get a response, she'll likely eventually stop. Be strong .....

 

 

 

[Guest zombrie]

I think Batmom said it all!

For the jumping, my golden does that. We just turn around with our arms crossed and ignore him until he calms down.

[Remolacha]

I got Fletcher to stop jumping on me by turning my back to him when he jumped, and ignoring him until he calmed down. However, he only jumped on me, not on anyone else, so that might not be much help. Sallie barks when I come home, and she's teaching Molly , I let her bark a few barks, then say "enough". At first I had to yell (to be heard over the barks ), but she has gotten much better.

 

I think both your girls are still pretty young? That could be part of it, but they need to learn good manners now Batmom is right, the best long term solution is to teach them to do something else, that's much easier than trying to get them to stop doing something!

[Guest RobinAZ]

Hi Kelly! My GreyCee jumps when she's excited. I squirt her with water and tell her NO JUMP and she's getting a little bit better. Now I just have to pick up the bottle and she stops. Turning my back on her doesn't work - she has jumped on my back and you should see the scratches I've had. Ouch!

 

Layla now bounces up and down when it's time to go for a walk. But she doesn't jump. Just bounces on her front legs and it's SO cute! I think our girls have come a long way.

 

P.S. Their birthday is Monday, don't forget!

Edited May 7, 2011 by RobinAZ

[greysmom]

Regarding your spooky girl - Part of helping her be less anxious is giving her more confidence. So teaching her things that she can be successful at, either through clicker training or other methods that work for her, will actually be a positive experience.

 

For you more - exhuberant! - girl, it's really all about consistency and commitment. And most of it is retraining YOUSELF in how you react (or don't react) to her. Turn you back and ignore her when she jumps until she stops. This may take a looooong time. Put the garbage where she can't get to it, We have to lock ours in the bathroom when we leave. Ignore her and redirect her when she barks and does other behaviors that you don't want - give her a command or a toy for distraction. You will need to keep up on these probably for the rest of her life. I need to stay on top of my excitable rude girl 24/7 to make sure she stays in control.

 

Once she learns what's acceptable behavior she'll probably be more calm overall. I second the obedience class option for her. It's relatively low impact for her leg, will give her some much needed mental stimulation and some good socialization. Be sure to find a class that's only positive reinforcement, and talk to the trainer beforehand about her physical limitations.

 

None of these behaviors are un-correctable. You just have to do it. Make sure everyone in the house is on board with the new training regimen too, or she'll be constantly backsliding.

[BatterseaBrindl]

None of these behaviors are un-correctable. You just have to do it. Make sure everyone in the house is on board with the new training regimen too, or she'll be constantly backsliding.

 

This!!

EVERYONE in the house must be 'on the same page'. All the time.

Consistency is a huge key. HUGE.

 

Batmom had some really good ideas.

 

And yes...take them to some classes.

If the shy one is too shy to deal with group classes, you can teach her at home, doing the same lessons that Echo learned in class.

[Guest june]

Regarding your spooky girl - Part of helping her be less anxious is giving her more confidence. So teaching her things that she can be successful at, either through clicker training or other methods that work for her, will actually be a positive experience.

 

Yes, this!

 

I have a girl who was a spook and it is amazing how much confidence they can gain with some positive training!

 

You said it

We let them get away with it, since we kept telling ourselves, they are young and new to us, and we're seeing their personalities emerge. No, we realized, Echo's rude. Our fault.

 

On the positive side you recognize the problem and want to change it. You CAN change this by teaching them what you expect and what you will not accept. Positive reinforcement for the behavior you want and ignoring or a firm "no" for the behavior you don't want will go a long way.

 

Good luck,

june

[buddibear]

You are making me nervious about picking up a 2yo intact (for now) male from a "farm". A new foster For sure the crate will be back in the house. I've always had returns or older greys that were "easy" I'm hoping the pack will show how to be a pet. A standard Poodle rules the house and won't put up with a brat.

[Guest Shermanator]

You are making me nervious about picking up a 2yo intact (for now) male from a "farm". A new foster For sure the crate will be back in the house. I've always had returns or older greys that were "easy" I'm hoping the pack will show how to be a pet. A standard Poodle rules the house and won't put up with a brat.

 

The problem with Echo, is we let her get away with too much. When she came home, she was an agressive fear biter. She was so insecure. With lots of love and attention, and us understanding her insecurity triggers, she stopped biting and snarling at everything new (dogs and people,) and has become a lovely little girl.

 

Thank you for all the great ideas! Training claases are out right now, as $$ is tight. However, DH & I are on board, and had some success lawst night. We were out and came home, Echo went ballistic as usual- barking jumping, racing around, etc. We totally ignored her for @ 10 minutes doing quick chores- garbage out, picking up the house, etc. She totally mellowed out and settled down. When we did finally acknowledge her, she was a little excited, but not totally out of her mind insane! Yay us!

[Guest Shermanator]

 

Layla now bounces up and down when it's time to go for a walk. But she doesn't jump. Just bounces on her front legs and it's SO cute! I think our girls have come a long way.

 

P.S. Their birthday is Monday, don't forget!

 

Ha. That's exactly like Travel! Its funny how identical in behavior they are! (Travel & Layla are littlermates.)

With Travel, I just get so excited when she does ANYTHING. She is such a little spooky girl (like her sister,) I am exicted for any outgoing behavior. Once she continues to become more confident, that's going to spell trouble! So, I am trying to at least get Echo controlled, and Travel should follow her lead. I have a lot of monkey-see-monkey-do around here!

[Batmom]

Good job! Persevering can be hard work, but eventually they'll get the idea.

[Guest ReleaseTheHound]

On the trash issue, I had good success with a stainless steel kitchen-size can with a foot pedal to open the lid. Kelley did figure out how to open it by stepping on the pedal, but when she put her head in the can she could not keep the pedal down, so the lid bonked her on the head....instant consequence with no one else nearby to blame. Eight years later the trash remains safe.

 

Of course there are other challenges. She figured out how to open the carabiner I used to secure the food bin. So I put it out of her reach. In the apartment in Korea, she learned how to climb through the window from the living room into the kitchen onto the counter to get to the top of the refrigerator.

[Guest HHHounds]

We have a stainless steel butterfly trash can that is hound proof - expensive but worth it!

[krissn333]

I eventually resorted to just babygating the dogs out of the kitchen and I keep the garbage can in there. We had a SimpleHuman step can and Ace was still able to open it. She figured out if she rubbed her snoot on it long enough, she could lift the lid.

[sobesmom]

Echo is a mess, she's a bundle full of excitement, and I am losing control.

1. Walking does not solve her problem. She has a bad leg, and cannot walk very far. However, we do short spurts of play in the backyard.

She needs more of whatever exercise and mental stimulation she *can* handle. You might consider one of the interactive toys (treat ball, Nina Ottoson game, etc.) for @ 1/3 of her daily food allotment.

 

2. She is so excitable. When we come home, or someone comes to the door, or its time to eat, etc., she's nuts. Jumping barking, bouncing all around, and putting he paws on me, standing on her hind legs.

Teach her what you want her TO do -- sit, lie down, whatever. Reward that and ignore the rest. Might also want to teach her an "Easy" for meeting new people so she has some guidance in behaving around them. Despite her bad leg, an obedience class might be a good option for you -- positive methods, and one where the instructor understands she may need to take a break or opt out of some exercises.

 

 

3. Getting into the trash. All. The. Time.

That one's easy. Put it where she can't get it. In the garage if you have one, behind a latched door ....

 

4. Dictating when she wants to eat through barking, whining, and jumping on me.

Teach her what you want her TO do, such as "Go lie down." Or (what's done in our house), a sorrowful "It's just not time yet" and ignore their antics until the proper time. If we caved, we'd be feeding dinner about 3 hours after breakfast, and we'd have beach balls rather than greyhounds!

 

5. Barking. All. The. Time.

If she doesn't get a response, she'll likely eventually stop. Be strong .....

 

Yep, Batmom's got it. I'd just add - OK - you let it happen, we all do stuff like that. Just don't be afraid to fix it. I'm not big on the whole alpha-boss-running-the-world thing - but given lack of rules - every kid will run amok cuz it's fun! Spring break's over now, time to get back into the home routine. If you lead - they will follow.