Adrienne

Well, picking her up and taking her away from the area can stop the behavior at the moment, but there can be some significant downsides: 1)Some dogs may react instinctively (snap/bite) when they are aroused by something they see and are barking. 2) If she is picked up and taken to another room (like for a timeout) she may come to dread being picked up and play hard to catch or nip hands that try to pick her up. The quiet exercise is one often suggested by many trainers, but as you can see there is one major flaw; the dog may learn to bark and then quiet, then bark and then quiet in what's known as a behavior chain. I find it more effective blocking access to windows when we cannot train, and then working on training an alternate behavior to engage in. If she does the alternate behavior and then goes straight back to barking (because a trigger is still out there), it may help reinforcing the alternate behavior with something that will keep her busy for some time (scattering several kibble/treats treasure hunt style, hiding some in a Snuffle Mat, placing kibble in a Kong wobbler, or placing a bit of canned food/peanut butter on a Licki-mat. Choose things that will engage her and surpass her desire to go check things out and bark. Also, we want to preferably catch our dogs before they bark so that they're easier to distract (and this prevents barking from becoming part of a chain). I also like to desensitize and create positive associations with certain sounds that dogs are reactive towards and that trigger window barking. See the 'hear that' method by scrolling to the bottom of the guide: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/. If she likes her kibble a lot, you can toss her kibble for the milder distractions. I always keep some kibble/treats in my pocket or treat bag when training so to capture and reward good behaviors as they unfold.

You are very welcome. Thanks for the extra info. It's great that she has a good recall under other circumstances. I would stick with the long field leash for now (preferably in leather and attached to a harness) so that you can keep exercising her while still having some level of control. The more she rehearses the chasing behaviors, the more she'll feel compelled to do that. Chasing, even if no prey animals are caught, can be so self-rewarding (the power of the adrenaline rush) that it becomes more and more difficult to control if the dog is constantly permitted to engage in it. Not to mention, since she lives in an area with snakes, with a long line you can quickly shorten the leash and reel her back to safety should she ever approach one. Better safe, than sorry. In general, we know that dogs track prey first by using their eyes, then their ears, and lastly, their nose. This means that on their first attempt, they generally uses their sense on a visual and auditory basis. Only when this is unsuccessful, they'll try to find a scent trail they can follow (scent hounds on trained for this specifically). So I would still aim to work on mimicking some movements birds make in bushes to cover all basis. For taking off upon picking up the scent, other ideas that come to mind is that, if you ever find some feathers, you can practice with those (since they retain some odor) by creating set-ups. Like you can have a helper on walks place them in a bushy area (prior to you walking by), and you practice walking by that area and doing leave its/recalls at a distance (always with the leash) using super value treats to reinforce good choices. If at any time she seems to distracted to listen, take that as a sign that you're working at a level of distraction she's not ready for yet. Take a few steps back and work from there. Progress should occur gradually but steadily, but setbacks aren't uncommon, especially in the initial stages. With some challenging hunting dogs, I find that more than verbal cues (like saying leave it) they may respond more readily to sounds. I have therefore had more success with these guys by making a smacking sound and then delivering a treat to reinforce paying attention to me/looking at me. I start training this in areas with little distractions like a fenced yard and then gradually increase the level of distractions. Here's a guide on this: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/look-into-my-eyes/ Rep after rep, the goal is to have a dog who learns to look at you by default anytime your dog hears a sound/catches a smell. Another idea that comes to mind, if you spot on walks an area where you see them and then they fly away, you can practice walking by this area since there will be some residual scent. With leave its/recalls under such strong distractions, I like to feed several treats in a row (I use the super duper high value foods like strips of baked liver) to leave a strong impact. However, in some hunting dogs (especially those who have chased for some time), the drive/instinct to hunt is so strong that they can care less even if you dangle a slice of liverwurst in their face. Their eyes are sort of glazed over, and they look as if they're in a trance. It's important to catch them before they get to this state and are under threshold since we are competing against an instinctive behavior that has been genetically determined through a long evolutionary process. We can recognize early signs of predatory behaviors by looking at the dog. Be watchful for: -A front leg bent -Standing still -Concentrated look -Ear twitching in a particular direction -Upward tense tail -Fast tail wagging. Spaniels have this endearing trait of wagging their tails quickly upon spotting birds. -Sniffing the ground or air Other tips that come to mind is finding ways to help her burn some energy in lieu of chasing the birds. And some extra training on walks. -If you have access to a large field with good fencing that can be a great way to allow her to run freely and explore -Many owners of active dogs have found that they can drain their dog's energy by letting them wear backpacks with weights on walks. If you want to try this, ask your vet first though so to know what's the best load based on her weight and size. -Provide outlets for hunting behaviors. Brain games, food puzzles, flirt poles, engage the mind and provide outlets for a dog's natural need to scavenge, hunt and consume. - One of may favorite games to play with dogs with strong prey drive is on walks to stop in an area and scatter several tasty treats in one spot in a treasure hunt style. Then, I'll say in an enthusiastic tone 'Hey!, look what I found" and show them my finding. This helps reinforce the idea that great things happen when we call our dogs. -Finally, consider that ideally, walks should be a great opportunity for bonding and reinforcement. If a dog is focused on walks primarily on searching for prey animals and chasing, he/she is gaining reinforcement from external sources and us owners fall into second place. This makes it more difficult for us to obtain dogs who are responsive when we need it. The more bond and trust forms, as you become a centerpiece of fun and reinforcement, the less attractive prey animals may become. Let me know if you have any questions and keep me posted on how things go!

Hello and welcome to the forums, There are several ways to tackle this. I like to take a multi-faceted approach. -Most important is to prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior (barking).The more she barks at outdoor triggers, the more the behavior puts roots and establishes. You can do this in several ways. -You can invest in some opaque window film that visually blocks her from seeing all these exciting outdoor stimuli. Being a small dog, you may have to just apply a small portion. You can find it in different decorative designs. -You can block off access to window areas using a baby gate or indoor pet fence. -You can place some bulky items she cannot jump over in front of the window area. -To block sounds (or at least buffer them a bit) that attract her to the window, you can use white noise. I think Simply Noise has an app that's 99cents and generates white noise. -Make sure to drain some energy through brain games, training, walks and play. Providing food puzzles and interactive toys (Kong, Kong Wobblers, Buster cubes) may give her something more interesting to do. -Train an alternate behavior, but you'll have to be around her to call her off from focusing on the window. Don't allow access to the window when you can't work on training as this may cause the behavior to come back at some point. Here's the alternate behavior. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

Hello and welcome to the forums, Prey drive runs deep into spaniels. Spaniels were selectively bred for various purposes, but one of the most prominent tasks was flushing game out of brush. The "game" consisted mostly of birds. In the early times, birds were hunted mainly by throwing nets. Spaniels therefore turned helpful in flushing birds out of thick bush into nets. As the first shotguns were invented, spaniels were used to drive birds out of their hiding spot so that the hunter could aim and shoot. The term used for depicting the action of driving the birds out of their hiding spots is "flushing" but the term "springing" can also be used. The job of spaniels was therefore more "dynamic" compared to other gun dogs, such as pointers who had to stand motionless pointing, and setters who had to "set" that is, crouching down at the sight of birds. These latter dogs required more impulse control as they needed to hold their desire to chase the birds. Spaniels on the other hand, got to have more fun, chasing the birds so to get the out of their hiding spots. It's therefore not surprising that your spaniel has show such keen interest in the bush turkeys. In the past, when dogs were used for hunting, this could have been a prized, much cherished trait. Nowadays though, we may find the behavior purposeless as we keep our dogs mostly as companions. So now to your question: any tips on how to train her to come back from a mission she is on? From what I am reading, I presume your spaniel is off leash on walks. This has therefore paved the path to a dog who encounters temptations left and right and gives in to these temptations. When we allow her to chase the turkeys, we are establishing a strong reinforcement history. She is getting to carry out an ingrained instinct and this is internally reinforcing. Calling her from doing what she likes doing best may come to feel like a chore, not worthy or even can feel as punishment. It will also risk weakening her response to her recall since she's not coming when called and our recall risks becoming victim of a phenomenon known in training circles as "learned irrelevance." Basically, failed recall, after failed recall, our recall starts losing its power until it becomes irrelevant. So I feel it would be important to engage in management for now until we can work on obtaining a more stellar recall-which will take some time as we're working against strong instincts here. So management-wise, I would keep her on leash, or alternatively, you can find a compromise and use a long line. A long line is a long type of leash (ranging from 10 to 30 even 50 feet). I would start with the shorter ones, and work my way to the longer ones as she gets better in her recalls/leave its. Below is the guide for training recalls. Using a silent whistle may come handy when calling dogs over distances. It's the same process only that rather than voice your dog learns to come when you sound the whistle. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/recall/ In your case though, you are working under strong distractions with a breed blessed with ingrained chasing instincts, so we're looking more at an advanced form of training. I have successfully trained hounds and bird dogs/hunting dogs to recall despite strong prey animal distractions, but it takes time and lots of practice. You need to start indoors, then in the yard and then gradually increase distractions on walks. One of my favorite methods is to practice recalls and leave its with fake birds and helpers that drag around stuffed animals tied to a long string in tall grass. I also have helpers also toss rocks (without the dog seeing) in tall grass on an opposite field and practice with that while the dog is on a long line. Soon, the dog realizes that the sounds of grass being moved by the tossed rocks doesn't produce prey and learns to attend less to it and pay more attention to the treats I have. Practicing leave its and drop its with a flirt pole can also turn helpful. There are also artificial birds that fly one can practice with. Very important is to use very high value rewards for choosing to leave it or come when called under strong distractions. These rewards need to surpass the adrenaline associated with the fun of the chase. I consider being off-leash in the open country a big privilege. It is something that I feel should be warranted only after dogs have proven themselves over and over of following our directions. Personally, I feel most dogs reach this level of maturity later on, usually around the age of 4-5. Youngsters can be quite unpredictable as they lack impulse control https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ and are highly energetic. However, even with lots of training, a time may come where we may meet a distraction we haven't worked on yet and things can get upsetting and even risky. Even a well-trained dog may catch and kill a rabbit or may run in a road full of traffic. It can happen, and this is why service dogs and police dogs in airports are often on leash too. It keeps them focused and out of trouble. So it's always best to use a leash for safety. I have to admit, I had look up online Australian brush turkey as I am not familiar with them. As I read through their characteristics, it said that these birds are protected under state wildlife legislation and it's considered a serious offense to harm brush turkey. So the leash may ultimately be the best choice based on your situation. Hope this helps, Happy training! Best, Adrienne

Welcome back! Glad to hear he didn't pull much (make sure to not allow him to pull sometimes yes and sometimes no as that creates confusion- we want to stay consistent as much as possible) and that Shiloh had a blast playing and digging in the sand. If he's normally happy and social to play with dogs, you may be seeing some level of barrier frustration, but there may be other possibilities such as barking from not liking this other dog or not being used to seeing dogs much. Let's take a brief look at potential causes: Barking due to Barrier frustration: We often see this in dogs who are social butterflies, basically dogs who are easy going and have lots of friends at the dog park and are often used to being off-leash and having a blast playing with other dogs. These dogs also have a stellar history reputation for being friendly with other dogs, which makes this behavior often surprising. Many dog owners are indeed shocked when their pups show their first signs of frustration. More technically speaking, we're talking about barrier frustration. You can read more about it here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/barrier-frustration/ Typically, therefore barrier frustration takes place when dogs are eager to meet and greet other dogs and they are prevented to do as they please due to some barrier. The barrier can be a leash, fence, window, door, kennel or being inside a car. These dogs are so excited and eager to go meet and greet canine friends, that they start barking, lunging and even growling when they realize they cannot. It's sort of the same type of frustration we may feel when we are used to putting a coin in and 99 percent of the time getting soda. Then, that day the soda isn't released, we may get angry and maybe even kick the machine to vent or in hopes of getting it to release something. Back to dogs, dogs who are very motivated to meet are often young dogs who lack sufficient impulse control and frustration tolerance to keep at bay these emotions. On top of this, some may be predisposed to become reactive/aggressive when they feel frustrated. It goes without saying that, the less a dog gets to see other dogs, the more excited and frustrated he will feel upon spotting one. "Motivation can be cranked up with deprivation. Dogs and people become incredibly interesting to sociable dogs who are isolated for long periods. Chronic isolation situations can be very agitating," explains Jean Donaldson, one of my favorite dog experts I have been following for decades. Barking due to disliking other dogs. On the other end of the spectrum are dogs who bark at other dogs while in the car because they simply aren't comfortable having them around. With a car being enclosed, such dogs tend to feel rather ''trapped,'' and therefore, feel like engaging more in a "fight" since their flight option (the ability to retreat) is removed. This can often happen in under-socialized dogs. fearful dogs or dogs who had a negative encounter with another dog. Whichever the case, in this case, the barking happens because wants other dogs to not come close. By barking these dogs are saying something along the lines of "go away, I don't like you!" and because most dogs tend to move away at some point, these dogs will feel as if their barking has worked to fulfill their mission. Hence, the behavior will put roots and tend to repeat. Barking due to to territoriality Territorial behavior won't likely apply to Shiloh as most behaviorists seem to agree that it starts around 8 to 10 months and escalates around the age of 12 to 24 months. However, this is just a head's up on what to watch for. Some dogs breeds are predisposed to this. Generally guarding breeds and herding breeds are predisposed to territorial aggression and it can be exacerbated by inadequate or inappropriate socialization. It is often seen in dogs who spend a lot of time alone in the backyard during the day. Such dogs may bark in the car because they don't like dogs near what they consider as their property. These dogs may act this way when other dogs come near their cars, homes and fenced yard, but may be OK with other dog in other circumstances away from the car and home- such as on walks. In any case, by barking these dogs may be saying something along the lines of: "Stay away from my turf." So we have seen three common causes for barking in the car. Shiloh being young, is more likely to be barking due to frustration or some element of fear. To answer your question on whether you should be concerned, I would say it's a bit early yet. Many friendly dogs may bark in the same circumstance upon noticing a person or dog nearby a property to alert the owner. Only time will tell if this was an isolated event or whether he'll be prone to this type of behavior. However, it may help to err on the side of caution and keep watch on it and prevent it from putting roots. Here's the thing: barking is reinforcing. In the social dogs, it's a way to vent their frustration, in the unsocial dogs or territorial dogs, it can be a way to send other dogs away. Behaviors that are reinforced tend to strengthen and repeat, which means that you'll likely be stuck in a pattern of barking in the car if you don't take any steps to decrease it. I have two fixes for this behavior: an easy one that can solve the issue, and one that needs work if you want to tackle it. I prefer a combo of the two to have all bases covered (easy fix for when you are driving and can't train, and working on it when you have time) But first a word of caution. As tempting as it may be, avoid letting your dog out of the car to go meet an unfamiliar dog. There are high chances for things to escalate, even if your dog is social and friendly and was barking from frustration. The easy fix: If your dog has a tendency to bark in the car at other dogs, you'll need to break the cycle of reinforcement. You can do so by keeping your dog in a crate with blanket/light sheet over it so to act as a visual barrier. You can keep your dog busy in the crate by giving him something valuable such as a bully stick, edible chew or a toy he is not normally exposed to all the time. This can be an option for when you are driving and can't train. Many states require dogs to travel in crate anyway when traveling in the car, so this may be necessary, on top of helpful. Not to mention, it prevents the behavior of dogs pacing back and forth in cars and getting stressed when you pull on the breaks as the crate provides more stability. The not-so easy fix: This is working on the behavior. When you have time to practice, drive your dog to an area where he can see other dogs while in the car from a distance from which he is under threshold (think nearby a pet store). The distance will help keep your dog under threshold and therefore calmer. Sit next to your dog in the back sit and have tasty treats with you. The matter you will work on the behavior may vary based on the underlying cause. For barrier frustration: practice having your dog engage in an alternate behavior that you'll ask to replace the barking. Practice this first at home until you obtain a strong, fluent response. The behavior can be having Shiloh make eye contact with you when you make a smacking sound with your mouth. In the look at that fashion: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ Then practice this from the car, upon spotting other dogs. Make sure to use super high-value treats to reinforce alternate behavior. For dislike of other dogs. Dogs who dislike other dogs may be too preoccupied initially to be able to focus on engaging in an alternate behavior. For these dogs, it may be easier to to simply park at a distance from other dogs so the dog is under threshold and practice feeding treats upon seeing dogs in an open bar/closed bar fashion. Such game may also come handy on walks. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/ For territorial dogs: territorial dogs may as well benefit from the look at that dog game implemented in the car or other places the dog tends to act territorial (upon watching other dogs from the home's window, fence or porch area). As always, a disclaimer is always warranted when there are possible signs of aggression. Dogs who bark at other dogs out of frustration or aggressively, may be prone to biting. For safety, in-person guidance and the correct implementation of behavior modification, consulting with a dog behavior professional using force-free behavior modification is important. Hope this helps! Keep me posted Best, Adrienne

About the vet visit, do lots of fun handling exercises. Even better, see if you can set up some "mock visits" with some helpers. You can have him stand on a table and practice doing what vets normally do. More on this here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-of-the-vet/ If you have a fear-free vet near you, that can help a lot to establish a relationship based on trust. https://fearfreepets.com/resources/directory/

The initial excitement is often the most challenging. Many pups get overly excited when there are guests or people they want to meet/greet. It's part of them not having attained yet sufficient impulse control which comes with...you name it, training, and I have to add here also maturing. I know how you feel because my female Rottie Petra was a social butterfly as a pup and she would go crazy when she saw people she knew or wanted to meet badly and couldn't. Things tend to get better with training, but the most substantial changes are seen when we can get our pups to meet several people (rather than less-as COVID19 is forcing us to do) and get to practice in different settings-and with the right type of people (those who won't pet the puppy when they're jumping and acting hyper, reinforcing their hyper behaviors). Here is a read for such scenarios: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/approaching-people/ In your mom's example, she is the biggest reinforcement. So we can use this to our advantage by making access to her contingent upon him displaying calmer behaviors. -So if possible, you can enlist her for help if she's willing to. I would suggest when you go see your mom that she try to approach him only once he has calmed down. Tell her to totally ignore him, no looking at him or talking to him. So if she's coming out, the moment Shiloh starts acting hyper, she moves away and out of sight. Rinse and repeat as often as needed. Once he is calmer, have her approach. Ideally, we would like him to engage in some alternate behavior such as hand targeting her hand or sitting, but you'll need to take baby steps since he's so young and enthusiastic. So you may initially accept him just sniffing her and immediately dropping treats so he doesn't feel like jumping and then her walking away and then practice more and more until you can progress to asking him to hand target or sit and then reinforce those by allowing him to meet her. -Another exercise are leash exercises, where you use your mom as the biggest reinforcer and practice walking towards her, the loose leash makes you both walk closer to your mom, a tense leash makes you turn and go the opposite way. Rinsing and repeating until you reach your goal of him getting to her without pulling. However, it may be preferable working with the first exercise at first and having your mom leave when he acts hyper just because we don't want to create any possible frustration in case he may associate the leash with preventing him from getting where he wants. -You may want to have him in a harness next time as we don't want him learning how to back out of a collar. It can take just one collar escape for a bad habit to establish. Another option is a martingale collar which works well for dogs who try to back out of regular collars. With the repairman coming in and out, I would suggest having him stay on a mat. He is young so he may not be able to hold a strong stay despite strong distractions yet, so it may help if you can can stay besides him on the mat as you feed him goodies there for staying there despite the strong distraction. As you do this, you are also creating positive associations with the worker rather than a dog who barks and acts nervous. Here is the basic guide on training to lie on a mat: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/ It's quite normal and expected that behaviors that seemed trained very well in quiet environments tend to start falling apart when there are distractions. This is why I recommend to go slow and gradually, start training at home, then in the yard, then on walks, then around other dogs, and then at the dog park. Dogs are not great at generalizing newly learned behaviors. This is also one of the biggest complaints dog owners have when taking their dogs to obedience classes. Their dogs are able to listen well in class, but then once "out in the real world" all the training seems to fall apart and the dog acts as if he was never trained before. These dogs though were really trained in the home or in class, it's just they haven't had the chance to work around distractions and the behavior hasn't therefore generalized to such settings. This is mostly a matter of practicing more in distracting settings, and distractions need to be added gradually, always ensuring the dog is under threshold. Practice makes perfect. So if you have your mom coming over, or other relatives, take those as training opportunities. If you can practice on that often enough, you are then a step closer to getting what you would like to see him do more often.

You are very welcome! It's hard to say whether or not this specific behavior is because she may be getting close to her estrus cycle, but we do most definitely see behavioral changes during these times. Especially during their first one. This is similar to a human female that would be going through puberty. Their hormones are often flaring up and so you may see them become more affectionate (staying close to you, whining more, panting more, or even picking a favorite stuffed animal to carry around). At times they can also be a bit more agitated and restless, so that can maybe play a role. Your pup is very fortunate to have have found such dedicated owners! Being home with her is a big plus and it's wonderful that she is being walked and played with so often! This age is often the most challenging, as they are rather restless and need lots of stimulation. Brain games, outlets for chewing and training sessions can be very helpful. I think if you provide more mental enrichment, practice leave its and make it a habit of when you need to leave for longer to leave something to keep her busy -that is far more interesting than the plant, you should see a decrease in this behavior over time. However, keep in mind that, progress will need to protected by lowering the chances for the behavior occurring again, (this may require some micromanagement such as listening in a room nearby for noises suggesting she may be messing with the plant and intervening with a leave it quickly). If by any chance she gets a hang of the plant once again, she'll have rehearsed the problematic behavior, and practice makes perfect, so the behavior becomes more and more difficult to eradicate-hence why sometimes it's just simpler to keep things out of reach. Certainly keep me posted on how things go! Best, Adrienne

Hello and welcome to the forums, All things puppy are here, simply scroll down and you'll find the puppy section: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/#puppies Here is the intro for obedience training: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/ And brain games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/ Don't forget to search the forums as there are also many puppy-related topics. Happy training! Best, Adrienne

Hello and welcome to the forums, To answer your question, "what would trigger that behavior once again?" there can be several possibilities. We may never really know the exact culprits that may cause the resurgence of a seemingly extinguished behavior, and until dogs can talk, we can only make some assumptions, however, based on what we know about our dogs, we can sometimes make some educated 'guesses.' Here are just some things that come to mind that may have evoked the comeback of this behavior: Your dog may have been more bored than usual. Perhaps a rainy day leading to missing a walk or a surge in your dog' energy level may have created a deeper deprivation state which has paved the path towards making the presence of that plant extra salient. Something about that plant yesterday caught her attention. Perhaps you had recently watered it and the dirt smelled good, maybe some worms or bugs may have established, maybe a leaf fell to the floor and it stimulated her prey drive, maybe as she walked by she brushed her fur against the plant and this got her attention. Several possibilities. Can she be sick? Maybe she got a bit nauseous and she decided to nibble on the plant. Many dogs are drawn to plants, grass, flowers, leaves when their tummy is upset as they naturally feel the need to ingest grass to induce themselves to vomit. With no grass around, many dogs will lick floors and carpets or they may nibble houseplants. Being that poinsettias have a rather bitter, unpleasant state that may explain why she didn't ingest it. At 11, your big pup is now an adolescent, and during adolescence, dogs may sometimes do some unexpected things. More about this phase here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ It can be a combo of things. Something about the plant caught her attention, she was a bit bored, and you were away, and therefore the stars may have just aligned right, giving her the perfect opportunity to engage in the behavior. Because she found the act of destroying the plant reinforcing, she has therefore repeated it again. The power of reinforcement is that behaviors that have a favorable outcome will strengthen and repeat. So what can be done about this? Here are a few ideas that come to mind: -Evaluate whether she may have an upset tummy. Signs of tummy troubles in dogs include drooling, smacking lips, licking carpets/floors, swallowing often, burping, pacing and trying to ingest grass when sent out in the yard. There can also be some other underlying medical causes for dogs who engage in new behaviors out of the blue. So if she was always good and now you notice changes, it may be worthy mentioning it to the vet. -Evaluate whether she needs some more mental stimulation in her life. You likely already know this, but it may be worthy of discussing because sometimes dogs undergo life changes where they may need more enrichment than usual (like during doggy adolescence). Among the possible owner-absent problematic behaviors displayed in dogs, boredom therefore needs to be kept in top consideration. "Idle paws are a devil's workshop" goes the canine version of this saying. When boredom sets in, there is only one solution that comes to mind in dogs: alleviating it! And what better way than ripping those leaves on the table into a million pieces? And oh, it's so nice to sniff dirt and empty the pot. So much fun! Here's the thing: If you look at the history of most dogs, you'll find that they were mostly working for most of the day, hounds were chasing rabbits out of holes, the small working terriers were keeping mice out of mills, pointers were holding still at the sight of birds to tell their hunters where to toss the net, coonhounds were barking when racoons went up a tree, and retrievers were catching downed birds falling down the sky for a good part of the day. After a day of work in the field, with their minds and bodies entertained, once home, these working dogs could only think of eating their meals and then falling asleep by a crackling fireplace. Therefore, dogs struggle when they are kept home unemployed for most of their day. If they have little resources to count on, or their needs increase, they'll come up with their own "hobbies," but us owners won't find them amusing! So try to keep her busy with some chew toys or food puzzles and brain games if you aren't doing that already! She may love the muffin game: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-muffin-game/ or her meal served in a Kong Wobbler. -Train your Lab to "leave it." Many dogs come to learn to leave things when we are in sight, but not when we leave. If your dog's problem behavior begins right when you leave the room, you may need to practice training your dog to leave it and proofing to the point of her doing it even when you are out of sight. Here's the guide: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ Train this fluently when you are in sight. Then, pretend to leave the room, but watch her closely from around a corner, through an outdoor window if your dog is indoors or you can even use a mirror or baby monitor to remotely monitor her. The moment she begins to perform the undesirable behavior, remind her to "leave it." After several trials, she may learn to leave the item alone whether you are present or not-but don't count on this training entirely. A time may come when she may get bored because you have left for longer, or she may just decide for some reason to re-engage in the unwanted behavior. Young dogs can be this way. To help your dog succeed, it can help to leave her with acceptable items to chew/interact with that you provide when you leave the room so that she can make good choices and you can routinely rotate such items to keep her interest alive. - Out of sight, out of mind. Dogs who repeatedly misbehave due to boredom are better kept confined in “dog-proofed” areas where they cannot rehearse their destructive behaviors. Putting your dog behind a baby gate can help her keep her mind off of the plant or the plant can be placed on a high shelf or out of the way somewhere else. There are now hanging wall vases that can be an alternate option. I have seen some dog owners use temporary fencing, found at Home Depot that can be trimmed and wrapped around pots securing it with twisty-ties. This may work though with larger vases that are difficult to knock down. Often, it's just more fair to leave tempting items out of reach rather than leaving them around young, curious dogs all the time. "Out of sight, out of mind" sort of how it's done with toddlers- where we keep things locked up and out of reach of grabby hands. And this can also ultimately be the safest option. While poinsettias aren't as bad as thought, they can still cause mild GI signs such as vomiting and drooling, and if the milky sap is exposed to the dog's skin, annoying skin irritations may occur. While the symptoms are generally self-limiting and don’t typically require medical treatment unless severe, there is currently no antidote for this type of poisoning. I hope this helps, better understand her behavior, Best, Adrienne

Hi Krysta, I have had the occasional pup bark at it, but often as a reaction to not knowing what it was initially, after a few moments, then the barking subsided. If your pup is terrified, we would need to determine exactly what triggers his fear first and then gradually work on that to gradually learn that it's nothing to fear. From your description, it sounds like its initial movement must have startled him and possibly its associated noise. We can take a few steps to make it less intimidating: -We can try to present it on a rug or carpet to reduce its noise. -We can present with no treats inside -We can present it without moving it -We can place it at a distance from the puppy -We can take steps to create positive associations with it-read below To create positive associations, you can keep it at a distance, without treats in it, without moving it. Have a helper/ family member sit on the rug and hold the Kong behind his back. Then have him show it at a distance. When your puppy sees it, feed a treat. Then your helper puts it away behind his back again and presents it again, and you feed a treat. This to emphasize that good things happen when the toy makes its appearance. Good things stop when the toy disappears behind the helper's back. Rinse and repeat several times, until you notice signs of your puppy relaxing and perhaps even looking forward to seeing the toy. After ward, we can add placing it on the floor. Your helper hides it behind his back, then makes it appear and places it on the rug in front of him. You feed a treat as your puppy watches this. Then, your helper removes it again and hides it behind his back. Rinse and repeat several times, once again looking for signs your puppy seems to relax or even better, starts showing signs of looking forward to seeing the toy. Next step is your helper hides it behind his back, then makes it appear and places it on the rug in front of him and tilts it a little. Be ready to use higher-value treats for this as this is the part your pup may struggle a bit with. Do the same, feed a treat when your pup watches it move. Then, your helper removes it again and hides it behind his back. Rinse and repeat several times, once again looking for signs your puppy seems to relax or even better, starts showing signs of looking forward to seeing the toy move. Next step, your helper hides it behind his back, then makes it appear and places it on the rug in front of him, places a few treats in it and moves it a bit more (making fun sounds as your helper does this can help the pup know it's fun to play with). Be ready to use higher-value treats for this as this is the part your pup may struggle a bit with. Do the same, feed a treat when your pup watches it move. Then, your helper removes it again and hides it behind his back. Rinse and repeat several times, once again looking for signs your puppy seems to relax or even better, starts showing signs of looking forward to seeing the toy move. Next step, your helper hides it behind his back, then makes it appear and places it on the rug in front of him, places a few treats in it and makes it move enough to get some treats out (making fun sounds as your helper does this can help the pup know it's fun to play with). As your helper does this, scatter several treats on the floor as a jackpot making it sound like fun and let your pup eat them all. Then, once your pup is done eating the treats, your helper removes it again and hides it behind his back. Rinse and repeat several times, once again looking for signs your puppy seems to relax or even better, starts showing signs of looking forward to seeing the toy move. Next step, your helper hides it behind his back, then makes it appear and places it on the rug in front of him, places a few treats in it and makes it around as if playing with it to get some treats out (making fun sounds as your helper does this can help the pup know it's fun to play with). Have your helper toss several treats that have fallen out the pup's way. Then, once your pup is done eating the treats, your helper removes it again and hides it behind his back. Rinse and repeat several times, once again looking for signs your puppy seems to relax or even better, starts showing signs of looking forward to seeing the toy move. Finally, after doing several of these sessions, you can leave the toy on the rug in the room and see whether your pup feels now confident enough to approach it. Keep treats in your hand and toss them your pups' way as he looks at the toy, then a he approaches the toy, and then as he goes sniff it, and then as he moves it. If at any time in this process your puppy barks, this may be a sign that you are progressing too fast, and may need to take a few steps back. I hope this helps, Let me know how it goes, we can try further troubleshooting and split this into smaller steps if needed. If the fear is too much though, we can try to introduce toys that use the same concept but that are smaller or less intimidating and then progress to larger ones.

Greetings, Thank you for the details. When dealing with aggression that involves bites or potential bites, the best approach is consulting with a dog behavior professional. This is for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification. Now, there are professionals and professionals. The most qualified are those who have made of made of behavior modification their main area of specialty. They are the specialists in the field, sort of like with a complicated stomach issue one would see a gastroenterologist or a person with a nerve problem would see a neurologist. I tend to refer my most complex aggression cases to board-certified veterinary behaviorists or certified applied animal behaviorists. I am not sure what kind of professional you have consulted with to provide the plan you have posted, but ideally he/she would have conducted what is known as a "functional behavior assessment." Its purpose is to identify the function of the behavior and this is done by by asking questions, collecting data, identifying what happens prior to the behavior (antecedent) and after the behavior (consequence), developing an hypothesis, and then based on all this info, it is then possible to develop an accurate behavior intervention plan. Veterinary behaviorists (since they are also vets on top of behavior specialists) also offer the advantage of running tests to rule out medical causes of aggression (some medical conditions may lead to behavior changes like aggression). I am not sure what criteria this behavior professional has used to diagnose "dominance"/conflict aggression (a term which lately has fallen out of favor) please see article: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dominance/ The term dominance aggression has therefore been dropped by professionals and replaced by the term conflict-induced aggression. Dogs with conflict-aggression tend to exhibit somewhat ambivalent body postures (e.g., they may have ears back, tail tucked while aggressively lunging forward) but at least they display warning signs (tensing, growling) prior to biting. Their aggressive behavior tends to occur in specific contexts such as when approached while they are around food, toys, sleeping areas. Their aggression is more of a strategy to stop an interaction they aren't comfortable with versus acting out of true "dominance." Most behavior modification plans for such cases involve management and behavior modification using desensitization and counterconditioning. You can read about these two behavior modification methods below so you can familiarize with them in case you decide to work with a behaviorist in the future: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning What you are describing here as behavior intervention sounds more like a "rank reduction program" which is nowadays considered outdated. Sure, a lot of it entails management which is important to keep every body safe and prevent rehearsal of the problem behaviors, but it sounds like there may possibly even be leash corrections involved, when dogs with aggression are often very stressed and benefit more from a stress-reduction program along with force-free behavior modification.. I don't have the whole picture of how and when your dog engages in aggressive behaviors, and personally, I use quite different behavior modification intervention methods, and therefore they will likely clash against with what your consultant is wanting you to work on. Therefore your best bet is to ask who you are working with for specific advice, since you are following his/her protocol, so you are all on the same page (they should be always available to answer any questions along the way), or even better, I would advise to work along with a board-certified veterinary behaviorist. A veterinary behaviorist can also address any underlying anxiety considering that behavior modification alone may not work with highly stressed dogs (dogs who resource guard are constantly stressed by the threat of losing access to their resources). He or she may therefore prescribe anti-anxiety meds to reduce your dog's threshold so that you can more easily work on behavior modification. I hope this helps, Best, Adrienne

As mentioned, extreme caution is needed when introducing a rabbit to a dog. One can't just open a rabbits' cage and just see how things go. That would be taking a big risk! Taking baby steps and carefully assessing how things are going is therefore paramount. Particularly important would be making sure your puppy is trained to be under voice control despite the distraction of the rabbit. The more you are able to keep Karter calm, the more he'll be able to attend to your requests and be able to refocus his attention on you. The more he's excited, the more he'll struggle in controlling his impulses. Following are several tips. -Train Leave it and Drop it Before introducing your pup to your rabbit, having a pup under good voice control and responsive to you is paramount. In particular, you want a pup who responds to "leave it." Practice this a lot around small distractions, and the progress to more distracting stimuli. Remember to always use treats/foods that are higher in value than what the dog was asked to "leave." On top of training a solid response to leave it, you also want train a strong response to drop it, just in the unfortunate case your dog would grab your rabbit with his mouth. I know of a dog owner who saved her neighbors' rabbit thanks to this skill. Her dog had broken through the fence and grabbed one of the neighbor's rabbits. This timely cue saved the rabbit's life before the dog shook his head side-to-side to break the bunny's neck/back. Here is a guide on how to train leave it and drop it: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/ -Train to go to a mat Another handy trained behavior is teaching your puppy to go to his mat. Your puppy is young to hold long stays on a mat but it's a good skill to work on as he grows and gain better impulse control. You can use this when you want your rabbit to romp around without your dog chasing her or bothering her in any way. Here is how to train this: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/ -Stop by the Obedience 101 Section You may also find it helpful to train your pup to sit, lie down, stay and come when called. These skills can come handy at different times. Make sure to train a solid response to your verbal cues working around distractions. You can find how to train them in the obedience 101 section: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/ -Drain Excess Energy It may help to ensure your pup's energy has been drained before he's introduced to your bunny. So you may find it helpful to take him on a walk (if he has finished his shots and your vet gave you the green light to take him on walks) or play with him for some time, having him run around, prior to the meeting. With a good amount of energy drained (do't forget about brain games too), your pup may be less over the top and reactive to stimuli. -Start with scent swaps A good place to start is to introduce your dog to your rabbit's scent. It sounds like you have already done this, however, scent acquaintances can work both ways. Do this by placing a towel or blanket your rabbit sleeps on (and therefore has her scent) and placing it close to where your pup sleeps. Do the same with your rabbit. Give your rabbit a mat or blanket that has your dog's scent. Fun fact: blessed with 100 million scent cells, rabbits have an excellent sense of smell! Dogs have 300 million. -Gradual Cage Visits Once your pup has showed to be under exceptional voice control and his energy has been drained, you can put him on leash and allow him to visit the rabbits' cage. Work from a distance and do this only if your rabbit is more of the outgoing, inquisitive type. Shy, fearful rabbits can feel scared and trapped if we let a dog come too close to their cage and frighten them which can lead to stress. Having in the cage a place where your rabbit can retreat to and feel safe can help. Watch your dog's body language carefully, if he shows worrisome signs such as staring, crouching, whining, or pointing, tell him to "leave it" and move away out of the room. Then try again to approach, if he keeps on staring or pointing, remind him to "leave it" and move away. If he stays calm though, even for a split second, praise him and reward him with high-value treats (kept in your treat bag or pocket). Keep the sessions brief and rewarding and spread over the course of several days. If your dog stays calm, you can even ask him for a sit/down at a distance from the cage and praise and reward him while there and then leave. Even if your rabbit isn't moving much in the cage, you're creating positive associations with smelling the rabbit and staying calm nearby the cage. -Introducing Movement Once your dog does well with your rabbit in the cage, it's then time to progress to having your rabbit behind a larger container such as a play pen or behind a baby gate so that your dog (always on leash) can watch her moving. Here is where things may get challenging, as movement is what stimulates a dog's prey drive. Keep your pup at a distance where he's under threshold and do the same exercise as with the cage. As he gets calmer, start asking for sits and praise and reward them, then gradually progress closer to the enclosure, always paying attention to his body language. As you feed your dog treats, you can have a helper feed your rabbit goodies too so both animals get to reap the positive associations of seeing each other. Here's the thing: the more your dog acts calm near your rabbit, the more your rabbit will calm down too and she may also be curious about meeting your dog. Hint: gradual introductions help both rabbits and dogs! A tip to increase criteria: if your rabbit isn't moving much, you can have a helper calling/luring the rabbit with goodies from one end of the pen to another as you work on keeping your dog calm. -Keep the leash always on While you may feel a sense of victory when your dog can calmly approach the pen, don't lower your guard and assume all will go well if you let them meet face-to-face with your dog loose, off-leash. Once your pup is loose, he may feel compelled to chase, and things can go disastrous within seconds. Sure, you can rely on your voice control maybe, but trust is established over time, as your dog proves himself over and over trustworthy in a variety of scenarios. Don't risk your rabbit's life. On top of this, should your dog chase the rabbit, he'll likely feel compelled to chase more and more (chasing is rewarding) and the rabbit may feel compelled to run more and more (escaping is rewarding) and you're stuck now in a pattern that may be difficult to overcome. So it's best not to get stuck in this sticky situation. So if you want to progress to the next step, that is, removing the barrier, make sure your dog is on leash and at a safe distance, and ensure he doesn't startle your rabbit and remains under good voice control. As always praise and reward calm behaviors and say "leave it" and leave the room should he get excited/over threshold. As you progress, if your rabbit approaches your dog, make sure to praise and reward your dog for remaining calm and have a helper praise and reward your bunny for her investigative behavior. This may not apply to you, but worth of mentioning for possible readers: avoid doing this with dogs who resource guard food. -Keep it positive It may be tempting to correct a puppy for whining or trying to chase the rabbit. Doing so though may backfire. Telling your dog no repeatedly, scolding him, or giving repeated tugs on the leash, may create negative associations with the rabbit. With time, your dog may start to feel that the rabbit is nothing but a source of frustration and reprimands. Instead, do your best to keep it positive, tell your dog to leave it, praise and reward for refocusing on you and then leave the room and try again until he is calmer which you should promptly praise and reward. And remember: if you have to tell your dog "leave it' constantly, you're going too fast through the process. Take a few steps back and lower your criteria. -Should you progress any further? A time may come where you may want to see how things go with your pup off leash. This can be risky. Even if your dog is trained, consider that there is no such thing as a dog that will respond 100 percent of the time. Even the best trained dogs have their oops moments (ask any trainer of champion competition dogs) and in this case a precious life is at risk. So it's important to evaluate things carefully as the risks at stake are very high. Sure, there are dog owners who have successfully raised dogs with their rabbits, but there are also dog owners who have had their rabbits injured or even killed by their dogs, so it's imperative to carefully evaluate things-always putting a rabbit's safety first. -Never leave rabbit/dog unsupervised Dogs may learn to leave a rabbit alone when the owners are not around, so the moment they leave, even for a few split seconds to grab something, they may revert to their prey drive and attempt to chase or even harm a rabbit. Don't let this happen. -Create a safe haven Provide a safe place where your rabbit can retreat to should she feel the need to have her own space. Make sure she has access to small, tight spaces that your dog cannot access- if she just needs a break or in case of an emergency. -Use safe confinement options When you cannot supervise your rabbit and dog or when you want your rabbit to enjoy some play time without being pestered, it's important to rely on some type of confinement. Your pup can be crated or kept behind a sturdy baby gate (with wire mesh or some protection at the bottom that your rabbit can't chew, push through or jump over) and that your puppy can't jump over while your rabbit can be kept in a dog-proof play pen (or whatever you are using right now as long as it is dog-proof). It goes without saying that it's your responsibility ensuring that such enclosures are sturdy and capable to withstand your dog's determination. -Final thoughts As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Preventing your pup from harming your rabbit is important. You owe it to your rabbit keeping her safe and ensuring her emotional wellbeing. As mentioned, there are never guarantees on the outcome of training and rabbits are animals and dogs are animals, and therefore we can't always control or predict their behaviors. Many dog owners who would have sworn that their dog had no mean bones in their bodies, were shocked when that day their dog came in through the door carrying a dead squirrel or dead baby bunny. It happens, and even with the sweetest and best behaved dogs- and we can't blame them, it's their instincts. It is therefore ultimately a pet owner's responsibility ensuring the safety of their pets-and some times, the best thing to do is, to just err on the side of caution and play it safe by keeping certain pets separated and out of harm. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions, Best, Adrienne

Hello and welcome to the forums, Congrats on your new addition! This is something we need to really thread with caution. I don't know your rabbit's personality, but we'll have to keep her emotional wellbeing in mind, as rabbits can get easily stressed and I have known some even getting sick if they were stressed enough. So we'll need to ensure your rabbit stays under threshold on top of keeping your puppy under threshold as well. Here's a read on threshold levels in case you haven't encountered this term before: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ The position your border collie gets in when he sees your rabbit, sounds like the typical stare and crouch behaviors border collies perform when they are herding sheep. The stare is referred to as "eyeing" and the crouch is called "stalking." This behavior is based on somewhat diluted prey drive and it's meant to put pressure on the sheep. It is not something pleasant to endure as it mimics the movement wolves would do on prey and it's what keeps the sheep moving. Now, when introducing a dog to a vulnerable animal such as a rabbit, we need to consider several factors that may ameliorate or worsen prognostic factors (the likeliness of them being friends or foe). Factors include, breed, age and personality of both your dog and the rabbit. Let's take a closer insight into these. Breed: I would expect the worse candidates for getting along with a rabbit are dogs who were bred for rabbit hunting. So any type of scent hound (like the beagle, basset hound, harrier, dachshund), sight hound (like the greyhound, pharaoh hound, whippet) or terrier (like Jack Russell terriers) along with some types of retrievers, setters, huskies and pointers can also pose some challenges. Your pup is a border collie (bred to herd sheep) which is much better to get along with a rabbit compared to a Jack Russell terrier which was primarily bred to kill small critters (finishers). However, we need to factor in that collies are predisposed to chase and harass any animal that runs, so this may work to our disadvantage. Then we must consider age. Generally, I expect an older, calmer dog to be less likely to want to harass a rabbit compared to a young, excitable dog full of energy. Also, an older dog with history of being trained, will have more impulse control than a puppy. However, it's also true that an adult dog has more potential to harm a rabbit than a younger puppy. With puppies (preferably under the age of 6 months), you'll need to be persistent and remind them often that rabbits aren't there to be harassed. While it's true that puppies when young are pretty malleable and easier to train compared to a full-grown dog whose behavior tendencies have already established, the main problem is that puppies may want to persistently play with the rabbit and that play may include herding behaviors-which may frighten a rabbit . Also, we must consider the rabbit's age: if your rabbit is very young, she may have lowered fear responses compared to an adult. However, young rabbits are smaller and more vulnerable. It goes without saying, the best introductions should involve young bunnies and young puppies. Personalities: On top of breed and the age factor, it's also important considering several individual factors such as the dog's level of prey drive. Even within a litter of puppies, there may be pups with a stronger prey drive compared to others. Dogs prone to chasing furry critters typically may pose a challenge due to their high prey drive. And then, you need to factor in the rabbit's personality. Is your rabbit more outgoing or is she rather timid? Depending on how your rabbit behaves, your dog may behave accordingly. For instance, if your rabbit is prone to being shy and fearful, she'll likely run away and your dog will likely treat your rabbit as prey. If your rabbit is instead curious and outgoing, your dog may perceive her differently. As seen, there can be various dynamics going on and safety remains paramount. It is best to err on the side of caution by taking some extra safety precautions. It is also important recognizing that even when things seem to be going well, things may change or regress. Most importantly, it's important to acknowledge and accept that not all friendships are meant to be. With this disclaimer in mind, I will post in my next post how I generally would do rabbit-to-dog introductions, but of course, consider that every animal is different, and based on how your dog or rabbit reacts, you may have to make choices/and judgement calls on whether there are chances things will work out or not. In these cases, I find it it best to err on the side of caution.

You are very welcome! So sorry for your loss. It's so tough seeing them age and then losing them. I am sure though that Charlie brightens your days. Keep me posted on how things go. I am here if you need further help along the way. Best, Adrienne

Hello and welcome to the forums! It sounds like you are managing the situation very well at home. In the home, you are also training a good response to leave it, which is awesome. With dogs who steal, we may get stuck in the trap of chasing the dog around to retrieve the item which encourages the keep-away game which can make for a bad habit. Teaching leave it and drop it is much more productive. Don't dismiss drop it though as it's your second chance for when you have failed to cue a "leave it" on time and the dog is already carrying something he shouldn't have. Here is how to train it: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/ On walks, we would also need to implement some form of management. The main objective of management is preventing rehearsal of the behavior. The more a dog rehearses a problem behavior, the more it puts roots and becomes more difficult to eradicate. We may then get stuck in a habit-forming pattern-in your case, a dog who is eager to go on walks because he associates them with the mitten-stealing opportunity! So I would suggest the following strategies on walks: -Keeping your hands in your pocket if possible (out of sight, out of mind). -Asking the other person if possible to that as well (explain your dog is in training so this is just a temporary thing). -If your dog is also interested in stealing the mitten attached to your hand holding the leash, you can maybe consider a sturdy hands-free waist leash (leash that is clipped around the waist often used by joggers) so you can keep your hands in your pocket. Now, management works well to prevent rehearsal and can be a temporary solution for when when we cannot actively work on the problem. However, we may want to work on this issue as well-after all, we can't always stay with our hands in our pockets! So I would suggest continuing the leave it exercises as done at home, since it sounds like he is doing well with that. On walks though, your mittens may be more salient because, when you wear them to go out, you move your hands around and therefore, from your dog's perspective, you make them come "alive", turning them into fun "puppets" to play with and movement is what attracts dogs a lot. So we are working on a higher level of distraction compared to mittens laying around in the home. At first, you will need to create structured set-ups so that you aren't caught unprepared and are better in control of things, so at random times on the walk, get your mitten out of your pocket and practice leave its without moving your hand much, catching him before he even has a chance of thinking about grasping it. So get your hand out of your pocket very slightly, say "leave it" and toss a treat to the ground from your other hand. Then, start raising criteria (raising the challenge) get your hand out more and more and practice with that, then aim to getting your entire hand out of your pocket and practice with that, and then progress to even moving your hand. Once you get at that point, you can have other people do the same while you practice saying 'leave it." If at any time, your dog seems to struggle with "leaving it" take that as a sign that he isn't ready for that level of difficulty yet and that you'll need to take a few steps back. It would be important at this stage, being careful in never giving him the opportunity to "steal any mittens." If he has a soft mouth, you can try wearing fingerless gloves that are more difficult to remove, or gloves with a tightening tab versus mittens or at least closing your hand in a fist so that he can't easily pull the mitten off. Try to not even let him try to get them off, as that's part of the fun. At the same time, we also want to move his focus to other things on walks. We can make it a habit of going to a special area and letting him sniff there and then going to a spot where we can organize a treasure hunt,https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/ we can also do some attention heeling so that he learns to look at you while your hand with the mitten holds a treat at your eye level. Rather than hand feeding, drop the treat. Never drop the treat if he is jumping-to prevent jumping, try walking at a fast pace: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ If feasible, we can even organize walks with another dog who will hopefully engage his mind on other things. Or we can invite to alternate engaging activities such as playing tug with tug toy (I like to use real rabbit fur tug toys which many dogs find irresistible), a flirt pole or letting him carry something in his mouth. The goal is to make all of these alternate activities far more reinforcing than mittens. At home, we also want to provide more mental stimulation and provide outlets for his needs. Your poodle's mitten-stealing habit can signal a need for certain types of activities. Maybe he may enjoy puzzles that require taking things off or out of things such as taking balls out of a muffin tin as in this game:https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-muffin-game/ or unrolling a rug you use only for this purpose and put it away once done: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/college/the-magic-carpet/ I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any other questions. Best, Adrienne

Awesome, I like your advanced planning. It's much easier working on preventing issues rather then working on them once the puppy is older and the behaviors by then have established. As the saying goes: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Who knows? With so many distracting things going on in and around stores, there are chances he may forget all about biting the leash-but the trade off is that you may get some pulling or maybe barking to go meet other dogs. I love to hear how behaved his in the kitchen. He is showing great impulse control in sitting as he waits for his meal. And it's so great to hear that he lifted his head in anticipation of you connecting the leash! I wonder if that's a lovely positive conditioned emotional response to the treats you have been given and he made the connection! Keep up the great work!

Hello and welcome to the forums, Congrats on your newest addition! I am glad he's settling in so nicely and you are considering training him and providing him with mental stimulation. I strongly agree with your perspective on playing tug. While tug-of-war can be a great game to play with a dog, it is crucial that some rules are followed. I believe that a game of tug of war should always be initiated by the owner and ended by him as well. In order to remain a positive game, I think it's also crucial that the dog knows how to drop the tug toy on cue and take the tug toy when invited. These parts are covered in the main course: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ In a game of tug, we may therefore stop tugging, freeze and present a treat. The dog will likely drop the tug toy to get the treat. The moment the dog drops the toy, praise, reward with the treat, then ask the dog to sit and then invite the dog to play again. After some time, the dog should drop without even seeing the treat, and then later, the treat can be intermittently replaced by the life reward of resuming to play tug. If the dog isn't interested in tugging anymore after eating the treat, this often happens because the dogs find the treat more valuable than tugging. In such cases, it may help to lower the value of the treat and maybe try using kibble instead. The game of tug is played by moving the tug back and forth, side-to-side (avoid up and down as it may hurt the dog's teeth) for about 10 to 20 seconds at a time. A dog should not be scolded or intimidated for failing to release the tug; most likely, the dog just needs a bit more training on learning the "drop" command. It's important to keep the game fun and upbeat. These guidelines can turn a game of tug-of-war ultimately into a great way to teach a dog self-control when excited. Now, it is quite normal for a dog to growl as it tugs since the game stimulates predatory drive, but the level of arousal is too high or the dog is taking the game too seriously, or if one has any doubts, it would be important to simply put a stop to it (basically, once should stop tugging, ask to drop and give a treat as the tug toy is collect) and one should resume when the dog is calmer or skip the game altogether in the future if there is any suspicion that the dog is no longer playing. Important is to always monitor the dog's body language. Are the dog's eyes soft? Is the growl high-pitched and throaty? Is the body wiggly? If so, most likely the dog is just play growling. Signs of trouble are stiff postures, hard stares, deep growls coming from the chest area, and snarling. If one is unsure, it's important to don't punish the growl; rather, one should stop tugging, ask to drop and give a treat as the tug toy is collected. Next step would be consulting with a dog behavior professional for an assessment as the dog may be resource guarding rather than playing. With new additions, resource guarding tendencies may not always show right away. In resource guarding specifically, we may notice specific signs such as: Carrying an object in the mouth and moving away from the owner Running away and hiding the object Laying down with an object kept tightly in the mouth Tensing the body Hunkering over the possession Showing the white of the eyes (whale eyes) Eating faster as the owner approaches Swallowing edibles/non-edibles fast to protect them Rushing towards a valuable before the owner can get near it Sudden bout of intense barking upon approaching something valuable Growling in a deep, guttural tone Snarling (showing the teeth) Snapping (quickly biting the air) Biting I don't recommend playing tug with dogs who tend to guard food or toys and adult dogs who haven't developed good bite inhibition and tend to bite when aroused. These cases may therefore require the intervention of a dog behavior professional for safety. Let me know if you have any other questions! Happy training! Best, Adrienne Disclaimer: If your dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques for direct in-person guidance.

"We also tried to tell her to "leave", reinforcing with a treat when she did it, but it seems that she was beginning to bite to get treats, so we stopped doing that." In this case, we need to evaluate what may be happening. It sounds like she did successfully "leave it" for some trials and you reinforced those with a treat which is awesome. However, it seems that, at some point, perhaps a bit of frustration set in, and she may have started to bite. When we see frustration, this can be if we are progressing too fast. So for instance, if you are holding the treat in your hand and she isn't trying to get it, make sure to be fast to praise and reward, before she thinks about going to plan B which may be biting in hopes of gaining access to the treat. If the biting occurs when you close your hand because she is trying to get the treat, then it would be important to teach her that she gets nothing by biting. Now, I know it may hard to endure sharp teeth. So in such a case, we can try wearing gardening or welders gloves initially. Or we can practice on the floor wearing tall rubber boots and covering the treat with our boot so even if she bites, we can continue practicing. I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any questions, or want to do more troubleshooting. Best, Adrienne

Hello and welcome to the forums, Congrats for your new Rottie! This sounds like rather normal puppy behavior. The growling can be a concern, but in most cases, puppies are just growling when they tug at clothing out of play. Puppy teeth are very needle sharp and they can hurt. This is a behavior that won't stop overnight considering that young puppies are naturally drawn to play this way and need to learn through lots of repetition that us humans have delicate skin and don't appreciate this type of play. Telling no or scolding or pushing indeed can often make pups more aroused. And if we push them or grab their collars to put them in a timeout, this can make them defensive over time and resent handling. More on collar grabs here: As annoying as puppy nipping may get, the good news is that we can ameliorate the situation by engaging puppies in games that are more rewarding to engage in rather than just nipping our ankles/pant legs. On top of this, when we don't have time for engaging the puppy, we can use management options which I will be listing at the bottom. Here is a guide with several games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/ In particular, I like to encourage hand targeting to encourage positive interactions with hands. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ Other forms of interaction/ training options: -I know that you mentioned redirecting her to toys, but there are toys and toys. Most puppies will play with regular toys for a few minutes, and then choose to play with out legs because our legs and clothing moves around and puppies are after movement and live playmates. Therefore, static toys that pups see at home most of the time won't attract them or keep their interest alive. Better options are therefore toys that add movement into the game such as a tennis ball tossed in the opposite direction (make it extra fun!) or a flirt pole for dogs (stick with a stuffed animal attached one end). The goal is to find a way to make these toys much more interesting, rewarding and fun to interact with than our body/clothing. I like to carry some tennis balls in my pocket and a flirt pole around my waist so I can use these tools at moment's notice. -You can redirect to an interactive game with you. I like to keep kibble always in my treat bag/pocket ready for this. Since she seems to respond to sit, as soon as he approaches, your wife can ask her for a sit and reward by tossing one piece of kibble/treat. She'll likely eat it and come for more if she perceives the treats valuable enough. Important is catching her before she even has the chance to think of biting. Once she has attached and is in full chewing mode, it is much more difficult to re-direct. The goal is to make your pup tired, provide an outlet for chasing instincts while incorporating some fun obedience. -Alternatively you can redirect to an empty water bottle with no lid filled up. Most pups cannot resist the crinkling sounds produced by chewing on these. They make an economical. temporary chew toy. Always monitor your pup when chewing if your dog tends to ingest things and consider that excess chewing can make some parts sharp so you need to be watchful for that. To make the bottle even more interesting, fill it up with a portion of your puppy's daily ratio of kibble so your puppy will keep busy trying to roll the kibble out. You can read more about this fun game here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/ -Make sure you provide outlets for pent-up energy. Games, training, exercise and opportunities for socialization should wear her out and provide outlets for her basic needs. With brain games that allowing her to chase things and get rewards out of them (like kibble out of a bottle or a in a Kong Wobbler) she should seek these games more and more which can turn our bodies and clothing pretty boring after a while because she gets more out of these activities when he's bored/frustrated/overstimulated. -Don't forget to train your pup some bite inhibition. This is a very important skill. A good exercise to train this using treats is here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/ The main goal in getting a dog to stop biting knees/pant legs is to teach that it's boring playing with them because there are far better forms of play out there that don't involve human body parts. So make those toys more attractive. Wriggle them, toss them, provide toys that release food. With their strong urge to bite and play satiated with other forms of play, soon, puppies should outgrow the habit of chasing ankles/clothing just as they outgrow the habit of chasing their tails. You may have to try several of the above options and see what works best. Redirection to a rewarding treat-dispensing toy or game that uses treats should be moderately easy at this age if these activities are made rewarding. Teaching an alternate behavior is also important because dogs cannot misbehave if they are busy targeting our hands or sitting! It may take a bit of time though to teach these alternate behaviors fluently but it is sure worth the time and effort. By providing outlets for her energy and needs for mental stimulation and reinforcing appropriate behaviors, you should eventually start seeing a decrease in the biting behavior. Keep track of it so to measure whether things are getting better with time. Management Options For obstinate cases, it may help to temporarily avoid temptations by refraining wearing clothing that attracts puppies a lot, such as shoes with shoe strings, leather shoes, pants with wide pant legs, long skirts and dangling scarves. Some puppy owners who are around their pups for most of the day wear tall boots or tuck their pants in their socks. If the biting occurs a lot when your wife needs to work, like in the kitchen, for those times when she doesn't have time to dedicate to re-directing or training, it may be worthy of installing a baby gate and keeping the pup behind it with some toys so that your wife can work freely without having a puppy dangling to her clothes. This is just for the time being, until the puppy learns to interact in other ways. If the biting occurs when you need to eat, you can keep your puppy behind a baby gate or you can train the puppy gradually to lie on a mat to enjoy a long-lasting goodie (stuffed Kong, edible chew appropriate for puppies) there. She is too young to hold a long down on a mat, but if you provide something that she can enjoy there she'll likely stick there more and more as the may attains a reinforcement history. This allows your to establish a nice of routine where you eat and your pup looks forward to her goodie. After some time, as she matures, you can gradually train her to wait on the mat for you to finish eating and then give her her long-lasting goodie once you are all done. Here is how to train to lie on a mat: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/ Finally, consider that puppies tend to get worse at nipping when they are cranky and in dire need for a nap. If you notice a time where your pup is super nippy, consider enclosing her behind a baby gate or crate with something valuable to chew. Chances are, if you provide a quiet area, she will chew and then happen to fall asleep for a well-needed nap. I will post some tips for the leave it issue in my next post.

Hello and welcome to the forums, Welcome to the puppy nipping stage. In a pup of this age, this is very normal. The behavior won't stop overnight, but you can ameliorate the situation by engaging your puppy in games that he'll find more rewarding to engage in rather than just nipping our ankles/pant legs. Here is a guide with several games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/ In particular, I like to encourage hand targeting to encourage positive interactions with hands. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ Other tips for nipping that come to mind: - You can engage him with toys that add movement into the game such as a tennis ball tossed in the opposite direction (make it extra fun!) or a flirt pole (stick with a stuffed animal attached one end). The goal is to find a way to make these toys much more interesting, rewarding and fun to interact with than your body/clothing. I like to carry some tennis balls in my pocket and a flirt pole around my waist so I can use these tools at moment's notice. -You can redirect to an interactive game with you. I like to keep kibble always in my treat bag/pocket ready for this. As soon as he approaches you, ask him for a sit and reward by tossing one piece of kibble/treat. He'll likely eat it and come for more if he perceives them as valuable enough. Repeat several times, catching him always before he even has the chance to think of biting. This makes your dog tired, provides an outlet for chasing instincts while you incorporate some fun obedience. Here is how to train sit, which is an incompatible behavior compared with biting (a dog in general cannot sit and bite ankles/pant legs at the same time). Initially, as your dog is still in the process of learning to sit, you can just toss the treat without asking for a sit as soon as he approaches you. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/ -Alternatively you can redirect to an empty water bottle with no lid filled up. Most pups cannot resist the crinkling sounds produced by chewing on these. They make an economical. temporary chew toy. Always monitor your dog when chewing if your dog tends to ingest things and consider that excess chewing can make some parts sharp. To make the bottle even more interesting, fill it up with a portion of your puppy's daily ratio of kibble so your puppy will keep busy trying to roll the kibble out. You can read more about this fun game here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/ -Make sure you provide outlets for pent-up energy. Games, training, exercise and opportunities for socialization should wear him out and provide outlets for her basic needs. With brain games that allowing him to chase things and get rewards out of them (like kibble out of a bottle or a in a Kong Wobbler) he should seek these games more and more which can turn ankles pretty boring after a while because he gets more out of these activities when he's bored/frustrated/overstimulated. -Don't forget to train your pup some bite inhibition. This is a very important skill. A good exercise to train this using treats is here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/ The main goal in getting a dog to stop biting ankles/pant legs is to teach that it's boring playing with them because there are far better forms of play out there that don't involve human body parts. So move less and make your toys move more. Wriggle them, toss them, provide toys that release food. With their strong urge to bite and play satiated with other forms of play, soon, puppies should outgrow the habit of chasing ankles/pantlegs just as they outgrow the habit of chasing their tails. You may have to try several of the above options and see what works best. Redirection to a rewarding treat-dispensing toy or game that uses treats should be moderately easy at this age if these activities are made rewarding. Teaching an alternate behavior is also important because dogs cannot misbehave if they are busy targeting our hands or sitting! It may take a bit of time though to teach these alternate behaviors fluently but it is sure worth the time and effort. By providing outlets for his energy and needs for mental stimulation and reinforcing appropriate behaviors, you should eventually start seeing a decrease in the biting behavior. Keep track of it so to measure whether things are getting better with time. For obstinate cases, it may help to temporarily avoid temptations by refraining wearing clothing that attracts puppies a lot, such as shoes with shoe strings, leather shoes, pants with wide pant legs, long skirts and dangling scarves. Some puppy owners who are around their pups for most of the day wear tall boots or tuck their pants in their socks. Finally, consider that puppies tend to get worse at nipping when they are cranky and in dire need for a nap. If you notice a time where your pup is super nippy, consider enclosing him behind a baby gate or crate with something valuable to chew. Chances are, if you provide a quiet area, he will chew and then happen to fall asleep for a well-needed nap. I hope this helps, let me know if you have any more other questions. Best, Adrienne

Lovely work, thanks for the update on heeling! I also loved to hear that he sat like a gentleman when your granddaughters came to visit. Sounds like Shiloh has been making great strides in improving. Kudos to both of you! Socializing is very important for puppies, especially when living in urban areas. I know with the whole Covid19 mess things have been very difficult. If Shiloh has finished his shots and your vet says it's OK, it would be important for him to go on some trips just to see the world go by. Walks from a safe distance where there are a variety of people. Pet stores and some hardware stores where dogs are allowed are popular options. Even just taking him on car rides and parking lots just to see people, dogs and children walking and creating positive associations with that can help. Even well-socialized dogs can fall back on their social skills when they live in rural areas. It's called "Suburban dog syndrome." So it's important to maintain those social skills even past the socialization stage. More on this here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/socializing-your-puppy/ In your specific situation, with rare deliveries, other than ordering stuff on purpose rather than going in stores, you may not have much options to work on. I mean, you could take him on car rides and park where you know trucks may drive by and work on creating positive associations with those, and you can park near places where you know people may mow their lawns and do the same, but it's not same as having actual vehicles and people coming on your property. I think it may still be worthy though working on some look at that exercises when your granddaughters come to visit and cars come in to your property. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ and you can do the same exercise on walks and let him watch the mail carrier at a distance leave mail to your neighborhood. Consider that territorial behavior is expected to arise around 8-10 months of age. Prior to that, we see more barking due to fear/alarm. We can certainly have a dog who will bark or come to alert us of something unusual, without going crazy. The important thing is that we don't get it out of hand and that we let our dogs know that once we acknowledge the issue and then it's is all in our hands. About sleeping outside, I would personally be worried about a young pup getting in some type of trouble when outside (chewing things, ingesting something odd, wild animals, etc).

Greetings, Welcome to the forums! With dogs who are reluctant to bring the ball back, drop the ball too early or swerve away there may be several dynamics going on. 1) One possible issue is that your dog is more interested in playing a totally different game than fetch: that is, "the keep-away game. "The keep-away games goes just like that: you toss the ball, your dog grabs it and playfully comes towards you. The moment you move towards him, he'll quickly swerve in hopes of you chasing him. Many dogs love to play keep away games with other dogs and they may often try to involve humans too. However, there are several drawbacks in this game and one of them is that it puts a dent in teaching your dog to play fetch and releasing anything your dog may have snatched and is carrying in his mouth. 2) Another possibility is there *may be* a "touch" of resource guarding. To many dogs, a ball is a resource that they may feel propense to guard. A dog doesn't have to necessarily growl or bare teeth to show signs of resource guarding. There can be a variety of much more subtle signs and one of them is a dog who is reluctant to give up a ball and plays hard to get. If this sounds like a possibility, the problem is more ingrained and the resolution requires a basic foundation of trust that may need to be built overtime. With dogs prone to resource guarding though caution is needed. Possessive dogs may bite if they feel threatened. For safety, if this would be the case, it would be therefore important consulting with a dog behavior consultant such as a board-certified veterinary behaviorist or a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. 3) Something else that comes to mind is simply a dog who doesn't understand the game. Some dogs simply will drop the ball or won't bring the ball back because they aren't familiar with the rules of playing fetch. Your dogs sounds like he knows very well the first part of the game, that is, chasing a ball and carrying it, but he may have failed to understand the final part. This can take some training. Here's the thing: from our perspective, fetching seems like an easy task. Dogs just have to catch the ball and bring it back. From a dog's perspective, the exercise is instead made of a string of discrete behaviors put together in a chain. It would look like something like this: Watch the owner toss the ball→run after the ball→open the mouth to grasp the ball→close the mouth to hold it→carry the ball for several steps→bring it to the owner→drop it in front of the owner or into the owner's hands. Putting together all these behaviors is not an easy task, unless, your dog is naturally inclined to perform this behavior. It is somewhat a form of advanced, specialized training if we think about it, similar to many service dog tasks such as retrieving a dropped object or getting the keys or phone and bringing it to the owner. 4) Watch for dogs scared of collar grabs. Sometimes we may have inadvertently inculcated in our dogs a reluctance to come close to us because we have grabbed their collars in the past for correcting the dog or dragging him out of trouble or snatching him from getting something or for a timeout. This can all backfire with a dog who is isn't comfortable with us getting close to them. To prevent this, I encourage dog owners to make collar grabs pleasant. This is discussed here under the troubleshooting section: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/recall/ 4) Finally, one needs to consider genetics and individual factors. Not all dogs are naturally predisposed to playing fetch. Golden retrievers were selectively bred for centuries to bring back downed birds to the hunter so they tend to have a natural inclination for fetching. They're called retrievers for a reason! But even here there may be exceptions to the rule. You may have golden retrievers or Labrador retrievers who may show signs of not inheriting good "fetching genes," and then you may have dogs like my female Rottweiler (a breed selectively bred for herding livestock and pulling carts) who as a youngster went crazy over a game of fetch without much training involved. Poodles should enjoy retrieving as well considering that were used for hunting waterfowl, but as with retrievers, we need to factor in individual variance. Of course, if your poodle is mixed with another breed, we're dealing with a mixed bag of genes so we don't know what to expect. So now, let's look at some options to get him to complete the chain of behaviors necessary to do a full fetch. Here are some ideas that come to mind: -Let your retriever do some "modeling." Sometimes other dogs can be the best teachers. This won't necessarily work, but it may be worth a try since poodles are very smart. Have your poodle on leash with a family member or friend and have him watch your retriever do several trials of fetch. -Try indoors. Many dogs struggle playing fetch outdoors because there are too many distractions. On top of this, we are adding more distance, which creates challenges too. So it may be worth trying the game at home in a room without many distractions going on, at a closer distance and without any other dog around. - Try the "two-ball method." This may work well for dogs who will pick up the ball but are reluctant to bring the ball back ad tend to swerve if you try to get it. In this method, you'll need two balls (one in your hand, the other in your pocket). It goes like this: you will toss the ball, the dog will pick it up, you would then attract your dog by showing him another ball and bouncing it around. Your dog at this point, will be likely to approach. Walk backwards a few steps to encourage him to approach. The moment he is close to you, and drops his ball, toss the other ball. Chances are, he'll go grab the other ball you just tossed. Even better, fill up a bucket with balls and keep trading. Repetition after repetition, your dog will understand that in order to chase another ball, he must first bring back the one he already has. Please note: if you choose to try this method, don't fall into the temptation of pretending to toss the ball just for the sake of getting him to drop. This leads to suspicion in the dog and a future reluctance to drop. -Try back chaining. Back chaining may help a dog who is little reluctant over giving up the ball. Back chaining in dog training means that you'll be teaching the last behavior of the chain first and then move in reverse order moving forward towards the beginning. When you train using back chaining, the last behavior of the chain becomes particularly reinforcing. A retrieve trained backwards would therefore look like this: First, you would teach the dog to hold the ball in his mouth and drop it. Here's how to train "drop" on cue: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/ Afterward, you add some distance so your dog would hold the ball in his mouth and have to bring it to you so he can drop it. Next, you would toss the ball, have your dog catch it, bring it towards you and drop it in your hands. Some other tips/ideas: -Dogs thrive on learning, but they do far better when we teach them behavior using small steps and making the sessions short and sweet rather than moments. It is more effective and fun to make this a brief exercise at various times rather than long and tedious. Finally, we need to consider that if our dogs do not show much interest in playing fetch, we need to try our best not to get frustrated or impatient. Dogs can read our emotions and from a game, it will turn into a chore. On top of this, we need to again think about a dog's individual personalities. Just like wanting a child to take piano lessons, when the child is enamored with art, trying to persuade a dog to like fetch may get us no where if the heart isn't in to it. Fortunately, if worse comes to worse, there are many alternate ways we can play with our dogs. You can try with a flirt pole or play nose work games or brain games. You can also take your dog to agility classes. The best part? You won't end up with a dog obsesses about playing with fetch. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions. Best, Adrienne Disclaimer: Possessive dogs may bite if they feel threatened. If your dog is prone to resource guarding please consult with a dog behavior consultant such as a board-certified veterinary behaviorist or a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist.

Hello and welcome to the forums, We ideally hope that breeders would get pups habituated to wearing a collar and leash (along with some basic handling) prior to sending pups to their new homes, but unfortunately that doesn't always happen. This would certainly come extra handy, especially considering that new puppy owners may often need to take their pups on leash to potty! Rest assured, you are not alone on this issue, which has been covered many times in the forums here. At 8 weeks, your puppy has likely never worn a leash before so the whole concept may feel odd and even intimidating. Puppies don't have manual dexterity so they try to get that odd thing that pulls around their neck off of them in the only way they can which is by using their mouth. Some puppies instead just come to think that a leash is the most fun thing to play with. It is pleasant in the mouth, moves around and it can be fun to play tug with. Many puppies tend to fight the leash the very first times they wear it, but they eventually get used to it. A good way to help them habituate is just letting them wear it in the home and let them drag it around the house-always under your supervision so to watch for the leash getting accidentally tangled somewhere. Also, I suggest dog owners to start training their pup to give in to leash pressure at random session during the day. Many pups who haven't habituated to wearing a leash indeed, will tend to resist to any pressure by pulling back and biting the leash. Here is a basic guide on getting pups used to us attaching the leash and giving into leash pressure: Start by attaching the leash to the collar, give a treat as you attach it, then unclip it and at the same time give another treat. Rinse and repeat. The leash snapped/unsnapped to the collar should become a cue that a treat is coming. Next, further raise criteria. Snap the leash on, feed a treat, walk a few steps ahead and call your puppy to you, give treats when she reaches you. Gently apply a tiny bit of pressure as she moves towards you. Avoid pulling considering that this will create negative associations with its use. Next, teach your pup to give into the leash pressure rather than resist it. Sit on the couch and if she moves away, gently put pressure on the leash and show her a treat so that she learns to give in to the pressure. Praise and reward for giving in to pressure. Start walking your pup on leash. If your pup lags behind or pulls in another direction, coax her to catch up and keep walking by showing a treat. The moment the leash becomes loose when she catches up, praise and reward with the treat. As your pup comes to accept the leash, you can start some basic leash training in the home by feeding your pup treats as he does 1-2 steps next to you. Keep it fun and rewarding, making it a game. At 8 weeks you can't expect perfect heeling skills, but it's good practice to praise and reward her for walking nicely and it'll keep her focus off biting the leash if you have high-value treats. As she gets good at this, you can start more foundation heeling training in the next few weeks. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ Now, when we take out pups outside to potty, we want to make it a routine of having them go potty first and then only once they're done, we can praise and reward them and then allow them to have some fun in the yard. If you have a safe enclosed yard, then that could be a good time to take the leash off -if it's safe to do so-and let her explore a bit and play. If the leash biting persists in the next days when you're taking her out to potty, I would suggest making it difficult for her to grab the leash. You can do this by keeping the leash straight up so that it doesn't dangle right in front of her face, another option is to use a harness and clip the leash to the back ring or try giving her something to carry so she keeps her mouth occupied. I would strongly suggest not scolding her as this can increase her arousal levels or even trigger defensive behaviors. Or at the least, she'll think you're playing with her and start looking forward to this every time outside turning it into a habit. For nippy puppies, you will find the hand targeting game helpful and I like redirecting to a flirt pole. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ More on bite inhibition games here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/ Keep me posted on how things go! Best, Adrienne

Hi Cheryl, Please see my responses in bold: O.K. here I am yet again will try to keep it as short as I can. Shiloh has progressed to walking loose leash around my large living room, as long as I have treats(really had to bump them up in value) to get his attention but he will follow closely and sit when I stop. He's always been good at sitting at my side or in front of me when we are together. That's great news! I wished I could have seen this. It must have felt very rewarding. Pat yourself on your back and keep up the great work! I had to take his collar off and readjust it as he's growing so very fast. He did not try to bite or growl, but it took coaxing(yes treats were involved) to get him to allow me to put it back on. Same for the leash. I am glad that he didn't bite or growl. Keep up with the positive associations. Now, as long as I was bent over offering him treats he was fine to walk, between treats he carried the leash in his mouth but let go in order to get his reward( I did give him a drop it command ) before he could have it. I feel like if we keep it up he will come around. Good to hear, keep it up.With practice, he should start realizing more and more that the treats are far better than the leash. He did better at the lake yesterday. As long as he's distracted he doesn't bother his leash, no one was there until we got ready to leave and of course he wanted to visit. Had a rough time getting him to pay attention to me but we finally made it back. I'm concentrating on the leash as its really the most critical for both of us. So thanks again for the help. My question re: training has to do with the look into my eyes and the air plane game. He got those down really quickly and I keep playing the airplane game to reinforce him looking at my eyes on cue, the problem is he absolutely will not do it when walking with me, or when I try to get his attention at other times. What's funny is when I place him in a "sit" he sits right down and looks right at me. When you do these exercise when walking, are you making your smacking sound? Are you bringing a treat at eye level? These should help him get the hint. Initially, we also need to make sure to reward even split second glances. Gradually, these should increase in frequency and duration. So make sure not to miss the very brief looks. If this is happening at the lake, he may be overly excited (or maybe a bit anxious too) there and therefore struggles paying attention. Make sure to practice more at home. I've actually counted to 25 while he maintained eye contact, how can I capitalize on that? He does down(still having to hand signals for that one), he's good with stay, leave it and drop it are good, just a bit inconsistent at times depending on what he's interested in. I would like to get him to do the attention heel but without him looking at me, its going to be hard. Can I say "heel" when he's following well? Counting up to 25 is very good for a puppy! Mix in some shorter counts(like 3-5) so he doesn't get bored. Attention heeling is really mostly for some parts of the walk when dogs are getting distracted. It's not really meant to do for long times or for entire walks. So if your pup can do this when you ask him to every now and then that's fine. When he's following well, you should praise and reward so encourage him to keep doing it. He doesn't pull or move away while inside, but outside is a different story when in the yard. Sometimes he will just sit down and refuse to go any further(are treats o.K. to get him moving again?) Dont want to pull him. Outside you have lots of distractions to compete against. You can help set him for success by using super duper tasty treats specifically for the outdoors and practicing once he is a bit bored of being out. Most pups when sent out want to get rid of a bit of energy and sniff and explore. Once these basic needs are satiated and your pup looks a bit bored, may be a good time to practice. Make sure it's perceived as fun. I would evaluate why he is stopping. Can he be thirsty? Tired? A puppy can get quickly bored/ tired if we over do things. Make sure to keep these sessions short and sweet. Are you getting a bit frustrated with how the training is going? Dogs can sense that and they may stop walking or not make eye contact as a calming signal. Can he be stopping because you've slowed down a bit walking? For dogs we are often walking too slow to keep them walking as dogs have a much faster pace than us. Since he's struggled so much with getting used to the collar and leash, I wouldn't pull him but simply show a treat and gently guide him in heel position, but I would considering evaluating carefully what makes him stop in the first place. Sometimes recording ourselves as we train and watching it may reveal some things we may not be noticing that we're doing.