Adrienne

Hi Jeannine Smith, Welcome to the forums, I am sorry to hear your 4 month old puppy is attacking your little dogs. These multi-dog interactions can be quite complex at times to decipher, so I would need more information to better understand what may going on. What breeds are your little dogs? How old are they? How long have you had your Aussie puppy? And how long your little dogs? How have your little dogs reacted to your Aussies' attacks? Do they attack back? Retreat? Show fear? What do the attacks include? Can you describe them? Is your Aussie barking? Lunging? Growling? Attempting to bite? Biting causing injuries? Is your Aussie attacking the other little dogs when they have toys with treats? Or does your Aussie have such toys and attacks the little dogs for getting too near? You said the attacks "usually" involve food, but it sounds like they may have occurred in other circumstances, if so, can you describe other circumstances? When you say you don't let them get nose to nose, do you mean you are keeping them separated meaning in different areas? This is a good approach until we better understand what may be going on to ensure everyone's safety. Thanks for the extra details!

Hi Mary, I can imagine how frustrating it must feel to have a puppy waking up that early and not wanting to go back to sleep! I have been there several times and the good news is that this tends to be a temporary problem. Fortunately, as the pup develops better bladder/bowel control, and therefore needs less potty breaks, there will be less disruptions in the sleep. Just like human babies, pups may have a hard time falling asleep after awakening. And just as with human babies, us humans are often quite sleep deprived the first weeks or months we have them! Here is what's likely happening: exposure to light likely disrupts your pup's patterns of sleep causing difficulty in falling asleep after waking up. On top of that, just the act of getting up and moving disrupts the sleep cycle. The heart rate will quicken and nervous system will become more active, both circumstances that are known for not being conducive to sleep. Not to mention that, exposure to anything that may catch your pup's attention as she's taken out to potty (like seeing toys or night-time critters), can be so stimulating that your pup struggles going right back to sleep. So here are a few tips that come to mind: -Try anticipating your pup. If you are a light sleeper and you know your pup moves around the crate when she needs to potty, take her out before she has a chance of whining. You want to keep her as much in a sleepy state as possible when you take her out. -Try taking your puppy out to potty without turning the lights on. You can keep night lights throughout the hallway to help you see. Of course, if you are worried about tripping, or have stairs, avoid this and possibly use a flashlight instead. -When you take your puppy out to potty in the night, act matter of fact. No excited talking or play allowed. Just take her out, let her potty and then straight back inside. -Avoid exposure to stimulating sights and sounds. Keep her toys out of sight and avoid taking your puppy to potty close to where there may be night-time critters or rabbit droppings. -Keep the room your pup sleeps in dark. Use heavy curtains, blackout shades, or place a blanket over your pup's crate to avoid any light (even from the moon) from entering the room. Any lights may act as a powerful cue that tells your pup's brain that it's time to wake up. -Keep some white noise on. White noise (TV or radio on) can help so the puppy doesn't feel lonely or wakes up to external noises. The white noise sounds may keep the pup from hearing birds, the heating coming on or neighbors driving early to work which may act as a wake-up call. -Provide your young puppy with a Snuggle Puppy behavioral aid. This stuffed animal not only provides warmth but also produces a ticking sound that mimics mother dog's heartbeat, helping young pups feel comfy and more relaxed. -Keep your puppy awake and prevent too much napping in the evening. Just as it happens with us, your pup's pressure to sleep builds up every waking hour. The longer your pup is awake, the stronger the drive to sleep becomes. You can therefore distract your puppy with some training, brain games (or maybe even a car ride) so that she no longer naps too much in the evenings. Avoid over the top play though close to bedtime as that may have the opposite effect. -Keep your puppy on leash when you take her to potty in the yard. This is to avoid your puppy having too much fun, running amok around in the yard, possibly trying to chase night-time critters. Exercise may activate the alerting mechanism in the brain, making it more difficult for your pup to fall asleep. -Ask your vet if limiting water intake can help. Some puppy owners have success limiting water a few hours in the evening prior to bedtime to reduce the number of trips outside. -Some pups come to associate being taken out of the crate and peeing outside with breakfast. To break this possible association, in the morning, avoid serving your pup breakfast right away after going potty in the yard to prevent your pup from chaining together "wake up and pee with FOOD!!" therefore leading to a puppy who wakes up early in hopes of peeing and then expecting breakfast. About the exercise, I am no longer very fond of these general 5 minute per month rules as there are many factors to consider. For instance, the type of exercise, the surface where the puppy is exercised, the breed, whether the pup comes from a breeder who breeds for field work or just for companionship etc. At 4 months, you pup's growth plates haven't closed yet, so we need to be careful in avoiding any type of high-impact activities or prolonged exercise on hard surfaces such as repeatedly jumping to catch a frisbee, jogging on concrete and hurdling over obstacles at full speed and with leg twisting movements. I think your best bet would be to ask your vet based on your pup's conformation, but you can never really go wrong in providing mental stimulation (brain games! puzzle games and clicker training) which often turns out being more tiring itself as well. I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any other questions, Best, Adrienne

Hello, and welcome to the forums. While we tend to see full-blown separation anxiety/isolation distress behaviors in dogs at the onset of social maturity (around 12 to 36 months), puppies that are 4 to 6 months of age can also show signs of separation anxiety or its beginning. However, this is certainly an interesting behavior, considering that, in separation anxiety, we expect a dog to act anxious when their favorite person has left, but you mention your pup pees when anybody leaves (not a particular person), while in isolation distress, we expect a dog to act anxious when the dog is left alone, but you mention there are other people in the room with her. So there are some missing puzzle pieces here, although I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of there being some form of departure anxiety going on. If not, maybe at a minimum there's some activation of the sympathetic nervous system associated with seeing somebody they enjoy interacting with leave. To better understand the behavior, I have a few questions: In general, how do those who remain with the puppy interact with her just prior to somebody leaving the space? And what do they do when the puppy pees? How long after her last productive potty time (when she actually pees) do these potty accidents happen? Does the puppy pee as the leaving person moves toward the door/doggie gate or only after the person is out of sight? When the person leaves, does the puppy show any signs of anxiety such as walking back and forth, whining, acting upset? And finally, how does this pup cope with when every body leaves (don't leave your pup alone for sake of answering this, if you have some info about how she reacted in the past upon being left alone in the room, please provide details on that). Thanks!

You're very welcome! Glad to hear he's doing better. Keep up the great work! I am always here if you have any questions. Best, Adrienne

Poor Chester, I hope his GI system gets back on track. Stress can certainly make a sensitive tummy go topsy turvy. Best of luck for his next session with the larger dog!

Sounds like a plan! Keep me posted. I am here if you have any further questions or just wish to provide updates. Best, Adrienne

You are very welcome! Getting our dogs to be collaborative with us touching their paws is very important. You never know one day he may get a little cut you need to medicate, or an embedded thorn or you may just need to check his paws or clean them. I would still work on paw handling and mimicking nail trims every now and then (making it a fun, rewarding game), even if you can keep those nails trimmed down by walking. This because when they get older, those nail trims may become more and more necessary, and also because sometimes vets will give complimentary nail trims to their clients and we don't want them to restrain him and subjecting him to something unpleasant because he doesn't like it (hopefully you have found a fear-free practice in your area). You may find this read about socializing with children helpful, although I know with this COVID19 things may not be as easy as they were. But it even helps to have him watch/hear kids play (where permitted) while he's in the car, (as you work on creating positive associations) and it can help as well walking him at a distance from them but where he can see them and hear them. This doesn't mean though that even if we socialize our dogs, we can trust them around kids 100 percent. We also need to supervise and prevent putting our dogs in overwhelming situations always watching them carefully for signs of stress and doing everything possible to ensure safety. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/socializing-puppy-children/ For sake of a story, when my Rotties were pups they both showed signs of loving being around kids. They where the impersonation of "Good dog Carl". So when the neighbor kids would stop by to say hello, I would let them free as the kids loved asking them tricks. Well, to make the story short, one day the smaller child started asking Kaiser to roll over and she tripped as she was doing that and fell right on Einstein's tummy. Einstein got startled and growled as he moved away and she got startled too by his reaction, although she understood and got over it quickly. To remedy, I asked her to feed him some treats so he could understand and there were no hurt feelings. She fed him a couple treats as she told him "my whoops scared you Einstein, but we are still good friends OK?" But sure that "whoops" got me thinking! Although I was happy Einstein was good enough to "use his words" that day, I got worried about that and all sorts of "what if" scenarios started playing in my mind. "Gosh, what if he bit her?" Was his bite inhibition going to be good in that scenario to cause nothing more than wet skin? " We worked a lot on bite inhibition on our dogs since puppies but I wondered his response when startled. "Gosh what if she got hurt and I had to take her to the hospital" Even the thought of a small "boo-boo" and going to explain to her mom what happened sent chills to my spine. I also went as far as wondering if I could desensitize him to a child falling on him by me mimicking the fall and feeding him treats right away. But then, what if he would be OK with me and not a child? Was I aiming too far? How could I recreate the event? So to make the story short, that day, the relaxation I had went away, it was surely an eye opener and I started to go with management, putting a baby gate and telling the kids to give treats and ask tricks from there. Better be safe than sorry! On another occasion, a child with an intellectual disability at an open-event came from nowhere and went straight to hugging Einstein tightly in a headlock fashion placing his face so close to his. Something I really never did to him myself! I literally saw his eye almost popping out. Alarm bells started ringing, but I was happy I had treats so I just fed several to him in a row until the child dislodged and he appeared fine with that. Phewww..... I like what you are doing in stores. Having him sit for greeting is good for impulse control and also for forming positive associations with people. In the dog training world, there's a saying "Pavlov is always on the dog's shoulder." In other words, even though we are asking for operant behaviors that fall under operant conditioning (like sit, down, heel, come etc). when we reward dogs for doing all that, we are also to some extent potentially forming positive associations with us and the environment that surrounds them (and that potentially includes people). It goes something like this: "every time I see a person I am asked to sit and get a tasty treat, seeing people is good!" Here are some tips/ideas that come to mind in regards to the issues you have mentioned: Barking and whining Although we try our best to create positive associations with crates, there are always chances that the crates risk being perceived as something unpleasant because they often come to be associated with: 1) a sense of frustration -not being able to do what the dog wants to do (especially if not exercised enough/not given enough mental stimulation, 2) social isolation- dogs are often crated when we must leave 3) restriction-staying still when young dogs want to be in perpetual movement, hence while it's best to coordinate crate use with when dogs are more likely to be ready to nap. Your dog's whining may be because he's not too used to being in it and/or he has associated it with social isolation or he's just bored/frustrated. To remedy this, I find it very helpful to find a compromise: "you go in the crate, but when you're in there, you get wonderful things." To help make a more significant impact, give something long lasting so that he'll be kept occupied for some time. You can find more tips on making the crate a great place to be here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/ Barking at opening doors is rather normal 'watchdog" behavior. Rotties were bred to be guardians so they are vigilant. They tend to take a "wait and see" approach usually, but if they can't figure who is opening the door, they may bark, especially if confined, which doesn't allow them to be aware of what may be going on. You can work on this by using the hear that method if you wish, although some dog owners want a dog who barks at noises of people possibly entering properties so they can be alerted, as long as it doesn't get out of hand. Here's the hear that method if interested: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/ And here's look at that, if he starts to bark too much at triggers out of the window: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ Same exercise above can be done with strangers on walks. When you spot one, make a smacking sound with your mouth, maybe ask as well to make eye contact and deliver a tasty treat. You'll find this mentioned as well in the look at that exercises link above. 2) Dog Walkers You will need to get him used to you leaving gradually if you are going from being home all day to suddenly being away. Many dogs struggle with this, if we don't take steps prior to getting him used to his new routine. With COVID19 owners staying home and then going to work we have seen a great surge of separation anxiety. So yes, I feel it would be important getting him used to what his new routine would look like once you start your new job. He will surely still benefit from having somebody stop by midday (or even on more occasion) as he will need to be exercised and taken out to potty and 7 to 8 hours are quite a lot for a young dog with lots of energy. So whatever your new routine will be make sure to get him used to it gradually, preferably weeks in advance. Where are you planning to confine him during your absence? Boredom can lead to considerable destruction. Has he ever been left for so long before? Will some family members be around during the day? 3. Training I think it would be important for other family members to be able to train your dog too. They need to be totally on the same page as you though to prevent confusion and inconsistencies. So make sure they use the same exact cues and methods you employ. Initially, have them next to you showing what you do and stay there with them as they repeat and execute. This is so you can correct them as needed and to help your dog switch over more readily. Then start moving away in the background. Responding to others can turn helpful that day you may be busy or need to spend time away and your family needs to take over, and also helps your dog generalize his cues to other people, which helps proof his training as long as it's always consistent. Your dog walker/pet sitters too may benefit from having him respond to their cues. Our Rotties were both trained to respond to both of us and other family members who would visit. This worked well when I was on business trips or continuing education events and when hubby was at work or called for jury duty. I remember when we took Petra and Einstein the first day to boarding, they told me they wouldn't eat until later when really hungry. It only struck me I forgot to tell them that they needed to say "go!" in order to get them to eat! They were both trained to sit for their food bowls and only eat once we told them to and that word was "go!", so they were just being the good doggies they were. So if you ever board your Rottie, it's good if staff can also use the same cues you do, as long as you remember to tell them! I am glad you are asking all these great questions. I am all for preventing problems and nipping them in the bud. Your Rottie is nearing the doggy adolescent stage, so if you haven't read about it, here's a head's up! https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ Happy training!

You're very welcome! Keep us posted on how it goes or if you need any help. Best, Adrienne

Hello, welcome to the forums, While these self-cleaning pad machines seem like a brilliant invention, they were more crafted with humans in mind than dogs. With the focus more on creating a convenient way for us humans to discard messes, dogs were therefore left a little bit on the back burner so to say. As if using regular pee pads wasn't difficult enough, now puppies and dogs must deal with some new challenges. For example, one common problem with these self-cleaning doggy toilets is that dogs may be reluctant to step on them. We see in dogs a reluctance to step on foreign things quite normally, such as when dogs skip walking over drainage grates on roads or when they are reluctant to step on the scale at the vet's office. To further complicate things, some dogs become frightened from its motion. They see it moving or hear it and they must perceive it as some odd monster who eats their stools! Once dogs get into this avoidance mindset, it becomes difficult to change their mind. Here's the thing: when dogs need to go potty, they need to feel safe. Fear of a noise out in the yard or seeing something scary is often one of the main reasons why dogs start peeing/pooping in the house rather than going outside. This just to say that dogs feel vulnerable when they do their business, and if something bothers them, it can put a dent in their potty training, hence why it is always recommended to choose quiet locations. So if the machine may have startled your dog, you can try to work on creating positive associations, but if she seems decided to not want to use it, this can take some time, and she may convince herself again at a later time that the machine is not trustworthy and come to not want to use it again. So here's a little behavior modification program that may help ease her suspicion/fear about this new "machine." How to Create Positive Associations To create positive associations, you would place a small treat nearby it (at a distance she is comfortable) and praise her for eating it. Then you would say "yes!" and toss her a treat anytime she looks at the machine, then when she walks towards it, then when she sniffs it and then when she places her paw on it. Then move on to rewarding her for walking on it and then even sitting on it. This is all done using a training method known as shaping, basically you would do similar exercises as I do in this video below with the ramp only that you are using the potty machine. In the video, I use a clicker, but if your dog is fearful, skip the clicker and stick to a verbal marker instead. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-use-a-ramp/ Creating a Den-Like Area Once she seems more comfortable with the machine, you can try erecting an exercise pen around it so that you can confine her there anytime you think she needs to go potty, overnight, and when you cannot supervise her. Place the machine in one side, and on the opposite side, place her bed, water bowl, food bowl, sleeping place (like a mat or open crate with the door secured with some cord so to stay open) and toys. This is to stimulate a dog's instinct to not want to soil where they sleep, eat, drink and play so she should automatically be drawn to using it. If your dog was used to using pee pads, you can place one on top of the machine's pad just for sake of familiarity. When she's in this enclosed area, pay attention to your dog. When you see her using it, make sure to praise her and toss her a treat so to create motivation to use it. Continue doing this so to establish a new routine. Then, start removing the pad, starting from one side uncovering the original machine's pad and then remove it entirely. It may help to place on the pad some of your dog's previous mess so it smells like her urine. After you clean her pee mess from somewhere in the home with a paper towel, smear a bit on the pad so that it smells like bathroom to her. However, make sure that any time she has a mess in the home, you remove the scent with an enzyme-based cleaner (like Nature's Miracle). If your dog instead doesn't appear fearful of it, then it's more of a matter of getting her to prefer to use this new substrate versus other random areas of the home. Therefore skip the positive associations section and move on straight to creating a den-like area. Make sure to set your pup up for success. The more she uses the potty "machine," the more she'll get into the habit of using it. Whereas, the more she uses other areas of your home for going potty, the more she'll stick to those areas, so the ultimate goal is to increase the chances for her to go where we want her to go. This is because going potty is reinforcing to dogs (they feel relief from going) and therefore they associate the place they go with that reinforcement. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. Best, Adrienne

I find that jumping up at visitors is often more of a problem of visitor compliance than training the dog. I don't know about you, but when my Rotties were about your Rottie's age, we had countless visitors who couldn't help themselves but sweet talk to our dogs in an enthusiastic way and pet them and really hype them up. What was more bothersome was the fact of, telling them our "dogs were in training" and therefore requesting them to ignore them, but they just couldn't resist. My biggest pet peeve were visitors who weren't compliant at all in following our instructions and ended up often petting and giving attention to our dogs when they were jumping! These visitors would often remark "But it's OK, they are dogs, they just want to say hello! " but I remarked back, "it might be OK for you, but that doesn't mean other guests will be OK with that, plus dogs get confused when they are allowed to jump up on some people, but not on others!" So we opted to simply close our dogs when such non-compliant guests stopped by (or we kept them at a distance with one of us holding them on leash or behind a baby gate) at least until we got their jumping behavior more under control. This was important so to also prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior considering that, the more dogs jump, the more they will want to do it, especially if positive feedback through attention is provided by visitors. Soon jumping therefore risks becoming an established habit and the default way for dogs to greet people. So with jumping up on guests, it can help a whole lot if you could enlist the help of some volunteers willing to ignore your dog and should he manage to jump, provide quick feedback by turning their back on him and possibly even exiting the door if he keeps up at it. When they enter the home though and he behaves without jumping, he gets a tasty treat. You can read read more about jumping here (scroll down the bottom where it mentions jumping on guests/other people : https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/jumping/ And here is a case study on how I worked on an excitable dog's jumping by desensitizing her gradually to excited greetings: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-assessing-jumping-behavior-desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-practice-greetings/ With a young Rottie like yours it would also be helpful working on more impulse control and frustration tolerance, you can read more on exercises here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ And of course, exercise, training and mental stimulation (brain games!) is important too to keep those teenager minds busy in productive ways. Let me know if you have any other questions, Happy training! Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! At the age of 2, your Rottweiler is officially in the dog adolescent stage, a time when dog-to-dog interactions tend to deteriorate in some cases. The aggression you are describing towards other dogs on walks is something that requires (at least initially) more behavior modification rather than training. This is because when dogs are reactive, they are often too over threshold to cognitively function to the level of responding to our cues (commands) and therefore, they require a systematic approach which focuses to first work on the dog inwards, that is, through the emotional state. This can be accomplished through a well structured behavior modification program entailing desensitization and counterconditioning. If you haven't worked on these methods before (or there was sloppy implementation) this can be the missing link, basically the main reason why you are encountering hurdles in your process. Desensitization entails presenting stimuli the dog is reactive towards to in less salient, less overwhelming ways. In a dog reactive towards other dogs, dogs are often presented in a less overwhelming way by increasing distance and often starting with dogs who are less likely to elicit a response. Just like people phobic of spiders cope better seeing a tarantula behind a glass case at the zoo compared to having one crawling on their arm, dogs cope better with their emotions when we take baby steps and prevent exposure at levels that overwhelm them. Here is a read about the desensitization process: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ Counterconditioning entails creating positive associations. Back, to the person fearful of spiders, the emotional fear/disgust response may change if, every time a spider is presented, tasty food items appear and the participant's favorite music is played. This method has been actually employed in a study with very effective results https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11060935/. Back to dogs, the use of high-value foods remains the most popular approach, although some dogs may struggle eating when they are in a reactive state, but that becomes an indicator that a more systematic desensitization approach is needed (often this entails increasing distance). When using desensitization along with counterconditioning it's always important to pay attention to a dog's body language, watching for signs of stress. Some signs may be quite subtle and not easy to readily recognize compared to others. Here is a guide: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/signs-fear-stress-dogs/ If we notice signs of stress, most likely that's a quite accurate sign that the dog is over threshold. Important in behavior modification is to ensure the dog is kept under threshold as much as possible. Here is a read about threshold levels in dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ Management is also important in keeping a dog under threshold and for the purpose conducting behavior modification. The goal of management is avoiding to expose reactive dogs to situations they are not ready to be exposed to causing them to go over threshold. For example, if we are walking the dog and we haven't worked yet in closer exposure and a dog is heading our way, an emergency u-turn would turn helpful: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ So to recap, the goals of behavior modification consist of taking baby steps, creating positive associations, keeping the dog under threshold and managing the dog's environment always scanning the environment to ensure our dogs are protected from encounters that may trigger reactive behavior (the more reactive behavior is rehearsed, the more it established and puts roots) while also having a back-up plan if another dog is coming too close (emergency u-turn, crossing the road). A good place to start behavior modification is practicing having your Rottie act calm seeing other dogs from a window at a distance. You can see a sample of this exercise here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ Then, the same exercises can be applied on walks with dogs at a distance, ideally always under the guidance of a dog behavior professional using his/her own dogs (if calm enough) before proceeding to other types of dogs. If your dog shows signs of regressing, that's often an indicator that we are speeding through the process too fast. This is a very common problem. It's therefore important to take some steps back and find again that sweet spot where the dog sees other dogs at more distance and acts calm, before gradually moving on working closer. It also helps to identify several gradients that can make our dogs uncomfortable and keep tabs on them. For example, a dog who copes well seeing calm dogs on walks, may struggle with hyper pups or other dogs who pant and breathe heavily, so we need to more work around these types of dogs. Some dogs may have a more difficult time with larger dogs than smaller dogs. Something else to consider is that, with dogs who pull on the leash due to reactivity, we often deal with two problems: the dog who is reactive, but also us humans, who, on the other end of the leash, start worrying about our dog's lunging and pulling behavior. This can surely impact our walks turning them from a leisurely hobby to a dreaded event. On top of this, the anticipatory stress of us not being able to control the situation, may travel all the way down the leash and can end up "alerting the dog" even if he was maybe in a calmer, non-reactive state. Concerns about equipment holding up our dogs in unexpected situations can therefore surely put a dent. Training tools that help attain better control such as front-attachment harnesses or dog halters (these latter often require a conditioning process) may therefore turn helpful in these cases. Most important though are systematic setups with the dog under threshold. These are the most helpful to help boost our confidence in walking dogs, knowing that it is possible to handle better the situation combining conditioning the dog to acting less stressed, and therefore, becoming more responsive, while us humans are learning to relax more. Now, a disclaimer is warranted here, behavior modification comes with risks. When dogs are over threshold or in a highly aroused state, dog owners are at risk for a re-directed bite (sometimes just from being touched!) and other people/dogs around can be at risk too if not enough distance is taken or should people come too close or should the dog lunge forward or escape. For safety and correct implementation of behavior modification, it is therefore best to enlist the help of a dog behavior professional for in-person coaching and to ensure the dog is kept under threshold and not exposed to stimuli/situations that may be too overwhelming. I hope this helps. I will be tackling the jumping behavior shortly in another post.

Hello and welcome to the forums, As you may already know, singleton pups may pose some extra challenges on several fronts, and some of them are problems coping with frustration and a potential lack of bite inhibition. To prevent overly nippy pups, some caring breeders will introduce singleton pups to other litters of pups in hopes the singleton pup can integrate well and learn the ABCs of bite inhibition along with other important life lessons. Of course, this may not always be feasible, but in the case of a pup missing out on being grown along other pups, another good practice is to enroll in puppy classes. It is great to hear that you have enrolled your pup in them and that she did so well! It sounds like, from your description, the stopping from playing and then lunging for your hands when playing fetch might be due to over arousal. When dogs reach this aroused state, they start losing control of their jaws and they may bite harder than usual. I would keep the games of fetch brief for now so to not get her to that tipping point and also to prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior. You can end the game with a last toss of the item you are using to play fetch and then offering her something to chew on to calm down. It also helps to train an off switch button for over-arousal. Play with her and interrupt play periodically and ask her for a sit, then reward with a tug toy. Here's the Jazz up and settle down game as an example: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/jazz-up-and-settle-down/ It would also be important to teach her more impulse control and frustration tolerance, you can find several exercises here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ She may also benefit from being taught to hand target as an alternate way to interact with hands. The moment you see her approaching your hand with the intent to bite, ask her to target your hand and reward her by tossing a kibble. Here is how to train it: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ And here are some more bite inhibition games since it sounds like she's pretty rough with her mouth: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/ Consider as well that pups can get particularly nippy when they are cranky and in a dire need of a nap. It may therefore be worthy providing her with some quiet time. Give her a chew toy or stuffed Kong to enjoy in her crate or play pen or on a mat. Here's how to train a dog to relax on a mat: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/ If you are concerned about calories, you can stuff her a Kong with her kibble mixed with a bit of plain canned pumpkin or low calorie canned dog food or you can offer a Kong Wobbler filled with a portion of her daily ration or a fun bottle game. She'll need a small bottle for this and make sure to remove the label and caps. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/ If she loves her kibble, I would put her to work to it with a variety of brain games/training using that exclusively. Look up the treasure hunt game, muffin game, ball pit game. Being a Yorkshire terrier, she needs a good amount of exercise and mental stimulation. These dogs were used to hunt rodents in the past so they may love digging, tunnels and toys that make noise (watch out with toys containing squeakers as some dogs ingest them or parts of it). A flirt pole may also be a great tool to distract her when she's in biting mode. With young dogs, I carry one around my waist or over my shoulders so I can use it to redirect dogs at moment's notice from undesirable behaviors such as nipping or trying to chew or chase things around while providing them an outlet. The main goal in getting a pup to stop biting hands and legs is to teach them 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 try to move less as movement and our reactions to the biting attracts dogs the most (wear light gardening gloves in the initial training stages and cover your ankles by tucking your pants in your socks or wear tall boots ) 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 legs/hands. You may have to try several of the above options and see what works best. Redirection to a rewarding food-dispensing toy or game 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, teaching her better impulse control and frustration tolerance 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. Finally, once again, consider that pups 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, in a play pen 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 hope this helps, let me know if you have any more other questions. Best, Adrienne

Hello, thanks for update! I am glad to hear that your boy is doing fine with the harness and that you have noticed it's easier to control him in specific circumstances. I am also glad to hear that he seems to be reacting less which is certainly a big plus, especially considering that you have just started working with him. It is good to start with dogs who he is less reactive towards (either because he knows them or they are small/less intimidating) and then gradually raise criteria and move on to dogs who may pose more challenges. I have even started with fake stuffed Rottweiler dogs as stimulus dogs, prior to letting dogs meeting my own dogs at a distance. Slow and steady wins the race in behavior modification. This is all prep work to get you and your dog more comfortable and start building some foundation work. I am sorry to hear that your dog got sick and was restless last night. Could the new powder been a culprit? Or maybe new treats? Did he seem stressed during the session? Perhaps the stress/arousal made him produce too much acid. Poor Chester, I hope he feels better soon!

Thank you so much for the extra details, they are very helpful! Based on your information provided, I think there are several options we can try to get her a little more interested and motivated. When dogs are free-fed, meaning that food is left out all day in a bowl and the dog eats whenever she feels like it, this often significantly decreases the value of food. For sake of an example, it's like us having access all day to an all-you-can-eat buffet (but with only one type of food served) which may seem like a feast the initial days, but then things start getting rather boring. On top of this, as kibble is left out, it leads to a significant loss of aroma. Dogs may therefore start turning their noses down to food that doesn't smell fresh and may therefore get picky about eating it. Hence, why many dogs who are free-fed often become picky about it and hold off eating it in hopes of getting better and more aromatic things such as people foods, canned food or cat food. Cat food in particular is particularly enticing to dogs because cats are obligate carnivores, and as such, their diets are very rich in protein and therefore very palatable. While it may not hurt when eaten in small quantities every now and then, vets frown on this practice if it's happening more often than not because its' not properly balanced for canines when it comes to certain nutrients. Not to mention the effects cat food can have on a dog's waistline over time and risks for pancreatitis (inflammation of pancreas) due to the high fat levels often found in cat food. So if we can prevent access to cat food, this can be helpful in the long run from a health and food-motivating standpoint (if your Chihuahua gorges herself on the cat food, she'll fill up quickly so less motivation to work for treats). Here are some tips to keeping your Chi away from your cat's food: -Feed your cat on a higher surface that your dog can't reach (like on top of a dresser or high table). -Separate kitty's feeding area with a gate/bulky item that your dog can't jump over. Now, as to her training and motivation on treats, here are a few ideas that come to mind: -You can try to use her additional foods for training. For example, if she eagerly eats her canned food, you can spread some on a cookie sheet and bake it at 200 degrees (expect it to stink to high heaven) until it is dry enough to chop up for use as treats and see if she enjoys that or you can grind some of her kibble and mix it with her canned food and make teeny tiny meatballs. If you cook her meals, you can use some of that too for training especially if there is some meat in it you can cut into small pieces. This is a win-win so that you aren't adding any extra calories since you're using up things she would normally eat. -You can rotate treats to keep her interest alive. Many dogs who grow tired of treats fast do best with this approach so they never have a chance to really grow tired because different treats keep them up their toes. So if one treat can keep her interested for 4 days, then before she gets tired of that, swap with one that has her interest for 2 days, and before she gets tired of that, try with the one that gets her interested for a week, and so forth, going back and forth. -Some dogs like to have a mix of treats and that helps keeping their interest alive. So you can try mixing a variety of treats in a trail-mix fashion so she never knows what's coming next. -Some dogs may even work for their kibble if we mix kibble with some cut low-sodium hot dogs (or some other stinky treats like freeze dried tripe or liver for dogs sold in pet stores) and letting the kibble soak the flavor overnight in the fridge. -Try tossing the treats rather than hand feeding. Many dogs have kick out of chasing their food rather than having it delivered directly to their mouth. It mixes the fun of the chase with eating. -I know some picky dogs who went bonkers for those food rolls for dogs found in the refrigerated section of many pet food stores or even grocery stores. They would cut a slice and divide it in many small pieces. -You can try using her kibble for brain games such as treasure hunts, Muffin game or the bottle game or place them in a Kong Wobbler/Buster Cube. Working for the food can lead to re-newed interest (rather than it sitting boringly in a bowl) and some dogs get addicted to it to the point of enjoying being trained with it, especially when tossed! -Your dog is very small, so consider she gets full very fast. This means working with tiny pieces of treats and training when she hasn't recently eaten. Also, try training for brief sessions so she doesn't get full or tired of the food. You want to stop when she's having fun and is eager so she'll want to be trained more and more. If your dog has food allergies or a sensitive tummy, consult with your vet for the most appropriate treats. I hope this helps! Keep me posted and let me know if you have any other questions, Happy training! Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! Does she eat her daily meals well? Is she free-fed (meaning food is left out for her all day)? For how long, does she she seem interested in treats before she gives up? What treats have you tried so far? How many do you give each time? Are you splitting them in tiny pieces? Thanks for the extra details, Adrienne

Cleaning Ears Start by very lightly touching your pup's ear, while feeding a treat. If your puppy moves/balks away, split this further and work on approaching. Therefore, start by approaching with your hand towards the ear, and feeding a treat. Move hand towards ear-treat, hand towards ear- treat, hand towards ear- treat. Look for anticipation. Next, start by very lightly touching your pup's ear, while feeding a treat. Touch ear/treat, touch ear/treat, touch ear/treat. If you need to wipe ears, hold your cotton ball/pads behind your back, and then present it, allowing your dog to sniff, give a treat. Once done eating the treat, hold it behind your back again. Rinse and repeat. Next, start by very lightly touching your pup's ear with the cotton ball, while feeding a treat. Touch ear with cotton ball/treat, touch ear with cotton ball/treat, touch ear with cotton ball/treat. Next, touch your pup's ear with the cotton ball and progress to wiping the ridges of the outer ear, while the pup is fed a treat (you may need a helper to feed or clean). Rinse and repeat several times, working on both ears. If at any time your pup seems uncomfortable, as always stop and go back to a previous step and work until comfortable, splitting the more challenging exercises into smaller steps. If your dog's ear appears red, has an odor or there is discharge, or if your pup strongly objects, consult with a vet as your pup may be suffering from a painful ear infection. Cleaning Eyes If you need to clean the area around the eyes, hold your eye cleaning pad behind your back, and then present it, allowing your dog to sniff it, give a treat. Once done eating the treat, hold it behind your back again. Rinse and repeat. Next, start by very lightly touching the area around your pup’s eyes with the pad, while feeding a treat. Touch the area with the pad/treat, touch the area with the pad/treat, touch the area with the pad/treat. If your puppy moves/balks away, split this further and work on approaching. Therefore, start by approaching with your hand towards the eye, and feeding a treat with your other hand. Move hand towards eye-treat, hand towards eye- treat, hand towards eye- treat. Look for happy anticipation. Next, touch your pup's area around the eye with the pad and progress to wiping, while the pup is fed a treat (you may need a helper to feed or clean). Rinse and repeat several times, working on both eyes. If at any time your pup seems uncomfortable, as always stop and go back to a previous step and work until comfortable, splitting the more challenging exercises into smaller steps. If your dog's eye/eyes appears red or there is discharge, or if your pup strongly objects, consult with a vet as your pup may be suffering from a painful eye infection. I hope this helps, Best, Adrienne Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your dog is acting aggressively, please seek out the in person-guidance of a dog behavior professional for safety and correct implementation.

Cleaning Paws Start by touching each paw slightly and feeding a treat. Rinse and repeat several times looking for that lovely conditioned emotional response. Next, progress to picking the paw off and feeing a treat. Rinse and repeat. Once your puppy looks comfortable having his feet touched and picked up, start to lightly wipe the paw, always feeding a treat so to create positive associations. Gradually build up to spending a few seconds touching each paw, aiming to keep it short and sweet and feeding tasty treats. Once the pup seems happy with this operation, progress to wiping more like between each toe and feeding a treat each time. Repeat several times until you can wipe those paws and your pup looks forward to it, or at least is more collaborative. If you need to trim the nails eventually, here's the guide on getting a pup used to a Dremel tool: Attaching the Leash Start by creating positive associations with the leash. Just as with the collar, hide behind your back and then present it, feeding your puppy treats when he looks at it and sniffs it and then once he's done inspecting it, place it behind your back and no more treats. Next, start getting your pup used to the sound of the clasp. Keep the leash behind your back, then make the snapping sound of the clasp and feed a treat. Clasp sound/treat, clasp sound/ treat, clasp sound/treat. Next, proceed to attaching the leash, give a treat, then unclip it once your dog is done eating it. Rinse and repeat. The leash snapped to the collar should become a cue that a treat is coming! Once your dog gets used to this, snap it on before mealtime and then unsnap it once he is done eating. Next, have a helper snap the leash on feed a treat and then you call your dog to you with him dragging it and give a treat. Unclip the leash when he's done eating. Rinse and repeat. Next, further raise criteria. Snap the leash on and hold it, walk a few steps ahead and call your dog to you, give treats when he reaches you. Try to avoid pulling your dog harshly on the leash considering that this will create negative associations with its use. Teach your pup to give into the leash pressure rather than resist it. Sit on the couch and if he moves away, gently put pressure on the leash and show him a treat so that he learns to give in to the pressure. Praise and reward. Start walking your pup on leash. If your pup lags behind or pulls in another direction, coax him to catch up and keep walking by showing a treat. The moment the leash becomes loose when he catches up, praise and reward with the treat. More on leash training here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ Cleaning ears and eyes coming up in the next post....

If this is happening when he is chewing something he's not supposed to, I urge to not physically intervene with collar grabs or pushing, but rather work on training the "leave it" and "drop it "cue. Here is how to train these cues: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/ In the meanwhile, as you work on teaching that, it helps to "puppy-proof" the home as much as possible, leaving out things that your pup may get a hang of and is not supposed to, while leaving out legit safe items to chew such as durable toys, edible chews, food puzzles. Rotating toys helps keep the interest alive, so you can aim to keeping some out of sight for some time and then presenting them and swapping them. If your pup should get a hold of something he shouldn't before he's trained to respond to leave it/drop you can grab his attention with a new toy (or one he hasn't had access for a while) and swap it for the item he was chewing. Alternatively, you can try to toss some kibble/treats and retrieve the chewed item as he goes grab them. I will be posting shortly some behavior modification examples for attaching leash to collar. cleaning eyes and ears and paw handling. As always, these will be based on desensitization and counterconditioning and the same principles apply.

Hello and welcome to the forums, Your puppy is still very young and we want to nip this behavior in the bud to prevent it from getting out of hand. It sounds like this may be a handling issue, where the pup doesn't like to be touched or groomed because he wasn't used to it or simply dislikes it. However, it may be important stopping by the vet just to make sure there's nothing going on physically. Sometimes, pups may react this way when they are in pain/sick, and we don't want to try to work on something that needs to be addressed differently. So if your pup is due anytime soon for his next vaccinations, I would suggest mentioning this behavior to the vet just to ensure there's nothing possibly hurting him or making him more irritable. Once health issues have been ruled out, the next step would entail working on the issue which means working on gentle handling exercises. Ideally, handling exercises are started even before puppies are welcomed into their new homes at 8 to 12 weeks of age. It all should therefore start while the puppy is in the breeder's care. Good breeders should have therefore already started getting the puppy used to being handled from an early age, often weighing the pups on a daily basis and getting them used to human touch. As pups grow, handling should continue with the breeder having their pups stand on a coffee table and getting them used to being rubbed over the head and back areas, having their paws lifted and touched, having their teeth inspected all in a positive way so to show the pup that body handling is a good thing. This work will prep the pup once they go to their new homes. Not always though things go as wanted as if may difficult to come by such committed breeders and many pups nowadays are sourced from pet stores or shelters. In such cases, not all is lost. This is where body handling exercises come into place. Before doing basic handling exercises, it's important to understand how they work and what to do if your puppy seems to be growing impatient/frustrated. Basic handling exercises are based on two behavior modification techniques known as desensitization and counterconditioning. Desensitization aims to introduce the puppy to touch using baby steps so to introduce touch in a gradual method, always at the pup's pace. Counterconditioning aims to create positive associations with touch so that the puppy looks forward to touch because it leads to happy outcomes. When doing these exercises, it is therefore very important to work at the pup's pace, always paying attention to his body language and ensuring the pup is not sent over threshold, the imaginary line where things starts deteriorating. Therefore, if you reach a point where the pup gives early signs of getting uncomfortable or frustrated, stop and keep track of this point and consider it as an intermediate goal. So take a few steps back and once you gradually build back up to this point with your puppy being calm, then progress a little closer to your final goal, always making sure your pup is doing OK. The goal is obtaining what is known as a conditioned emotional response which is the pup looking forward to being groomed or having his collar touched because this has led to wonderful things. Now, puppies have needle sharp teeth and they can surely hurt, so since you mention that his biting has led to bleeding, it may be helpful to wear some leather gloves for the time being. Here are some exercises for grooming and collar touches. Brushing: Many pups struggle with being brushed. They many not want that unfamiliar object near them or perhaps they don't like to be touched with the brush in certain areas, or maybe they got accidentally hurt when the brush met a knot or an area with matted fur. For this, a step-by-step approach is needed. Start by creating positive associations with the brush. Hold the brush behind your back and then present it your puppy. Feed a tasty treat when your puppy looks at it or sniffs it. Then, once your pup has finished eating the treat, place the brush once again behind your back and repeat the sequence. Treats happen only when the brush comes out! Next, start placing the brush on his back(or any area he seems to not mind much being touched), and feed a treat, brush touch/treat, brush touch/treat, brush touch/treat. Repeat several times, until your puppy looks forward to being touched with the brush. Next, start passing the brush with a small stroke, and feed a treat. Once done eating, stop the brush stroke. Rinse and repeat. Move on to brushing different areas while you feed treats, brush stroke/treat, brush stroke/treat. Be very careful with the tail as many pups struggle with that, be very gentle and feed treats as you pass the brush and once done, stop the treats. My last case of touch sensitivity was a Pomeranian that dreaded going to the groomer and would try to bite any time you brushed her. I used the above method going slowly, and she soon started jumping on the couch to be brushed she became so enthusiastic about it. The tasty treats she was fed worked wonders! Collar Touches/Grabs Puppies may struggle with being grabbed by the collar especially if the collar grab leads to something unpleasant. It's therefore a good idea habituating puppies to collar grabs in case we need to get ahold of the puppy in an emergency situation. So work on this, equip yourself with high-value treats. Call your puppy show a tasty treat and slightly touch the collar while you simultaneously feed him the treat while you are touching the collar, then remove your hand from the collar the moment your puppy is done eating the treat. Repeat several times, collar touch/treat, collar touch/treat, collar touch/treat until upon touching the collar your dog looks at you for treats. Next, start raising criteria: slide your fingers gently under the collar, feed a treat, once done eating, remove your fingers from under the collar. Rinse and repeat until your pup seems happy when you slide your fingers under the collar. Next, gently hold the collar with your hand and feed a treat, once done eating, remove your fingers from under the collar and release. Rinse and repeat. Next, grab the collar and gently let your pup walk a step while you feed a treat, once done eating, release. Rinse and repeat. Next, grab the collar and gently guide your puppy towards a treat you are holding in your other hand. Once done eating, release. Rinse and repeat. Next, call your pup from a distance and when he arrives, grab the collar, make him walk a few steps and feed a treat. Once done eating, release. As seen, the goal is to make great things happen when the pup's collar is touched. Putting on a Collar Start by creating positive associations with the collar. Hold the collar behind your back and then present it your puppy. Feed a tasty treat when your puppy looks at it or sniffs it. Then, once your pup has finished eating the treat, place it once again behind your back and repeat the sequence. Treats happen only when the collar comes out! Next, unbuckle the collar and allow it to briefly touch the top of your dog's neck as you feed a treat at the same time. Touch neck with collar, treat; touch neck with collar, and treat. Rinse and repeat several times always looking for that lovely conditioned emotional response. Treats happen when the collar touches the neck. . Next, place the collar on your puppy's neck and try to make the two ends of the collar touch while you have a helper feed your puppy treats at this point if you can't do this with two hands. Remove the collar when your pup is done eating. Rinse and repeat making always sure that the tasty treats occur contingent upon the collar being on the neck. Next, advance to doing the same exercise, only that this time, you'll pretend to buckle the collar as your helper feeds the treats. Once done eating, remove the collar. Now, aim to actually buckle the collar making sure though that it remains loose. Have your helper feed treats and rinse and repeat various times. As your pup looks comfortable, gradually buckle it more and more snug (as your helper feeds treats) until it's snug enough that you can fit two fingers between the collar and your dog's neck. Then unbuckle once your puppy is done eating treats. Once your pup seems OK wearing the collar, make a big deal of it, tell him how good he looks in it and let tasty treats fall to the ground. Then, remove the collar and act boring, no more praise and treats. Keep up the great associations with the collar by making great things happen when he's wearing it. For example, you can let him wear it before feeding his meals and remove it right after. Or you can let him wear it before taking him on a car ride (if he loves them) and remove afterward. Extra tips that come to mind: At least initially, avoid touching your puppy when he is overly excited. Focus instead on practicing low stress handling when your pup is chill. This may be challenging if you have young kids who rev your puppy up. Ensure your puppy is getting enough sleep. Puppies tend to get cranky and nippy when they lack sleep. Wait for a time when the puppy is calm and quiet to do the exercises. Always end the exercises on a positive note, possibly, with your pup wanting to be touched more rather than resisting. Never correct your pup physically or by scolding as this will make your pup defensive and may cause him to even dread being touched more. As seen, the exercises mostly consist of creating baby steps and positive associations with them. If your pup seems to be struggling with one step, take a step back and split it into smaller steps until you can move forward. Since your mentioned though that your pup seems to act aggressively and his biting draws blood, it would be best to consult with a force-free behavior professional to guide you though for both safety and correct implementation. I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any questions or if you're struggling with other things (e.g. lifting paws, touching ears, attaching leash to the collar). Each of these behaviors need tackled differently. Best, Adrienne Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your dog is acting aggressively, please seek out the in person-guidance of a dog behavior professional for safety and correct implementation.

You're very welcome! Happy training!

Hello, and welcome to the forums! Many dogs are prone to using their nose more because they're so in tune with sniffing. With the post-it note method, you have to wait until your dog gets closer to it and mark/reward when he ends up stepping on it. Initially I tend to use the cue "target" in a general way just to simply teach the dog the skill to "move a body part towards an object" it therefore gets the dog to think and learn how he can "operate" with his own body. Down the road though, if you are planning to build on these two behaviors specifically, you can certainly help your dog discriminate between nose targets and paw targets by putting them specifically on a distinctive cue. If we want to get even pickier, we can even give different names to how things are "targeted" for example, we can start giving a specific cue for placing a paw on something (like a post-it note) and another cue for hitting something with a paw, and we can use a cue for pushing something with the nose (like closing an open cabinet) versus simply nose touching. You can therefore use "nose" for nose targets, and "target" for paw targets or target for nose targets and "strike" or "smack" for paw targets. There may be chances that "touch" and "target'" may sound a little too similar as they both start with "ta" as pronunciation and many dogs tend to anticipate us which may lead to the dog getting it wrong, so just something to consider. You can really use any words you prefer as cues as long as they aren't too similar sounding to other cues. Happy training!

Hi Cynthia, Welcome to the forums, In cases as such, we want to manage our dogs as much as possible, preventing them from rehearsing the problem behavior. The more they get to rehearse the problem behavior, the more it puts roots and establishes, becoming more difficult to overcome. You did right to remove her off leash privilege and keep her on leash. That's the best way to put a stop to it and prevent it from becoming worse as long as the other dog owners keep their dogs on leash as well. If not, it may be better (and safer) walking her in areas where there are no off leash dogs. To better understand the situation, have you noticed exactly what happened in these 3 instances? Is your dog spayed? Was there any food or toys around? Does she have a tendency to guard you? What were the other dogs doing when it happened? There can be various dynamics going on when there are squabbles among dogs and not always the causes are clear-cut, but sometimes we can identify some precise triggers. These cases have a better outcome in terms of prognosis as they are more "situational" (occur in precise circumstances) versus squabbles occurring without any identifiable/distinct triggers. Not uncommonly, as dogs reach social maturity (between 12 and 36 months) they start becoming less tolerant of certain behaviors and therefore this is when the first squabbles in the dog park takes place, even if the dogs were playing well with other dogs before. Often these reactions occur in response to rude "all in your face" behaviors of other dogs or attempts to put a paw on the shoulder or hump.

You can certainly try this method to buy more time and increase duration (that is, delaying the reward) and see how it works for you, although I would rather have you both moving and leave any slowing down/stops/about turns for when the dog darts forward to provide a form of feedback. I know it can take some time to get used to treating dogs while walking, but it gets better with practice. I would still aim though to setting him as much as possible for success by walking him more in the areas where he seems less over threshold before moving to places with more distractions and draining his energy prior so to minimize rehearsal of the darting behavior. The first days and weeks of owning a recued dog are the most challenging. There are many behaviors that have been rehearsed for years that need modified and worked on. There is a school of thought that rescued dogs go through 3 specific milestones occurring at 3 days, 3 weeks and 3 months. The first 3 days the dog feels overwhelmed, insecure or may be testing as he tries to adapt to his new home, after 3 weeks, the dog starts settling in, is getting used to a new routine and some new behaviors may pop up, at 3 months, the dog starts feeling more comfortable, starts bonding more with the new owner and feels more secure. I have personally seen the biggest changes at 3-4 months, although I think for some dogs it may take a little more. The whole experience though gets very rewarding once we start seeing the fruits of all our work.

You are very welcome! Keep me posted on how things go. Best, Adrienne

Hi there! Welcome to the forums. Poor dog, it seems like he is suffering from some form of intense anxiety. With these fellows, we don't know always know all their history so there may be several things going on. It could be separation anxiety, but we also need to consider some differentials such as the compounding fact that he is new to your place and he may have panicked being left alone in an unfamiliar place and then some dogs may suffer from containment phobias. In any case, he does need help! Is this a dog you are temporarily fostering or decided to own? Are you kenneling him outside the home or inside ?(I assume inside, but just wondering since you mentioned chickens). When you left him the last times not kenneled, did he seem rather calm upon your return? Any drool? Fur everywhere? Panting? Or did he seem rather chill? How often must you leave the home and for how long? Do you primarily work at home? Did the former owners give you any details as to why they were giving him away? Any hints of behavior issues? I wonder if they were able to ever kennel him with the crate closed since they has him when they left the home. I am afraid his behavior was likely the primary reason they gave up on him. These cases are not the easiest to deal with. Bless your heart for wanting to help this sweet boy out! Thanks for the extra details!