Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! First of all congrats in obtaining those titles, that's super awesome! Kudos to both of you. With such intense behaviors, and because there may be an element of fear, I would suggest practicing some exercises at home first using the 'Look at That" exercise simply watching triggers such as bikes and UPS trucks passing by windows at a distance from which he seems less reactive. You can find this exercise here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ On walks, you may need to manage your dog's environment at first upon meeting these triggers, at least until he's a little more under control. This is to prevent rehearsal of the problematic behavior and reduce exposure to full intensity levels of stress. If you would therefore notice a bike or truck coming his way, then I suggest at a distance making an abrupt emergency u-turn as explained here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ I would also suggest trying a front-attachment harness (like the Easy-walk harness, Walk your dog with love harness, Sensation harness or Freedom harness) for better control or perhaps even a head halter (this needs some to conditioning to get used to) if his pulling is so intense. If you choose this latter, it may be a good idea to get it from a big box store that has dog trainers in the store or experienced sellers who can help you find the perfect fit and show you how to put it on. Here's Einstein wearing a front-attachment harness: Then, once you are able to keep him better under threshold (read about threshold level here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/), you can try to use the Look at that exercises on walks, at a distance you know he's better under threshold. The goal here is to to take a gradual approach (desensitization) and create positive associations (counterconditioning) with these triggers and get him to act calmer in their presence. You can read more about these methods here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ If you can have volunteer people on bikes or driving large vehicles that can safely practice with you systematically, you can also try the open bar/ closed bar method https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/ which aims to make great things happen contingent upon seeing his triggers. Once the triggers are out of sight, no more treats. However, a disclaimer is warranted here. Behavior modification (that is, changing dog behaviors, which is a different field than regular obedience training) comes with risks and often required the expert guidance of a professional for correct implementation. Please enlist the help of a dog behavior consultant who can help you in person if you think he may pull so much he may escape your grip and harm someone (some dogs may chase bikes and cause people to fall) or if your dog's pulling is so intense it risks putting you in the path of traffic. Also, consider that when dogs are super aroused by things, if we accidentally touch them, this can lead to a redirected bite. Once your dog is more comfortable around these triggers, we can then aim to train an alternate behavior. Interestingly, we just got a recent post about a similar behavior about chasing moving vehicles, but likely more triggered by prey drive rather than fear. You can find some suggestions for alternate behaviors from this post helpful too: I hope this helps, Best, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! From your description, it sounds like you are on the right track. You are training your dog to perform an alternate behavior to the chasing (a dog who sits can't chase a car!), only that you may need to tweak your technique up a notch to prevent this from happening. Here are a few ideas that come to mind based on your description. Increase Distance For example, if your dog feels still compelled to chase despite asking for a sit, this is often a sign that your dog may still be a little too over threshold. Here is an important read on dog thresholds, so that we can take steps to keep our dogs under so they're better able to listen, thus, opening the lines for learning and communication: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ So next time, try to walk farther away from the road where the cars are passing. The more you can stick to the roadside, the better (and the safer, of course!).Also, it may help for you to walk on the side that's closer to the cars so that you are between the cars and your dog. Your dog should be the closest to the roadside. This gives your dog a little extra distance from the cars while also allowing you to use your body to block a bit of view, making the car a bit less salient. Below is just an example of what I am talking about. Once a little more distant, you can then try to ask your dog to sit or engage in any alternate behavior to chasing when you see a car approaching. Add More Duration When you ask your dog to sit, try not to give the treat right away. If your dog can't sit for too long, you will need to to teach your dog a sit-stay. Here's how to train stays: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/stay/ Practice a lot at home in a quiet area, then in the yard, then on walks away from cars and try at a distance from cars only once your dog has learned this very fluently. So ask for the sit-stay, wait that the car has almost passed by (at a distance you know your dog won't feel compelled to chase) and simultaneously toss the treat the opposite way so your dog will be too busy to go get the treat rather than care about chasing the car. Even better, rather than just tossing a treat, toss several treats so that your dog has to go on a fun treasure hunt. Rep after rep you may get what's known as a conditioned emotional response where your dog will look at you in anticipation for his treasure hunt rather than the car. Ask For More Dynamic Behaviors A sit may be a too stationary behavior, which can be unfulfilling to a dog with high prey drive who is quivering in anticipation. A better choice may be doing something more dynamic such as several steps of attention heeling (dog heeling with his head up looking at you) or weaving through your legs or asking her to tug a toy if that's something she goes bonkers for. Make sure you reward all these activities with high-value treats. Here how to train attention heeling: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ Improvise a Hand-Held Kong When you must reward your dog for engaging in an alternate behavior to the chasing, it may help to improvise a hand-held Kong so that she's kept busy trying to get the tasty treats from your closed hand. Basically, place an irresistible treat inside your hand and then close your hand in a fist and let your dog try to get to the treat. This may distract her long enough to ignore the car leaving. If she is used to using Kongs at home, she'll learn rather quickly. A picture is worth 1000 words. Some further things that come to mind: -At 11 months, she's in full doggy adolescence, so she may need some training to learn how to gain a little more impulse control. Here are some reads on doggy adolescence and impulse control: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ And here is a general read about dogs prone to chasing stuff out of prey drive: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/chasing-things/ -And finally, of course, provide exercise, training and mental stimulation (brain games!) to keep her body and mind busy. The more we satisfy these needs, the less she may become interested in chasing things as we provide some outlets for her instinctive behaviors. I hope this helps, Happy training! Adrienne

Glad to hear things have improved so much! Pat yourself on your back for a job well done in keeping her under threshold and reinforcing the looking at you when she spots a child. Keep up the good work; with the lockdown many dogs are regressing a bit in the socialization department so embrace opportunities to create positive associations even if just behind a window or at a distance making sure she's always comfortable and going at at her pace. Send pats to Maisy! Best, Adrienne

Awww, what a cutie, reminds me of Snoopy:) We can take several steps to make him like being in the crate, but we need to go very gradual though as there is a thin line between making the crate a great place to be and creating negative associations while enclosed there due to boredom, fear or feeling a sense isolation if crated away from us. In general, if he is crying in it or pawing to get out most of the time, that's a sign that he's struggling with it, so we need to go very slowly in the process and try to help him out. Here you can find some exercises to help a dog love the crate: Love the Crate – Brain Training for Dogs Love the Crate – Brain Training for Dogs Here are some more ideas: -Make sure your beagle's needs are met before being crated. Make sure he has exercised, has eaten, drank, played, did fun brain games etc. -Make sure he has gone potty before placing him there so that he's empty. If he is crated after being outside, you have the odds against you and a high probability of peeing in it. .-Make sure the crate is of the correct size. I can't tell from the picture how big it is, but bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to crates for potty training. Rather, you may want to go on the snug side if you don't want to lose its potty training potential. A correct-sized crate should be large enough that your puppy can sit, lie down and turn around, but not that large as to allowing him the freedom to pee in one corner of the crate and sleep comfortably on the opposite side. Some large crates come with a divider that you can use to make it more snug. Alternatively, if you already purchased a crate and you know it's too large, you can place a box in it and then expand it by using a smaller box as the puppy grows.The correct size of the crate is therefore important considering that the crate's main purpose for potty training is to teach the puppy to hold it so that he doesn't soil his sleeping area (which is an instinct that most dogs naturally have). -Consider that peeing on its own is a strongly self-reinforcing behavior. The dog feels pressure building up in the bladder and desires to get rid of the sensation. In other words, peeing just feels good. These feel-good sensations therefore will prompt the dog to want to repeat it in the future. Therefore, because peeing in the crate feels good, it may become an established behavior along with him thinking that's his bathroom. Sure, dogs may not like feeling wet after the fact (and some may never really get to feel much discomfort if you line the crate with absorbent materials), however, some dogs can habituate to the feeling if it happens often. In other words, you don't want your dog to sit in his pee or poop too often as this goes against facilitating good potty training habits. So it's important to take steps to prevent this from happening. -Keep your puppy near the door and provide ample of opportunities to pee outside if your goal is outdoor elimination. It sounds like you are doing well on this in taking him out. Young puppies may need to go as often as every 30 minutes to an hour their first weeks, They more they go outside and you praise them and give them a treat, the more you help establish correct habits so that they can make the connection that outside is the place to go. Once this connection is made, your dog may begin to alert to go out. -Make sure to take your pup outside right after eating, upon waking up from a nap, after playing vigorously, once or twice a night and right before bed time. -Clean the accidents in the crate with an enzyme-based product that helps remove traces of any residual smells. Beagles have strong noses so if you use the wrong products, they may think of the crate as their bathroom if they detect scent of previous accidents there. -In some cases, it may help removing any absorbent materials from the crate. Sure they help make the job of cleaning up faster for you, but because these absorb urine, your puppy never gets to fully experience the discomfort associated with laying on their mess. -Do not give your dog the full run of the house until he's proven to be fully potty trained. When not crated and you know he isn't due to pee or poop any time soon, contain him in a room with clear views where you can play with him but also watch his every move. If you ever notice signs he has to potty, quickly escort him outside without frightening him. -Keep a journal of your dog's accidents in the crate/home and at what time they happen so that you can aim to taking him outside earlier to prevent such accidents. -If you must keep your puppy alone in the crate for more than he can hold it, skip the crate and keep your puppy or dog in a play pen/exercise pen or safe small gated area of the home where there is a washable surface and where you can place on one side his food and water bowl, bed and some toys, and on the opposite side some pee pads where he can eliminate without making a great mess. This as well to inculcate the instinct to pee away from where he eats and sleeps. -Every time you take your puppy outside, aim to teach him to go potty on command. This may take some time to teach, but it's worth it in the long run. Here's how to train it. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/potty-on-command/ I hope this helps, There's a lot to cover when it comes to potty training dogs, and every pup may come with his own sets of challenges. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Best, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums, I am so sorry to hear that your dog was attacked, I am glad though to hear he is fine now. To answer your question, it is possible that being intact may cause other dogs to not be comfortable around him and attack. Respected dog trainer colleague Karen Fazio, has more than once mentioned that it's likely because intact males give of the scent of male, which can be considered a threat to neutered males. Basically, the culprit is the hormone testosterone, which is what gives a dog his "maleness" scent. Interestingly, when dogs reach 10 months, there's a peak in this smell as testosterone levels in the adolescent male dog may be five to seven times greater than the levels of an adult. It could be that as he is getting closer to this age, other dogs are starting to react negatively causing tension and even aggressive displays. Another possibility is that after the attack, he is appearing tense or is giving off some subtle ambivalent, conflicting body language. Maybe for us, it's not evident, but to other dogs it is. Or perhaps, it was just mere coincidence that you met this reactive German shepherd and he/she would have reacted that way to any other dog approaching regardless of sex, color, size, breed. With the recent COVID19 lockdowns, there is a surge of dogs reacting negatively to other dogs (or people) due to reduced exposure.

Hi there! Welcome to the forums, Beagles are generally more challenging to be potty trained compared to other dogs. I will need a little more information to better understand what may be happening. Are you potty training him on pee pads? Or outside in the yard? Is he crate trained? Where are you keeping him during the day? Are you home most of the day? These extra details will helpful.

Hi there! Welcome to the forums! Can you provide more details on what you have done so far (in particular the positive reinforcement and verbal and treat cues) when stroking? Has he ever worn a collar or leash or a harness in the past or are these tools completely new to him? Have you ever mentioned this behavior to your veterinarian? Does he have any doggy friends? Has he ever been on any walks? Thanks

Thanks for the extra details, they are very helpful. It sounds like her playful puppy nipping has never gone away and now has established and exacerbated over time. There may be possibly a component of anxiety or frustration mixed in. Since it happens outdoors, it could be that exposure to certain stimuli increase her anxiety and arousal level and this spills into an aggressive display. It's unfortunate, but in some cases with certain types of dogs saying "OW"or "No" or screaming overstimulates them even more making them more likely to escalate. We also must consider that although Stella is a miniature Australian shepherd which are often described as being devoted, good-natured and easy to train, they are still herding dogs at heart. So they may be particularly predisposed to being attracted to movements and nipping when excited or overstimulated or frustrated. On top of this, she is 8 months which puts her at the peak adolescent time which can be a trying time. You can read more about the dog teenager stage here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ One good thing though is that you described her as being distracted from biting when you toss her a ball. This tells us that, given guidance, she is quite easy to redirect which is good considering that some dogs are so focused on biting, it's extra challenging distracting them once they have latched on. So we can take advantage of this, and put it to our advantage. The ultimate goal would be preventing her from rehearsing the problem behavior as much as we can, and teaching her that there are alternate behaviors to engage in (rather than scratching and biting) and that these activities can be far more rewarding. So here are a few tips that come to mind: -With biting, we want to try to stray away as much as possible from intervening physically such as popping a dog's nose, pushing them away or grabbing their collar as this often evokes defensive biting and risks teaching dogs that human hands are something negative. Instead, as mentioned, we want to focus more on giving her some alternate activities to focus on that surpass the appeal of biting, so let's take a look at some alternate activities. -First of all, the fact that this biting happens mostly outside provides you with a great advantage versus biting that occurs at random regardless of place: you can be prepared. So it may help having a treat bag handy filled up with super-valuable treats or a stuffed Kong (or a bag filled with several balls) kept behind your back. The moment you notice she's coming your way with the intent to bite, you can try several of the following and see what works best to divert her attention from biting: --Try redirection using high-value toys. So right when you expect her to come towards you to bite, as soon as she is close to you, freeze (become motionless) and offer her a stuffed Kong (Kong toy stuffed with smelly goodies like peanut butter mixed with some kibble and dog cookies stacked to make it hard for her to get the kibble out), rather than just a regular toy. This should occupy her for long enough for you to walk away and keep her busy outside focusing on something else. A Kong Wobbler/ Buster Cube filled with a portion of her daily allowance of kibble can also come handy once she learns how to get the kibble out. - You can also try to engage her with toys that add movement into the game such as a tennis ball tossed in the opposite direction (make it extra fun!) as you are already doing 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 rewarding to interact with and release frustration/anxiety or arousal than your body. Dogs who love to herd may enjoy chasing large balls used for the sport of Treibball. -Redirect to an interactive game with you. As soon as she approaches you, 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 them as valuable enough. Repeat several times. 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 legs at the same time). Here's a link on how to train sit, of course start in a quiet room first ad work your way to making sits very fluent before asking them in the yard under distractions. Initially, as your dog is learning to sit, you can just toss the treat without asking for a sit as soon as she 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 dogs 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. Brain games, training, exercise and opportunities for socialization should wear her out and provide outlets for her basic needs. With brain games that allow her to chase things and get rewards out of them (like kibble out of a bottle or a Kong Wobbler) she should seek these games more and more which can turn your hands pretty boring after a while because she gets more out of these activities when she's bored/frustrated/overstimulated. -Don't forget to train your dog 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/ -Adolescent dogs also thrive with structured routines and some impulse control games to learn to better cope with frustration. You will need to teach these very gradually, taking baby steps and paying attention that she doesn't get frustrated. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ By providing outlets for her energy and needs for mental stimulation, teaching her better impulse control and reinforcing more 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. If things are going well, you should have created a new routine where your dog looks forward to being outdoors with you because of all the rewarding activities you provide (which don't involve biting). In the initial stages, it may also help sticking nearby a door so, should she start biting, you can quickly leave the scene and then return only once she looks calmer and you can quickly redirect her. Last but not least, a disclaimer is warranted here. Since you mention her baring teeth and breaking skin, and therefore being present a potential aggressive component, it would be important seeking the assistance of a dog behavior professional for an in-person assessment and in-person guidance. This is important for both safety and the correct implementation of behavior modification. I hope this helps, Best, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! It must be upsetting to deal with this type of behavior and I am sorry to hear you are going through this. I would like to have some more information to grasp a little better what may be going on. 1) How long have you had your dog? Has she always been this way or is this something new? 2) It sounds like she jumps up and grabs your hand, is this accurate? Have you noticed when this type of behavior occurs? Is there some type of pattern? For example, does it happen when you are trying to leave a room? Does it happen when you get close to her food bowl? Does it seem to happen in the evening when you are sitting on the couch? When you tell her not to do something? When she can't have something? Just trying to see whether there is an exact trigger for this behavior rather than just happening out of the blue with no rhyme or reason. 3) From your description it sounds like saying "no" aggravates the behavior. Are you saying "no" to stop her from biting, or are you saying "no" when she's doing something else and your "no" triggers her to bite? 4) When she bites, does she bite hard? Is she breaking your skin? Thank you for taking your time to provide these details. Adrienne

Sounds like a plan, keep me posted! Enjoy puppy hood, it doesn't last long! Happy training, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! It sounds like you have two dogs displaying different energy levels, however, it's interesting that this happens mostly contingent upon them being by themselves or when they are home alone. I get a feel that maybe Nala isn't too comfortable being left alone and the last thing she wants to do is play. This is quite normal as many dogs won't eat, drink or play when left alone. To prevent this type of "pestering", I feel that management may be the best strategy to solve the problem considering that, with us being away, there's not much we can do intervention-wise, unless we install some form of remote monitoring (like a Furbo camera) where we can always watch them and redirect them through voice, which is pretty unpractical in any case. Therefore, your next best bet would be to leave them in separated areas when you head out and about. This is not only good for preventing Prego from rehearsing the problematic behavior, while also allowing Nala to relax, but also for a matter safety. Even the best friend dogs may get into squabbles when left alone unsupervised. I must admit I have always left my dogs together when they were younger pups, until one day, out of the blue, I saw them get into a serious squabble over space in the car (Einstein always liked to go back and forth between windows, while Petra liked to stick to one window). While they used to get into minor disagreements at times, this was more intense then usual, and I had to (for the very first time even in my life of owning them) intervene to remove the focus from each other (no biting, but many quick air snaps and lots of noise). I still wonder why this happened, maybe Petra was more achy from a recent orthopedic problem she was still recovering from, or may be Einstein really wanted to see something out of the window for once and didn't want to back down or maybe he reacted to her grumpy response. This made me think twice about leaving them home alone from then on, so Einstein went in one bedroom while Petra was kept in the other one. Peace of mind. While Nala may have tolerated this behavior up to a certain point, dynamics may change one day. All dogs have a breaking point, and sometimes the chances for reaching that point are more likely when dogs are not feeling well or are stressed or just find a need to escalate as if saying "what point of my request for being left alone, don't you understand?" Sometimes, things change as the dogs mature. So we need to keep this into consideration. One of my clients had two dogs who were best buddies, only that one dog had the habit of always licking the mouth of the other dog. This other dog seemed to tolerate this for some time, until one day he had enough, reacted and they got into a major squabble requiring stitches. The jumping and barking on walks sounds more like barrier frustration considering that your dog seems like a happy-go-lucky guy who enjoys playing and going to the dog park. Barrier frustration occurs when dogs want to meet other dogs on leash, but are frustrated because they can't and therefore their frustration builds up to an "explosion" of lunging, whining and barking when seeing other dogs. These dogs are therefore normally friendly with other dogs off leash, but struggle when they are leashed. If that's the case, you may want to train an alternate behavior to engage in when walking (such as doing several steps of attention-heeling). You can read more about barrier frustration here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/barrier-frustration/ And here are directions for training heeling/attention heeling: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ The behavior at the dog park, sounds like Prego playing the "fun police role" or maybe feeling frustrated that Nala ignores him when she's playing with other dogs. Once again, it's important to prevent rehearsal of the behavior, so we can either aim to train a very strong response to a cue that stops him in his tracks (like a solid leave it cue or the sit stay you mention), however, if this behavior keeps on happening and it so ingrained that you have to keep calling him over and over, your best bet may be once again management. So perhaps we can take turns having the dogs play. So you may send Nala to play while you have a helper keep Prego on leash from the other side of the fence (since many dog parks don't allow leashed dogs or have a helper hold him) and then have Prego play while Nala is kept on leash. To prevent frustration from being on leash and not being able to play, your helper may perhaps ask him to perform some training cues and reward with some treats (outside from the park area to prevent fights) or walk your dog around the park to distract him. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions! Best, Adrienne

Thank you for the extra details, they are very helpful! Based on Lucky's past socialization history and the fact that he runs upon noticing them, and still runs away even if only one pup is presented, it sounds like he is overwhelmed and engaging in distance-increasing behaviors (running away, going on the couch) with the primary goal of avoidance. It could be the pups are just too much for him at this time, and things may get better as he adjusts and understands that the pups don't mean harm. However, we want to protect him from feeling too stressed and avoid putting him into the position of both pups "ganging up" against him so to say which may only confirm to him that it's not a pleasant experience being around them. We can do this through management and allowing him to engage with the pups in activities that are more likely to create a bond rather than an aversion. Management means taking steps in controlling his environment so to prevent certain levels of direct exposure. In other words, preventing him from having to repeatedly rehearse the running away/avoidance behaviors or at least setting the environment so that he's engaging in them significantly less. This is important considering that, running away is reinforcing, so he'll keep on doing that instinctively given the opportunity, and risks becoming his default way of "interacting with them." So here are some management ideas to give him some "respite:" Avoid putting your Chihuahua into the position of being repeatedly harassed unnecessarily. For instance, remove the puppies when your older dog would like to nap. Erect baby gates so the pups can play among each other without bothering him. It goes without saying that all dogs interactions should always be carefully monitored for both safety and to prevent rehearsal of undesirable behaviors. Make sure your older dog has a place to retreat to when he needs a break from your pups constant need to play. You mention he jumps on the couch, and that's a good place to be, but how about keeping him there already when the pups may enter the room? This way he doesn't feel the need to run away from them which creates negative associations. Try to give your pups attention (praising, petting, talking) out of his sight. Many older resident dogs feel neglected when new dogs enter their home and this may cause "hard feelings" Create positive associations. Expose your dog to the pups from a distance in a place where he feels safe and the pups can't reach (couch, behind a baby gate). Feed him tasty treats (or his kibble if he loves it) every time he sees or hears your puppies playing so that he starts looking forward to hearing/seeing them rather than dreading their presence. If at some time, your Chihuahua is ever cornered by the pups or the pups try to jump on the couch, avoid scolding your adult dog for growling or baring teeth at the puppies. A growl is a gift and we want our dogs to use "their words.."Your adult dog is just trying to teach your pups some boundaries just as grandma may scold a child for pushing her or doing something naughty. Train a cue to redirect your dogs. Practice it with your pups and older dog at first separately one at a time, and then try to introduce it when they are all together. I like to use a smacking sound with my mouth (as seen in Look into My Eyes from the Brain Training for Dogs course) which means that a tasty treat is coming. The goal is to get your dogs to pay attention to you and move towards you when you notice the first signs that things are starting to escalate. If you're too late, all dogs may be too focused on each other to listen. Once your dogs come towards you, feed each a tasty treat (if they are not prone to food guarding) and redirect them to some other activity such as spending some time in the yard sniffing or giving each dog a Kong to work on in separated areas. Alternatively, just train both pups to respond to a "leave it" as soon as you notice their intent to go pester Lucky. So say Lucky is on the couch, and they are trying to climb up? Say "leave it" and redirect them to some other activity like going out in the yard or giving them a special toy to play with. Lucky will feel better knowing that you have the situation under control. Here is how to train "leave it": https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ Engage your dogs in bonding activities where they all get to have fun together as a group in productive ways. Take them on walks (when the veterinarian gives the OK) and car rides. Once Lucky is more confident around them, if Lucky has some great behaviors, we can make him a great teacher dog. Say he comes readily when called? Have your pups watch him and they will soon learn to come rushing to you too. Does he go potty outside in the yard? Take them out with him and let him show them where to potty. Say he is calm on walks? Walk him (with a helper to walk another puppy) so that your pups learn to be calm on walks. Many dogs get along well when they are puppies, but as they turn into adolescents, things may start to change a bit. Being prepared is important: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ Now with siblings, we need to avoid too much bonding to take place. It's great that you have a male and female combo as males generally allow females to get away with infractions. With two puppies we risk what's known as sibling rivalry or littermate syndrome, although we can take steps to reduce the chances. What happens is that if we don't take steps, there are risks for paving the path towards two dogs who feel better being among each other than with their owners which can create problems that may interfere with the training and bonding process with the owner. Two pups raised together may also not be able to flourish into complete dogs, but as two half dogs that sleep, play and eat together all day. There it is often recommended to keep the puppies separated for a goof part of the day, scheduling only a couple of set play-times. This means keeping them crated in separate crates, training one at a time, feeding each in their own food bowl, walking and socializing one at time. This way, the puppies have ample of opportunities to bond with their owners and we can foster their individual personalities. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions. Happy training, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums, It must be very frustrating dealing with neighbors who don't understand this behavior and misinterpret it. I hope they were able to understand what is truly going on. I have seen many dogs do the oddest vocalizations on walks including whining, whimpering, yelping and some even howling and baying when they see other dogs on walks. It's often a mix of excitement and if the dog is pulling and lunging to the point of scaring other dogs, there may also be some element of barrier frustration. In this case, the dog is super excited and charged and the dog may even end up acting in a way that may even appear aggressive. You can read about barrier frustration here, let me know if it sounds like this and if your dig fits the description: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/barrier-frustration/ When a dog is too excited or nervous or stressed, there are lower chances for learning to take place, so it's important for owners of such dogs to get accustomed with a dog's threshold levels, you can read more about threshold levels in dogs here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ It sounds like though things are getting better. The fact that your dog does learn and you can get her to calm down faster is good. I think your dog may benefit from some "Look at that exercises if you can have her watch dogs passing by from a window or behind a fence. You can find the look at that exercise here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ On walks, try to keep distance from other dogs as best as you can. If dogs are coming too close, do an about face as described in the emergency u turn article here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ If at any time she reacts, it's often sign that she is too over threshold and you need to provide more distance so that she's in a calmer state. Reward her for performing behaviors that are incompatible with screaming and pulling such as doing attention heeling as you pass by other dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ Since this takes time to master, in your initial walks you can train her to go on a treasure hunt the moment she spots a dog. As soon as you both spot a dog at a distance, make a smacking sound with your mouth (as in the Look at that exercise) bring a treat at eye level and toss several treats to the ground so that she needs to go search for them in a fun treasure hunt. With dogs like this, you may also find the open bar/closed bar method helpful. It involves having her watch dogs pass by where their appearance translates in treats and the disappearance translates to no more treats. It's described here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/ Finally, these exercises can help dogs who benefit from some extra impulse control: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ And these are a few threads with owners dealing with dogs showing similar behaviors as yours (please note though that treatments may vary based on individual factors such as whether the behavior is triggered by fear/aggression). I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any questions and feel free to update on how things go.

Hi there! Welcome to the forums! Training a dog requires giving the dog lots of individual attention, especially initially. You will need to pay attention to what the dog does, concentrate on his progress and possibly carry several items in your hands (treats for luring and then rewarding, a clicker -if you use it). On top of this, you need to focus on the dog's body language for signs of motivation, eagerness or tiring or stress. While there are several training methods nowadays, a popular one that yields fast results is luring (which is mostly used throughout the course), where a treat is used as a guide to get the dog perform a desired behavior and is then quickly faded to primarily being used as reinforcement. It would be close to impossible using two hands to lure two untrained dogs side-by-side without creating confusion. Additionally, it would become confusing for us using the clicker/verbal marker since both dogs will likely perform the desired behavior at different times. Another consideration is that in the initial stages of training, it is important to start training in an area free of distractions. To one dog, the presence of another dog or more dogs, is a strong distraction. Often dogs tend to get into "pack mentality" and influence each other, feeding off each others' emotions. If for example, you are training in one room and one dog is reactive to noises and takes off, the other dog will likely leave and go check things out with his buddy too. Soon, you are left with no dogs to train as these distractions have won over you. Not to mention, dogs may also tend to compete for attention. In a dog training scenario, competition may involve a dog owner's attention with the added bonus of the presence of a odoriferous treat bag clipped to a belt. Intrusions are almost a certainty with untrained dogs, with them getting in between repeatedly if no measures are taken to keep these dogs under control and out of the way. Some dogs may be prone to resource guarding. It is therefore important that, in the initial stages of training, each dog is provided with attention until he or she grasps the concept, and then, other dogs can be brought into the picture. The more dogs in a household, the more crucial it is that all dogs are well-trained and well-behaved. You would therefore first select one dog to work with. In the meanwhile, you will have to find a way to keep the other dog out of the way. You can keep your other dog in another room, behind a baby gate, in a crate, tethered, or in the yard. If you choose to crate , you can provide the non-working dogs with a safe chew toy or food-dispensing toy to keep him busy. This way your dog will look forward to this training routine without getting frustrated waiting his turn to be trained. If you choose to use a see-through baby gate, from where your other dog can watch you train, consider that they may get frustrated and impatient and this may lead to barking which can be a major distraction. If your dogs though are able to stay calm, reap the benefit of having them observe your training. Studies have shown that dogs learn faster if they watch other dogs being trained. On top of this, by watching, the motivation for the other non-working dogs will increase by the time it's their turn. If your dogs have had some basic training and know how to hold a solid down stay on a mat, you can teach them to patiently wait their turns, laying on the mat, as you train each dog individually. In the midst of training, you can pause and drop a treat on the non-working dogs' mats every now and then to reward them for being chill. Alternatively, you can enlist the help of other family members to help train each dog individually and even in the same room mimicking the group classes dog trainers hold. In such a case, make sure that all members are on the same page as to training methods and verbal cues used. Once you have trained each dog individually and they all have shown signs of grasping the concept and each dog has demonstrated the proficiency of being able to respond in the training room, but also in other areas of the home and the yard, it is time to add your other dog. At that point, you can use an attention grabbing cue such as "dogs" (a cue that will come to signify that all dogs must collectively respond) followed by your verbal cue such as "sit" or "down" etc. Group training works wonderfully for important cues such as all dogs waiting before you open a door, responding to a smacking sound when the postal carrier approaches (look up the "Look at that" brain game), having your dogs all lie down politely on their mats during your meal times, asking your dogs to do a group sit/stay or down/stay and then releasing them and calling your dogs (watch them competing rushing towards you!) and even holding sit-stays for great group pictures. As for the concerns about treats. I like to use very tiny pieces. Like if you are using soft treats, you can split them into small bits and use those so that a treat can easily yield 5-10 pieces. So chances are, in one training sessions you might not use more than 3-4 treats. I used lately soft meat--based strips for dogs where the package says to give a dog up to three strips a day using only one strip that I divided in about 20 to 25 pieces. There are also many low calorie treats in pet stores now if calories are a concern. If you are training at home in an area with little distractions and your dogs love their food, one big perk in these cases is using your dog's kibble for training. Just think if you can use once piece of kibble to reinforce each desired behavior! I love it when dogs love their kibble. Like with some dogs who are a lot of work in progress, I just carry the kibble in my treat bag and toss a kibble for every desirable behavior. Just a dog's meal gives me like 60 or more opportunities for reinforcing desired behaviors, win-win! Happy Training! Let me know if you have any questions, Best, Adrienne

Awww, look at those cuties! Your Rottie pups are adorable, and so is you Chihuahua! It sounds like your pups are having a blast chasing Lucky who is on the unfortunate side of being "pestered." Well, here's the thing: before coming to your new home, on top of playing rough among themselves, puppies were often playing (and pestering) their mom, often playing with her tail, legs and ears. It was part of mom's job to teach them when she had enough and some ABC's of canine social etiquette and she often did this by engaging in avoidance behaviors such as walking away when their play got rough and sometimes escalating to showing other body language meant to tell the puppies to back off. So when puppies are welcomed to our new homes, they may engage in the same boisterous, playful behaviors with us (chasing and nipping our legs) and other dogs (and other pets, poor kitties!) sharing the household. On top of this, puppies are pretty socially-illiterate beings, sort of like human toddlers who don't say please and may get in our faces. Pups may therefore chase and try to bite an older dog's ears, tails and legs as he tries to walk away. The good news is that some good adult dogs will give young puppies some leeway when they misbehave, granting them what is known as a "puppy license." However, enough is enough, and sometimes older dogs' patience will run low and they'll feel the need to give out some "lectures." Mother dog may have already imparted some of these lessons herself, but puppies may just "try" with older dogs. So after the older dogs try to walk away unsuccessfully, their teachings may go up to the next level involving growling and showing the teeth. In most of these cases, the aggressive display is mostly ritualized. Ritualized aggression takes place because dogs are natural conflict-solvers. This is because, in the wild, so much energy is required for hunting, reproducing, and basic survival, that there is little energy left to waste on fighting. To prevent conflicts, dogs therefore should instinctively rely on their body language, which is ultimately a way to prevent true fights from occurring. Now, many pups may get the lesson and may therefore understand when an older dog is not in the mood for play and is asking to be left alone. Puppies at this point may get the message and stop pestering, walk away with their body low or may even deliver an apology, by rolling over their back, and possibly, urinating submissively to prove their innocence. However, some pups can be quite persistent and may not get the message clearly. When this happens, this may lead to the older dog further escalating into something along the lines of: "What part of my signals, do you not understand?" I said back off!" This may lead to the older dog snapping or even delivering a (hopefully!) soft, inhibited bite to make the point. Sometimes, puppies at this point may yelp or whimper, but in most cases, fortunately these pups are not hurt, they are just startled and telling the adult dog to please not hurt them. It's important though to keep an eye and make sure the young pups don't appear emotionally traumatized. Now, some adult dogs make great teachers dogs, they call them "Nana dogs" while others may not be too cut for the role and get truly stressed and defensive. It may sound odd, but sometimes in a group of large dogs (even serious dogs like Rotties and German shepherds,) the small dogs are in many cases the ones that sound the alarm, want to walk first through doors, guard food etc. and these big dogs steer clear from them. This just to say, that size doesn't always matter, although we must always make sure to always monitor interactions considering the difference in size (although any dog-to-dog interactions require supervision). Now, we must consider some factors here, yes, like you pointed out, we need to consider that Lucky is a Chihuahua, so he's likely the size of your pups now and soon will be outgrown fast. So right now Lucky may feel intimidated and therefore we need to ensure that he doesn't feel the need to take the matters into his own hands to defend himself. Also, we must consider that he was used to being the only dog if you have had him for 2 years, so we need to ensure we aren't giving these two pups too much attention in his presence so he doesn't feel left out. So to better understand you situation I have a few questions: How long have you had these pups? This will help me better understand your Chi's emotions at the moment as it's quite stressful for resident dogs when we introduce new dogs in the home, let alone two hyper pups. Are the pups male and female? Does Lucky ever show any interest in play with them or is he always thinking of moving away from them? Have you tried introducing one at a time versus two? If so, how did it go? Has Lucky ever played with puppies before? Does he like other dogs? These further details can help me assess better the situation, thanks!

Hi there, Welcome to the forums, Any time there are set backs as such, we need to carefully evaluate what may be going on. I may therefore need some more info about your situation. How old is your puppy? How long have you had him/her? Is she male or female? And is she/he spayed or neutered? How many weeks was your puppy trained to use the bell to a good level of proficiency? What do you do when you notice the pee or when you catch her going? Any recent changes at your place? What do you use to clean messes? Would you say she is peeing more frequently than usual and in small amounts? Thanks

You are very welcome! Glad to hear he is enjoying the bottle game, keep up the great work in keeping his mind busy! Feel free to post updates! Best, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forum. Congrats on your new puppy! What kind of food were you giving him when he was on the streets? It sounds like he was interested in that. Is he skinny? Has this pup been to a vet for a thorough veterinary check-up? With finicky pups, we need to make entirely sure there's nothing medical going on. If he hasn't seen the vet, I would suggest a vet visit to rule out medical issues ( I expect young pups to have a healthy appetite). Mention to your vet his appetite issues. Is he interested at all in toys? How does he play? Is the food bowl in metal by any chance? These extra details will be very helpful. Thanks!

Hello and welcome to the forums, Congrats on your new puppy! What a smart fellow, sounds like he's purposely stopping the stream of urine to get to the treat faster or he is just distracted by the treats/other stuff going on like the sheer excitement of playing. As bad as this sounds, there's a good thing going on here and it's the fact that he is learning to control his urination, which will come handy as he's starting to mature. The biggest drawback though is that, if he just makes a tiny trickle, he is likely to finish up peeing once he's back inside. Now, the low excitement of "good boy," as you can imagine, is due to the fact that these are just words and unless coupled with a treat, they are not perceived as valuable enough. Hence why he doesn't seems enthusiastic when you say that. If treats acted as a distraction, it's often because we are carrying them in a visible way or making some type of sound or gesture as we prepare to deliver it. It's best to carry them concealed in our pocket our treat bag and not get them out until necessary. I would suggest staying at a distance from your pup, not looking at him directly (use your peripheral view and pretend to do other stuff) and then using your 'good boy" to mark the desired behavior-but only once he has finished peeing (careful not to interrupt!). Then, you can hand your reward. In this case your "good boy" acts as a "bridge," helping your dog associate the act of going potty with a treat, although the treat isn't given immediately and you are at a distance. Also, it may be helpful using lower value treats or kibble to see if this helps in making him less distracted, but capable of providing enough feedback to make a point that going potty outside is reinforcing, while inside not so much. In case your puppy still just does a trickle (but you are sure he is due for a larger volume of pee), I would stick outside longer considering that some puppies like to empty their bladders in more sittings. It may help (if you are absolutely sure that he has a full bladder), giving "meh" treats for the short pees and high value treats for the longer ones. To prevent pee accidents in the home, it helps to always have clear views of where the puppy is at all times. This means no furniture blocking views and staying only in a small room near the door helps too. When we cannot actively supervise, the puppy should be either crated, outside with somebody or in an indoor enclosed area with a washable floor covered with pee pads (if these are being used). Some puppies are particularly sensitive and even a "no" may be enough to startle them and sense our displeasure to the point of associating our presence with punishment. This may cause them to learn to hide to pee and/or pee very quickly so we don't notice. You can read more about this here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/puppy-hiding-poop-pee/ Since your pup seems eager to play in the yard, it may help keeping him on leash outside and only then, once he goes, praise and remove the leash as a reward. Let him play and explore. While he is on leash, while you're at it, it may help to train him to potty on command by taking him to his pee spot: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/potty-on-command/ I hope this helps! Potty training can be surely stressful and frustrating, but fortunately, as it happens in children, most puppies master it although some take sooner while others take longer. Once, we're over the biggest hurdles though, the ride gets smoother and smoother with time. Best, Adrienne

Hello and welcome to the forums, In general, we consider some level of resource guarding among dogs "normal." Although dog- to-dog "resource guarding" may sound noisy, serious and sometimes scary too, in many cases it just consists of ritualized aggression. Ritualized aggression is a dog's way of preventing real aggression. It's dogs "using their words" to prevent themselves from getting hurt. When some "discussions" occur dogs are therefore using their communication skills in productive ways to resolve conflict. If dog A is getting closer to dog B who is holding a bone or eating from the food bowl, dog B has his right to tell dog A "this is mine, give me distance" if he can do so without harming dog A. Dog A must understand this request for space and respectfully move away (and hopefully learn to not come to close next time). Many dog owners are intimidated by ritualistic displays and feel very strongly about them. They may enlist the help of a professional concerned about their dogs fighting or they may punish their dogs when all dogs are doing is preventing aggression in the first place. Punishing a dog for growling is a big no-no as it pushes dogs to no longer "use their words" and possibly go straight to biting as their conflict resolution is bypassed. Punishment also leads to added stress, which only exacerbates any tension. Here's a read about the drawbacks in punishing growls: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/growling-never-suppressed-dogs/ While ritualistic aggression is just dogs having "conversations" to negotiate distance and prevent real aggression from happening, things can sometimes get problematic when the ritualized aggression progresses to actual fights. And this often happens when a dog forces himself on another dog to give up a resource or a dog not respecting another dog's request for space. However, sometimes certain dynamics may predispose to this. For example, a dog may not feel too well or may have mobility issues, causing him to not move away as promptly as expected and this may trigger a fight. Or perhaps dog A tells dogs B to not move any closer, but then the owners calls dog B (causing him to get too close) leading to dog A snapping or biting. So we need to be careful on what may be going on. If Happy tells Lucky to back off from the food bowl, does Lucky readily comply and give more space? If he does, this is rather good conflict resolution. So if this is just a case of dogs using their words, management may be the best option. It sounds like you are giving enough distance so she doesn't rehearse this behavior when eating her meals which is good. If we want to play it safer though and prevent her from getting stressed (which often leads to dogs who eat faster and are tense) we can further increase distance or feed both dogs in separated areas or even in a crate. Now with the Kong or a chew, resource guarding is often more pronounced because these are longer lasting treats and perceived as very valuable, so a dog might like to lie down with it and relax with it undisturbed. The fact that she is getting up to move is good as she is trying to avoid conflict, but it's sign they are still too close for comfort. So it may be best taking steps to not put them in this situation. Therefore with chew toys being more valuable and longer lasting, we may need to create more distance than with regular food. Once again, you can help her relax by providing more distance, feeding in separated areas or putting a barrier between them so that Lucky can get up and do whatever he wants if he finishes first and she doesn't have to feel stressed. This is important because left untreated, she may reach a level where she may start increasing her aggressive warning behaviors if Lucky doesn't learn to keep more distance or she may even reach a point of refusing to eat something valuable if she can't relax enough to eat and therefore will just guard. The fence behavior you describe could very likely be resource guarding if it happens contingent upon you feeding this neighbor dog a treat. To prevent hard feelings and rehearsal, I would suggest not feeding treats to this dog in Happy's presence. More dog-to-dog- resource guarding discussions may be found here in the below threads. They may be a worthy a read to go more in depth on certain triggers and situations. I hope this helps! If you notice ritualized aggression turning into something more worrisome or progression despite using management it is best to play it safe and consult with a professional using force-free behavior modification methods for safety and correct implementation. Best, Adrienne

Hello, Welcome to the forums! To train a dog to stop jumping we first need to work on reducing the jumping on us and then expand to practicing with visitors and other people. You can see here a general guide on jumping and a case study on how I tackled a dog with a severe jumping behavior. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/jumping/ Case study with video: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-assessing-jumping-behavior-desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-practice-greetings/ For training polite greetings, your pup needs to learn to sit, you can find how to train this here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/ For jumping on counters/tables etc: If you want more troubleshooting ideas, please provide more details on when the jumping occurs the most (when you enter the home, when you get up in the morning, when you get the collar/leash etc. ) Best, Adrienne

Hi Hridika, Thanks so much for the update! It sounds like she is doing overall well considering the issues you were initially facing. To tell the truth, I didn't kiss my Rottweilers for most of the lives, it's just one of those things us humans feel like doing, but dogs in most cases care less about or dislike unless we condition them to enjoy them or at least tolerate them (and this is not without risks). I only started kissing my Rotties on the top of their head as they got older and just got this strong urge to vent my affection knowing they wouldn't be around much longer. My female Rottie was fine with this, she's been pretty mellow and bomb-proof most of her life so I knew she would be OK with it as she has always loved attention and touch (as long as she wasn't given any shots as that was her biggest phobia!). With my male who was quite reactive when young and sometimes growled at me for doing certain things, I had to be a little more cautious, so I always made sure to feed him a yummy tasty treat as I kissed him to "forgive me" for wanting to be so close to his face, something he may have not understood considering that, as a species, dogs don't kiss, but rather sniff butts to say hello. So it's quite normal for some dogs to have a tough time with our kisses considering that, when dogs place their faces so close to each other and make eye contact, it's pushing over social boundaries and sort of looking for trouble. Not to mention, their mouths are used for biting, so dogs may become defensive when we try to deliver a kiss because they may misinterpret our intent. It's not like we can tell them: "this is our way to show affection " and they magically understand. They just respond out of instincts. I can see Remie's behavior playing the fun police role when Hannah misbehaves. Sort of like dealing with some rebellious sheep that needs to be corrected and taken back into the pen. It fits a border collie's controlling personality well. I am not sure if you are still working with your behavior consultant, but has she provided any suggestions on how to deal with that and Remi's jealousy? I can see some form of re-direction working. I know you were hoping for your dogs to be closer and friendlier, but being able to tolerate each other is a very big step forward. I think if you didn't put the effort to work on these issues, your dogs wouldn't have progressed this far. Your dedication is commendable. Aggression left untreated, tends to get worse, not better and fights between female dogs can get really ugly.

Hello and welcome to the forums, Some dogs who are anxious about crates and have separation anxiety may struggle with being crated because they associate their crates with being left alone. Now with some dogs, we can countercondition them to love the crate, but this takes time and this may not be feasible if we need to leave eventually when they're still in the early conditioning process. On top of this, we have cases where, if a dog's anxiety is very high, that they are better off not being enclosed in a crate considering that they may get to the point of harming themselves as they panic trying to escape. Since your veterinarian has provided your dog with medication, I am assuming his separation anxiety is quite on the more severe level. These cases generally benefit from medication, but they need to be accompanied by a behavior modification protocol. I am not sure if your vet has mentioned this to you or not, but meds alone will hardly work other than making your dog dopey perhaps. The purpose of the medication though in these cases is to calm the dog enough so that your dog is under threshold which opens the lines for learning, since when a dog is in a panicked state certain types of learning are impaired. Let me know if your vet has not provided you with some behavior modification protocols, or has not suggested for you to work along with a behavior professional. Interestingly, research has shown that a large amount of dogs who suffer from separation anxiety, may also be sensitive to noises. A fear of the clicker sound doesn't happen too often, but it does occasionally occur in some sensitive dogs, especially if it's used too close to their ears or in a room that echoes. Dogs who fear beeping sounds like those of a watch or microwave may be prone to noise phobias too. Now, when this happens in classes, we are empowered and at an advantage because we can tell dog owners what to do the moment this occurs as we recognize it at the earliest signs so to prevent the fear from escalating and can nip it in the bud. What's a bit odd though in your case is that your dog seems fine to do tricks or the sit initially, but then when asked more than once, he backs away. If his fear of the clicker generalized to training, I would expect him to back away right away and not even start performing. However, fear can make dogs do the oddest things at times, so let's go straight to what we can do to remedy this. Since you mention that he is comfortable when you are sitting and sits spontaneously next to you, I would take advantage of this using a training method known as "capturing". I would therefore verbally mark the sitting behavior with a verbal marker such as "yes" said in a very gentle tone (or whatever verbal marker you use in lieu of the clicker), and toss a treat to the ground so that your dog has to get up to grab it. If your dog seems intimidated by your verbal marker, you can just stick to praise words (good boy) or whatever you say when your dog does well, and feed treats. If the treat is reinforcing enough, you should see some further sits following. Make sure to promptly verbally mark and reward these as they happen, always tossing the treat at a slight distance so that he has to get up to get them. After several reps, you can start adding the verbal cue "sit" right when you think your dog is about to sit. Say it very gently, in a soft tone. Then praise and reward, building up to the point where when you say "sit; and your dog start to promptly sit in anticipation of the treat. Make sure your dog is super duper comfortable doing this and then try to ask for sits when you are standing, then in other areas of the home. If your dog at any time seems uncomfortable, it means you have progressed too fast and need to take a few steps back. I hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions. *Please note, text in blue is clickable and if you click on them it brings you to explanations for the terms used.

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! For basic obedience training, here is is the course: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/ For the puppy potty training portion, read here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/7-secret-potty-training-strategies/ For all general puppy things read here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/#puppies For any specific questions, feel free to ask here on the forums Happy training! Best, Adrienne

You are very welcome, Let's tackle now the issue of your dog being overly excited in the car. There can be several reasons why dogs act this way in the car. Differentiating these reasons takes carefully evaluating your dog's body language and associated emotions. It also takes keeping into consideration several factors such as age. So why do some dogs act super excited in the car? -A lack of impulse control. Many dogs who are super excited in the car are young dogs (generally under the age of 3-4 years old).Younger dogs may not have much impulse control and therefore haven't learned how to cope with their strong emotions and keeping them under control. -A matter of happy associations. Acting excited about going in the car of course also takes place because the car brings dogs to many happy, desirable places such as the dog park, day care, the beach, visits to friends or pleasant hikes. You mention taking your dog swimming so he may be super excited about that chance. So dogs may get excited going in the car because of these many happy associations. Indeed, you may notice how some smart dogs get more and more excited the moment you take that turn towards the beach or when you hit the breaks announcing arrival to the dog's favorite locations. -Feeding off your excitement. This may not apply to your case but may be worthy of mentioning in case other readers are guilty of this. Some dog owners tend to to talk to their dogs in a very enthusiastic tone, which ends up revving them up. These dogs are therefore feeding off their owner's excitement. One of my friends for instance often complains her dog is too hyper, but fails to realize that often she's the one riling her dog up with her excited tones of voice and fast movements. She shouldn't be therefore surprised when Jumper starts acting all hyper when she tells him "Wanna go on a car ride? Wanna go to the dog park! Yay! Now, who's a good booy? Who's the good boooy?"In the meanwhile Jumper is jumping (hence his name!) and going in circles as she laughs and giggles. Sure she gets a lot of entertainment from just watching her dog act silly and bouncy, but she fails to realize how her behavior impacts him! She hasn't ever asked for my help, although I see her struggle at times, so I don't feel like giving her an uninvited lecture until she sees a problem 😉 -An element of anxiety. Sometimes, among the excitement, there may be also an element of anxiety. So make sure your dog is absolutely comfortable being in the car. Anxiety in the car may be due to fear/insecurity such as the uncertainty about the destination (will I go to the vet or the dog park this time?) or other things such as anxiety about being tossed around when owners hit on the brakes, scary sounds, being scolded for being hyper, etc. On top of this, some dogs as mentioned are anxious in the car because they get car sick. If your dog drools when he is in the car, your dog may be suffering from motion sickness mixed in with the anxiety. Sometimes though things may be tricky, dogs who get motion sick may never escalate to the point of drooling and vomiting, but rather just act restless, panting and pacing, therefore these cases may be easily confused with excitement. So let's take a look now at some options to reduce a dog's excessive excitement in the car. There are several strategies you can try to help your dog calm down in the car. Consider though that dogs who are excited in the car are often dogs who are young and in need of training. This means that you won't likely see results overnight, but in the meanwhile, you can reduce your dog's hyper behaviors in the car by using management techniques. -Provide Exercise and Mental Stimulation. Many dogs display hyper behaviors because they are full of energy and haven't exercised their minds much. Make sure to walk you dog daily, but also provide ample of opportunities to keep your dog's minds active. Mental stimulation may be as tiring as exercise. Brain games, food puzzles and interactive toys can help tire your dog out so he's not always over the top. -Introduce Impulse Control Training. As mentioned, many dogs who act hyper in the car or on walks, are dogs who are young and haven't attained yet much impulse control. This is OK, it takes time to master this just as children learn to calm down as they mature. You can help your dog though through several exercises that you can incorporate in your dog's every day life, here are some: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ -Tone Things Down. As mentioned, some dog owners fail to realize how their excited tones and movements impact their dogs. If you match this profile, it can help to start acting more calm in certain situations. Sure, you can rile your dog up when you want, but leave that for times when you want your dog to play and have some fun. So when it's time to go on a car ride, try to just grab the leash, ask your dog to sit and snatch it on, then take him to the car, tell him to sit, open the door and then give him the OK to climb up. You should notice a difference overtime. -Destination Nowhere. An astute strategy to tone down a dog's excitement is to take him on several car rides without going to places your dog loves. In other words, take your dog on frequent car rides where you just ride around the block. These don't have to be long, just 4 minutes make a point. Take different routes every time, but never go anywhere exciting for some time. Do this until your dog starts acting calmer in the car (make sure to praise your dog for being calm, but use a calm tone to avoid exciting him!). You want to obtain a conditioned emotional response where your dog thinks of car rides in terms of "Meh! Nothing special happening here!" -Split Things Up . Some dogs need baby steps before they can do on a full car ride around the block being calm. So if your dog get's over the top when he hears you turn on the car, turn it on several times a day without taking him anywhere. Wait for him to calm down. Next, turn the car engine on and walk your dog towards the car and then take him back inside the house. Do this several times, until he grows bored of this too. Then progress to turning on the car, walking him there and then letting him climb inside. Let him stay there with you (make sure he's not hot!) until he seems bored. Then take him back inside. Then once he's calm start your destination nowhere trips. -Use the Premack Principle The Premack Principle. The Premack Principe is also known as Grandma's Law, simply because it's based on the philosophy of "eat your broccoli first, and then you can have ice-cream." So how does it work in this case? After your dog has grown bored of going on trips around the block, start increasing the length of his trips (always ending nowhere), and then, at some point start approaching the dog park (or any other destination that makes your dog excited), but be ready to turn or just park and do nothing the moment he acts hyper again. Repeat several times until you can park at the location and let your dog out only if he's in a calm state of mind. In this case, you are telling your dog "we can have fun (ice-cream) in the park, but only when you act calmer (broccoli)." You can read more about the Premack Principle here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/premack-principle/ -Provide Alternate Activities. Once your dog is calmer in the car, start providing him with calm activities to engage in while being in the car. For example, try providing him with a stuffed Kong, a Licki-Mat or a long-lasting chew to gnaw on so he focuses on this rather than pacing back and forth. -Invest in Calming Aids .Sure, your dog might not be able to get a soothing chamomile tea, but nowadays, there are many calming aids crafted for anxious or excitable dogs. Calming music (Through a Dog's Ear), calming dog supplements (like those containing L-theanine), calming shirts (Thundershirt, Anxiety Wrap) and calming caps (Thunder Cap, Calming Cap) may turn helpful. If there's an element of anxiety, your vet may also prescribe medications to help him calm down as you carry out behavior modification. If there's a possibility that your dog has motion sickness, your vet may prescribe meds for this too. -Crate Your Dog. Sometimes, your best bet is to simply manage your dog's environment so that your dog doesn't get to rehearse the problem behavior and also for safety. In this case, you can crate your dog and possibly place a blanket over the crate so to reduce visual overstimulation. A crate is also important considering that a dog who moves freely in a car can pose a big danger to you and other drivers. While some dogs may get calmer in a crate, some dogs may not. Also, not all cars can accommodate a big crate. So this is something to consider. -Try a Seat Belt Harness Some dogs do better being attached to a set-belt harness. I am not sure if this is what you are using already or not. In general, dogs who are attached to one are unable to pace back and forth between windows and therefore they learn to sit and relax. -Blacken Your Windows. Some dog owners have noticed improvements in their dogs by blackening their windows. They use special cling window films so that their dogs aren't too attracted to visuals on their trips. I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any questions! Send pats to Kairos! Did I say already he's a cutie? Best, Adrienne