Adrienne

Poor Kairos, he seems to have had a rough past! So glad though that he's now in your loving care. It seems as if he forms some type of attachment to these people, which is interesting, because you even mention him reacting this way to a new person he barely knew. It's kind of endearing though, in a sweet way 🙂 Who knows maybe he was separated from an owner or caretaker and he replays in his mind this scene and is terrified of it repeating. In behavior terms, we call cases where dogs learn quickly from just one experiences "single event learning' it may therefore be possible that he endured an experience that had quite an impact on his life. We may never know though what may cross a dog's mind, so we can only make assumptions. In any case, in order to tackle this behavior, we may work on it at different levels and see what may work best. If you see any slight improvement using any of these methods, it's often sign that we are on the right path. Firstly, I would suggest getting more acquainted with a dog's threshold levels. When a dog is in a panicky state, there is little room for learning. It's therefore important working with the dog under threshold. You can read more about threshold levels here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ For behavior issues involving strong emotions (such as fear) we need to implement behavior modification so to change the dog's emotional response. Your dog may therefore benefit from a desensitization and counterconditioning program. In desensitization, we need to take small steps, proposing the trigger or situation the dog is struggling with in a way that it's no longer too overwhelming to the dog. You can read more about desensitization here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ In counterconditioning instead we are aiming to changing the dog's emotional response in a specific situation by creating positive associations. You can read more about counterconditioning here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ Because a dog's environment is often too unpredictable, leading to too intense exposures, systematic set-ups work better for cases like yours. In simple words, we aim to expose a dog to his biggest fears but in very, very gradual, incremental ways that don't overwhelm him. As we do this, we need to be extra careful in paying attention to the dog's body language and avoiding putting him into stressful situations. Here are some signs of stress and fear in dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/signs-fear-stress-dogs/ So if we ever notice any of these signs, it means our dog is not ready for that level of intensity yet, therefore we need to take a step back in the process and practice more at a previous level where the dog was more comfortable. So here's an example of behavior modification: Creating positive associations with friends leaving So, if you can, I would suggest enlisting the help of a friend, walking side-by-side chit-chatting with you and then practice some "fake departures" using very,very gradual steps. So for instance, let's say you are walking with a friend. At some point, have the friend pretend she's leaving (but only moving away a few steps) while you feed your dog very high value treats, with praise, pats and attention (if your dog loves all these things). Then have your friend return and no more treats, pats, attention. If your dog won't take treats, this is often a sign he's too over threshold, so you need to take some smaller steps and split the exercise into smaller components. So rather than just moving away a few steps, let her just walk forward one step. Pop a tasty treat right then, praise and pats, and then ask your friend to return next to you, and no more treats, attention or pats. Treats, attention and pats are exclusively contingent upon your friend leaving. As your dog gets good at this, you can then move forward, gradually increasing distance, with your friend walking farther and farther away. You may need to start feeding more highly valuable treats as your friend moves away farther or giving treats that last longer. Now, this is often something that you will need to do on several set-ups on different days. So what to do when your friend needs to really leave for the day? In such a case, to avoid your dog from being exposed to a situation he's not ready for, we can find ways to prevent him from going into a panic. Think about situations where your friends have left without him going into a frenzy. Perhaps you can walk with your friend back to your home and then have your friend exit from a back door (as you give your dog a new toy or a stuffed Kong you have prepared in front of him to get him eager to have it). For a friend leaving your car, you can do the same exercise. Feed tasty treats as your friend touches the car handle to leave, then as she opens the car door a bit, then when she puts a leg out of the door, then when she stands up, then when she gets out of the car, then when she exists the car and closes the car door, then as she walks away briefly and then longer. Give treats /pats/ attention when your friend does all of these actions, when she comes back in the car, no more treats/attention/pats. Always make sure to go gradual and not progress until your dog has accustomed to the previous level and is comfortable. When your friend must leave the car for good (because she has to go home) once again, we need to think of ways to not expose him to the higher levels of his fear he's not prepared for yet. So we can try feeding him something super valuable and durable (that you have in your car for some time so he smells it and is eager to have it) in hopes of distracting him (think bully stick or Kong stuffed with something he goes bonkers for). For leaving your friend in the country, you can do the same exercise too, but may need a helper driving as you feed treats or you are left with driving with one hand, feeding your dog with your other hand (which can be obviously risky and don't suggest). In this case, feed treats as the driver turns on the engine, then turns it off no more treats. Then turns on the engine, and drives a few feet, feed treats, then the car stops and no more treats. Then, when you need to leave for good, try feeding him something super valuable and durable in hopes of distracting him (think bully stick or Kong stuffed with something he goes bonkers for). Once you get a good response with the help of your friend driving, build up to the point where you progress to holding the bully stick or Kong in the car and giving it contingent upon leaving. You want to build up enough anticipation that you can then give it to your dog yourself before you drive back home when you no longer need the help of a driver. All these exercises therefore aim to make it clear in your dog's mind that all the good stuff happen when your friends are leaving and not around. This should lower his anxiety if implemented correctly. Now here's the thing, behavior modification as such can be tricky. We need to make sure to go slowly, progress at the dog's pace and know when it's OK to go ahead or when we must practice more at the same level or take steps back. The biggest mistakes are going too fast in the process. We also need to recognize the earliest signs of stress so to keep the dog under threshold. Sometimes, when dogs are super anxious, we may also need the aid of medications or calming aids. Therefore, the help of a behavior professional to guide through may be important. A veterinary behaviorist would be the best bet as he or she can prescribe prescription medications if needed and these specialists have made of behavior modification their area of specialty, however, there are many good dog dog trainers/behavior consultants out there too, if you decide to enlist one, make sure he or she uses only force-free behavior modification. The above is my preferred method because it goes to the root of the problem. Other strategies that come to mind that may or may not work (remember to measure behavior: is the behavior getting better? Staying the same? or getting worse? ) These evaluations tell you whether you are on the right path. )Any light improvement is encouraging. -When you must leave a friend on walks, do so in a crowded area. Chances are, this event may be less salient and he might not notice it too much. Always, feed something high value as you instruct your friend to leave. -Try a friend swap game when walking. For this, you need to have several friends volunteer. Here you walk with a friend, your friend leaves, you feed a tasty treat, give pats, praise/attention, then when your dog finishes the treat, another friend walks with you, but no treats, pats, attention, only provides these when she leaves and so on with other friends. -Same with the car. You drop off a friend, feed a treat and then once he finishes the treat, you have another friend to pick up etc. -When you must leave a friend's home, try driving around her home over and over (tell your friend about this of course!) and see if your dog's behavior decreases. Once he's calmer give a long-lasting goodie, drive a little around the home again, and then leave. This aims to make the act of driving less salient since you aren't going anywhere, but it could also raise your dog's stress, so caution. -Making the appearance of a friend contingent upon him acting calm is another method. So let's say you are walking with a friend, the friend leaves and he whines? Have the friend walk slowly away until he stops whining. Once he stops, have your friend walk back. If he starts whining again, the friend turns his back and again leave abruptly. I am not much a fan of this though because it allows dogs to rehearse the behavior and may cause stress, but it can be used in certain cases like when dogs are too over threshold to take treats and nothing seems to work as the friend's presence is the highest reinforcer. This teaches your dog that whining makes friends leave, while calm makes them appear, but then you need to find a way to leave the friend for good without him thinking he is being punished- "why is the friend gone if I am now quiet?" - I mentioned working on this issue on different levels considering that often dog behaviors require a holistic, multi-faceted approach. So I would also suggest: -Keeping your dog exercised, training, walking and making sure he is provided with more mental stimulation (brain games) throughout the day. -Working on boosting your dog's confidence levels considering that this behavior often stems from insecurity. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-build-confidence-insecure-dogs/ -Seeing your vet just to ensure he's fed the best diet and isn't suffering from any issues that may increase his anxiety (a recent study showed that dogs who had skin allergies were more prone to behavior issues, as the saying goes a healthy mind in a healthy body). I hope this helps! I will be tackling the excitement in the car behavior shortly in another thread.

Thank you for taking the time to add the extra details. I misunderstood you initially then because I was thinking Kairos was acting panicky when you (or some other family members or guests/people visiting your home) left him at home as they were driving away with the car (which is quite common in dogs). Many dog owners who live in homes or apartments indeed report hearing their dogs bark, whine and howl as they drive away. It's is great to hear your dog seems to be coping well with this situation, you are very fortunate for this! Instead, interestingly, (forgive me if I am wrong) it seems like your dog is acting panicky when you and him are both in the car and you happen to drop off somebody (who was previously in the car with you) and this person leaves? Is this correct? Does this always take place in a car or is a car always involved? In the walking with a friend example (number 2) it doesn't seem like a car was involved as you were both walking. Did you friend leave by walking away or by car? Where you driving away by car past him? In example 1 you state "at a friends house in the country a woman Kairos had just met left after lunch in her car.... total panic even though I was there with him". Was Kairos in the car with her? Or was he at home with you? Or with you in your own car? I am trying evaluate whether this behavior is always car-related or whether he just struggles leaving somebody behind regardless of whether there is a car involved or not. In example 3, it sounds like your dog is just struggling as you are leaving with him in the car and he acts is if he doesn't want to leave your friend behind. Correct? Do you think it's more about leaving the friend behind or it could it be he doesn't to leave the place? Does your friend's home in the country by any chance have a pond/river or water nearby? Sorry for all these additional questions! Thank you for your patience.

Hello and welcome to the forums! It sounds like from your description that you are referring to two different problems, one is your dog getting stressed when people leave with their cars, the other is the dog itself acting stressed when being inside the car. With the whining when people leave with the car, I would like to have some more details. Is your dog left alone in the home when this happens? In other words, does it happen when you or some other family leaves? If so, have you ever recorded his behavior during your absences to see exactly what your dog does? I always recommend dog owners do this, so to have an idea about how their dogs are coping when left home alone. Even with my dogs, I have been doing this throughout the years and it was very insightful. As they started aging, they got a little worse in their barking/whining but fortunately never to the levels of them being distressed. So I would suggest positioning a camera or smartphone in an area that is out of your dogs' reach and that shows a good portion of the home, particularly in direction of the exit door from which you leave. Record for a good minimum of half hour. After ward, feel free to provide details of what you see (what does your dog do exactly? for how long? any destructive chewing? any accidents in the home -pee or poop, any drooling, shaking? any barking, whining or howling?) I will be addressing the car excitement shortly, in the meanwhile, I was wondering if you have any helpers/family members who can help you out as you are driving or are you for the most part driving solo? Also, wondering whether your dog has ever suffered from car sickness? Any drooling when he's in the car? Thanks

With the pandemic, many dog professionals are noticing an increase in cases of separation anxiety unfortunately. Schedule and routine changes are indeed are quite upsetting to dogs, hence why we see many cases of separation anxiety after the summer school break, holidays, after people working from home start a new out-of-the-home job, and now pandemic lock downs are being added to the list. Separation anxiety though is often also over-diagnosed, so it's important to ensure dogs are really suffering from this so to address them correctly. It is quite normal for dogs to whine, bark or howl the first few minutes when dog owners leave the home. What makes an important difference is what the dog does exactly during these absences, the intensity of these behaviors and whether the dog eventually settles (or even sleeps) after vocalizing for a bit and after how long shows signs of settling (a couple of minutes, 15 minutes? an hour?). So yes, it would be important knowing what you are seeing when you carefully watch your recordings. What is she doing exactly? How long does the barking last? Does she eventually settle? Is she urinating or defecating in the home? Is she engaging in any destructive behaviors? If so, what is she destroying? Have you noticed any drooling, shaking, pacing? Also, does she show signs of anxiety as you are preparing to leave the home? These details are very helpful, although for a sure diagnosis you would have to show the recording to a professional (preferably veterinary behaviorist, applied animal behaviorist) and/or your vet to determine whether medications may be needed along with a behavior modification plan. The fact that she doesn't like the kennel (and has struggled adjusting to it) can be suggestive of separation anxiety. What happens here is that these dogs start associating the anxiety they feel with the place they are confined in and the state of being alone. These dogs may end up hurting themselves in an attempt to escape the enclosure (as Jennifer describes in her case with Abbi). However, dogs may dislike crates or other enclosures for other reasons as well (improper introductions, dogs not being exercises/provided with mental stimulation enough, location (too hot, too cold), something frightening occurring while crated/enclosed and so on) so once again, we need to be careful before drawing conclusions as there can be several differentials to consider. In general, cases of separation anxiety are more easily treated the earlier they are diagnosed considering that once this condition puts roots and the dogs rehearses the anxiety for many times, the more likely it is to worsen with time. So we want to nip this in the bud, as soon as we start noticing the earliest signs if feasible.

Hi Beth Hill, Welcome to the forums, I am sure with a search on the forums, you'll find several owners of small dogs posting here. In most cases, luring works well with small dogs, although occasionally, we may stumble on some small dogs (or even medium to large dogs) who may need a different approach either due to conformation, handler difficulties or some underlying doggy emotional problems. Since you mention "I have found I need a different approach" I am assuming you might be struggling with an exercise? If so, feel free to post it here and I'll be happy to help out! Best, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! If your great dane is left outside off leash and takes off, more than a recall issue, we are likely dealing with a management issue at this point. In other words, left to their own devices, most dogs will choose to stray away given the choice, especially if they can gain more reinforcement by visiting another area and spend time outdoors on their own. Sort of like a toddler/child who is asked to stay put in the front porch and cannot resist to go play with the neighbor's kids rather than just thumb-twiddle by the front porch. So we need to closely evaluate what your dog finds so reinforcing from visiting the neighbor's. If she spends most of her time outdoors, she likely grows bored and seeks entertainment from your neighbor's property. Great danes in general are not very high prey dogs, but they descend from Irish wolfhounds and were used as catch dogs, so there may be chances that in some specimens prey drive may still be quite present, to the extent that they find chicken, rabbits or other furry animals irresistible. On top of this, the more a dog gets to escape and gain a pleasant experience from escaping, the more they will try to escape. Calling a dog at this point will therefore go to deaf ears, and risks becoming quite irrelevant, considering that, the more we call a dog and the dog doesn't respond, the weaker our recall becomes. It's as if we are un-charging all our hard work, hence the importance of calling back dogs exclusively when it's easy and when we know there is a high chance of them running back to us, especially in the most delicate initial stages, when we are building the foundational blocks of a recall. In this case, you are competing against a dog's instincts and established history of reinforcement. Sure, we can try to tempt the dog with tasty rewards, but in some dogs, food rewards may not be able to compete well with the adrenaline rush associated with engaging in prey driven behaviors and hunting. It's sort of us being asked to stay hold a sport for 5 dollars when our neighbor offers us 500. Management therefore in such a case would entail taking steps to prevent these escapes from occurring in the first place. Here are some management ideas: -Erecting a securely fenced-in area or a dog kennel, (I am not a fan of invisible fences due to several flaws and risks) so that the dog can spend some time outdoors without worrying about him straying. When dogs stray off leash, on top of the problem of the dog not coming when called and gaining reinforcement, we must consider other risks such as encounters with wildlife, eating something potentially toxic, killing livestock, neighbors getting upset from damage deriving from the dog. -Erecting just partial, temporary fencing (you may find several temporary, affordable options).Partial fencing is fencing that is limited to just the neighbor's property line so to prevent these non-wanted visits. The nice perk of this is that sometimes, neighbors are even willing to split costs. -Keeping your great dane on a long line when he needs to be taken out. A long line is sort of like a long leash that has a clip that attached to the dog's collar or horses's halter. It is often sold in horse tack and supply stores. Now, this doesn't mean we can't train this dog to come when called. We surely can, but it will take time to establish a strong attachment to your property. I don't know how long you have had her, but if she's been with you not too long 50 acres is sure a lot and your dog may need to develop a secure -base attachment to you and your home to ignore the strong temptation of crossing the boundary. Until then, we really need to engage in management until we can work on over ranking your neighbor's strong competition and keeping it up (because even the best trained dogs may at tomes decide to take off given the right circumstances). Here are some tips to make your neighbor's yard less salient and gaining some extra points. -Stimulate prey drive with toys. If your great dane is attracted to your neighbor's small animals, it would be important to provide outlets for this drive. You can try to recreate part of that same prey drive high by getting your dog focused on toys. A ball, flirt pole or a Frisbee may mimic the erratic movements of prey. The best part is that, unlike prey, the dog will be actually more successful in catching these items so it also helps release frustration that may build-up when the dog is unable to catch prey. A game of tug may also be a good way to release the need to catch, grab and bite. Dogs with high prey drive may go bonkers over a tug toy made with real rabbit fur. -Start training in low distraction areas. Your enclosed pasture seems like a good start. You can then add gradually distractions and practice on a long line. Dealing with a dog who has high predatory drive requires obedience training around strong distractions. It always helps to start in low distraction areas with the dog under threshold. You can read about threshold levels here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ Initially, you may therefore need to keep your dog on leash or on a long line and at a distance from anything the elicits predatory drive. If at any time your dog appears distracted, it often means that you have progressed to fast and you need to take a step back and work on less distracting levels. Your dog may also benefit from being taught to focus versus trying to search for prey. I personally like to reward high- predatory dogs for making eye contact with high-value treats. If the treats are high value enough, the dog should be making eye contact more and more. Here is some eye contact exercises: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/look-into-my-eyes/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/the-airplane-game/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ You can then raise criteria, and get closer to the areas where the dog rehearses predatory behaviors, up to the point of being off leash and being able to focus. In many instances, sending your dog back to resuming his predatory behavior of sniffing and exploring may be the best reward! -Reward Voluntary check-ins. Sometimes, dogs do not realize that sticking by you can be rewarding. They simply do not know. You can walk your dog around the yard on a long line and reward him for sticking by your side and looking at you. If you do this often enough, a time may come where even off leash he will still stick by your side now and then, versus being completely oblivious to your presence. Voluntary check-ins are also important to reward. When your dog is with you out in the yard (on a long line), make sure you always reward those times where he heads your way and checks on you. This will overtime, strengthen your bond. When I used to teach group classes, we often had during the first day of class the owners walking around with their dog off leash. Often the dogs wandered around and weren't much aware where their owners were, even when the owner was out of sight for a few seconds. At the end of class, we repeated this and it was impressive how focused their dogs were this time, following the owner around and always keeping an eye on them. It was evident that they had bonded together over the 8-week class. -Create the Foundation For a Strong Recall. After your dog has learned to make eye contact with you and regularly checks in with you, he is ready to learn the basics for a successful recall. Of course, calling your dog when she is actively escaping or hunting would be setting her for failure, so at first you will have to be picky on when you call your dog. If you take your dog out first thing in the morning in your yard to explore, give her time to sniff around and monitor the changes that have occurred from yesterday. Yes, your dog notices changes. There may be new bird poop in the yard, the bunnies may have left new scent on a path and your dog may want to relieve herself. Let her explore her environment.Then, after a while, you will notice he is content with his exploration and may be less intent in sniffing/searching/marking. This may be a good time to call her from a close distance and reward with some high-value goodies/toys. -Make the Indoors More Stimulating. Many dogs with high prey drives find the outdoors very interesting and reinforcing so they may dread coming back inside. Calling these dogs to come indoors may feel almost like punishment. I personally, like to protect my recall by not over using it, and I invest in other cues to get the dog to come back inside after venturing to the yard. I may suddenly run and head back inside, which often leads to the dog following me. You can even put going back inside on cue by saying something like "let's go back inside" in a very happy voice, then, once you open the door, let a rainfall of treats fall from your hands so your dog can go on a fun "treasure hunt games." Day after day, the dog looks forward to coming inside versus dreading it as it ends all their searching, sniffing and hunting activities. So make sure to make the inside a place where your dog can engage in rewarding activities that stimulate her mind. Brain games (Treasure hunt games, the muffin game, the bottle game), interactive toys, food puzzle are all great ways to provide mental stimulation! I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any questions, Best, Adrienne

Hello, and welcome to the forums! At the age of one, you dog is past the critical socialization stage, during which we encourage socializing young pups to as many types of people, animals, noises and situations as possible. Children need to be a part of this considering that dogs perceive children as quite different from adults and lack of sufficient exposure may lead to fear-based behaviors. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/socializing-puppy-children/ However, not all is lost once a dog is older and past the critical window of opportunity. In such cases, we must invest time into providing remedial socialization by setting up the stage for positive encounters taking baby steps and avoiding from putting dogs into situations they are not comfortable with. From your description, I tend to agree the behavior appears to be fear-based considering her shy temperament around adults and the fact that she seems to keep her distance from children and tends to bark at them. The fact she is accepting of calm children, allowing them even to pet her can also be indicative that she tends to struggle with certain types of children or children engaged in certain types of activities which appear to perhaps overwhelm her or overstimulate her to the point of barking. On top of fear though, we need to consider as well another possibility: a possible genetic component for her behavior. Koolies are classified as herding dogs, and as such they are naturally predisposed to circle widely around sheep and bring them back to their owner. Sounds familiar? This sounds similar to what you describe her doing to children at the park or beach "she will run around them in a circle and then come back to me." In any case, we want to tackle this form of barking. If it's based on fear, we need to work on creating positive associations. I would suggest investing some time in "Look at that" exercises. You can start practicing this by having Maisy at home watching children run and play from a window and teaching her to become responsive to you despite the distraction. The goal is to provide positive associations with children while also creating an alternate response to barking (looking at you for a treat). Here is a guide for training this: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ Once we get a solid response, we can then progress to using this exercise on walks, at the park, at the beach to prevent the barking and chasing. We can even introduce some obedience at some point, once her response is fluent enough, where as soon as you spot a child, you make a smacking sound and ask your dog to perform a behavior (hold a sit stay, come to you and hand target, do some steps of attention heeling) before rewarding. However, as mentioned, we need to be extra careful about not putting her in situations she's not comfortable with and that allow her to rehearse the problem behavior (bark/ chase) considering that the more a dog practices a behavior, the more it becomes established. This therefore entails ensuring we keep our dogs as much under threshold as possible and this often means no more off leash freedom (we can still use a long line though) until we are certain we have the behavior under control. Here is a read about threshold levels: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ Determining whether her barking is nervous or aggressive makes no change on the behavior modification protocols we adopt to reduce the barking. Nervous dogs border the chances for aggression considering that when pushed, nervous/stressed dogs may bite. So we must treat all nervous dogs as potential biters and take precautions to prevent them from feeling stressed enough to bite. If the behavior is triggered more from a desire to herd, on top of training her through response substitution (that is, given her something else to do than bark and chase as explained above), we can provide more exercise, mental stimulation, training and outlets for these instinctive behaviors. In particular, being that your dog is an adolescent now, you may find it helpful to train impulse control games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ and an brain games to keep her mind and body busy. Outlets of herding behaviors can be providing through some dogs sports such as herding trials (where your dog gets to herd real sheep) or you can try Treibball which involves having dogs herd large fitness balls as if they were sheep. To make sure your dog gets more comfy around kids for the future, I suggest the following: -Compile a list of circumstances that have caused your dog to bark at children in the past. Think of each event carefully and jolt down the circumstances that may have led to the barking. Was the child running and playing? Was the child screaming or talking in an excited voice? -Prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior through management. Management therefore entails preventing your dog from practicing the undesirable behavior. If you therefore notice a trend in your dog's barking, avoid exposing your dog to the same situation in the future. For example, if your dog barks at children playing in front of your home, prevent access to windows and doors so that your dog doesn't feel compelled to bark. Out of sight, out of mind. If the barking occurs at the beach where children run, keep your dog at a distance so that she's under threshold. -If you are concerned about your dog being nervous (and potentially aggressive) around children, consult with a dog behavior professional using force-free behavior modification for safety and correct implementation. Direct guidance is important as the professional can watch your dog, assess the exact triggers and guide you into providing those treats with correct timing to ensure those positive associations take place. He or she can also tell you when it's time to intervene or stop a session or go back a few steps. -Use a basket muzzle if you are afraid your dog may harm children. Children may pop out of nowhere sometimes approaching your dog from behind and petting, this can be a recipe for a bite. A muzzle can have you covered. -Make sure to create positive associations with children when the opportunity arises. I like to carry treats with me in my pocket or treat bag so to never be caught unprepared. You never know what may happen. Say a calm child approaches and is petting your dog? Feed your dog some tasty treats in the meanwhile. I once had a child pop up from nowhere, sneak up from behind us and start hugging Einstein so tightly I swear his eyes seemed to be popping out. Fortunately I had hot dogs on me on that occasion and I fed them several pieces in a row as he endured the headlock style hug. Once the hug was over, I stopped feeding treats. Bless his heart for his patience! -Use behavior modification methods focusing on low-grade exposures and changing the dog's emotions: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ Open bar and closed bar can be done every time a dog spots a child: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/ If you ever have friends with babies, start early! https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/get-dog-used-crying-baby/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/get-dog-used-crawling-baby/ -Finally, never leave children alone with a dog, not even for a moment and no matter what. Make sure you teach kids how to to be respectful of your dog's space, and ensure your dog has a safe place to retreat. Be your dog's ambassador. When you cannot actively supervise, have your dog in an area where there is a physical barrier such as a baby gate between dog and children and ensure children won't stick fingers through! I hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions! Best, Adrienne

Hi there and welcome to the forums! It sounds like your dog is resource guarding. Resource guarding is often a matter of distrust. The dog fears to lose access to something he or she perceives as valuable, so they aren't comfortable with us being around them when they eat or are in possession of something. With resource guarding issues we can work on them using behavior modification. Behavior modification aims to change the dog's emotional response. From the dog dreading to have us near their bowls, they would start looking forward to it because of many great associations we have formed. We often attain these results using an individualized desensitization and counterconditioning program under the direct guidance of a dog behavior professional. You can read more about desensitization here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ And here you can read about counterconditioning: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ On top of these methods, it's important to learn more about threshold levels in dogs. When we carry out behavior modification, we want to avoid putting our dogs into situations they are not yet prepared for. Working on a dog who is over threshold only leads to more problems down the road and setbacks, not to mention potential safety issues. You can read about threshold levels here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ Because of the risks associated with dogs acting aggressively, behavior modification needs to be carried out under the direct guidance of a dog behavior professional. This is due to the associated risks when working around dogs who resource guard (risks for bites!) and the importance of the correct implementation of behavior modification so to minimize stress and setbacks. In the meanwhile, management would be important considering that, the more your dog rehearses the problematic behavior (tensing up/growling to protect food), the more the behavior puts roots and persists, becoming more difficult to eradicate. Not to mention, resource guarding induces a certain level of stress in dogs and the more stress hormones circulate, the more the dog lives on edge and feels the need to protect herself. Management for resource guarding would entail preventing putting the dog into situations where the dog feels the need to guard. In your case, it sounds like your dog feels stressed the moment you provide access to the food bowl since you mention that she sometimes growls when you put the food bowl down. We don't however want to suppress her growling as this is an important warning system. So please avoid any corrections as outlined here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/growling-never-suppressed-dogs/ A way to make feeding her safer can therefore entail avoiding putting the food bowl down directly in front of her/close to her. For example: -You can have your dog in a separated area (in the yard, in a room with the door closed, behind a baby gate or in a play pen) when you prepare her food. Then, you can place the food bowl down on the floor where she is normally fed and then you can set your dog free to go access it (or have a helper release her from the separated area). Avoid approaching her until she is done. Pick up the food bowl only once she leaves the area and it's safe for you to remove it. With some dogs prone to guarding empty food bowls, it's best to wait until they are back to being confined in a separated area. -You can also try an automated feeder feeding only a portion at a time so that your dog gets the whole portion at once rather than storing it. Set it up for a specific time (stay away from it at that time!) and you can train your dog to approach it when you say some specific cue like:" Blacky, time to eat!" Avoid approaching her or the feeder until she is done. Remove it once she leaves the area and it's safe for you to pick it up. With some dogs, who also guard empty food bowls, it may be best once again to wait until they are back to being confined in a separated area for safety. While management prevents rehearsal, it doesn't really do much to change the dog's emotional response. Yes, it prevents the dog from practicing the problem behavior, but if the dog is once again put back into a stressful situation, rest assured the growling and associated stress is likely to recur. So to tackle the issue directly once again, behavior modification is needed. You can read more about dogs who resource guard food in the following threads, but please note that each dog is an individual and therefore requires a personalized behavior modification plan based on several individual factors. The methods outlined in these threads are therefore not to be perceived as specific recommendations. - With dogs who resource guard towards dog owners and different people, we generally first tackle working with the owners/people living in the same household (which the dog is more likely to trust) and then only once the dog proves himself/herself reliable, and we have a fluent, solid response over time, only then we can consider generalizing to involving other people, but in certain cases it is just far safer using management around people the dog doesn't know (by simply avoiding exposing strangers/guests around the dog when there is food around) and/or conditioning the dog to wear a muzzle to add an extra layer of protection if the situation grants it. I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any questions, Best, Adrienne Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques for direct in-person guidance.

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! That's a whole lot of barking if your dog does it for 4 to 5 hours at a time! From your description it sounds like your dog isn't comfortable with your older son. It could be because she's not too familiar with him (you say he moved in for a few months), it could be that your son may have done something that startled her, it could be for some reason she hasn't felt comfortable around him enough to form a circle of trust. Often, a dog may decide to categorize a person as not worthy of trust due to some rather innocent behaviors (from our perspective) which dogs though perceive as a big deal. Small dogs in particular, can be quite sensitive to certain things. For example, she might not like how your son moves (maybe he walks fast and in a decisive way), she might have heard her cough or sneeze and this once startled her, she might have not liked that he carries things (bags, large items) in and out of the door or that he may slam the door or that he might laugh loudly when he talks on the phone. Perhaps she is struggling with him going in and out of the house often versus staying home most of the time. These are just assumptions. I have witnessed big and small dogs react to the most subtle things. Just last week, for instance, we had guests and some of them bought along their small dog. This small dog was initially quite confident around all of us, but then, out of the blue, she decided to bark at a friend the moment he entered the room. This friend didn't do much different, other than lately I recalled that he was imitating certain tones of voices of people. I imagine this dog must have found it disturbing for a person to assume such variety of tones and she must have therefore labeled him as "odd" and not trustworthy and therefore worthy of being barked at. We sometimes may never know exactly what triggers dogs to do the things they do, but this is just to point out how sensitive some dogs are and how certain rather innocent-looking behaviors may have an impact on them. I assume your little dog may have a hard time with changes in postures and movement. Indeed, you describe her as doing well when guests are all seated, only to bark when they get up and leave. With your son, she seems accepting of attention and treats when your son is sitting nearby her, but she then struggles (running, hiding and barking) when your son walks up the stairs or hears your son downstairs. Important would be to therefore identify what possibly triggers her to bark and then working on behavior modification. A good dog behavior modification plan for such a fear-based case would involve the use of desensitization and counterconditioning. It would therefore be helpful to familiarize with such methods. You can read more about desensitization here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ And here you can read about counterconditioning: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ On top of these methods, it's important to learn more about threshold levels in dogs. When we carry out behavior modification, we want to avoid putting our dogs into situations they are not yet prepared for. This only leads to more problems down the road and setbacks. You can read about threshold levels here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ The fact that she likes to sit at the top of stairs is likely indicative of the fact that she feels safer there so that she can watch your son't movement from the above and manifest her discomfort through barking but without the risk of getting too close to him. If she feels safer here, this may be a good starting point, until she's more comfortable. So behavior modification may entail exposing her to certain things your son does that trigger her barking, but presenting them at a level that doesn't put her over threshold (no barking, no distress) and creating positive associations. You can often start with noises using the "hear that" method outlined here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/ So for instance, when she's upstairs, you can be with her and ask your son to make sounds that seem to trigger her barking, but purposely presented at a lower level. So for example, if you know she reacts to your son coughing, you can ask him to just clear his throat while he's downstairs and you toss/give her a treat every time he does that. Then, once she seems comfortable with that, you can ask him to cough a little more and you toss a treat. Progress gradually to louder coughs, but if at any time you notice she barks, that's a sign she's not ready yet for that level of exposure, so you need to go back to coughing a little less loud and feed treats until she's ready again for the next level. Once you have this pat down, you may notice what's known as a "conditioned emotional response." In other words, once she hears the cough, she'll be looking in your direction for her treat. This is a great sign meaning that you are working your way towards changing her emotional response. Now, we can then do similar exercises with visual aspects. For example, let's say she barks when your son is walking up the stairs. You can have your son walking up a step as feed several high-value treat as h e goes up one step. Repeat several times until she's comfortable with that. Then, you can increase criteria and ask your son to start walking up a little more, always feeding treats as he performs the action. Once he's back down, no more treats. Gradually, your son should get up the stairs a little more each time, until you have a solid response of your dog anticipating treats every time he goes up the stairs. If at any time your dog reacts by barking, it's a sign you are going too fast through the process and you need your son to go back to taking a smaller step. A similar exercise can be done with your guests when they are leaving. Practice having them stand up from the couch and you feed treats, then sit back down and then stand up again and take a step, and you feed treats, then progress to them standing, taking several steps and walking towards the door as you feed treats etc until they exit the door at which point no more treats are fed to make it clear that treats happen only when in presence of your guests. For barking when guests enter your home, you can here find a guide using the same method: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/ Now, behavior modification takes time, several sessions and a certain level of expertise to prevent setbacks. The biggest mistakes are going too fast in the process, not recognizing signs a dog is going over threshold and incorrect timing (giving treats at the wrong time). For safety and correct implementation, it is therefore recommended to enlist the help of a dog behavior professional using force-free behavior modification to provide in person-guidance and walk you through the process. When we aren't doing behavior modification, it is best to not expose the dog to triggers and situations that distress the dog, causing her to bark. This can mean blocking off an area of the home that's more quiet so that she can relax there without being constantly in fear of your son. The more a dog rehearses a behavior (in this case barking) the more it puts roots and becomes more difficult to eradicate. You mention this behavior has been going on for two years, so it won't disappear overnight unfortunately. But I love the saying "when there is will, there is a way" and those who take the time and determination to work on changing behavior are often rewarded with progress. It may start initially with a little trickle of improvements and over time more and more steady and impressive ones. It can be very rewarding to watch these dogs bloom! Dealing with fearful dogs is not easy. It requires a multi-faceted approach tackling the triggers directly, but also taking a holistic approach in a way that we instill trust and confidence in our dogs through brain games, training and confidence-building exercises (clicker training and dog sports). Your can read more about the work needed with these fellows here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/helping-fearful-rescue-dog/ I hope this helps you. If you have any questions or need elucidations on anything, please do not hesitate to ask. If you have compiled a list of your dog's triggers and would like some examples on how to implement behavior modification specifically on them, post them here and I'll be glad to split these triggers into smaller components and develop a more specific plan. Best, Adrienne Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping) for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques for direct in-person guidance.

Good to hear she sits or lies down when you leave, that's a good indication she's chill enough in your absence. Keep recording her behavior every once in a while when left alone just to make sure she remains calm. Yes, please keep me posted on how things go. Best, Adrienne

Hi there, and welcome to the forums, This behavior may stem from various causes. On possibility is that you may seeing a form of separation anxiety from your dog disliking to being left alone. While the most classical signs of separation anxiety involve dogs following their owners around the home, and then, upon being left alone, anxious pacing, drooling, barking, whining and/or howling, scratching windows and doors and having pee/poop accidents in the home, some atypical cases may involve dogs who react by trying to prevent their owners from leaving using the only methods they know how to use (body blocking, jumping, biting, grabbing fingers/hands to lead away). Most dogs (besides a few very independent dog breeds) do not like to be left alone. Many dogs learn to cope with their owner's absences, but some dogs develop such strong dysfunctional attachments to their owners, that they have very poor coping skills when left alone. These dogs therefore go on to develop separation anxiety which is a very distressing situation to the dog. In dogs who try to bite their owners' hands and feet, as they are leaving the house, the behavior may be triggered by the hyper arousal associated with anxiety. These dogs are desperately trying to prevent their owners from leaving the home, because, once left alone, they feel vulnerable and get highly stressed. It is always a good idea recording your dog's behavior once you go to bed or when you leave the home. Many dog owners are not aware of their dogs having separation anxiety until they record their dogs' behavior when left alone and watch it, noticing several signs of distress. So I would suggest recording a good half hour minimum (ideally the whole duration of your whole absence) when you leave the home to see what your dog does when you leave. If she appears distressed, and shows signs of separation anxiety, that may be what you may be dealing with. With the COVID19 pandemic, many dogs have been starting to show signs of separation anxiety now that some dog owners are starting to go back to work or leaving the home more to do shopping, doctor visits, run errands of various types etc. Other than separation anxiety, since your dog is a collie mix, there may be chances that your dog may be attempting to "herd" you. Herding dogs have been known to herd people as if they were "flocks" preventing them from leaving the premises or in an attempt to "move them" from one area to another. Now, it's true that sometimes we may have simply dogs who are jumping and barking because they want attention, but if the behavior you see seems to contextually occur, meaning you notice it only in the two particular circumstances you describe (that is, when you must leave the house and go to bed) most likely there's some dislike about you separating from her. Here are therefore some options to tackle the issue: 1) Record your dog's behavior when left alone. Once again, this is to identify signs of panic/distress when left alone. If you are dealing with a true case of separation anxiety, it's important to tackle the underlying anxiety through desensitization and counterconditioning. Since you describe an aggression component here, for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification, enlisting the help of a dog behavior professional would be important. Here is a read on desensitization and counterconditioning: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ Here are some reads about separation anxiety: 2) Manage the behavior. In other words, prevent these instances from occurring. It may therefore come handy erecting a baby gate or keeping your dog enclosed in a crate or sturdy play pen /exercise pen or in a dog-safe room, several minutes before you have to leave so that your dog doesn't have a chance to rehearse the problem behavior. Since this happens when you are leaving the home or going to bed, placement of the baby gate or play pen requires some strategic planning. I would put it midway between the bedroom and exit door so it can work in both cases (leave the home, go to bed). 3) To make being in these areas more rewarding, make sure to provide some tasty goodies when you are placing your dog there. A stuffed Kong or long-lasting chew can help. Also, place your dog there also at times when you don't have to leave so that your dog doesn't predict a pattern. 2) Another option to try is redirection. In other words, toss some high-value treats or a ball (if your dog is ball-driven) the opposite way as you are leaving. It sounds like though you mentioned that a pack of ham doesn't work to redirect her. This is often a sign that your dog is too over threshold. In other words, your dog is too concerned/anxious/ or focused on the behavior to pay attention. This often means that we need to take smaller steps. You can read more about threshold levels here and how they impact dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ So in this case, you would have to take some baby steps, pretending you have to leave (but don't leave the first several days of practicing) but splitting the action in smaller more easy to assimilate steps. For example, if your dog starts jumping/biting when you grab the keys and then head towards the door, you would start by barely touching the keys and tossing a treat, then lifting the keys an inch and tossing a treat, then carrying the keys a step and tossing a treat, then carrying the keys and walking towards the door and tossing a treat, then grabbing the keys and walking towards the door and touching the door knob and tossing a treat, then grabbing the keys and touching the door knob and opening the door a little bit and tossing a treat, and then the same sequence but now even leaving for a few seconds, but tossing a very valuable treat and then returning shortly and then leaving for some more time leaving a longer lasting treat etc. always never leaving yet until your dog seems to be more comfortable with all the process. Same would happen with your bed-time routine. You would have to desensitize and countercondition to all the things you do before going to bed, but practice during the day. Determine which of your behavior/behaviors before going to bed trigger her behavior (does she start getting hyper/anxious when you brush your teeth? walk towards the bedroom?), then split these actions into smaller components and expose your dog to them while you also aim to associate them with goodies your dog loves. If at any time you notice your dog starts to want to jump/bite, this is often sign that you are going too fast in the process and need to take a step back and work until your dog is more comfortable at the previous level and maybe split the action a little further. Again, since you described an aggression component here, for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification, enlisting the help of a dog behavior professional would be important to help you out through the whole process. 3) You can try training an alternate behavior to the jumping/biting upon leaving, such as training your dog to lie on a mat with a stuffed Kong before you leave or doing a treasure hunt game where your dog must hold a stay as you hide all sorts of goodies around the home and you release her to search for them the moment you exit the door or you enter the bedroom. Here is how to train these: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/ 4) Provide more exercise, mental stimulation, brain games and outlets for possible herding behaviors (herding trials, sport of Treibball). Treibball is a new doggy sport where the dog must “herd” several large inflatable exercise balls into a soccer-like net. Start by training (with the use of a clicker) your dog to hand target first, then to target a sticky note placed on an opened cabinet, then to target the sticky note on the cabinet with enough force to close the opened cabinet, then place the sticky note on a large ball and encourage your pup to push the ball with his nose, gradually adding distance. The sticky note can be removed once your puppy grasps the concept. Here is a guide on training targeting: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ I hope this helps, Let me know how things go or if you have any questions. Best, Adrienne

Hi there! Welcome to the forums! There are many makes and models of no-pulls harnesses for small dogs. For instance, PetSafe Easy Walk Dog Harness is one type of front-attachment harness that comes in various small sizes. Walk your dog with love also makes harnesses crafted for no pulling and meant to protect a small dog's trachea and they come in various small sizes. Keep in mind that, on top of using a no-pull harness, training is also needed to ensure your dog understands what it feels like to walk on a loose leash. You can find a guide on loose-leash walking here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

Hi Mandi, Welcome to the forums! With dogs wandering off, things get tricky because of the reinforcement they gain from such escapes. Dogs who wander off and find treasures along the way are therefore prone to become repeat offenders as behavior science tells us that reinforcement causes behaviors to strengthen and repeat. It's nice though that your dog comes back with the little treasures she finds from your neighbor's property so to enjoy them at home 🙂 Unfortunately, in such cases the most effective way to tackle the problem is to ensure that fences are sturdy and escape-proof and that dogs are supervised when outside as some dogs are very smart in finding ways to jump over, dig under or squeeze through fences and gates and any gaps. As the saying goes "where there is a will there is a way" so you may need to carefully evaluate any weak spots in your fencing and erect some additional parts if they are missing. As another saying goes "good fences makes good neighbors." Although I know some neighbors who love dogs that they don't mind other dogs coming over for some visits! It also helps to find out why your dog escapes in the first place. Since she is stealing toys and shoes, it sounds like she's after some entertainment. At 7 months, she is an adolescent and likely is looking for something to chew on and keep her body and mind busy. You can read more about dog adolescence here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ It may therefore help to keep her mind and body exercises by walking your dog daily, offering more games and interaction to your dog. Play games of fetch, teach your dog some tricks and offer food puzzles and brain games to keep her mind busy. Don't forget to rotate your dog's toys so that your dog perceives them as novel and interesting (and therefore feels less compelled to steal random items from your neighbors).

Thanks for the additional details, they are very helpful! With biting, we want to try to stray away as much as possible from intervening physically such as popping her nose or grabbing her collar as this often evokes defensive biting and risks teaching dogs that human hands are something negative. Instead, we want to focus more on giving her some alternate activities to focus on that surpass the appeal of biting legs. In general for pups who bite, I therefore like to encourage games that focus on creating alternate ways to interact with us and that involve as well some training. I would suggest practicing these games when your dog is indoors and calm until you get a fluent response. In particular, I encourage hand targeting to encourage positive interactions with hands. Here are some examples of games to redirect biting: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/ So what can you do when your dog goes into attack mode in the yard? First of all, the fact that this biting happens only in the yard provides you with a great advantage versus biting that occurs at random time throughout the day: you can be prepared. So it may help having a treat bag handy filled up with super-valuable treats or a stuffed Kong (or some valuable toy) kept in your hands 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 your legs: -Try redirection using high-value toys. Trying to redirect using a regular toy that likely your puppy has always access to can be rather boring compared to your clothes she can play tug with. So right when you expect her to come towards you to nip, 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 in the yard 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!) or a flirt pole (stick with a stuffed animal attached one end). The goal is to find a way to make these toys much more interesting, rewarding and fun to interact with than your body. 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. 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 legs 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 pup some bite inhibition. This is a very important skill. A good exercise to train this using treats is here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/ The main goal in getting a dog to stop biting legs is to teach that it's boring playing with them because there are far better forms of play out there that don't involve legs. So move less and make your toys move more. Wriggle them, toss them, provide toys that release food. With their strong urge to bite and play satiated with other forms of play, soon, dogs should outgrow the habit of chasing legs just as they outgrow the habit of chasing their tails. You may have to try several of the above options and see what works best. Redirection to a rewarding treat-dispensing toy or game that uses treats should be moderately easy at this age if these activities are made rewarding. Teaching an alternate behavior is also important because dogs cannot misbehave if they are busy making eye contact or sitting! It may take a bit of time though to teach these alternate behaviors fluently but it is sure worth the time and effort. By providing outlets for her energy and needs for mental stimulation and reinforcing appropriate behaviors, you should eventually start seeing a decrease in the biting behavior. Keep track of it so to measure whether things are getting better with time. If things are going well, you should have created a new routine where your dog looks forward to being in the yard with you because of all the fun and rewarding activities you provide (which don't involve nipping legs). In the initial stages, it may be also sticking nearby the 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. Finally, consider that it may be sometimes difficult differentiating rough/obnoxious play aggression from true aggression with an intent to harm without seeing the behavior. If this behavior has an aggressive component, it would be important seeing a dog behavior professional using force-free behavior modification for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification. I hope this helps, Best, Adrienne

Hi there! Welcome to the forums! What breed is your dog? What have you tried so far when she bites? Where are you outside when this happens? Walks? Yard? What are you doing exactly prior to when the biting occurs? Is she biting hard to break skin? These extra details will be helpful, thanks!

You're very welcome!

Lovely! That's the enthusiastic recalls I love to see. Thanks for sharing!

Hello, Thanks for taking the time for posting an update. It's very nice to hear that your Penny is improving so much in her recall training and that she is also coming back with the ball in her mouth and being able to drop it. That's great progress! Regrettably, I was unable to watch the video as it looks like it's set to private. I think it must be listed as unlisted (as long as you provide the link) or public in order for You Tube to show it public. In any case, I appreciate the great news! Happy training and keep up the great work! Best, Adrienne

You are very welcome! Just as an FYI, I think in most places vets are open for business with the lock down, they are just taking extra precautions (you have to wear a face mask, keep distance as the vet examines the dog and some vets may do visits in outdoor areas). Just pointing this out as it seems like many dog owners are delaying their vet appointments for some even rather urgent cases (not your case of course) not knowing that they are open. I hope your pup turns out fine! Best wishes Adrienne

Thanks for the extra details! The good news is that you can practice drop with just about anything your dog grabs. So if he is eager to take food, you can try to practice with some type of food that is quite large, safe and your dog in unable to eat or gulp down quickly. For instance, one of my favorite foods I like to practice drops is a big chunk of dry bread. This is hard to eat all at once and even if in worse case scenario, he would end up eating some, it's bland and won't cause big issues. On top of this, it offers a good starting point as it's perceived as lower value to many dogs. Of course, to get the dog to drop, you have to use something that is perceived higher in value than bread such as a treat that is meat-based. Studies have shown that most dogs tend to find meat more valuable. Once he gets the concept, you can then practice your drops its when out in the yard if you happen to notice your dog spontaneously grabs a stick or something else he shouldn't have like the remote control, your slippers etc. Of course, never place items/foods that can pose a danger to your dog purposely on the floor to practice with! His lack of focus is likely due to his lack of training. Eye contact is important as it opens the lines of communication. The Airplane game and Look into my Eyes game can be helpful here. For the other issues, feel free to create a new thread on that topic with more details (the more the better).

Generally small dogs can be trained using the same method as large dogs, but sometimes for some reason or another we may occasionally stumble on small, medium or large dogs with an odd conformation or dogs who have some anxiety or quirk that makes traditional training methods not effective as we would hope. This is why I often emphasize how a cookie-cutter approach is not applicable to dog training considering that dogs are individuals and instructions manuals are more suitable for objects. This is also why we have the forums 🙂 Just the other day I stumbled on a dog with an unusual conformation that made training to lie down using traditional methods a little bit of a challenge. This dog is a Maltese with a long back. With her, I had to create a "bridge" with my legs bent in front of me and get her to lie down by presenting a treat under my legs so that she would assume the "Army crawl" position. After getting the behavior, I had to gradually fade reliance on my legs by getting her to perform the down with my legs set up higher and then farther away from them until the behavior became fluent enough for her to perform it without the aid of my legs. Please excuse the quality of the video, as it's difficult for me to film as I am working with a dog directly, but I hope you get the idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2dCEQgEtZ0&feature=youtu.be Alternatively, you can try working under a low bench. You can also try shaping. You can find how to use shaping in the troubleshooting the down section here where it says how to split the exercise into smaller components: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/lie-down/ Another option is to use capturing where you praise and reward a natural behavior without the use of any prompts. Sit on the couch with your dog on leash and wait for her to get tired and lie down (this may work best when your dog is tired) . Once she lies down, say "yes!" or click the clicker and give a treat. Repeat several times (the behavior should increase once she starts associating the position with treats), then at some point, once the behavior starts getting more and more reliable, you can then move on to naming it. Simply say "down" right as your dog is lying down, praise and reward and then start saying it one split second prior to lying down and praise and reward. At some point, the behavior should start getting more and more reliable. Here's an example of capturing a down (in this case, I am not using a leash as this dog had issues with closeness to her face): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwfz5BAbs54 I hope this helps! Let me know how things work out for you. With some dogs, we need to think outside of the box, which is what makes training dogs never boring! Best, Adrienne

Oh wow, that's quite a long time! Thanks for the update. At the vet's office we once had a dog throw up a sock two weeks later. Glad to hear it wasn't anything major to worry about. Best, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums. I must not have the right format to watch the video as it doesn't show, but this is something you want to have your veterinarian take a look at as they are the most qualified people to address your concerns. Hip dysplasia may sometimes cause dogs to walk in unusual ways. You can watch on YouTube many videos on puppies and dogs with hip dysplasia and their unusual gaits. Sometimes as puppies develop they may walk in some clumsy ways, so it may just be a stage and therefore not always something necessarily to worry about. Always best to play it safe though and consult with your vet on this. Best, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! There are many brain games that do not involve toys, can you provide more details on what games you have tried so far and what type of toys you have tried? Also, how old is your German shepherd? How long have you had him? Has your dog seen the veterinarian since you got him? Can you please explain more in detail his unfocused and erratic behavior? When do you notice this behavior?

Thank you for the additional details, they are very helpful! If you got this new puppy at 9 weeks, I am assuming you had him for about a week. It's always somewhat stressful for older dogs to get adjusted to changes, and in this case, we have the fact that you lost your other dogs just 6 weeks ago and now a new boisterous puppy has been welcomed into the home. Puppies are perceived quite differently from adult dogs. This is because puppies are socially illiterate beings, in other words, they tend to cross boundaries and do things that adult and older dogs won't normally do. For sake of comparison, it's like a toddler who acts a bit like a brat when grandma comes over, pulling her skirt, yelling in her face and maybe even driving her nuts. Some adult dogs can make great teachers, in telling puppies what they shouldn't do. These adult teacher dogs may growl, snap or gently bite the pup to correct them, and in an ideal situation, the puppy isn't harmed and not impacted too much emotionally (doesn't appear traumatized, or fearful of the adult dog, but gets the message). In general, we expect adult dogs to grant a so called "puppy license" to puppies under five months old (in other words, allowing them to get away with stuff), but not all dogs make great teacher dogs for young pups and not all dogs are tolerant of young puppies. From your description, it sounds your German shepherd exhibited a good level of bite inhibition knowing the level of harm a dog of this breed and size can do. However, since there was food involved (chicken), there is likely some level of resource guarding going on. Food resource guarding takes place when a dog is eating something perceived as valuable and the dog uses some form of aggression to keep other dogs, people or other animals away. In cases of resource guarding there are always two dynamics taking place: a dog who gets stressed when he feels like he may lose access to a resource, and a dog who voluntarily or involuntarily crosses some boundaries getting too close to the resource guarder. Normally, the resource guarder should communicate his level of increasing discomfort by tensing his body, hovering over the resource, growling, etc, but a puppy may not take these messages seriously. Ignoring these signals, may lead to increasing aggressive displays and then a snap or inhibited bite. (For more on this see, Kendal Shepherd's ladder of aggression found here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dogs-dont-bite-blue/ Now, this could have been a rather innocent incident or there may be more to this. A behavior specialist watching the interactions in person may be able to assess the situation and determine what dynamics may be exactly going on. To play it safe, your best bet in the meanwhile is to keep the dogs separated when there is food around. In other words, when you must feed something to the German shepherd, keep the puppy in a separated area (inside a crate, inside a play pen, in an area separated by baby gate, in another room). This way, we can prevent another bite incident and your German shepherd can relax more knowing that he can eat undisturbed. On top of this, we won't allow rehearsal of the problem behavior (the more a dog rehearses a behavior, the more it eradicates and puts roots). With time, we may then progress to training both dogs to not cross boundaries when they are eating (both dogs are fed food in their bowls and no dog should move near the other dog's bowl). This may take time though to train, and this is why management (taking steps to prevent practicing resource guarding) is your best bet for now. The second incident where your German shepherd snapped at your puppy could have been simply a reaction to him stepping over him if it happened right when he was walking over him. Or it could have been your German shepherd may have been resource guarding you or the bowl of noodles if present. Again, this may be a normal reaction directed towards a puppy behaving in a socially illiterate way (which is rather normal at this age for pups to get in other dogs' faces, stepping over them, biting their ears and tails) or there may be more going on. In the case of resource guarding, management can help once again here. If we're dealing with food resource guarding, keep noodles away from both dogs, if we're dealing with attention guarding, give attention to the German shepherd when the puppy is not around and vice-versa. Because there are risks here for the puppy getting harmed and there may be several dynamics going on (resource guarding food, resource guarding you, competition over resources, or simply an adult dog correcting a puppy), it would be ideal consulting with a dog behavior professional for safety and an accurate assessment. The dog behavior professional should assess the situation based on history taking and observation of the interactions and is in the best position to determine whether: - the adult dog is engaging in discipline or if there is more into it -the puppy is able to send appeasement signals to the adult dog -the adult dog is capable of reading these appeasement signals -the puppy is actually learning from the adult dog and how it responds - the puppy appears traumatized by the discipline -the interaction should be stopped or allowed to continue -If the puppy and adult dog should not be allowed to interact any more with the option of re-homing one of the two or keeping them permanently separated. I hope this helps, Let me know if your need any further help or elucidations. Best, Adrienne