Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! One important rule for a good recall is to never use it to call the dog when something unpleasant (from the dog's perspective) follows. If your dog loves being outdoors and dreads being inside, we then need to find other ways to get him to come inside that doesn't involve calling him so to not "poison our cue" and let our recall lose its potency. So how can we get him inside without calling him? Here are a few ideas: -Leave your recall at the door. If you call your dog to come inside and he doesn't listen or plays hard to catch, stop calling him and poisoning the cue. Instead, try to do other things that will attract your dog inside and that your dog looks forward to do. For example, walk inside and go straight to the kitchen to unwrap a piece of cheese for him and place it in a Kong. Run inside if your dog loves chasing you and then let him have a toy he goes crazy for and that you only give some times. Get a flirt pole and entice him to chase it inside. Take your dog outside when it's close to meal time so when you come back inside you immediately start preparing his meal. Make sure though to let these activities last a bit so your dog won't go into thinking that these events are just another trap to get him inside. Use the recall only once your dog has learned that great things happen inside and he looks forward to it. -Don't stick by the doorway. The door way will remind him of going back outside and he'll be asking out soon. Instead take him to a central room where he can temporarily forget all about the outdoors with all its enticing sights and smells. Again, keep him entertained and stimulated. -Take advantage of the warmer weather. Play with your dog outside for a bit when it's warm. He'll soon feel hot and he will be thirsty. Then entice him to chase you indoors where you have the AC running and a nice bowl full of fresh water for him. You can also add a few ice cubes or give him some frozen treats (like a frozen Kong or doggy ice pops, there are many recipes online) so to let him have some more fun. -Put going inside on cue and make it a fun, happy event. When you are out with your dog, say something like "let's go inside!" in a happy, enthusiastic tone of voice, let your dog chase you inside and then let a rainfall of treats fall to the ground as you close the door. -Make sure to provide your dog with fun indoor activities (brain games, fun training sessions) so that your dog finds the indoors more rewarding and looks forward to it. At the same time, make sure to use safe ways to remove any outdoor critters from the yard which often is a reason why some dogs become so obsessed with wanting to spend time outside. -Let your dog spend enough time outdoors so that he gets to explore and satisfy his curiosity. Wait for him to get bored/tired/satiated. Only then entice him inside. -Evaluate what your dog likes the most of being outdoors but also critically evaluate what he might not like about being indoors. Perhaps some adjustments may need to be made. For example, if he gets bored indoors, add more mental stimulation. If young children in the home overwhelm him, make sure he has a quiet place to retreat. If there are scary noises, buffer them with a TV or radio on. If it's too hot, turn on the A/C more. If your dog loves chasing rabbits, provide him with a flirt pole to chase around at home. If he loves sniffing, hide some of his kibble around the home (look up the treasure hunt game). I hope this helps! Let me know how it goes, Best, Adrienne

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! The good news if you are concerned about using treats is that you can put your dog's daily ration of kibble to good use, rather than letting it go wasted in a bowl and being wolfed down all at once within seconds. Kibble works best for indoor training, while treats can be reserved for when you are outdoors and there are more distractions. Nowadays, there are also many low-calorie treats on the market. If you have a pet store nearby, you'll find many options and store clerks are always happy to provide suggestions. When using soft treats, you can give very small portions. I like to split the average treat is several small pieces. People are often surprised how many pieces I can get from just one treat. About how many treats to give daily, this varies. Most treats have labels that should inform you how many to feed max a day based on your dog's size/weight. You can read more about using treats for training here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/use-treats-training-dog/

"Is it possible some form of hierarchy of the family structure has become established in the puppy's mind? From my various searches online, some of the suggestions I've seen ask that the person at who the dog growls becomes the main feeder and walker, thus apparently establishing them at a higher level in the family hierarchy than the dog." The notion of hierarchy over a family's structure is something that was common notion some decades ago, but as new studies were conducted on dogs, most forms of aggression towards humans and members of the family are now considered to be driven from underlying anxiety/fear rather than an actual drive to establish hierarchy. You can read more about this from the position statement deriving from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Dominance_Position_Statement_download-10-3-14.pdf Of course, feeding, playing, training with and walking the puppy is helpful considering that it helps establish a sense of trust with these positive interactions, so it can certainly help the puppy bond more with your pre-teen son, but the behavior of growling when being picked up is most likely due to the puppy not feeling comfortable for some reason. It could be your pre-teen son may have accidentally hurt her one time when picking her up (or maybe she just felt vulnerable) or she may be a little distrusting around youngsters also considering her behavior around the neighbor's children. It's important to tackle this issue sooner than later so to prevent this behavior from establishing and escalating. Preventing from exposing her to situations that overwhelm her while also aiming to providing only positive interactions with youngsters is therefore important.

You are very welcome! Thank you for adding some details on the dynamic as they help me gain a better insight into the situation. If the puppy is being moved temporarily from a favored spot she is laying on, rather than picking her up, the situation can also be managed by tell her "off" while pointing at the floor and tossing a tasty treat to the ground. About the topic of hierarchy, I will be posting my observations on this is my next post later today as I would like to to go more in depth in this.

Your legs look like mine when I was a child and my parents got me a black Labrador puppy. This Lab pup was very sweet, but like your Rottie puppy was biting me and scratching me non-stop when I was spending time with him in the yard. To make the story short, my parents ended up giving this Lab puppy away because they were worried, but looking back, I wished they had not, as I missed out growing up with a dog and all its perks. If the biting happens mostly outdoors and not around resources, it sounds mostly like rough play coming from a very energetic puppy who hasn't learned to engage in other forms of interaction and has a strong need to get rid of pent up energy and play (all puppies play by biting in any case). The good news is that your puppy is very young and you have a good amount of time to reduce this form of biting, although it won't happen overnight. The goal here is to find alternate activities for your puppy to engage in so that your puppy will engage in these more and more rather than focusing so much on your legs. I think you are on the right path, but just need to make little adjustments to gain momentum. For instance you state: "I tried to lure him with treats and he will sit and take the treat. However, he would refuse to walk and just sit to wait for the treats given to him. If we refused to give him treat he will nip at us again. What should I do?" From your description it sounds like when you are outside your puppy nips at you non-stop. So we want to break this cycle before nipping at you all the time becomes established and your puppy's favorite past time, to the point of becoming his default behavior outdoors. So right now, we need to do anything that distracts him and prevents this pattern from establishing. So if your puppy is sitting, reinforce that, don't refuse to give him the treat and give him the opportunity to resume the biting behavior. We don't want to get stingy with treats here (use your pup's kibble if you are concerned about calories, just think that your dog's breakfast ration gives you like 50-60 opportunities for reinforcing desirable behavior, let's not let it go to waste). So it would go like this: you go outside with puppy, you ask for sit, puppy sits, "good boy!" toss the kibble/treat. Puppy comes back after eating the treat, "sit" toss the kibble treat. Rinse and repeat to give your puppy a work out and put his puppy mind to work. Keep the momentum going. You can mix in here some hand targets as well, which are easy-peasy to train. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ For severe cases where the puppy is too over stimulated to focus on performing exercises, you can even not ask for any particular behavior for now, just do the kibble toss game. We can always add obedience later when the pup has a little more impulse control. Puppy approaches, toss kibble. Puppy comes back, toss kibble. Rinse and repeat. You can even do this exercise when sitting in front of the yard. Now, at some point you will have to end the game. In that case, it may be helpful giving him a stuffed Kong or Kong Wobbler (you have kept in your pocket or on an outdoor table) or something valuable to chew on until it's time to go back inside. Now, I had a puppy not too long ago who used to get back to nipping when it was time to back inside. I used a flirt pole and we made it a routine that when it was time to go inside, I offered the flirt pole and the puppy attached to it and was dragged gently inside as he was tugging at it. Good, bingo, the nipping stopped as this way way more fun. Puppies like routines, so if we can find them games to keep them busy in other ways than nipping, they often come to desire playing these games and even anticipating them. You can mix and match several games between kibble toss, hand targeting for treats, sitting for treats, playing with the flirt pole, tossing several balls (keep them handy). We can also keep outside some toys the puppy gets only when outside (makes sure they are interactive and provide engagement, not static toys that just lie on the ground) and provide them after the puppy has gone potty (best to do games and offer toys after going potty otherwise we risk puppies forgetting all about going potty and the having accidents back inside the house). Keep these toys handy on a table or something at easy reach so you can provide them quickly. We can also provide access to a plastic baby pool with a little water to play in and cool down, a digging pit filled with sand and buried toys, a muffin game handy https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-muffin-game/ and a ball pit game https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-ball-pit-game/. Basically, anything safe and productive to provide forms of entertainment that decrease the nipping episodes. You can also ask your vet when it can be safe for your puppy to attend puppy socialization classes where play with other puppies is allowed. This can provide an outlet for your pup's strong desire to engage in rough and tumble play with other pups. This also helps refine bite inhibition and pups maintain this way their social skills. To reduce the nips and scratches on the legs, it may help to wear extra layers or clothing (I know some pup owners who also wear tall boots or chaps for horse back riding, I know, not very practical with the summer approaching). This doesn't mean though we can just wear them and let the puppy bite to his heart's content, we still need to find engaging games and activities so these extra layers of padding are just for those random bites that may still occur during the process. Important to emphasize is to redirect your puppy before he has a chance to latch on and nip. This cannot be emphasized enough. If you try to redirect him by the time he's attached to your leg, he will be much more difficult to redirect because he will be too focused on tugging. So as soon as you see him coming your way to bite your legs, stop walking and be ready to redirect at a moment's notice. Once again, there are several options to redirect you can try. All of these require that you carry with you a bag of treats and interactive toys as you go with your life. This is not something you will have to do forever. Just to get your through the more critical time and prevent your puppy from rehearsing the problematic behavior ( as mentioned the more dogs engage in problematic behaviors, the more they put roots). Also, important is to avoid harsh methods such as physically correcting the puppy for biting as this is the fastest way to cause a playful or hyper/ovestimulated puppy to go from play/overstimulation to actual defensive biting and potential aggression along the road. Please try to not get discouraged. If you do a search on this forum for puppy biting, you will find all breeds and sizes of pups engaging in rough nipping behaviors. It gets better with time as puppies learn alternate ways of interacting with us that supersede the instinctive desire to nip. About training leave it and take, can you please provide more details about exactly what you are doing and what is happening? Is your puppy not leaving the objects you are practicing with? Extra details are much appreciated so we can do some troubleshooting. Talk soon, Best, Adrienne

Hello, and welcome to the forums! There are several options when it comes to potty training puppies. The main two methods involve using exclusively the crate and the other involves use of the play pen as you describe. Whether you decide to use one or the other depends on your personal preferences, how large the dog will be once adult, time and final goals. With the use of the crate, you will have to take the puppy out several times at night. This works well if your puppy is destined to go potty exclusively outside once grown up. It works well for larger dogs. With the use of the playpen around the cage, you can avoid taking the puppy out several times at night since the puppy will use the pads to potty. This works well if your puppy is smaller and can be used as well when you must head outside for longer than the puppy can hold it or when the weather is bad. Now, it is possible to teach a puppy to potty indoors on pads at night and then outside in a yard during the day, but things can get a bit confusing for pups when they are allowed to go potty inside and outside. However, we can help them. For instance, we need to supervise the puppy very closely during the day and provide constant feedback. As soon as we notice signs the puppy must go potty, we therefore need to be quick to redirect the puppy by enticing him to follow us outside in the yard or pick him up (if small) and carry him outside. Once your puppy goes outside, we must be fast to praise lavishly and give a treat. Feeding your puppy on a schedule helps and so does keeping track of how often your puppy or dog on average pees and poops. In general, you want to take your puppy to his designated area after taking a nap, after eating and after playing for some time. With some time, your puppy should learn that it's OK to go potty out in the yard during the day, and that when he needs to, it's also OK to go inside the indoor designated area, even if you aren't there to give praise and treats when he's there at night or when you are out, however, as a plus side, just the mere fact of emptying his bladder and bowels is self-reinforcing on its own.

Hello and welcome to the forums, It would be important excluding whether this growling takes place contingent upon being picked up, or contingent upon possibly resource guarding a sofa or lap. This to differentiate a case of possible resource guarding (guarding something the dog perceives as valuable) from a dog who is simply uncomfortable in being picked up. Careful attention therefore needs to be placed on whether this pup growls when your son approaches or when he actually goes to pick the puppy up. It sounds like, from your description, that the puppy is mostly growling because uncomfortable being picked up. In these cases, young puppies benefit from a program involving desensitization and counterconditioning. The goal is to therefore take baby steps (desensitization) and create positive associations (counterconditioning). You can read more about these behavior modification techniques here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ Very important in behavior modification is to ensure that the puppy or dog is kept under threshold as much as possible. Here is a read on threshold levels in dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ Here's an example of a behavior modification protocol using desensitization and counterconditioning for a puppy who doesn't like to be picked up: This is not meant to be done all in one day but at the puppy's pace and gradually. The puppy is approached and offered a treat.This action is repeated several times. This is helpful because a puppy who doesn't like to be picked up may feel a bit tense when approached.This action is repeated several times, until the puppy seems comfortable with this. Next, the puppy is approached and a hand is placed under the puppy's chest and a tasty treat is fed while the hand is there. Once the puppy finishes the treat, the hand is removed. This action is repeated several times, until the puppy seems comfortable with this. Next, the puppy is approached and a hand is placed under the puppy's chest again and is fed a tasty treat while being slightly lifted off the floor. Once the puppy finishes the treat, the puppy is lowered down to the floor and the hand is removed. This action is repeated several times, until the puppy seems comfortable with this. Next, the puppy is approached and a hand is placed under the puppy's chest again and is fed a tasty treat (or a helper feeds her) while being lifted more off the floor as the other arm is placed under the puppy's back end to support her. Once the puppy finishes the treat, the puppy is lowered down to the floor and the hand is removed. This action is repeated several times, until the puppy seems comfortable with this. Duration is added. The puppy is now picked up and fed several treats in a row while up in the arms as the owner takes a few steps. Once the puppy finishes the treats, she is lowered down to the floor again and no more treats. The fun ends when placed down. A verbal cue is added(I like to use "up-up-up!") just prior to picking up the puppy that informs her the intent of being picked up and undergoing the whole chain of behaviors. The puppy is praised and rewarded with treats while up in the arms and the owner walking around. Dogs like routines, they like knowing what is coming so alerting them of our intent to pick them up makes them more relaxed rather than being startled by somebody suddenly swooping them up from nowhere. If at any time you notice a puppy is struggling with any one of these steps, it means that we must split them into smaller sub-steps and not move to the next step until she is fully comfortable with the previous one. Now, a disclaimer is warranted here. Behavior modification comes with some risks. Firstly, safety. A dog who growls may bite, and although young puppies can only do so much damage, any bite can get infected if not taken care of right away and we must also consider what happens at an emotional level. A puppy who shows an intent to growl, snap or bite, is a puppy who is over threshold, so we need to take smaller steps and work at the pup's comfort level. On top of this, if we allow growling and biting to happen, we are allowing rehearsal of the problematic behavior, which puts roots and becomes more difficult to overcome. For safety and correct implementation of behavior modification it is therefore best to enlist the help of a dog behavior professional. A little growling at the neighbor's children is something we also need to take notice. It's the puppy's way of saying she's not comfortable with this type of interaction. Most likely, the children may have been moving too fast, perhaps they had excited voices and were petting her and startling her, and this pup felt stressed and overwhelmed. It could be that this pup was not introduced to children much by the former breeder, or that she is simply very soft and gets easily stressed temperament-wise. In these cases, once again we can use desensitization and counterconditioning, by giving directions to the children to use their indoor voices and act calm. Maybe have them sit on the couch and see if the puppy approaches them, and if she does, they can drop treats to her without forcing her to interact. It up to us owners to protect our pups from overwhelming experiences that may leave an everlasting impression on them. If she displays fearful body language (ears back, tail low, yawning, turning the head, trying to avoid the children, hiding), you may have to take further baby steps, maybe keep her on a leash at distance or behind a baby gate and you feeding her treats when watching the children and doing this several times until she appears less stressed. Then, you can have her closer, do the same and then progress to having the children nearby as you feed treats, building up to the level where they can pet her very lightly while you feed treats. Here is more about socializing puppies and children: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/socializing-your-puppy/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/socializing-puppy-children/ If you have a dog trainer near you holding puppy socialization classes, you can mention her behavior around children and see if they can help you make the best of these experiences in a controlled setting. We want to tackle this early and not allow her fearful behavior to put roots. Of course, ask your vet before to make sure your pup has finished all vaccinations and it is safe to take her out. I hope this helps! Best, Adrienne Disclaimer: Behavior modification comes with some risks. For safety and correct implementation of behavior modification please enlist the help of a dog behavior professional for an in-person assessment and guidance.

You are very welcome! Let me know how it works out.

Hi Patty Vaage, Welcome to the forums! Have you tried locking the other dog away along with some long-lasting treat? Like a stuffed Kong to keep the dog occupied while you are training the other? I have used this strategy and dogs usually come to look forward to seeing the other dog being trained because they associate it with getting good stuff. You may have to try to find a middle ground distance where the dog crated isn't too far as to feel socially isolated and not too close as to get frustrated. Sometimes, covering the crate with a blanket may help if the dog gets visually frustrated by seeing the other dog being trained.

Hi there! Your Rottie pup is adorable! Although your puppy is not acting over protective right now, it's a good idea to start taking steps to prevent any future problems. Ideally, you should take away the raw bone and trade it with something else. Bones are often at the very top of a dog's hierarchy of value. Not only because they are long-lasting, but because they often have meat to nibble on. Many dog owners wonder what to trade these with. By putting oneself into a dog's mind it is possible to find several options. For instance, a bone that has been chewed down a lot can be traded for some long-lasting edible that can be fully consumed (e.g. bully stick). An empty marrow bone can be removed and then immediately returned with something tasty smeared in the middle (like cream cheese or peanut butter). Do this quickly in front of your puppy so that he can see that you are adding something yummy and giving it back right away. Of course, these are just examples. Use bones at your own risk and discretion and make sure they are appropriate for the age your puppy. Here are some other helpful exercises/tips: -Every now and then, when you catch your puppy showing signs of really "being into" something like a toy, get a super high-value goodie and practice an exchange. Surprise your dog! You want him to look forward to these little exchanges because they are so valuable! Do this when you have a chance every now and then. -Get your puppy used to having his mouth checked. This is good for getting your puppy used to having his teeth brushed and mouth checked by your vet, but also in case you ever need to retrieve some item out of his mouth. Every now and them, open your puppy's mouth open and stick a tasty treat inside. This will make your puppy more collaborative and help him learn that when you remove something from his mouth, something tasty will follow. -Every now and then, make it a habit to check your pup's environment. In the yard, make it a routine to scan for items that your pup may get a hold of. Look for things like candy wrappers, food wrappers, dead birds, dead mice, etc. Even the most immaculate yards may contain these things. Also, on walks (once your vet has told you it is safe), scan your environment to prevent walking your puppy in the direct path of some tempting items on road. It's a good idea to always carry a treat bag on you, so you are prepared to reward your pup for leaving stuff or dropping stuff. -And of course, all puppies benefit from better impulse control and frustration tolerance. Make sure your puppy learns to sit for meals, and is fluent in responding to the leave it cue and drop it cues. -Avoid chasing your puppy around to retrieve an item he has has in his mouth (even if just for play). -Avoid prying your dog's mouth open and retrieving something out of their mouth by force. -Avoid confrontational methods such as scruff shakes, alpha rolls, etc. -Avoid petting your puppy or dog while eating. I know this may have been a popular practice in the past, but turns out dogs are entitled to eat in peace and petting them while eating may backfire in the long run. Just like we wouldn't like to be touched on the face when we are enjoying a juicy steak at our favorite restaurant, dogs may come to dread being touched too. There is a time for everything. However, if you are concerned about possible food bowl guarding raising its ugly head one day, it's a good practice to make it a habit every now and then of nonchalantly walking by your puppy's food bowl and adding some goodies to it. Do this often, once again to the point of creating a conditioned emotional response. Your pup may wag his tail and look happy as he knows that something really good is coming! I hope this helps, Happy Training

Sounds like a plan! Yes, please keep me posted. I am here if you have any questions or want to provide updates. Best, Adrienne

Hello, Welcome to the forums! This is a good question. I think we need to consider several things in order to make a good decision here. For example, is your current dogs still crated at times? Or is she always free around the house? And if she is crate trained, how often and when? Also, how old is she? This info will be helpful, so that we can do what's in the best interest of both dogs. Let me know, Thanks, Adrienne

You are very welcome! Keep me posted on how things go. Happy training! Adrienne

Hi there! Welcome to the forums! And welcome to the puppy nipping stage! With offering toys, things get challenging because toys are static and quite boring compared to our mobile hands, legs and ankles. Of course, there are toys and toys. If you redirect to super duper fun and interactive toys, chances are your puppy will stick with them and not look back. Yelping may work for some milder cases with the most mellow pups, in some others it seems to increase arousal and make the puppy more riled up. Here are some exercises that can help divert his attention from biting to alternate activities: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/ You can also work on refining your pup's biting with these exercises which you can incorporate in your daily training: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/ The growling when biting can be playful, although we need to make sure we're not dealing with something else such as resource guarding or a puppy acting defensive when touched. Does it happen when he has a toy nearby, food or some bone? Does it happen when you are trying to pick him up or touch his paws or check his ears? You can find several more tips in the many threads on puppy nipping in this forum. Don't be afraid to read through the most challenging cases as they can give you several options to keep in mind as you navigate through the puppy nipping phase and encounter any hurdles: I hope this helps! Please follow up with more details or questions if I haven't covered the issue in detail or simply would like to do more troubleshooting. I am here for support. Best, Adrienne

There may be chances that with a previous owner or caretaker, this dog may have been fed good stuff at the table when he barked. Maybe this is how he turned out being nice and plump! There are three methods you can use to tackle this problem. 1) If you can tolerate the barking for some time, try to totally ignore him. Be very, very careful that neither you or some other family members accidentally drop anything from the table (this includes crumbs). Now, expect some extinctions bursts before the barking decreases (behavior getting stronger before extinguishing) along the way. The barking may get louder and your dog may try something new to get your attention such as pawing at you, but if you resist through all this, you should notice day after day, a decrease in the barking eventually leading to its extinction. He may still try some time, but if you are strong, this behavior will subside. 2) You can train your dog to lie on a mat during mealtime (or other designated area) and provide him with something tasty to eat (stuffed Kong filled with his kibble and maybe frozen with some low sodium meat-based broth with no garlic or onion in the ingredients) or fill up a Kong Wobbler with his kibble so he can work on these while you enjoy your own meals. Here is how to train a dog to lie down on a mat: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/ 3) You can simply close him in the cage/crate or in another safe room while you eat. Give him some chew toy or a Kong to keep occupied and to keep positive associations with being closed in the crate. I personally prefer option 1 because it's nice to have a dog who can stay in the same room, be part of the family, and behave. I recently boarded and trained a dog who pawed, barked and didn't leave you a moment alone when eating at the table (kids were feeding the dog/dropping food all the time) and after sticking to the no-attention rule this dog gave up barking/pawing etc and learned to patiently lie down under the table during meals which was nice!

"Molly will nip and muzzle punch when she gets extremely excited. I know she is not doing it out of aggression or anger, but it is still improper behavior that needs to be fixed. She also tends to nip when she needs something, such as to go potty, is hungry, is bored etc. My theory is that she is still a puppy. Though she is 4 years old, she never got the proper chewing phase out as a puppy. She was found in an abandon building in Manhattan NY with another pit, so most likely she was a dog used for breeding or fighting (it looks like she had puppies). She clearly never got the proper socialization she needed or the essential time frames as a puppy. It breaks my heart to watch Molly be stuck in this difficult in between phase of adult and puppy, but I just want to do my best to be the absolute best owner I can for her and make sure she is living the best life she can. It helps in these cases to take steps to lower the excitement and to better improve a dog's impulse control. Here is a guide to reduce jumping: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/jumping/ Here is a case study of a dog who jumped out of excitement: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-assessing-jumping-behavior-desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-practice-greetings/ Here are impulse control exercises: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ The nipping when she needs to potty or is hungry sounds like her way of communicating, albeit in an undesirable fashion. Now, we don't want to totally extinguish this behavior as we want our dogs to tell us when they need to go potty. So we need to evaluate things carefully as we don't want to set her back in her potty training progress and cause her to have accidents in the home just because we don't want to reinforce the biting behavior. So perhaps the best approach here is helping her find a softer way of communicating to you her need to potty. So how can we accomplish this? Here are a few ideas: -We can be really attentive and reinforce milder signs of needing to go out. For instance, the moment you notice she is walking towards you with an intent to bite, you anticipate her and walk towards the door. This may or may not work depending on how ingrained her biting behavior is and her level of arousal over the whole situation. With this method though, there is a drawback: if we ignore her one day because we failed to take notice or a bit distracted, she will likely revert to the biting to get your attention. -A better option may be to offer something that will distract her for just enough time to keep her mind off of biting you and giving you a way to break the chain.So she is coming towards you to bite? You can toss her a handful of high-value treats on the floor (or her kibble is she really likes it) and as she eats you walk away to grab the leash (if high value enough she should choose eating the treats rather than biting you), then hand feed a treat while you put on the leash on, then do several steps of attention heeling with a treat at eye level, give it and head together outside. To make your life easier, keep treats handy in your pocket or treat bag, keep the leash ready by the exit, have nothing blocking you so that you can swiftly get prepared as she eats the dropped treats and you can get her out quickly reducing the chances for biting. To tackle her boredom, do brain games (see Braining Training section of the course), encourage her to us interactive toys (Kong Wobbler, Buster Cube, Licki Mats, Snuffle mats), provide appropriate chew toys and rotate them, do several brief and fun training sessions throughout the day. Try to prevent her from nipping you as much as you can (rehearsal of the problem behavior makes it become habit-forming and puts roots).Also consider that, if your dog nose pokes you to get you to interact with her, and you do interact, then you will have fueled the behavior, and therefore, the nose poking behavior will strengthen and repeat. If you notice she's coming your way with an intent to bite (and you know with a good level of certainty that it's not due to an unmet need, but boredom since she already ate and went potty), ask her to sit, and toss a kibble and rinse and repeat this exercises several times. You can also ask for hand targets: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any other questions, Happy training!

Thank you for the details, they are extra helpful! Muzzling her is helpful and I am glad that you found one that fits well and that it's the basket type. The basket type muzzle on top of allowing her to pant, breathe, drink water, also offers the advantage of being able to slip treats through so it can also turn helpful for behavior modification. It sounds like your dog trainer decided to provide tools to manage the behavior perhaps considering the high risks for relapses in dogs with a bite history. Hence the use of the muzzle to minimize the risks for bites and the choke collar for more control. However, if she is still pulling and lunging at strangers, we need to implement some training/behavior modification too, otherwise we rely too much on the tools when tools ideally should be used along with training. If your dog attempts to pull and the chain doesn't allow her, I imagine a good amount of pressure from the choke chain is going against her trachea/larynx and that she is likely huffing/coughing at the same time. This is something we want to avoid, also considering that it is possible with time for her to associate this uncomfortable feeling with the strangers she is seeing. In this case, since your dog is uncomfortable around strangers, it may help to train a strong response to the appearance of strangers, using LAT starting by watching people walk by windows or behind a screen door or fence. You can read more about LAT here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ This method is based on desensitization and counterconditioning: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ Here is another method to help you grasp the idea on what we are trying to accomplish, in other words (strangers=good things) https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/ Now, when conducting behavior modification, it is fundamental to read the dog well and make sure he/she is not put into situations he's/she's not ready for. Sure, it's true that we have the muzzle to lower the chances for mishaps, but we should act as if the muzzle is not there, because our goal is to not allow rehearsal of the problematic behavior (the more dogs rehearse behaviors, the more ingrained and difficult to extinguish they become) and to allow all these positive associations to be made. So we really need to make sure the dog is always under threshold, and scan the environment to avoid as much startling effects and people just popping out of nowhere. Here is a read on dog threshold levels: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ Ideally, we would start by creating controlled set-ups. Like the window exercises, and then next, we could employ the use of a trainer/behavior consultant, who can act as a "stranger" or have a helper to do so, using distances where the is most comfortable while you do the feeding of high-value treats. This controlled setting paves the path in increasing you and your dog's confidence level creating a starting point. After obtaining a solid response (the aim is obtaining conditioned emotional response), this conditioning can then be brought on walks by making a smacking sound with your mouth and slipping a high value treat every time you spot a stranger approaching from a distance. The goal here is to reduce the lunging and pulling and create an automatic, almost reflexive response where the dog turns your way upon spotting a stranger. We need to go very gradual here, always gauging the dog's responses and not going over threshold. So we may need to adjust distances based on how your dog reacts. If at any time your dog reacts, it's a sign we need to go back some steps. Now, we need to tread with caution here. There are no guarantees that once we attain a solid response, we can take off that muzzle and start to relax. There are always chances for setbacks and relapses. So a disclaimer is warranted here. Also, we need to consider that behavior modification comes with risks and should be conducted under the guidance of a dog behavior professional for safety and correct implementation. I will be posting about the other issues you are facing in my next post.

There may be be a chance that he wasn't used to being on leash and when he feels pressure from the leash on the collar, he instinctively opposes to it (opposition reflex). These dogs benefit from learning to "give in" to leash pressure. You can try this exercise: Sit on the couch while he is wearing his collar and leash. Gently tug a bit on the leash and at the same time show him a kibble from your hand. The moment he gives in to the leash pressure moving in direction of the kibble, praise and give him the kibble. Rinse and repeat several times, until he gives signs of knowing that he should give in to the pressure rather than oppose to it. Then, try this same exercise standing up. Walk a bit away from him and gently tug a bit on the leash and show him the kibble from your hand. The moment he gives in to the leash pressure moving in direction of the kibble, praise and give him the kibble. Next raise criteria, and start showing the kibble in heel position next to your knee. Follow the instructions in this guide: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ On walks, if kibble doesn't help to get him walking because hes too distracted, you may need to use some low calorie treats (there are several on the market or ask your vet). Let me know how it goes! You may need to use baby steps to teach him that it's rewarding to give in to leash pressure and walk.

Hi Julianne, Welcome to the forums! I am interested in knowing more about what kind of work you did with the trainer and why this trainer came only for one day? Was this trainer doing regular training or did he/she talk about behavior modification? What plans did he/she have in mind? Do you live in the city or country? Do you meet a lot of people on walks? What type of muzzle are you using? Also, please provide more details on the issues you list. When does she nip or muzzle punch? Thanks!

Hello, I am back! So sorry to hear about your friend who passed away. Bless your heart for opening your heart and home to this dog. For some reason, spaniels are often over represented when it come to guarding resources, with springer spaniels and cocker spaniels often topping the list. Makes one wonder whether there may be some breed predisposition at play, but without hard data or studies, at this point we can only speculate. This aside, we need to do as much as possible to keep your cat safe and allow your new dog to not feel stressed when in possession of valuables. Here are some tips that come to mind for your specific situation. Use management. Management is the best option when it comes to dogs who guard food or toys from cats. This simply means keeping the dog and cat separate from each other when there are any items the dog may guard around. You can erect a baby gate your cat can't jump over or you can put kitty in another room until meal time is over. Alternatively, you can feed your dog outside in the yard where kitty is not around. This can help your dog relax and gain some confidence knowing that his food won't suddenly go missing. Make sure to remove all possible resources that your dog may resource guard against the cat. If you leave food out for your dog all day (free-feeding), it would be ideal to stop feeding at scheduled times, leaving the food bowl down for 10 minutes and then picking it up whether your dog ate or not and feed again at the next serving. Of course, keep your cat away during these scheduled feedings. Train your dog to respond fluently to cues such as lie down, come and leave it. These can come handy if you catch your dog about to chase your cat and want him to stop. Make sure to praise and reward him generously for responding to you. Make sure your cat has always a safe place to retreat. A cat tree or a baby-gate with a smaller entrance at the bottom can provide your cat access to places your dog cannot get to. Supervise your dog and cat at all times. Accidents can and do happen. Don't let your cat become another statistic. Each year, countless cats are injured and killed by dogs, even those with a history of living together peacefully. Use behavior modification. The goal here is to create positive associations with the cat walking by. For example, high-value treats may be added to Rover's bowl any time the cat walks by at a distance. If at any point the dog reacts, it means he's over threshold, and you need to make it easier for him by increasing the cat's distance. It also helps to start practicing with lower value things your dog guards. If the cat's safety may be at stake, keep dog and cat on different sides of a baby gate or have your dog wear a muzzle during the exercises,. These sessions should be short and fun. When you are not performing behavior modification, dog and cat should be kept separated to prevent your dog from rehearsing the guarding behavior (the more dogs rehearse problematic behaviors, the more they put roots and establish). Please note: Behavior modification comes with risks. For safety and correct implementation of behavior modification, please consult with a dog behavior professional using force-free behavior modification. I hope this helps, Let me know if you have any questions Best, Adrienne

Hi Victoria, Welcome to the forums. I will provide some reading material to start with and will follow up later today with some more in-depth information pertaining to your specific situation. Please make safety your top priority and make sure your dog is under threshold by keeping him on leash to give distance. Remove as many items from the room that your dog may want to guard against the cat. Make sure your cat has an area to retreat that your dog cannot go to and where your cat feels safe. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/attacking-small-animals/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/cats-dogs-dont-get-along/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/look-into-my-eyes/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

Sounds like a plan, keep us posted! Best, Adrienne

With dogs who come to your side to take the treat and then go back to whatever is distracting them, I usually aim to add duration as well so to prevent the yo-yo effect. This may take a bit to master because it's a bit of advanced training, but if you were able to call him away from the distraction in the first place, I think you may be able to succeed in keeping his attention a little longer. Here's what I do (this is also covered in the obedience 101, attention heeling section): rather than calling the dog by name, I prefer to make a smacking, kissy sound with my mouth to grab attention, then I keep a treat at eye level, let the dog walk several steps looking up at me as we walk past the distraction, and then I praise and toss the treat ahead of me so that we gain further distance from the distraction and the dog spends some time with the head lowered looking for the treat and then eating it. All these distractions can be wonderful opportunities for training. Glad to hear that Baxter behaved well when you stopped to talk to someone for 15 minutes. That's quite a stretch of time for a dog undergoing the dull idle moments of owners chatting. I had many new dogs who struggled with these breaks, often engaging in undesirable behaviors in hopes we would get moving again. We had to split then for briefer times or I had to bring along items to keep the dog occupied (tug toy, treats to toss to the ground, flirt poles etc.) It's great that this person disengaged turning his back the moment Baxter jumped. If everybody we know could be on the same page, it would help get jumping under control aster. I often struggled with people who gave attention to dogs.They just couldn't resist giving them attention. So I decided then to make the rules clear from the get-go before even being approached, if he jumps please turn your back and even walk a few steps away if he still tries to jump. I had to have a back-up plan too if they were the types not willing to follow rules, so the moment my dog jumped, I would be the one to make an about-turn and move away with the dog.

Thank you for the details, they are very helpful! Glad to hear that he has a clean bill of health. The fact he doesn't show fearful behavior at home and outside are a big plus because it means less work on changing the emotions. I suspect that his reluctance to walk may stem from the fact that he is overweight. Carrying around those extra pounds can feel like a burden more than a pleasure, so we need to get a bit creative here to convince him that moving is reinforcing. Starting now, I would stop feeding from a food bowl and find ways to getting him to move around using his lower calorie food. Here are some ideas: Scatter his food around the home so that he must go on a treasure hunt game: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/ Try to engage him in a game of hide-n-seek: (if he doesn't know how to sit/stay have a helper hold him while you go hide) https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/hide-and-seek/ The bottle game may have him moving around quite a bit too: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/ -Another fun game is the 'toss the kibble" game. In this game, you ask your dog to sit (if he knows it, otherwise skip this) and then toss a kibble across the room and let your dog go catch it. Praise him when he gets the kibble. Rinse and repeat several times. -Make moving a rewarding experience. Put your dog in a sit stay, walk several steps away and then enthusiastically call your dog and reward him with a toy or his kibble. Make a big deal of it! Make sure to praise him when he moves around. Many dogs love the attention! For the walks, here are some tips: -Start little. Let him initially just step outside the door. Praise him and reward him with his kibble. Then start getting out a little more, praise and reward with kibble. Keep the first walks short, sweet and fun. This will leave him with a pleasant memory, and day after day, he may be more and more eager to accompany you on your daily rewarding strolls. -Make sure his reluctance to go on walks isn't due to him not being used to wearing a collar and leash. If that's the case, teach him to "give into" leash pressure. In other words, sit on the couch, put a little pressure into the leash and then toss a kibble for him so he can learn that moving in the direction of the pressure releases that pressure and he also gets rewarding for that by reaching for the kibble. Do this several times until he learns to give into leash pressure rather than resisting it. -If your dog is a social butterfly, he'll likely feel more motivated to move around if he sees another dog moving around. See if having another person walk another dog motivates him to join in the walks. -If your dog is a bit reluctant to leave the house, you can take him on a car ride, park close to home and then walk both home together. If your dog is anxious/eager to go back home, he will likely speed up his pace to get home fast. Each day, increase distance but also make it a habit of feeding your dog a portion of his daily kibble allowance during these walks (or praise him/play with him), so your dog gets to learn to enjoy these walks too. With sensible portions of low-calorie food and moving more, your dog should start shedding some pounds. I hope this helps motivate him to move around more. Let me know how things go or if you have other questions, Best, Adrienne -

Hi there! Welcome to the forums! There are several ways around using a clicker if your dog finds its sound aversive. Many use the clicker in their pockets to muffle the sound, but if she is scared of death to it, you can replace its sound with a verbal marker (yes!) or any virtually any other short word that is used exclusively for the purpose. You can also use a sound made with your mouth as long as you can easily make it often and keep it consistent. Alternatively, you can use a retractable pen that clicks. Make sure to use high value treats to create strong positive associations especially during the charging process.