jillgrobo

I don't know if this is appropriate advice but we have a rescue dog who when we first got him would counter surf. I looked online and saw an article about putting sheet pans on the edge of the counter so that when the dog would jump up on the counter, the noise of the pans would scare him. We even caught him on top of the table once. Imagine walking into the dining room and seeing a 68-lb. brindle dog on top of the dining room table! If you catch him, you could also do the Victoria Stillwell "Ah-Ah!" in a loud voice. This is what I did and he eventually stopped counter-surfing. He still begs and is my "assistant chef" when cooking so whatever I did, did not scare him away. Others might have other better suggestions. Good luck!

Just wanted to post a quick update. This morning, my husband and I took the dogs to the beach for a pack walk. Beau did great as far as being friendly to the other dogs. He was of course super excited at first but once we all started walking together, he was great! He got to play with some of the dogs and I think just being around them and having to walk and follow direction was good for him. We will definitely go again next month. He still has some work to do. He howls and carries on until he gets to say hi. I have also been working with him on waiting for everything. And when I take him to the park, I work on him passing by ducks. When he pulls we turn. Once he calms down and looks at me then we go back and try to pass the duck again. It's a lot of work and sometimes, I'm not sure it's working but I figure at some point, he'll calm down a little (maybe :)). Delilah is getting better at the look at me cue when I smack my lips which is saying a lot for her since she has a high prey drive. She looked at me several times during the pack walk despite all the exciting things at the beach (like the seagulls) and the other dogs and people. So, thank you for all of your advice and the training exercises! Now, if I can just calm down a little but that will take a bit more time :).

Thank you so much for your detailed response. I'm definitely going to go through the threshold level link. He actually knows and we practice "watch me" while walking. It's just if we are out and there are more exciting things than me, he could careless about looking at me. I might get a fleeting glance but that's it. I recently bought some higher value treats that I will try. I do practice impulse control with him. And he is getting better at things such as waiting by the door before going out and waiting at the car door before entering. I do make him wait for his food as well. It's really just when he's out and about. When he's in the yard or in the house, he's pretty good and listens pretty well. Regarding the distance, it is not always possible when walking down the sidewalk. For instance, a lady riding a bike with her dog was coming down the sidewalk. I created as much distance as I possibly could but he was still his crazy-self because it was probably too close for him but there's only so much space. I can usually control him but sometimes it is difficult if he gets so worked up. This instance, he calmed down pretty quickly. I've also been taking him to a nearby park on the weekends because that's the only time I have to do this. The park has many distractions such as ducks/geese and other dogs but it takes him like 2 laps around the park to get him to calm down and kind of focus on me and here, he could honestly care less about treats. I even brought turkey with me one time and he honestly snubbed it until we went around the park twice. Then, I got him looking at me. I think the main thing for me is what do I do when he gets worked up? How do I get him back to a calmer state (as calm as he can be anyway :) ). Thanks again and I really love your website and all of the training programs you have on here as well as this forum!

Hi Adrienne, Thank you for your reply! I believe it's more that he wants to say hi and can't. He's always been friendly and actually quite respectful when he does get to say hi. We took him to the dog park when we first got him but we stopped taking the dogs there because our female gets snippy with other dogs sometimes. When we took him there he did quite well and is good about reading other dogs' signals. However, there were 2 instances recently that he stood his ground with dogs that snapped first. One was at a yappy hour. After the incident, he actually did quite well there and I was the one because of the other dog, who decided to leave. Beau was great, actually. The other incident happened when a neighbor's dog got out of his fence and attacked our female dog (this is why she is a little unsure of other dogs - this dog has attacked her 3 times because of getting out of the yard). Anyway, the dog ran over to get Beau and Beau stood his ground. Also, our next door neighbors' dauchahounds bark at the fence. Before the other neighbor dog incident, Beau would just sit there and way his tail, maybe pee on the fence but Delilah started getting more and more focused on them and fence wars began. And Beau joined in. Again, I really don't think his reaction is out of aggressiveness when out walking given his past behavior, but these recent incidents have put doubts in my mind which is why I get nervous taking him places. Plus, the way he acts, I would be afraid to let him greet another dog because the other dog might not take kindly to a lunging, howling, whining, maniac. If my husband goes with us, I feel better just because he is stronger and can handle him better, but my husband has been busy with other things and so I'm the one that is left with training and socializing. Plus, this has been going on for 3 years. I've hired dog trainers but at the end of the day I need to learn how to handle him and bring his excitement level down (and mine).

Hi there. I'm new to Brain Training for Dogs. I have 2 dogs - both mutts and each with their separate issues. We have had them now for 3 years and I wish I knew then what I know now. At any rate, I'm kind of starting over training them. The main issue I believe with each is over-excitement. Beau is 68 lbs. of muscle and he has always gotten over-excited when he sees another dog on a walk. His issue has gotten to the point that if my husband doesn't or is unable to go with us, I don't take him anywhere. I will take him in the neighborhood but the last time I walked him, a dog was barking at him from a car and he got so worked up that I couldn't hardly control him. We practice walking and "watch me" in the back yard and I have been practicing things like wait at the door, wait before I put his leash on him. He's a good dog with a lot of energy. My main question is how do I control his excitement level and how do I NOT get so anxious when I see a dog on a walk which I'm sure feeds into his over-excitement. I want to feel more confident taking him places because I do believe he needs that. Thank you!