Adrienne Farricelli

Greetings, and welcome to the forums, So sorry you are struggling with these problems. Did the trainer suggest any behavior modification for the issues you have been facing? When dealing with aggression and conflict among dogs sharing the same household things get challenging and the best (and safest option) is to have a professional come into your home, evaluate your dog/dogs and the environment in which they live and then provide a custom-tailored approach based on several factors. Generally, for cases of dog behavior problems involving fear/aggression, we like to use techniques based on desensitization and counterconditioning. Familiarizing oneself with these techniques is very helpful. Here is a read on desensitization: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ Here is a read on counterconditioning: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ Very important in behavior modification is to keep the dog under threshold: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ You will have to log in into the member's area to access this reading material. Now, let's go through a few examples of behavior modification that you can have done along with a dog behavior professional hopefully employing force-free methods (these methods work best because we do not want to add any more stress from using aversion-based techniques). In the case of your dog acting protective of you when you are sick in bed, behavior modification would therefore involve doing several rehearsals of you being in bed with your dog nearby (leashed and muzzled for safety if a bite is possible) and you feeding your dog high-value treats every time your husband approaches initially starting at a distance where your dog is under threshold. The purpose is creating very strong, positive associations with your husband and the treats happen only contingent to your husband's presence and then his approach. As distance is decreased, it is then possible to raise criteria to the point of your husband getting closer and tossing treats to your dog. Distance is then further increased, with your husband tossing treats as he places a hand on the bed, then tossing treats as he places one leg on the bed, then tossing treats while sitting on the bed, then tossing treats when laying on the bed for a few seconds. Duration is then added by giving your dog a longer lasting treat (like a cookie) to enjoy once your husband stays longer on the bed. Done correctly, with time, your dog may develop a new bed-time routine of looking forward to having your husband in the bedroom versus dreading it. This exercise should be done often enough to stick in your dog's mind and once you get a nice conditioned emotional response, you may have to just do some re-fresher sessions every now and then to maintain things (although having your hubby give her a cookie every evening when coming to bed may be very helpful if she has moments of not trusting him fully, such as when you are sick). Giving a tempting cookie is also a good way to have her move away rather than him having to touch her. The process is over all similar to what is done here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/ If your dog at any time reacts, that is often a sign that she wasn't ready for that level of interaction and therefore you need to work from further distance and/or reduce the salience of the stimulus/situation. Now, behavior modification takes some time to implement and requires management when the dog is not being actively worked with and conditioned. This means that when these sessions are not practiced, the dog should be kept away from his triggers considering that, it can be highly reinforcing for dogs to bark/growl and lunge considering that the person or dog in question often leaves/or is removed from the situation following this display. Because the behavior 'works' therefore it strengthens with time and repeats, establishing a strong history. If your dog has therefore been rehearsing this protective behavior for many months, versus being a fairly new behavior. it may take longer for a new behavior pattern to establish. An alternative to behavior modification is strict management. In other words preventing the dog from the opportunity to rehearse the problem behavior. In this case, the dog's privilege of being allowed on the bed is removed and the dog is provided with an alternative sleeping quarter such as crate or an area behind an exercise pen. However, management is often not easy for dog owners to implement 100 percent, and the likelihood of it failing at some point is high, hence why behavior modification still plays an important role. I agree with your trainer that this is most likely based on fear. Very likely your dog feels safe in your presence and not 100 percent safe towards your husband and this causes her to act falsely bold in your presence, attempting to send your husband away. In the meanwhile, prior to starting behavior modification, you should prevent your dog from rehearsing the troublesome behavior. If your dog acts protective in presence of your husband approaching when you are sick, in that case, keep the bedroom door shut and the dog away from the bedroom area to prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior. I will address the issues between Remie and Hannah in the basement in a next post.

Glad to hear your puppy is doing better on walks. Keep up the good work on raising his confidence levels! All puppies need to feel safe when they are out and about, so make sure to praise and reward for confident behaviors and keep on creating positive associations. Training and brain games are also a great way to help boost a pup's confidence. Kudos to you for helping your pup out, happy training!

Greetings, and welcome the forums. Sounds like your puppy is more in the mood for a pajama party than sleeping soundly in bed! Most likely this is because your puppy sees spending time close to you as something special to celebrate and this revs up his nervous system which conflicts with sleeping. Once he is in this happy, playful mode, he therefore won't be able to close his eyes to nap. On top of this, puppies have some odd sleep/wake cycles if we don't happen to establish an evening routine. Here are some tips that may help, but there are good chances that you may have to wait a bit for your puppy to mature (and calm down a bit) to allow him to sleep calmly 8 hours straight in bed. We can't force him to sleep there, but we can try some things and see how they work out. -Keep your pup busy in the evening. What you do with your pup in the evening can play a big role on his night-time sleep. If you allow your puppy to snooze a whole lot in the evening, then, once bed time is around the corner, he’ll feel refreshed by all the ZZZ's he's caught earlier, so most likely he'll be ready to rock and roll once you place him on the bed. So if you have the time and will, it helps to play with your puppy in the evening, let him spend time in the yard, do brain games, have relatives come to visit etc. so that when sleep time is around the corner, he'll be more likely to crash. -Keep in mind though that even if he'll crash at bed time, that doesn't mean he'll sleep the whole night and stay glued in bed. Most likely, he will wake up either because he needs to potty or because he is attracted by movement (like you or your spouse turning, or even his tail moving) and he may go into play mode. He may also wake up early if he sees light coming in the room. -Now, when a puppy is crated, because he doesn't have the choice to get out, he'll likely wake up several times at night and then just get bored and go back to sleep. With a puppy free to move, this isn't too likely to happen also because puppies are very easy to be overstimulated when young. -Try a Sherpa Bag. One suggestion I make to those who wish to have their puppies in bed with them but their pups aren't completely potty trained yet is to use a Sherpa bag. A Sherpa bag is a soft-sided carrier (often used for traveling)which can be placed on the bed. You can wrap your arm around it at night to ensure it doesn't accidentally fall or find some way to secure it in some way in bed (like move the bed against a wall so that the carrier can't fall over). Once your puppy matures then and gets used to his routine, you can try weaning him off of it and see how it goes. -Keep in mind that once your puppy is allowed on bed, he may be reluctant to go back to his crate and this may lead to whining and setbacks in crate training. The other way around though (letting him sleep in his crate until he's fully potty trained and calmer and then letting him sleep in bed) is much easier to accomplish, also because once a dog is older (if we have dog-proofed the home well) we can often trust him enough to get off the bed and spend time somewhere else without getting into major trouble (of course, there are exceptions to this, so caution is always needed with dogs who tend to chew things, ingest stuff when unsupervised).

Hello, ad welcome to the forums! This is a great question! At some point in shaping behaviors we need to raise criteria so if we are aiming for nose touches, we should start getting selective and click for those only. Now, there is delicate balance in shaping and clicker training so we need to thread with caution: that is, when we raise criteria, and start putting some behaviors on extinction (in this case, we aim to extinguish mouthing by not reinforcing it) there is possibility that if the dog doesn't get creative and thinks to use his nose, and too many attempts to mouth go unrewarded, the dog may grow bored or just give up trying. So it's important to help set the dog up for success and we can do so by employing certain strategies. For example, when dogs are really excited, they tend to mouth more, so perhaps you want to reserve this type of training for quieter times of the day (like after you have walked your dog, or you notice he is relaxing more). Or perhaps, you can keep your clicker hidden in your pocket with a few treats (many dogs get excited at the sight of the clicker) and when your dog is around you, like laying near your legs by the couch you can dangle your hand down and if he manages to nose touch to just take a sniff, you can surprise him with a click (keep your other hand ready on the clicker's lever in your pocket) and reward. Often times, we can get a split second nose touch right before the dog thinks to mouth, so if we are very quick to capture that, we can also reinforce nose touches that way.

A dog park would be too much for your dog at this point, especially since we don't know how your dog's social skills are. Putting him in an enclosed space with a bunch of stranger dogs would be too risky and could set your dog for failure, not to mention pose a risk to your dog and other dogs. It would be best to take a gradual approach, working with your dog under threshold, starting with the Look at That exercise from behind the window, then once you have that exercise pat down, move on to practicing in the yard initially at a distance from the fence, then closer, then progress to walks with dogs at a distance and then closer, and then, only once your dog has proven to you the ability to remain calm in the presence of other dogs at certain distance, you can practice walking you dog along the perimeter of the dog park and gauge how it goes. The link to the Look at That exercise was posted in the previous thread: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?243-aggression Behavior modification takes time and needs to be done very gradually. The most common cause for failure and the onset of setbacks is going too fast in the process and placing the expectations too high. If your dog happens to have barrier frustration versus true aggression, he would still not be an ideal dog park candidate considering that his arousal levels upon entering would likely be too high and some dogs may react to that with aggression. On top of that, by allowing him to enter the park barking, pulling and throwing a tantrum would reinforce those behaviors and make things more difficult on walks upon spotting other dogs. Until he is calmer and has been evaluated by a professional to asses his social skills to determine what we are truly dealing with, it would therefore be safest to avoid the park. You can read below why dog parks are frowned upon many dog behavior professionals (although there are exceptions to the rule). https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?225-Introduction-to-Dog-Parks

There are several ways around using a clicker if your dog finds its sound aversive. Like Jennifer pointed out, you can replace its sound with a verbal marker (yes!) or 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. Some dogs do better if the clicker is placed inside a pocket. The pocket will help muffle the sound and make it less intimidating towards sensitive dogs. Another trick of the trade is to put several layers of tape on the clicker, again, for the purpose of muffling the sound. The keyword here is going gradually, therefore, as the dog learns that the click brings marvelous treats, you can start peeling off a layer of tape so to allow the dog to get step-by- step used to the clicking sound. For severely noise sensitive dogs, you can use a retractable pen that clicks or you can even use a flash of light, which is what is used when clicker training deaf dogs.

Hello, This is a very common issue, especially with newly rescued dogs who haven't learned boundaries. The easy, most obvious answer is to simply keep the waste basket out of reach by placing it in an area where the dog cannot reach it or keep the dog away from it by crating the dog, placing the dog in an exercise pen or in a room with a baby gate where there is nothing that can get the dog in trouble. This should be done when supervision cannot be provided so to prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior (the more dogs practice problem behaviors, the more they want to perform them as they become habit forming) and also for safety considering that some dogs may chew/ingest things in the waste basket that can be potentially harmful. The more complex answer is how to work on the issue if we want to tackle it directly. If this happens every time you leave, this most likely means that your dog has associated your presence with being told to not touch the waste basket. So here are a few tips on how to work this: -Work on training a solid "leave it." Start with normal items and then progress to more valuable items. Here is the guide on how to train a dog to "leave it:" https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ -Generalize the "leave it" to the waste basket. Any time you notice your dog is walking towards the waste basket in your presence, redirect the behavior by saying 'leave it" and praising/rewarding your dog for moving away from it. -If the behavior only happens in your absence, you may have to practice "leave its" as you pretend to leave the room. This entails watching the dog from a window at a distance or a remote camera or using a mirror to watch the dog from a distance. The moment the dog attempts to the get to the item, the dog owners should announce "leave it"to remind the dog that although he's not in sight, the dog is still being watched. These sessions can be rehearsed several times, although there are no guarantees the dog won't steal the item if left alone for a long time. Also, such rehearsals should never be used with items that are potentially harmful to the dog. At the same time, to help the dog succeed, it helps to leave around "legit items" that the dog can have access to without getting in trouble. These legit items should help provide more mental stimulation so that the waste basket appears boring in comparison and the dog gets to make good choices. Examples of "legit items" include stuffed Kongs, Kong Wobblers filled with the dog's meal or safe chews. Dogs who raid trash cans and waste baskets are often dogs who are looking for mental stimulation and 'scavenging" opportunities. You can read more tips of dogs who tend to "steal" or get access to things when the owner is away in this thread: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?43-Thieving-Pooch Training your dog to drop it is also important considering that your dog may one day carry something out of the waste basket: here is how to train it: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/ Finally, there's an easy solution that won't require all this work and provides peace of mind: investing in a dog proof waste basket with a lid.

Yes, that's very true! Owners need to lower their thresholds too. We humans often also do things that may put our dogs on high alert such as putting tension on the leash the moment we notice another dog at a distance and our dog starts associating that with danger (even if our dog hasn't spotted yet the other dog). Dogs are masters in reading us and I am sure they sense our stress even prior we are exposed to the actual stressor. The good news is that as we work with our dogs to lower their threshold by giving distance and creating positive associations with triggers, we start to relax too as we are no longer exposing our dogs to full intensity situations. We start feeling more in control (especially if the environment permits) and that by itself feels very reassuring. Using a no-pull harness (a harness that has a front ring to attach the leash) instead of a regular collar can also give us a bit more reassurance too considering that it helps more in not being dragged by a large, powerful dog who pulls at full force. A basket muzzle is always appropriate when there are risks for others around the dog. While the goal is to keep a dog under threshold and we can always employ emergency u-turns for when other dogs catch us unprepared and are too close, the basket muzzle can come handy as not always we can 100 percent control the environment (e.g. an off leash dog may approach). So it's not a bad idea to have an extra level of protection to cover all basis if we think a dog has the potential to bite if exposed to certain situations (and all dogs can bite, even the really nice ones when their bite threshold is surpassed). A basket muzzle may also come handy for other reasons. For example, people in general and people walking other dogs in general tend to naturally give distance when they see a dog has a muzzle. Their instincts tells them to not mess with that dog. And a muzzle can also provide peace of mind. I always had my dogs muzzled at the vet's office because one can never know how a dog may react when in pain, stressed or cornered by a vet with no way out. To get used to a muzzle, we want to take a slow, step-by-step approach by creating positive associations with it. Here's a brief guide on the process: 1) In a room with little distractions, hold the muzzle in your hand and click and treat behaviors that suggest your dog's interest in the muzzle. You may start clicking and rewarding your dog for simply looking at the muzzle. Toss the treat at a distance. Repeat this several times.Next, click and reward your dog for walking towards the muzzle. Toss the treat at a distance so that your dog keeps coming back for more interactions with the muzzle. Repeat this several times. 2) Next, raise the criteria. Click and reward your dog for sniffing the muzzle. Toss the treat at a distance. Your dog should freely keep coming back to interact with the muzzle. Repeat this several times. Now, open the muzzle, and with the help of a treat, guide your dog to insert his nose inside the muzzle in order to get to it. Click and feed the treat through the muzzle. Repeat this several times. 3) Put the behavior of inserting the muzzle on cue by saying "muzzle" followed by a click and treats fed through it. Repeat this several times. 4) Raise the criteria. Again, use the treat to help your dog insert his nose inside the muzzle to get it. Click and feed the treat. Then, fasten the buckle and feed several treats through the muzzle. Remove the muzzle and do not offer anymore treats. Become boring. Repeat this several times. 5) Stop showing the treat to encourage your dog to insert his nose through the muzzle. Ask him to "muzzle" and then feed several treats on the floor. Start increasing the time your dog wears the muzzle and start mixing various rewards for wearing the muzzle. Praise your dog, pet him, play with him, feed some treats. Then, when you remove the muzzle, become boring once again. Apply the same training in other places (yard, walks) to help your dog generalize the training to wearing it in different places. Some words of caution: because using a muzzle may provide a sense of safety, it is wrong to use it to expose dogs to situations they aren't ready to deal with. In other words, the same rules apply when a dog wears a muzzle: keep working under threshold and on creating positive associations. Also, if your dog is a boxer, pug or other breed of dogs with pushed in faces, consider that there a muzzles specially designed for these dogs who have a different facial conformation and may suffer from breathing issues. Since some types of muzzles (like nylon muzzles) restrict a dog's ability to pant, you cannot leave one on your dog for a long time and/or without your supervision. For safety and correct implementation of behavior modification, it's always best to consult with a dog behavior professional who uses gentle, humane techniques. Some dogs also in some cases may require medication or supplements to better manage the underlying anxiety that makes them aggressive.

Greetings, and welcome to the forums, Thank you for rescuing this dog and wanting to help your dog be calmer on walks. If your dog is lunging and barking, what you are dealing with is a dog who is over threshold. When a dog is over threshold, it is more difficult to get the dog's attention and work on changing behavior. An important first step would therefore be taking measures to keep your dog better under threshold. One good way to do this is by increasing distance. You can read more about dog threshold levels here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ A "game" that can come handy in reducing reactivity over time is the "look at that game" that you can practice from the home as a starting point: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ On walks, you therefore need to work on finding that distance that makes your dog less reactive so that you can work on behavior modification. Behavior modification for reactivity most often involves techniques using desensitization and counterconditioning. Here are some reads on what these are and how these are applied: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ Techniques that incorporate these methods include: Open bar/closed bar: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/ and "Look at that"(after practicing behind a window, one can progress to doing the same exercise in front of the door as dogs walk by and then on walks) What to do if another dog is coming your way and is too close or caught you unprepared: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ There are also classes run by dog trainers (Reactive Rover classes) that can come handy. The advantage of these is that you can work in a more systematic way and have professionals personally coach you. Since behavior modification comes with risks (some dogs may bite when they are too over threshold) it is always best to consult with a behavior professional when dealing with dogs barking and attacking so to play it safe and for correct implementation of behavior modification. Hope this helps, Best, Adrienne

Glad you are finding the information helpful, happy training!

Brodeurfw welcome to the forums! There can be various causes to what you are experiencing so, yes, knowing more about what your dog is doing exactly and if there are certain triggers evoking the behavior can really help. -Thank you Jennifer for posting those threads as we await further details.

Another thing that comes to mind since you mention he calms down once in the crate is that your dog may be getting a bit cranky and simply needs some rest. While this is common with the younger puppies, if this is a recent rescue, it could be he is overstimulated and doesn't know how to wind down. If your dog comes from a shelter, it may take some time for those stress hormones to get out of the system and for him to learn what it feels like to be calm. If this seems to happen at a certain time of the day and with predictability, you can try to anticipate him by placing him in the crate with a chew toy before he gets too revved up. A blanket over the crate and some calming music can help him relax. Jennifer has shared with you several posts on how to redirect the nipping if yelping doesn't help. Tossing a ball the opposite way can help keep him away from your legs as you walk away. A flirt pole may too keep his mouth busy and away from your legs. Keep us posted on what strategy works best for you.

Yup, Jennifer is spot on! You can use any word you like for the cue as long as it is short and doesn't sound like any other word that you are likely to use very commonly in conversations or for other commands (cues). About the licking, yes, you want the nose touch so ignore those licks and reward only nose touches. If you stick to that, you should gradually see an increase in the percentage of nose touches compared to licking (as long as you don't have something tasty smeared on the item used to target!) About the treats, where are you keeping them when you are doing the training? They should not be in plain view unless we are still in the luring stage which should be very brief. It is no uncommon for dogs to go through phases during which they may seem as what we are asking them to do is completely new. This often happens in the delicate acquisition stage of learning if we have taught them too many things at once or when they need a little break. Often, in such cases, if we give them a little break, we will find that right around the corner is a phase where they will show they have learned the task very well. This brings back memories of training school when we had to teach our dogs a whole lot and in a short time and we had to get ready for the final test. Our dogs were confusing some cues for another and some of them just threw the towel and were refusing to do anything! Our mentor told us to give our dogs a little break, so we skipped a couple days of training and just let our dogs be, playing, sniffing etc. Well, this advice was spot on, as next thing we knew, when we resumed training, our dogs were back on track and performed even better than before!

Hello and welcome to the forums, Puppies go through a fear period between the ages of 8 to 10 weeks old, so this may be something at play if this is a recent behavior and you are still dealing with it. These fear periods coincide with, when in nature, puppies are getting out of the den and starting to explore the world around them. In the wild, this would be the time when puppies and their litter mates would learn under the guidance of their mom which stimuli are threatening and non-threatening for the purpose of survival. At this stage, once they are fully mobile and outdoors, a lack of caution in the wild may cause them to get killed easily. Although dogs are domesticated nowadays, they still retain some instincts and developmental milestones that are reminiscent of the past. It could very likely be this is a fear period that your puppy is struggling to overcome. Most likely your puppy feels more confident being outside with the entire family than alone. There are of course many other dynamics that may be at play (perhaps there are more noises in the morning with people getting ready to go to work? if it is dark, perhaps your pup feels more intimidated? Worth of trying is trying to walk the pup with you alone later during the day, to exclude this latter possibility. One thing perhaps worthy of trying is to take the pup on a very short car ride (if your pup likes car rides) and then parking at a distance and practicing walking home. First very short walks, (like just the end of the sidewalk) lots of praise during the walk (tell your puppy how proud you are of him, "look at you! great job!), and then gradually increase the distance. This should teach your puppy that nothing scary happens during walks and they can actually be quite fun. Of course though lots of caution is needed; if something scary happens during the walk, then all the hard work can be easily undone and one can easily go back to square one. Another approach may be taking baby steps. For example on weekend morning when your sons are home, you can try walking your pup with both sons, and then having one of your sons lag a bit behind for some parts of the walk, and then the next day, perhaps increase criteria by having just one son come for the walk, and then the next day, having that son lagging a bit etc. until your pup has the confidence to walk just with you. Care is needed to do this gradually and work at the pup's pace. If your pup seems stressed at any time, it's likely because he wasn't ready for the next step and needs to take some steps back. Another idea that comes to mind is to have your sons at opposite sides of the side walk (one at the begging and one at the end) and practicing walking your puppy from one son to the other and then increasing the gap between them so that your puppy has more and more alone time walking with you. Always praise and make a big deal of these brief alone times with you and and if possible give some treats if he takes them (but not treats once reaching your sons). Make sure to use some super valuable treats. Of course, all this training is pretty much useless if your dog has a fear of something else not related to your sons. It could be that your puppy is scared of the outdoors (cars, bikes, etc) and that your sons' presence sort of buffer those visuals by blocking your puppy's view of them if they are walking on the side where these stimuli are present. So it would be extra helpful identifying what is really triggering this fear so to know exactly what to work on. One thing to point out is to be careful with your pup walking him to parks or places where there are other puppies/dogs at least until your puppy has finished his vaccinations. Ask your vet for when it is safe for him to be in certain places. Also, puppies should not be jogged, especially on hard surfaces until their growth plates have closed (which is another thing to ask your vet about as this varies greatly with breed/size). Make sure you do brain games with your puppy and that you start some basic training (sit/ down) so to help instill more confidence in your puppy. Encourage him in the yard to walk over different surfaces (like tarp, a piece of wood etc) and always praise when he takes initiative in exploring new things like an upside down chair or opened umbrella placed on the floor. Clicker training works great to help instill confidence too (see the guide on it in this course) and if the click is too much for him, you can make a noise with your mouth or keep the clicker in your pocket or use a retractable ball point pen to substitute the clicking sound. Let us know how things work out for you. Your pup may needed smaller sub-steps if he is still struggling. Also, keep us posted if you are able to identify the exact source of the fear so suggestions custom-tailored to your situation can be provided. Hope this helps! Best wishes, Adrienne

Greetings, and welcome to the forums! This is a very good question and you may have different responses based on who you ask. There are no general rules of thumb on how walks should be conducted, but generally formal heeling is mostly for when you need your dog next to you. Now, this may vary based on where you are walking your dog and the type of stimuli/situation you are likely to encounter. For example, in a city when walking on a side walk, you expect polite behaviors (like you may not want your dog sniffing every person that walks by or your dog walking back and forth in a disorderly manner); whereas on a country road, you may have a more relaxed style of walking and can even invest in longer leashes. This is why it helps to have the heeling on cue, so that you can ask your dog when to apply it. The type of dog can also make a difference of what type of walk is expected. Service dogs/therapy dogs for example are expected to work and do a lot of heeling in stores, sidewalks and hospitals. Attention heeling (with the dog looking up at you) cannot be obviously done on a whole walk and we shouldn't expect our dogs to do that, but it comes handy when you are passing by a distraction (like another dog/ dogs barking behind a fence) and you want your dog totally focusing on you. It also comes helpful for behavior modification, allowing the chance to create positive associations with the trigger (dog is fed high value treats upon spotting a dog and looking at the owner). If your dogs do their business on walks, it's a good idea allowing them to sniff around to encourage elimination. It also helps a lot if you can put the peeing/pooping on cue so that your dogs associate the action with the word. Here's how to train it, if interested: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/potty-on-command/ Nowadays, more importance is being given to allowing dogs to 'be dogs.' There are more and more dog owners who dedicate the whole walks to the dog. Dogs aren't allowed to pull the owner, but dogs are given multiple opportunities to sniff around and read all the 'pee-mail'. I personally like to put sniffing on cue. When we were in the city, my dogs were expected to do polite heeling (and occasional attention heeling), but once we reached a grassy area they were told "go sniff!" and they were happily exploring and marking/eliminating as needed until when we resumed the walk and they were asked again to "heel." The tread Jennifer mentions on heeling dogs and what sides to use and the history behind it can be found here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?190-What-side-should-the-dog-be-trained-when-teaching-heeling

Hi there! Also, how old is your dog? Some young puppies have a hard time following movements. Are you moving the treat towards the back of her head or behind the head? It should be a movement that goes from the nose area to the head area but not too much past the head area as that may encourage backing up. Below you will see pictures of the hand movement. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/ Your pup should follow the treat with the nose. You may need to slow down the movement as Jennifer pointed out and/or practice nearby a wall/barrier if she is backing up. Be patient and keep trying as some pups need a little more time. Make sure to use super valuable treats and work in an area with little distractions. As soon as the sit happens, make sure to be fast to mark it (yes!, click of the clicker) and reward it before your pup gets up! When a puppy or dog doesn't follow the treat and looks the other way, it is possible that you are dealing with a particularly submissive dog who is perhaps afraid of taking the treat and is showing a calming signal. Try to take baby steps and split the exercise into smaller segments. Let her first just sniff the treat and give it to her, then let her follow the treat with her nose an inch or so and let her have it, then progress to let her have the treat again half way through the luring hand movement, then progress to moving it towards the back the head and let her have it, then do the whole hand movement and wait for her to sit and give the treat (or even better a jackpot of treats) making sure you praise a whole lot. If you are still struggling, let me know and we can try capturing rather than luring. I had to do that with a few particularly submissive/fearful dogs who were frightened of hand gestures near their faces or were too shy to take treats.

Great to hear you have spoken to your vet about this. This helps exclude possible medical problems if your vet thinks his drinking is normal. Goldendoodles have a reputation for being quite vocal, vocalizing what they like and dislike and just general "talking." A day is never dull with these fellows! As he matures, his bladder should start gaining more and more control which will make potty training much easier and less messes to clean up. In the meanwhile, lots of outdoor trips, puppy pads by the door, unobstructed views, enclosures to create a den-like area (dogs don't like to potty near where they sleep, eat/play) and enzyme-based cleaners can help. Kudos to you for working on training him and seeing him flourish into a boy you can be proud of!

Hi there! This is not easy to overcome quickly, but I will provide a few strategies. Often this fear stems from the fact that dogs don't understand reflections as those appearing on shiny floors or on metal bowls. Us humans instead can rationalize that certain surfaces absorb lights and therefore we can readily accept and understand reflections. Dogs instead startle and struggle with the visual aspect of shiny floors, but on top of that, they also have trouble navigating them. Indeed, dogs dislike the sensation of poor footing and therefore sense shiny floors as not safe either instinctively or due to some past negative experience. To put ourselves in a dog's "paws" when a dog slips on a slippery, shiny floor, the dog may not understand what is happening precisely as it almost feels as if the floor itself is moving under him and he has little choice in stopping it from moving. They may feel it like if they are walking on a treadmill.This can be a frightening experience to a dog, and can be similar to what one person experiences when walking over a street covered in ice. So how to work on the issue. Forcing the dog to walk on the floor won't help as the dog will likely just panic and become more reluctant in the future. Luring with food won't help either because it's perceived as a trap that puts the dog close to the source of fear and the dog often puts on the brakes. In dog behavior modification instead, we use what's known as desensitization and counterconditioning techniques (DS+CC). That means taking a systematic step by step approach going at the dog's pace and comfort level and creating positive associations. You can read on these strategies here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ Here are some methods based on these powerful methods: -Feed the dog near the slippery surface each day. Every day when mealtime comes, feed nearby the slippery area, gradually getting closer and closer to the areas the dog is terrorized with. If the dog is reluctant to eat, use super high value treats rather than regular kibble and/or throw a rug (rug corridors) or a long yoga mat on the area, and feed on it, and then gradually fold the rug r cut the yoga mat making it smaller and smaller, therefore encouraging the dog to be gradually on a larger and larger amount of floor. -If you are into clicker training, consider using the floor as a target. Click and treat every time your dog gets closer and closer to the floor or close to a sticky note you place on the floor. Keep sessions brief and end on a positive note by giving a bonus (a handful of treats) for taking initiative and throwing a party with lots of praise and pats. Here is how to train targeting with the use of sticky notes: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ -If your dog doesn't take treats, consider that he's over threshold. This means he is being exposed to a too intense form of what he fears. You can read about threshold levels here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ -Use super high-value treats for the exercises. -Trim the hair in between your dog's paws. That hair may predispose a dog to slipping. Your vet or groomer may be able to help you with this delicate task. -Trim the nails. Long nails cause a dog's foot to rock backwards, which makes it difficult for the dog's toe pads to make normal weight-bearing contact on the floor. If your dog has long nails, you may want to trim them as short as possible. -Consider using "toe grips." When dogs detect a slippery floor and are hesitant to walk over it, they instinctively tense up and start walking on their nails. Dogs do this in an attempt to "clench" their paws while digging their nails in, but a dog who is tensing up and walking on his nails will only make matters worse because it creates less traction. While trimming the nails is helpful, another additional option is now available. Dr. Buzby, a dedicated veterinarian concerned about dogs slipping on slippery floors, invented a great solution for dogs in need of some extra traction. She invented a product known as "toe grips." Toe grips are ideal for dog who are struggling to obtain traction on hardwood floors or smooth surfaces. -If your dog walks on those hospital floors although prefers the walls, try feeding him high value treats every few steps he walks on them. Then, once off that surface no more treats. You want to make it clear that it is the shiny surface that predicts treats and other surface do not grant them. Make it a jolly routine! https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/using-jolly-routine-fearful-dogs/ -As your dog gains confidence, try to do several steps of attention heeling so that your dog focuses on you rather than the surface he is walking on. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ -Finally, something to consider is potential joint problems especially in dogs after a certain age. Some vets have found that dogs who have trouble navigating slippery floors may have some joint issue such as underlying arthritis or nerve inflammation which can reduce limb function on certain surfaces making them scary to navigate and predisposing dogs to slipping. Hope this helps, Adrienne

Hello and welcome to the forums! This may be nothing to worry about other than your pup being very active and thirsty as a consequence, but when I hear a puppy drinking a whole lot, it raises my antennas as sometimes pups drinking too much may have some underlying medical disorder. In particular, something to possibly rule out is diabetes mellitus, and some other possible disorders. There is also such a thing as psychogenic excessive drinking and urination. This is sometimes seen in puppies who didn't have ready access to water when they were at breeder's home or who were raised with litter mates who competed over water inducing them to gulp down as much water as possible. Now, there are likely many variables as to how much a puppy should drink as one must consider how dry the air is, how hot it is, how active the puppy is, whether the food fed contains too much sodium, whether the puppy is running a fever and other factors such as medical issues. However, when I worked for the vet, I remember that as a general rule of thumb, a dog was not considered to be drinking excessively until it drank more than 1 oz to 1.5 oz of water per pound of body weight. When owners had dogs with excessive drinking presented at the vet they were therefore instructed to measure how much water was consumed. Urine samples were also checked to rule out kidney issues and diabetes. In any cases, medical issues aside, with a puppy drinking so much it is natural for water to flow out of him at an impressive rate. Most likely, his bladder is so full, he doesn't even time to signal. You did very good to block off areas with baby gates and it's important to make access to the door as easy as possible. I like to use an opened x-pen spread out as a long gate to block off the rest of the home and keep the puppy right nearby the door area. Full run of the house and obstructed views make potty training much more difficult. I also keep pee pads by the door in case the pup goes to the door but I don't make it on time to get him out.

Hi Mick, Welcome to the forums. You own a breed that is notorious for being aloof towards strangers. These dogs require to be heavily socialized from a young age, especially during the critical window of socialization so to become accustomed to people at an early age and to prevent their natural territorial instincts from causing them to become suspicious of everyone. There is a rather thin line between suspicious behavior towards strangers and aggression. Even with socialization during the critical period, these dogs require ongoing socialization to "maintain" their skills in recognizing the behaviors of normal people. If this happened in the last few months, then there may be a "fear period" at play. There is a second fear period taking generally place between the age of 6 and 14 months. You can read about fear periods here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-periods-8-10-weeks-6-14-months/ If this is just recent behavior, there are better chances of nipping this problem in the bud, versus a dog who has been exhibiting as behavior for many months. A good exercise to start with for dogs with territorial instincts is the "look at that game" practiced by the window. Here is link to the game: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ This can create a foundation of positive associations with people approaching the home. If your area is not frequented much by people, it may help to enlist the help of some friends and relatives to just walk by your home. Make sure that treats happen only when the people are in sight, when they are no longer in sight and your dog can no longer see them, then you should stop giving treats. If your dog is in a too aroused state, then he's over threshold and unable to focus which is sign that you need to give farther distance. The look at that game is placed in the University level of the Brain Games Course for this very reason, dogs need some level of impulse control to respond when very aroused and this level comes with training. If your dog is responsive to your recall though in especially distracting situations, then you have a promising head start. You can read about threshold levels here;https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ Once positive associations start taking effect, you should see what's called a 'conditioned emotional response' unfold. In other words, you may notice a change in the look in your dog's face or even a little tail wag upon your dog seeing people walk by the window. Once this response is seen, then one may be ready to move to part 2 of behavior modification which is creating a conditioned emotional response to people entering the home. Something similar to the initial "look at that" needs to take place but this time with people entering the home and then getting up and walking around, while also tackling behaviors of people your dog may find troublesome (laughing loud, coughing etc.). Here is an example of behavior modification for a dog barking at somebody entering the home: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/ Now, you mention your dog has bitten in the past. In such a case, the dog must be prevented from escalating and rehearsing this behavior. This means, keeping the dog away from the guests for safety and also preventing your dog from going over threshold. Distance is your best friend. You can keep your dog leashed next to you at the farthest spot on a sofa chair away from the couch for behavior modification and placed behind a baby gate with a stuffed Kong or other long-lasting goodie when you cannot actively work on the issue. If your dog gets too anxious, then keeping him in the farthest room of the home away from all the commotion may be the best option. While this course is designed to help with training and keeping dogs mentally stimulated (which provides some foundation blocks that can potentially help a great deal dogs with behavior problems), there are several articles tackling behavior modification in the archive. It's important to point out though that behavior modification requires skill (ability to read subtle dog body language, making sure the dog is always under threshold, recognizing triggers-antecedents, knowing when to increase criteria, using management to keep everybody safe and prevent rehearsals) and this is very different from regular training. In training, we are teaching the dog to sit, down, stay etc, while in behavior modification we need to do functional assessments and then decide a plan that is custom tailored for that dog. There is also a certain level of risk involved, so for safety of the dog, the owner and others and for the correct implementation of behavior modification it is always recommended to carry out the exercises with a behavior professional using force-free behavior modification, at least for the initial sessions. I hope this helps, Best wishes and happy training!

Hi again, for the tie-out, this can be challenging. At this age, pups want to be with their owners and be involved in their activities. While with an older puppy or adult dog I may say try giving him a goodie like a a stuffed Kong to keep him occupied while you carry out your garden chores, with a pup at this age, chances are the pup may be too focused on you and even panicky to even want to eat. It may take some time to work up to the level of impulse control and training required for the pup to stay nicely put without batting an eye. An idea that comes to mind is perhaps build him an actual containment, e.g. cattle panels from Tractor Supply are cheap and strong. However, your pup may dislike being contained and this may cause him to bark rather than pull. Another idea may be what's known as "umbilical cord training" basically you clip the leash (attached to your dog's harness) to your belt using a carabiner for hands-free tethering as you go about running errands in your home or yard. If you want to work on getting your pup used to the tie-out this would require several baby steps with you sticking close by at first. Praise and reward for staying in the area without pulling as you take one step away. Keep stepping a bit away and then coming back to your pup to reward his calm behavior. Then move a bit farther away, come back and praise and reward for staying in the area once again without pulling. Gradually increase distance, but every now and then mix in closer distances so your pup doesn't feel increasing stress. If your pup shows signs of stress, this would mean you have raised criteria too quickly (going too far at a distance your pup isn't ready to deal with yet) so you need to work on closer distances. You may have to give your pup some long lasting goodies (stuffed Kong, or other interactive toy) for when you need to move away and spend some time at a farther distance, but you need to find a way that such goodie cannot be pushed away out of reach. Now, all this once again can be challenging in a pup this young who gives signs of distress when tied-out, especially if you have to go far and perhaps even out of sight so it may take several weeks to build up to the point of your pup remaining calm or at least without pulling. There are also chances that your pup simply dislikes or fears the sensation of the cable applying pressure to the harness. This takes time to get used to, and is similar to the pup reacting to leash pressure and putting on the brakes. This is called "the opposition reflex" and is very natural. While it's easy to work on this on leash, on a tie-out it's more challenging.

Hi Cammidge, I am sorry your are facing these challenges. It's not easy with puppies and young dogs even for those folks not using a walker. I too have taken some tumbles with some overly rambunctious youngsters. A company I have worked with in training service dogs generally takes only dogs over a certain age as they offer more stability in terms of behavior. It is not easy with the younger pups and I have to commend you for all the effort you are putting into training your dog. The effort tends to pay off with time, consistency and as the dog reaches maturity. What exactly are you intimidated about the halter? Putting it on correctly and finding a good fit or how your dog reacts to it? Or perhaps something else? Many haltis come with an accompanying video on how to habituate dogs to them. Did yours have that by any chance? Many service dogs wear halters due to the higher level of control they offer, but it's true that it can take time for dogs to get used to them.

Hi Camilleswescott, Jennifer gave you a lot of excellent pointers to get you a headstart on the issues you are facing. Lots of time and patience is needed to work on separation anxiety and ideally, I tell dog owners to take several days off work to work on the issue. Some of the more significant cases may require the intervention of a veterinarian/veterinary behaviorist as dogs with separation anxiety are often way too over threshold and prescription meds may be needed along with behavior modification as behavior modification alone may not be sufficient. Then, as the dog starts learning to relax, those meds can be gradually weaned off. One important distinction to point out is that there is a difference between separation anxiety and containment phobia. Some dogs may seem to have separation anxiety when in reality, they do just fine if they are out the crate when left alone. These dogs are stressed from the crate mainly. There are many threads on dog reactivity. Here is one on a dog reactive towards children, https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?203-Lunging-and-barking-at-children The process is quite similar regardless of what the dog is reactive to. However, if your dog is social and his barking and lunging is due to his strong desire to go meet people/dogs and he gets frustrated because he can't (barrier frustration) then that needs a slightly different approach. Let me know if that may be the case. Because behavior modification differs from dog training, as it involves changing a dog's emotional response to triggers and there can be some extra risks involved (dog may escape the leash and bite someone, or dog may bite owner in a redirected bite if too aroused/startled), it is always best to consult with a dog behavior professional employing force-free methods for safety and correct implementation. You don't have to necessarily pass all the 101 in order to start the Brain Games as many brain games are pretty simple, but it helps to have some basic obedience down so that you can work your way towards the games that require some skills such as sit/stays and down/stays etc. Some games require a certain level of impulse control so you may not be able to do them if your dog isn't trained at least some basics. If you are ever struggling on some brain game, it may be that you may have to first perfect some obedience skills, but those brain games that require stronger obedience skills are at the upper level. Important to point out is that a skill can't be by definition said to have been learned well if the dog is unable to generalize the behavior in various places (in the yard, on walks). In such cases, more work needs done to obtain a more fluent response. Hope this helps! Happy training!

Greetings, and welcome to the forum! Biting the leash is a very common puppy behavior. You can see it as play behavior or frustration when the puppy dislikes the sensation of the leash or the leash stopping him from going where he would like. There are several strategies for tackling leash biting, here are a few ideas: -Exercise: Make sure your puppy receives a sufficient amount of exercise during the day. Draining your dog's energy before going on walks may help take the edge off. Look for activities that provide a physical workout, such as a game of fetch or some play with a flirt pole. -Provide Interactive toys and mental stimulation under the form of brain games. Let your dog use his brain in a clicker training session or try using food puzzles. Putting your dog's nose to work may be quite tiring, too, so a fun game of nose work can come in handy. -Give some time to cool down. After providing exercise and mental stimulation, allow a bit of time for your dog to cool down and get into a calmer state of mind. Calmer leash walks start the moment you grab the leash and open the door. Walking an overexcited pup on a leash only reinforces the overly excited mindset, making the excitation stronger and more difficult to overcome. Ask your pup to sit to put on the leash and then start practicing the "open sesame" brain game. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/college/open-sesame/ -Divert With Treats: When you are on walks, you can divert your dog's attention by playing alternate games. The moment you notice your dog is about to bite the leash, divert his attention, and start tossing some treats on the ground; tell him to "find them!" This can be quite a fun game to play and rewarding if you use hard treats that he can chase around. After some time, start asking your dog to make eye contact before you toss the treats. Read the attention heeling section in the Dog Obedience section. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ -Divert with toys: a flirt pole can come handy here and if it has a squeaky toy at the end of it, this will make it more fun than the leash. Alternatively, a long tug toy may be helpful too. -Avoid Pulling: Avoid pulling the leash out of your dog's mouth as this will only create enjoyable resistance. You can try the "Two Leash Method" suggested in the tips below. Remember: Your puppy most likely bites the leash because it's a fun activity for him. In order to succeed in reducing this behavior, you will have to explore ways to make engaging games and activities extra rewarding so that he chooses these activities over playing tug with the leash. Sometimes, you may need some extra help to allow your dog to make good choices. You may need to find ways to make biting the leash extra boring or perhaps no longer pleasant. The tools listed below are not quick fixes, and you will still have to train your dog appropriate behaviors. More Tips: -Slip a long piece of PVC pipe over the leash. Dogs do not like to bite hard textures -Chain Attachment. Attach a lightweight piece of chain to the leash or use a chain leash. Dogs do not tend to like to bite metal. -Attach the leash via harness (on the back ring). It's harder to reach a leash clipped to the back via harness. -Let your dog carry objects (tennis ball, toy) while walking. This keeps the pups mouth busy. -Two-leash method: Put two leashes on your pup's collar. When your dog grabs one leash, release it, and use the other (allowing the former to drag); this prevents the creation of tension which lures dogs to bite Fortunately, as pups grow, they lose interest in the leash just as they lose interest in chasing their tails and biting legs and hands. Of course though, these puppy behaviors may persist if nothing is done or they are inadvertently reinforced. I will tackle the tie-out question shortly in the next post.

Hi there! Welcome to the forums. If you became your pup's playmate after she left her large litter, then expect lots of nipping, because that is what playmates do and lots of it too! I hear you, as countless puppy owners have your same problem and I have been through that nipping stage often, but to reassure you, this is totally normal puppy behavior. As you can see your are in great company if you search the forum for "puppy biting." Here are some reads to get you started on several ways to tackle puppy biting: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?57-Biting-dog https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?170-Grabbing-and-biting https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?215-Puppy-Bite-Inhibition My favorites are redirecting to a flirt pole, treat tossing games (as soon as puppy heads your way, if possible ask for a sit and toss a treat far away from you), tossing a ball and targeting. All work best if you catch your puppy before she has latched on. This because when pups are latched on, they are often in such an aroused state, it is more difficult redirecting them at that point. About targeting, you can perhaps try smearing some tasty goodie on your hand for starters, such as some peanut butter (make sure it's not sugar-free as there are versions with xylitol which is very toxic to dogs!) or a bit of cream cheese or those cheese sprays made to stuff Kongs. This should entice her to lick your hand versus bite, which can get you started on the right paw. Next, be very fast to click, before she has the opportunity to latch on and bite. A super quick hand touch and click immediately and toss the treat away from you. Rinse and repeat until she understands the game . If you ask her to sit and mark it and then she comes right back, you can try to ask her sit again right before she makes contact with you. You can play yo-yo like this several times if she knows sit well. Keep a stuffed Kong or other type of longer-lasting chew toy/treat in your pocket for a last rep where you ask for a final sit, provide the Kong/long lasting chew and you walk away while your pup is busy. Otherwise, you can toss a ball the opposite way as you leave (or even an empty plastic bottle filled with kibble and with no cap or stickers on to work on as suggested in the Brain Training for Dogs course) or you can engage her with a flirt pole. I also suggest management, using a baby-gate/barrier that you can get away from when she is in the mood for excessive jumping/biting so that you don't have to leave the room with a 'croco-pup' attached to your leg. Also, please consider keeping her mentally occupied with plenty of brain games. Brain games can be tiring as much as physical activity (if not, even more!) and they offer productive ways to allow dogs to get rid of some "steam." Many games do not involve the owner directly, so they foster some independence, which is good for a pup who actively seeks owners as playmates. If you have two senior dogs, it helps a lot to not expose your pup to them when in full energy. Your senior dogs may spend time being in apprehension of the pup pestering them rather than relaxing as they should. Tiring the pup out can help reduce the incidences of her pestering them. Many pups are super tired by the end of the day, and that may be a good time to teach her to go to a mat to chill away from your other dogs, perhaps chewing on something if she is not prone to resource guard (and neither are your other dogs). Senior dogs should also have a safe area to retreat to where the puppy cannot bother them. Putting up a barrier or baby gate or x-pen so to separate them once again can come very handy so she cannot get to them and this can also help to save your couch covers. If you can redirect her, with "down" (make sure your cue for laying down is different as dogs may get confused between the two, I like to use "off' for getting on couches) then that's great, but just as a note, when we are not actively monitoring and training and need to take a break and leave the room, the pup is better off removed from the area as well or some other precaution needs to be in place (have another family member monitor? place a barrier?). If we don't do so, the pup will be tempted to misbehave and that only teaches the pup to do just that, the moment you are away since nobody will redirect the behavior. Hope this helps, Let us know if you need any further assistance! Best, Adrienne