Adrienne Farricelli

This is a great question! To answer your question, moving from a continuous schedule to an intermittent one is not a clear cut process, but as a general ballpark figure, you should expect to move to a variable schedule once your dog performs the behavior on cue at least 80 percent of the time. However, watch your schedule when exposing your dog to new challenging situations. You may have to briefly go back to continuous and use higher value treats for those occasions. For sake of an example, when your dog learns to sit reliably in your living room (like at least eight times out of ten,) you may start giving treats randomly, but then, once you're out in the yard, where there are more distractions around, your best bet is to move back to a continuous schedule temporarily until your dog responds reliably in spite of those distractions. Now, a variable ratio reinforcement schedule entails reinforcing responses only some of the time. Mary Burch and Jon S. Bailey, in the book "How Dogs Learn" compare this to the way slot machines, fishing and the lottery work. This means no reinforcement at all is delivered at times and this can cause frustration. This is why it's important to still provide some form of reinforcement but it doesn't always have to involve food. You can therefore switch between different types of primary reinforcers that dogs are naturally drawn to such as food (chicken, hot dogs, freeze-dried liver) and natural activities the dog perceives as reinforcing (going out the yard to explore and exercise, playing with other dogs, chasing a tossed ball, sniffing a bush). Several ideas of using activities a dog enjoys to reinforce behaviors can be found in the Premack Principle article here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/premack-principle/ Some reinforcement substitutes can also be mixed in and these include several secondary reinforcers most of us are familiar with (praise, pats, belly rubs or even the opportunity to perform another behavior). Such reinforcers though in order to be effective need to have a strong conditioning history consisting of being paired consistently with primary reinforcers before being used on their own and they also need to be occasionally maintained to preserve their reinforcing power. For example, if we say "good boy" a split second before we give a dog a treat, the "good boy" assumes a positive connotation. Now, we can't use "good boy" on its own too many times (and preferable not in a row) or it risks weakening. As a start, a secondary can be used 20 percent of the time without a primary while using it 80 percent with a primary. Now, something to be aware of is "ratio strain." When moving from a continuous schedule of reinforcement to an intermittent one, care must be taken to do this gradually. Just picture what often happens when a person is used to the remote predictably turning on the TV at a touch of a button every time, every single day. That day though, when the remote fails to work, (coincidentally right when a big football match is on), watch that person pressing and shaking the remote, pressing harder, and perhaps, in a person with a low threshold for frustration, watch him/her cursing and possibly even tossing the remote against the wall! A classic example of ratio strain in humans: just watch what happens in workplaces across the globe when workers are overworked and underpaid. Rebellion and subsequent strikes take place. In dogs, asking too much and giving a low rate of reinforcement frequency may lead to dogs getting frustrated, showing displacement behaviors and even losing interest, walking away and giving up. Some animals (think killer whales) may even become aggressive. So to prevent this from happening, we must stretch the ratio very gradually. In a dog in the process of being trained to sit, we would therefore, start by giving a treat to the dog for every successful sit at first (CRF, continuous reinforcement), and then, as the dog responds at a steady rate, we can start giving the treat every other sit, then we can start rewarding randomly like the third sit, the second sit, the fifth sit, etc. (while always giving praise or other reinforcement substitutes) This is a good time to start raising criteria, raising the bar and paying attention to what the dog does so we can start picking out only the best sits to reward, so that we can improve quality. Once we have successfully stretched the ratio, we should see a dog who is on his toes and eager to work for that random primary reward, yes, just like a gambler playing the slots at Vegas! To answer your question, there can be several possibilities as to why Gertie seems to act stubborn at times. It could be your body language is revealing something when you are planning on giving a treat and when you are planning on just using a secondary reinforcer like praise and she's picking on that. It might help to make a video of yourself and then watching it to see whether you are giving out some clues. Now, that I re-read your question though, I am not sure at what point you are in the process of training since you mention the stubborn part in article and that is mentioned in the fading the food lure part. Fading the food lure and giving food on a variable schedule are different processes. This therefore raises some questions: How did the process of fading the food lure go? Can you get her to sit without using a food lure? What are you doing to tell her to sit (voice, upward empty hand motion?) About her not sitting with you facing her back, you may need to split this exercise into smaller steps. She likely has grown very dependent on seeing your face and your body facing her and this is normal since this is how we always ask a sit. You can therefore try asking her slightly sideways, then a little more, then more until you are facing her with your back. However, she might not be ready for this yet if you are still in the process of fading the sight of food. Hope this helps, let me know if you need help with the fading the food part and I can suggest more troubleshooting options.

Thanks for the update. I find it a bit odd about the "that's OK" in reference to the jumping and barking, but perhaps she said so because she wanted to just assess today and see how the dogs act in their natural environment or another possibility that comes to mind is that perhaps the "that's OK" was more in reference to you, just not to be being overly concerned about your dog's behavior in her presence. I am guilty of that too at times, if a client's dog jumps on me and the owner is super apologetic or tries to correct the dog, I'll say something along the lines of "that's OK, don't worry about it." Usually, I will turn my back to the dog to not give any form of attention and then we may discuss on ways to reduce this behavior in the future and perhaps even practice some polite greetings if there are no more pressing issues to tackle first. Glad to hear you have made so much progress with Gertie sitting under heavy distractions and that Mo was so well-behaved. Congrats!

Jennifer, Good luck on your vet visit and behavior consultation! Please don't feel intimidated by the use of the terminology on the website. Most dog trainers/behavior consultants who use force-free approaches for dogs, use them with people too :)

Hello, and welcome to the forum! There are chances this poor dog was surrendered due to these severe behavior problems. With such severe anxiety, you will need to work on reducing his anxiety with your departures. This is not an easy task, and it takes time (several days off from work at times). You would need to likely find a behavior consultant using humane behavior modification to help you out in person for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification because there are serious risks for your dog hurting himself with anxiety at this level. A board-certified veterinary behaviorist may work best because he/she can prescribe the right type of medications and gauge how your dog responds to them (adjusting doses accordingly), and applying behavior modification. For separation anxiety, generally meds on their own won't work, you would need behavior modifcation along with them. Medications for separation anxiety are meant to lower your dog's threshold and pave the path for allowing your dog to congnitively function. Generally, most protocols for separation anxiety focus on desensitizing dogs to pre-departure cues and departures and creating positive associations. You can find some general information about separation anxiety here and some general info on what behavior modfication may entail: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/separation-anxiety/ If your resident dogs are overwhelmed, it may help keeping them in separated areas at this time until they become more comfortable with each other. Walking them together may help at times, if you have a helper who can walk your other dogs while you walk the new dog. If your new dog though is acting overly anxious most of the time, your dogs may feed off of it, and there are chances things can get challenging if this is going to be an ongoing issue until tackled. Here is a general guide on how to introduce a new dog to your resident dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/introduce-dog-new-dog/ At some point, you may have to evaluate whether it's feasible to work on this issue and whether this new addition is going to negatively impact the lives of your other dogs, who from what I am hearing, are quite overwhelmed. A behavior professional may help assess this new dog and determine whether things are likely to work out. Feel free to post here any updates or other questions you may have.

Here are a few throughts about training the stay and come. Training two dogs at once can cause some extra challenges that may interfere with progress, especially when training is not too fluent from the get-go. Two puppies of the same age are often too focused on each other and eager to play and interact that they may not be able to concentrate and absorb information pertaining to their environment. Sure, a little competition among the two can sometimes make them more eager to come especially when there's a strong reward involved, but if one or the other is preoccupied about something (like outdoor noises or a leash attached causing resistance), the other will feed off the emotions and then you are left with two dogs who are too over threshold to learn. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ It is best to start training the pups one by one and then only when they are both fluent in performing the behavior, you can gradually add the distraction of one another. Also, it's important to use high-value treats and a room with not many distractions going. This helps make you more "salient" than anything else and your pups more responsive to you. Try without leashes, you want your pups to voluntarily learn that coming to you is rewarding and not only that, that coming to you frees them from staying still which for dogs in perpetual movement like puppies can feel very challenging. Start with brief stays at a very close distance to put your pups for success. If your pup breaks the stay too often, it is likely he's not ready for staying that long, the area is too distracting, the treats are too low value. Once each pup is learning to be responsive, you can then practice with both pups (still with no leashes), but you may have to take some steps back again because they may be distracted from one another and therefore, you may need to start back again with very brief stays and from very close distances. Your pups are very young, so we need to also consider that it might be too hard for them to do longer ones for now. Training, socializing. playing and walking each pup individually is important, especially when owning two puppies. When owning two puppies, they may be prone to a phenomenon known as sibling rivalry. This individual time with you is important to help them learn to bond with you, learn to stay away from each other and learn to listen to you. Now, not all siblings develop sibling rivalry. There are several reports of dog owners raising two sibling or close-to-age-puppies at once without any particular problems but it's just something to be aware of. Usually, male/female combos work out best.

OK, so it sounds like the tug is what evoked the behavior. With young puppies as such who aren't used to the leash yet and react so strongly to tension, we may need to take a step back and first condition them to accept the leash before using the leash for training them to come. For young pups who were never used to wearing a leash before, the initial resistence of the leash may be an odd sensation and it turns on their "opposition reflex. "The opposition reflex, as its name implies, is a phenomenon where an animal pulls in the opposite direction. There is belief that there is some biological reason behind the opposition reflex as it's triggered by the dog's fight, flight and freeze response. Pulling back (or tugging) on the leash will make the dog pull more forward (forging ahead), while pulling the dog forward will make the dog pull back (balking, with feet planted on the ground). So the objective in the case of your pups is to condition them slowly to this odd sensation. We therefore need to help these wee ones out a little so they don't go in panic mode. You will have to train this conditioning exercise one dog at a time so to not let them feed off each others' emotions. The goal is to gently teach the pups to give in to slight leash pressure. Practice in a room with little distractions going on. You want to be the most interesting feature of the room. Have some high-value treats and sit on the couch. No leash is on at this point. Make a smacking sound like you’re kissing the air with your mouth, then toss your dog a treat straight after. Repeat this simple exercise several times until your dog learns to associate the smacking sound with treats. You’ll know this is the case when, the moment you make the sound, your dog looks for his treat! Once you have a solid response, you can put on the leash. Now, practice the same exercise on the leash repeating. At some point, stop making the smacking sound. Your pup will likely lose interest and will try to walk away. As soon as minimal tension builds on the leash, make your smacking sound and deliver the treat. Repeat the same exercise several times. You want your pup to learn that giving in to leash pressure is rewarding so it prevents the pup from resisting it. You can then try this exercise while walking in a quiet room, any time your pup is lagging a bit behind or walking in front, stop, make your smacking sound and reward for loosening up the leash and coming to you for the treat. You puppy should eventually learn that the sweet spot next to you is extra rewarding, the leash is loosened up and he is rewarded. A win-win! Of course, it's important to work at the pup's pace. If at any part of this exercise you notice your pup is going a bit in panic mode, you need to take a step back and evaluate how to make the exercise a bit easier such as by using lighter pressure, or working in an area that is less distracting, or using higher value treats, or making sessions shorter, etc. I will post shortly with some tips on training to come from a stay.

Management is ideal for now when people are coming over so that your dog doesn't rehearse the problem behaviorm, become anxious and for safety. There are several ways: close the dog in safe room, crate, play pen, keep in the yard etc. If your dog has been using the crate as a bed during the day, he likely enjoys it, but sometimes things can get a bit challenging when we close them in it. Being that he is one year-old and not a new puppy, and therefore not a blank slate, it is very important therefore to ensure the dog forms positive associations in being closed in it gradually. If the experience for some reason becomes unpleasant (kept in there for too long, too hot, too cold, exposed to scary noises, anxious), there are risks some negative emotions may take place and he may stop going to sleep there voluntarily during the day. If you choose to use the crate, for the first times closing him in it, I suggest starting by giving him a longer-lasting "treat" such as stuffed Kong or bully stick to work on if he can use these safely and start with brief periods of time. Right now, 20-30 minutes may be too long to start with if he was never confined in it. You can find a video series on conditioning dogs to like the crate here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/ Yes, you can reward him for acting good in the crate, just make sure you do not reward when he is actively whining or trying to get out of it by opening the door or giving attention as this will reinforce these behaviors. And of course, if he is whining and trying to get out, that's often an indication that more work is needed to getting him to enjoy being crated in the first place. Also, make sure all his needs are met before closing (he has gone potty, drank, was exercised etc) so that you know he isn't whining for physiological reasons.

You're very welcome! Your dogs are fortunate to have a dedicated owner like you. Good luck! Best, Adrienne

Hello astark551, Welcome to the forums. I need some details to better have an idea of what evoked this behavior exactly. Were you practicing recalls by having a helper hold them and then calling them and letting them come to you while dragging the leash? When did the pulling/jumping occur? Was it when they were restrained by the leashes and prevented from moving? If so, they were likely reacting to the "resistance" and need some conditioning to get used to that. If so, I can provide some details on how to condition them to that.

When dealing with behavior problems as such, this falls under behavior modification more than dog training. Sure, dog training can help in getting the dog to better contol his impulses, but behavior modification should come first considering that the initial goal is to change the dog's emotions. Once the dog's emotions are changed, than training can be incorporated since the dog is less worried about the whole situation, under threhold and better able to cognitively function ( in other words, better able to redirect and perform behaviors like sit, stay etc in face of strong distractions). If your dog is running wild trying to protect his territory and has even reached the point of nipping your friend, I would suggest for safety and correct implementation of behavior modifitication to consult with a behavior professional at once. These problems tend to get worse rather than better if not tackled quickly. Look for one who uses humane, force-free behavior modification methods. For your particular situation, an exercise that contains elements of behavior modification (and therefore changing the emotions towards people approaching the home) is the "Look at that" exercise. Repeated often enough, this exercise can provide you with a starting point for changing the emotions towards people walking by the window. You can find this exercise here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ A disclaimer is warrented here though: Be very careful, touching your dog at any time that he's acting territorial or overly aroused can put you at risk for a re-directed bite. You may need a behavior professional to initially help you out for safety and coreect behavior modification implementation. When you aren't actively working on changing the emotions towards triggers at the window, you need to manage your dog's environment so that he doesn't rehearse the troubleome behavior of barking at triggers out of the window. This would mean preventing access to windows when you are not around and unable to redirect him to your smacking sound. This doesn't necessarily mean crating him, if he doesn' get too much in mischief you can keep him in the bathroom (perhaps remove toilet paper rolls to prevent them from becoming his favorite toys) or in a pen in the kitchen or anywhere he can't access windows. Unfortunately, with behavior modification and training, deep consistency is a must, so you will have to have everybody on the same page when it comes to redirecting his behavior as often as needed. If others in your family can't comply, he's better off being prevented from accesssing windows altogether either by putting window film or other means. After practicing "look at that" from windows and obtaining a positive emotional response (oh, look a person walking by, where's my treat!, where's my treat!) then you would have to move on to getting him less anxious when people come over the house. This is, again, where a behavior professional comes handy. There are always risks for bites to guests and even family members when arousal levels are so high. Also, the professional can act as starting point by assessing your dog and getting your dog initially used to having him/her in the house and then moving on to having organized set-ups having people over who are instructed to follow particular guidelines (never look directly at the dog, or try to give the dog attention, people who don't move fast and act very calmly and sit down on the couch). Dangers for bites are higher when people enter and exit the home or get up from sitting and walk around the house. The dog should be initially kept on leash for safety, but the dog owner must always watch the dog for signs of stress and prevent him from being over threhold. The dog should be kept initially at distance from guests (desensitization) and then once that "sweet spot" where he is less worried is found, he should be fed treats anytime the guest performs a behavior that the dog finds intimidiating (counterconditioning) . In order to work on his triggers, first it would important to find out what exactly are the dog's triggers. A behavior professional coming into your home, again, can help individualize these. They might not be outright obvious to the untrained eye. It may look like a dog is barking non-stop when in reality the dog is reacting to the person's tone onf voice, coughing, the person's movements (leaning forward), gesticulating etc. To better understand what may going on in a territorial dog's mind, I suggest starting with the following reads: -Here is a general read about territoriality in dogs. It might not always look like it, but most territorial dogs are acting out of fear: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/overprotective-at-home/ -If your dog is unable to be redirected when he sees triggers from the window and is very anxious when guests are over, he is over threshold. Read about dog threshold levels here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ -Learn to recognize signs of fear and stress: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/signs-fear-stress-dogs/ -A dogs threshold levels often reduce if the dog is given distance from the trigger and is exposed gradually in a systematic manner to his triggers. This gradual, step-by- step approach is known as desensitization, read more about desensitization here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ -Behavior modfication works best when desensitization is combined with counterconditioning. You want to present triggers at a distance and gradually expose to them while also making great things happen when the trigger is present. One of the most powerful ways to do this is by feeding high-value treats that are only given during behavior modification exercises. Creating these powerful associations falls under counterconditioning, read more about it here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ -A helpful form of counterconditioning is the open bar/closed bar method. To make it clear that people approaching the home or guests are what make treats happen, treats are fed when people are walking by and no more treats are fed when the people have gone out of sight. You can read about this powerful method here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/ -Before having guests over, it may help to desensitize to door bells or knocks https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/barking/doorbells-knocks-on-doors/ -Next, it would be important to tackle guests entering the door or room: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/ -Once progress is made up to the point of having guests over, the treat and retreat game can turn helpful to help him gain trust: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/treat-retreat-game/ -The treat and retreat game is important to avoid appraoch/avoidance behaviors: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/approach-avoidance/ -Learn how many dogs don't bite out of the blue in most cases: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dogs-dont-bite-blue/ -And why growling should never be suppressed in dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/growling-never-suppressed-dogs/ -And of course, provide your dog with sufficient levels of exercise, training and brain games. Work on increasing his impulse control and frustration tolerance starting from a quiet room where he is calm: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ I hope this helps! Please don't feel bad or ashamed for doing things wrong. We are all here to learn and I have been there personally. Best, Adrienne Disclaimer: Behavior modification comes with risks. Some dogs are overly aroused when they are defending their territory. This is why you sometimes see dogs fighting when they see a trigger, they just gets so aroused, their adrenalin is pumping and they redirect on each other, which triggers a scuffle. The same thing can happen to humans. If your dog is overly aroused and you touch him or interfere, this can put you at risk for a bite. This is why your best bet is to consult with a professional. A professional will help you work under threshold so your dog is calmer and you are safer. Look for a professional who does not use pain or intimidation, as you want your dog to trust you and look forward to seeing triggers without stress.

Great! Yes, walking them individually is much less challenging. Once you have individualized a list of triggers that you have noticed a pattern of your dogs reacting to, then you are going to have to start implementing behavior modification. This is best done with the help of a behavior consultant for safety and correct implementation, but here are a few general guidelines. -Try a harness that offers the opportunity to attach the leash in front rather than a collar. Examples are the Walk your dog with love harness, the Sensible no-pull harness, the Easy-walk harness. With the leash attached to the front, you have a better level of control which will give you more confidence walking them should they tend to pull. -The goal however is to expose them to their triggers for now at a distance so they are under threshold. If they are too close, they are over threshold and cannot cognitively function to learn new emotonal responses and afterward, new behaviors. -If a trigger is getting to close, in a way that you know your dog will likely react, yes, by all means (in the initial stages) turn in a different direction. If you are in the mood for training a flashy version of a turn, you can try training the emergency u-turn. Remember; it is best to turn when you spot t a trigger at a distance, rather than too close. If too close, your dog may try to lunge as you are turning. -Once you have found a distance from which your dog doesn't react and he's nicely under threshold, then you can try to start a counterconditionining process such as Look At That. The goal is to change your dog's emotional response by feeding your dog tasty high-value treats so to help form positive associations with the triggers as he observes them. I like to make a smacking sound with my mouth a split second before delivering the treat to get the dog's attention. It doesn't matter if your dog is sitting as the triggers pass by for now, we are not focusing on training behaviors just yet right now, just simply changing the emotions. -Gradually, by taking baby steps, distance with the trigger can be decreased. If at some point the dog reacts, make a mental note of it and what happened. Perhaps we went too fast in the process getting too close, so we need to take a few steps back and increase distance again until he is comfortable at that specific level. Sometimes, it's not a matter of distance, but rather the trigger was particulalry salient (like a person running versus stationary) and the dog isn't used comfortable around people at that level of motion. In such a case, again make a mental note of what might have caused the dog to react and take advantage of this mishap to make it productive. Perhaps, you can find a place where there are joggers and practice having your dog watching them at a distance as you feed tasty treats. -After several reps, once the dog is comfortable at closer distances, it is possible to then move on to actually start asking the dog to sit. Initially, you may have to feed treats as the trigger passes. Then once the trigger is out of sight, you can stop feeding. Afterward, once your dog seems comfortable sitting while the trigger passes, you can just ask your dog to sit and reward afterward. -Some dogs do not feel comfortable sitting when the trigger passes. This may be because they are still fearful and sitting is in contrast with what reactive dogs would naturally do which is lunging or retreating. In such as case, it might be better to engage the dog in motion-based activities such as doing some steps of attention healing while passing the trigger. -Finally, here are two important tips I have found helpful for some of my clients: 1) take your dog frequently on walks, preferably on a daily basis. If you miss walking a couple of days, you may see already a difference in reactivity. The more walks, the better. There is such a thing as desocialization and it takes often place when dogs don't get to keep their minds busy on seeing enough outdoor stimuli. Let's call it "maintenance of social skills." Dogs who live in suburban areas, are prone to becoming reactive because they do not see enough people and dogs overtime. 2) Only once your dog seems more comfortable, it may help to take him frequently to places that are oversaturated with stimuli. A trip to a big city or a trip to the farmer's market (he doesn't have to neceassarily walk through the crowds if that makes you nervous, but just seeing a bunch of people and people walking dogs coming and going helps as you keep working on training and creating positive associations). The help of a professional for closer encounters to people and other dogs is always recommended. A diclaimer is therefore warranted here, considering that when dealing with reactive behaviors there are always risks for a re-directed bite or people/other dogs getting injred. Behavior modification may come with risks (to the dog, the owner and other people, and other dogs). It's important to play it safe and seek in-person help from a behavior professional for safety and correct implementation. Hope these help! Best, Adrienne

Hello, Are you walking them together or one by one? Have you recognized what triggers exactly set them off? Have you read the article below on threshold levels? It sounds like they are overtreshold, and you may need to take a more gradual approach. If they are reactive due to fear'lack of socialization, this falls more under behavior modification rather than training at this point. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

Greetings, and welcome to the forum. When a puppy doesn't respond to redirection, there are some possibilities: -The puppy is too over threshold -The puppy hasn't been trained an alternate behavior that is fluent enough (this may take some time to train) to replace the problem behavior -The toy offered to redirect is too low value in respect to nipping -Treats offered to redirect are too low value in respect to nipping -Games offered to redirect aren't rewarding enough -There hasn't been much consistency among family members. If the behavior is allowed sometimes yes and sometimes no, it puts it on a variable schedule, which means persistence is being rewarded. -Children are encouraging the nipping by playing with the pup in chasing games/play with hands/moving fast away when puppy grabs pants etc. -The nipping is being rewarded by moving away or providing resistance (which is what encourages dogs to latch on more as we become human tug toys to them) Now, this is a very young puppy, (so it's good this is being tackled before the pup gets larger and stronger), but sorry to say, one breed component (Old English sheepdog) of this particicular mix is one that is predisposed to nipping behaviors. Old English sheepdog pups can be quite a challenge, and the nipping can take time to overcome because it has a strong genetic component. This behavior needs to be redirected as it can get out of hand if not addressed. It's play, but it can get rough and a strong habit. Being that she is smart, we need to outsmart her. The main goal being providing consistency and making our bodies and clothes rather boring to interact with, while making other toys or games more appealing. While yelping can be effective with many puppies, it doesn't always work with very determined puppies or those with high prey drive as the yelping increases their arousal because it makes us humans sound like a hurt animal. If the yelping seems to increase arousal or doesn't seems to work, then it might be time for plan B. The fact that she grabs stronger when you stop interacting with her, may be an extinction burst (see the glossary section for this). Basically, it can be her way of trying to engage with you more. If you freeze and stop interacting and she grabs stronger and that gets you moving (hard to stay still if the bite hurts!), then her stronger bites are being reinforced. "If I bite stronger, my owner finally engages with me, yay!" To prevent this, you would have to persist and be determined to not move at all to prevent her from getting any reward history, but I know this can be a challenge, especially if those sharp teeth hurt! You may be better off therefore giving a shot to redirection at this point, trying your best though to catch her before she has had the opportunity to latch on. -Try redirection using high-value toys. Trying to redirect using a regular toy that likely your puppy has always access to can be rather boring compared to your clothes she can play tug with. Instead, try walking in the room when you expect her to come towards you to nip, and as soon as she is close to you,freeze (become motionless)and offer her a stuffed Kong (Kong toy stuffed with smelly goodies like peanut butter and dog cookies), rather than just a regular toy. This should occupy her for long enough for you to walk away. A Kong Wobbler/ Buster Cube filled with a portion of her daily allowance of kibble can also come handy once she learns how to get the kibble out. - You can also try to engage her with toys that add movement into the game such as a tennis ball tossed in the opposite direction (make it extra fun!) or a flirt pole (stick with a stuffed animal attached one end). The goal is to find a way to make these toys much more interesting, rewarding and fun to interact with than your bodies or clothes. -You can also encourage some fun games that are also rewarding. Here are some fun ones: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/ -Training a replacement behavior can also come handy. You can try with Targeting, which is explained in the Brain Games sections of the course. Since she's small, you can teach her to target a target stick or long wooden spoon you can carry when you walk so that you can keep her focus off your clothes but on the wooden spoon instead. - You can teach her to do some attention heeling inside the home (no leash needed), if she can stay so focused on your clothes, she can eventually be taught to stay focused on your eyes if you make the activity rewarding. Every time she makes eye contact with you, toss a treat across the room so that she gets a workout too. Now, with the short attention span of puppies, don't expect to get long attention, but just a quick glance works for now. After several reps, she should approach you to make eye contact in exchange for a tossed treat, rather than focus on your clothes. - Ask her to sit when you see her approaching you and reward by tossing a treat away. Do this as often as needed. You should see an increase in the sitting behavior and a decrease in the clothing nipping behavior overtime. -Remember that learning (of good and bad behaviors) always takes place in all your interactions with your puppy. You may find it helpful to carry a treat bag filled with some kibble on you at all times so to provide opportunities to make good choices. This for the most part initially until you puppy learns to seek alternate forms of entertainment. -Make sure you provide outlets for pent-up energy. Games, training, exercise and opportunities for socialization should wear her out and provide outlets for her basic needs. With brain games that allow her to chase things and get rewards out of them (like kibble out of a bottle or a Kong Wobbler) she should seek them more and more which can turn your clothes pretty boring after a while because she gets more out of these activities when he's bored. -Also remember that puppies need to sleep too. Sometimes, when they are super nippy, they just may be cranky and in need of a nap. Give a pleasant time-out in a crate with chew toy. Chewing should relax her and make her likely to sleep. You may have to try several of these and see what works best. Redirection to a rewarding treat-dispensing toy or game thar uses treats should be quite easy at this age. Teaching an alternate behavior is too important because dogs cannot misbehave if they are busy making eye contact or sitting! It may take a bit of time though to teach these alternate behaviors fluently but it is sure worth the time and effort. By providing outlets for her energy and needs for mental stimulation and reinforcing appropriate behaviors, you should eventually start seeing a decrease in the nipping behavior. Keep track of it so to measure whether things are getting better with time. I hope this helps, Good luck! Adrienne

If the barking and chewing during the day is short-lived, like just a few minutes and then the pup settles and takes a nap, then it often may be solved by providing him with a tough interactive toy like a stuffed Kong to keep him busy until he vents off his initial stress/frustration. But if it's sustained and long lasting,(which can also be a problem in a close-knit neighborhood) then an alternative option to using the crate may have to be used, like a puppy safe enclosure (pen) or safe blocked off area of a room or safe room. Whether this turns out being a temporary or permanent solution depends on several factors (time, whether the pup can be properly re-acclimated to the crate, etc). There is always an element of risk when two dogs are left together and it's impossible to really make a predictment on how things may go. There are countless owners who leave their two dogs who get along together during the day with no incident, but then there is also the occasional incident that makes one rethink things. I cannot make recommendations due to the fact that dogs can be sometimes unpredictable.

Yes, many puppy owners invest in two crates for this reason. The extra heavy wire crates are left in the living room, while a travel crate is used for the bedroom. One reason why travel crates may be preferable for the bedroom is because the wire ones are so noisy when the dog moves around at night. On top of that, the travel crate comes handy when the dog needs to go see the vet or go on any car rides.

Not necessarily, as long as there is time to help the dog acclimate to it and lots of positive associations are formed. There are sometimes exceptions though with dogs who have "confinement phobia" or separation anxiety and these can sometimes be a challenge.

You are very welcome! Keep us posted. If your pup expects a walk, it may actually be a good idea to walk him first to drain some energy and hopefully lower his threshold a bit and then practice leave its.

It sounds like your dog is upset about being closed in the crate at night. Not the crate per se' perhaps, but more the location. If your other dog sleeps in your room, your pup may want to join you all because he feels isolated from his family, his social group. His barking and scratching are likely his way to ask to be let out and the chewing directed at the crate's edge and blanket sounds like anxious chewing. Have you ever considered bringing the crate to the bedroom too? This may help him settle if his anxiety is due to the desire to be with his family. This alone can help form a good association with the crate. He may perhaps bark a bit initially, but he should settle down nicely once he realizes you are all there with him together. I would suggest recording your pup's behavior during the day in the crate when you leave or perhaps use some form of remote monitoring. Just to see what he does when left alone. If he barks, scratches and is unable to settle in the crate during the day, then the concern would be that negative associations are being formed with crate and that is a concern because a day may come where he may no longer want to enter it or he can get hurt trying to get out.

Great to hear you took notice of your dog's reactivity towards people with hats. It's not always easy to identify the exact piece of the puzzle of what element may cause a dog to act a certain way. Knowledge is power as you now know what you may need to do some work on. Good job in starting with you wearing one firsthand! Once the hat comes off, then things should then get boooring...All the fun ends. Hopefully, she'll also get to meet some nice people wearing hats in the future, while you feed her some goodies. People wearing hats= great things about to happen!

I too have some additional questions: How many hours is your puppy closed in the crate during the day? And how many at night? Also, is your other dog around your puppy when crated during the day?

You have received excellent advice from Jennifer. Other ideas that come to mind is creating an area just for the kitties. It's important for your cat's comfort and safety, that they are provided with a safe place to retreat that is out of your dogs' reach. There are several options to provide such areas. -You can use a pet baby gate equipped with a small pet door at the bottom that is enough for your cats to go through but not enough for your dogs to pass through (this might not work for your puppy though as he may easily fit through). -Alternatively, you can provide your cats special cat trees and condos that are high enough to be out of your dogs' reach. If your cats are stressed by your dogs, you may also want to provide some calming aids such as Feliway or Comfort Zone, which are products that mimic a chemical that cats are known to emit through special glands on their faces when they are feeling calm. There are also several over-the-counter supplements that can help calm down nervous kitties. Cats, being creatures of habit, can easily get stressed by changes and new additions. It's important that your puppy isn't allowed to rehearse chasing behaviors over and over, also, considering the fact that your older dog seems to picking up this habit. Left untreated, chasing cats can quickly become your dogs' favorite past time and that's for sure not a good hobby as it can put your cats in peril. Preventing rehearsal of chasing behavior requires strict management and this entails keeping your dogs away from your cats when you are not supervising and keeping them under control when you are supervising. Crates, pet gates (by the stairs maybe?), exercise pens, play pens and fences are management tools that can be considered when your dogs cannot be supervised. It's important to ensure your dogs have no way to escape them by chewing, digging or climbing over or under these barriers. When you are actively supervising, you can control your puppy and prevent him from rehearsing chasing behaviors with a collar and leash, and later on, with just voice control and training. Training your dogs " leave it," can turn helpful. You may need to train one dog at a time for now using only one cat. Perhaps start with the puppy if your older dog is mostly influenced by him and not prone to chase on his own. "Leave it" is covered in the 101 0bedience section of the course, but I want to offer tips on training a "leave it' in this case that is more tailored to your current situation which sounds like the most pressing issue for now. You can then train it to cater other aspects of your puppy's, life later on. In teaching dogs to "leave it, "we will be using positive reinforcement rather than intimidation. I am emphasizing this because we may often feel that the best way to train a dog to stop doing something is by using intimidation Teaching your dog to "leave it" using positive reinforcement accomplishes two things: it potentially creates positive associations between your dog and your cat and between your dog and you, and it gives your dog an alternate behavior to perform that is rewarding and your dog is wanting to perform willingly because it's so rewarding. To train your dog to leave it, put your dog on leash (in this case your puppy) and arm yourself with high-value training treats. For now, practice with a stuffed animal attached to a string or even better a flirt pole (pole with a stuffed critter attached). Have a person wiggle the stuffed animal at a distance, sit next to your dog, and when your dog shows signs of interest, tell him "leave it" and immediately deliver him a tasty treat. Repeat several times. Gradually have the helper wiggle the stuffed animal closer and closer and practice more leave its. At some point, have the helper place the stuffed animal in front of your dog and then move it away (as an animal fleeing) while you practice "leave it." Give your dog a jackpot of treats (5-6 small treats at once ) scattered for not chasing the stuffed animal. If your dog fails, you need to to further practice this part. Remember: distance is very important considering that most dogs aren't able to cognitively function (they can't think straight) when a cat is within chasing distance and they may even care less about treats! If at any time your dog isn't responsive, it's likely because he's too close to the stuffed animal (and therefore, not ready for this level of distraction yet) or the treats you are feeding aren't high value enough. Go back a few steps increasing distance temporarily and try increasing the value of the treats if he seems disinterested. Tossing the treat rather than hand feeding it, may make it more enticing as you add a fun game of "chase the treat." Next, have your dog on leash and find a distance from your cat where your dog is under threshold. You may need a helper to keep the cat at the right distance. Once you have found a distance where your dog isn't too concerned about your cat, have him practice "leave it" as done with the stuffed animal. Once you have a solid response you can practice closer distances. At some point, when you think your dog is fluent, have your cat nearby and have a friend call your cat by calling his name or shaking a box of cat food. This should cause your cat to run. Be ready to ask your dog "leave it" for this exercise and be ready to deliver a jackpot of treats for complying. Practice several times. Once your dog seems reliable, it may be time to start practicing on a long line (a long leash) and then off leash. Make sure your dog keeps the muzzle on if you are concerned about safety. Practice initially in an area where your cat can easily retreat if needed (in front of the pet gate with cat door or near the cat tree). At some point, with practice, you may notice your dog is well under voice control and looks forward to your kitty coming close because he has associated kitty with all the tasty treats used in this exercise. He may voluntarily look at you and approach you for his treat upon seeing the cat. If you are concerned about using treats and their associated calories, you don't have to use treats all the time in dog training. As your dog gets more and more used to being around kitty, these exercises can be later done with a portion of the dog's daily ratio of kibble and then later on, the use of food can be diminished over time, but you still want to use high-value treats every now and then to maintain and reinforce the good behaviors. You can also try giving clicker training a try. Please read the clicker training section if you haven't done so yet in the course to get started. I have found the clicker to be an excellent tool for this task. To get started, a quiet area usually works best and the dog should be leashed. The cat should be released from a room and kept calm with the aid of a helper. The cat should be prevented from running away. You want to put up the dog for success so you do not want to expose him right away to the cat running and have him fail by chasing. Keep your dog on leash for better control and safety. As soon as the dog starts staring at the cat, you should click and the dog should be given a treat. In order to work, the treat should come right as soon as the click sound is produced. Let too many seconds pass by and the dog no longer knows why you are clicking him for (not chasing the cat). If the dog does not respond to the click it could be because the cat is too close. Try to repeat with the cat at a farther distance. Then as the dog appears to respond to the click, try to allow the cat to get closer. After several days, the dog should have learned that the clicker is a much more interesting device than paying attention to the cat. Success occurs when the dog is no longer interested in chasing the cat and no longer stares at the cat as prey. A disclaimer is warranted here: Not all dogs will respond to training easily as some dogs have very strong prey drives. Generally, these are breeds that have been bred throughout the years to hunt prey, therefore prey drive is inherited deep in their genes. While training may reduce the will to chase, it's always recommended to consult with a dog trainer/behavior consultant for in-person evaluation, safety and guidance. There can never be such a thing as cats being 100 percent safe from dogs and vice-versa. Accidents can always happen and they happen in a split second. Always supervise dogs and cats when kept together, an incident can happen in a matter of seconds. Use collars and leashes for better control and safety as needed. If you are concerned about your dog/dogs potentially breaking loose from your grip on the leash and injuring your cat, by all means let him wear a muzzle. It never hurts to add an extra layer or protection and play it safe. If your dogs act ever aggressive towards the cats, keeps cats and dogs separated for safety.

Sounds great. If he's going in the bathroom by himself, that means you have done a great job in making the area comfy and nice. Things should start getting better as he attains better bowel and bladder control. Some pups take more, some less. Usually, by 6-7 months they can keep it for 8 hours straight.

Hello, and welcome! There are ultimately no exact general rules of thumb when it comes to how long to train dogs per session and how many sessions to do a day. There are many variables at play such as the age of the dogs, breed, energy levels, health, the experience of the person training, current mindset of the dog, whether the dog was ever trained before etc. It's often a matter of personally gauging how things are going and keeping an eye out for signs of tiring. Some dogs can get tired after just 5 minutes of training others can go on for 15 minutes at a time. Watch for signs of frustration, stress or tiring under the form of yawning, a sudden itch, walking away, loss of interest etc. You want to avoid getting to this point. To play it safe, best to keep sessions short and sweet at first, always ending on a positive note. As for quantity, again, there are variables. After testing the waters with a few brief sessions, you can eventually progress and try as many as you can fit in a day without the dogs getting bored or uninterested. You may find that you can train more and longer on some days, while some days less. Just like us dog may have more productive days than others. Three 10 minute sessions sound reasonable as a goal for dogs of this age, but you may find that you may have to build up to that initially. You might also find it helpful to just randomly ask your dog to perform the new behaviour throughout the day, as one or two repetitions. Some of my busy clients like to use television commercial breaks for training. Whether your dogs can be trained together really also depends on various factors and your individual situation. I would encourage training one dog at a time at first just because in the initial stages of training, you want one-on-one attention without too many distractions going on. For example, if your dogs are prone to barking/alerting to stimuli, they will also likely feed off each others' moods which negatively interferes with training creating disruptions. If they have had little training before they will also likely want to play with each other rather than pay attention to you. You also don't want one dog getting in the middle because he smells treats. In these cases, one-on-one training can be easier in the initial stages until you have better control over both dogs. If you need more time alone, you can always crate a dog with a stuffed Kong to keep occupied until it's his turn and then swap. The great news is that once both dogs are getting more and more fluent in performing the desired behaviors, you can get them to perform the behaviors they were taught together, which works great as part of the proofing process (dogs responding nicely despite the distraction of each others' presence). Now, when it comes to brain games, there are some that can potentially be played together, while others may not be too practical because it would involve too much multi-tasking on your part. Also, if your dogs have a tendency to resource guard, you may want to avoid having them play games where food is scattered around as that may lead to squabbles.

Hello Jennifer, I am so sorry this incident happened. It sure sounds like a resource-guarding issue. If Momo usually listens to "leave it" maybe the "leave it" this time came too late (leave it works usually before the dog has the item in his mouth) or this was a very high-valued resource and he wasn't trained around this level of high-value distraction yet (which can be challenging at times, as with certain items, we don't have much opportunity to practice around with!) With a reaction as such, perhaps it was a bone or carcass of some animal that stank to high heavens. In any case, it's something that needs to be tackled or it risks getting worse. You ask whether Gertie's recent addition may have played a role in this behavior. It might not since you mention these episodes don't normally happen when she is around, but sometimes a new addition can cause stress in dogs (especially anxious dogs prone to resoure guard) and this may cause them to be more "on edge" around their environment and around their perceived resources. Sometimes they may get confused too (eg. startling them from behind when they have a resource may cause a bite because they think it's the other dog trying to steal their item). A behavior modification plan for a case as such may entail first a vet visit to rule medical disorders that decrease a dog's threshold for aggression, followed then by a desensitization and counterconditioning program to reduce the anxiety associated with the threat of losing access to an item. Some work on counterconditioning collar grabs may be needed as well (eg. dog is presented with a low value resource, owner grabs collar gently and feeds a high-value treat). However, voice control is safer than any physical intervention as with physical intervention (e.g. collar grab, arm or leg reaching out to remove item, moving the dog away, attempts to pry mouth open) there are always risks for evoking a startle response. Management of the environment, limiting exposure to strangers in the property other than in a structured setting ( like keeping the dog on leash around people and asking for alternate behaviors to replace the unwanted ones) and training fluent responses to re-direction (like response to a smacking sound, to the point of having the dog almost reflexively respond to it before the onset of an unwanted behavior) are also important. Of course, every behavior consultant may offer different approaches, but desensitization and counterconditioning are often at the base. Here are some reads on the prevention, management and possible ameliorating of resource guarding and behavior modification in case you haven't read through them yet : Leave it: this is more for training dogs who aren't resource guarders yet but the purpose is to teach the dog the advantages of leaving stuff: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ Drop it: this is more for training dogs who aren't resource guarders yet but the purpose is to teach the dog the advantages of leaving stuff and reduce the anxiety of losing access to items: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/ This applies to how to trade for toys, but can be applied to anything dogs may resource guard: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/overprotective-of-toys/ Desensitization: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ Counterconditioning: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ I hope Banfield will be able to refer you to the right professional. You can find also several force-free consultants from the Pet Professional Guild website which has a directory of behavior consultants tackling aggresssion. Seeing a professional for an in-person evaluation and guidance is important for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the update. What were your vet's thoughts about the peeing during walking? You can collect a urine sample from home by using a ladle to collect a sample while he's squatting and collecting it inside a sterile glass jar. Note the time collected and put your dog's name and your last name on an adhesive and stick it to the jar. You should take it to your vet within one to two hours. If that’s not possible, you can refrigerate it for up to 24 hours, but the fresher the better. Alternatively, your vet can collect a sterile sample directly by cystocentesis, but if your pup doesn't like needle sticks then best to go the traditional route.