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I have a unique situation. My daughter has physical disabilities and could benefit from a service dog in the future. I, myself, have an OLD maltese mix who is very unstable on his legs. She came across a deal we couldn't pass up and bought an Aussie doodle puppy to train for her future service dog. Here is our set up, because "Wackadoodle" is so big and so young, he thinks our "Old man" is a play toy and plows over hi or bats him around every chance he gets! I am afraid he will hurt him! SO, we have to keep them separate. So we have "Wackadoodle" penned off in the dining room with access to the doggy door and his kennel. Periodically we will kennel him to allow Old man to go outside. At other times of the day we pen up "Old man" and allow "Wackadoodle" to roam free and play in the common areas. But when "Wackadoodle" is penned up he is whining and throwing his body against the fenced off area trying to shove his way out, he bites at the fence and pulls at it constantly. All he does is try to escape. DO you have any recommendations or training tips that will help us to calm / settle/ him down to relax until he's allowed out of his area. Please note: His area is not too small, and like I said, he has access to our backyard any time he pleases so he has plenty of room to run and play at any given moment indoors or out, lots of toys and plenty of attention throughout the day.

Hi Adrienne! Thank you for taking the time to address, Penelope's concerns with her German Shepherd mix dog and the nipping/biting/ "talking back" issues. I am going through a similar situation with my Anatolian Shepherd/Maremma Sheepdog Bella. She is also almost 6 months old and over 60lbs. She doesn't bite/nip on me constantly, but does like to mouth a lot. I try to praise the heck out of licking to get her to give "kissies" more. But so far she prefer mouthing more. She does more biting/nipping mostly when she wants to try to escalate to play fight (as if I'm another dog) or is doing what I call "throwing a tantrum" because of being corrected from doing something she shouldn't. (digging holes looking for moles, or trying to eat deer poop out in the field on our long line leash walks.) I have found that if I walk with a large walking stick in my fenced in half acre with her, she doesn't try to nip/bite me. Or if she does, I place the walking stick between us and she stays back (she might nip towards the stick a few times, then will chase her own tail or something to expend her energy that way). Kind of like a shepherd with a staff? I *never* hit her with it or anything. It's just the act of putting it between us that keeps her back when we are off leash. Kind of like a flirt pole I guess? Is there anything wrong with walking with a big stick/staff and putting it between us like this? In the field by the house I haven't fenced in yet (planning to fence in around 2 acres around the property next year), I walk her nightly on a long line (50ft) in the area and for the most part she does great. But if she tries to get into something I don't want her to and I lead/pull her away (such as deer poop) she will usually charge me and start "throwing a tantrum". Not aggressive at all. Just nipping at my legs, butt, clothes, hands. I see it like she's complaining I didn't let her do what she wanted so she's trying to bully me into letting her do it and/or telling me how upset she is for not letting her do the thing. She mostly does this kind of behavior if I'm not letting her do something she wants to do, or stopping her from doing something she wants to do when we're out on the long line. I usually choke up on the leash and/or grab her collar and hold her away from me as much as possible until she calms down and repeat "No bite!!" "Stop!" until she wears out and stops and sits calmly, then praise for being "nice" and sitting calmly. After a little rest, she's fine again and ready to keep walking. The only thing I haven't tried yet is bringing my walking stick with me while out on the leash too. What am I becoming now, Gandalf the Grey?? LOL Any other ideas to get her to stop throwing a tantrum when she's kept from doing something she wants to do? Should I just accept I am a shepherd and need to always keep my staff with me now or at least until she's 2 years old and more mature? lol For other things when I tell her no, leave it, etc like when she looks like she is going to try to play with the ducks, for instance, she stops right away and has no problem with learning the boundary. She only throws a tantrum on a correction when it's doing something she REALLY wanted to do (digging holes and eating deer poop for instance) or if I'm standing talking to my mom and she wants to keep walking, she'll come over and start nipping me or my mom or both of us all over. We tell her no in a stern voice and sometimes she'll roll on her back to show she's submitting, but keep kicking and nipping at us as she does it. Usually I have to choke up on her leash and/or grab her collar to hold her away until she calms again(she's usually twisting around and trying to nip/bite and/or get away to nip/bite for a minute or two at this point).. I keep telling her "No bite!" and "Stop!" She knows "nice" so sometimes I try "Be nice" too. Yesterday I tried running through all of her obedience training that we practice twice every day (sit, lay, shake, look at me, etc) and that took her focus and stopped her for a minute, but then she remembered she was being a butt before and started throwing a fit again after performing her training tricks. If we're closer to the house and in the fenced area and off leash and she starts nipping a bunch and won't stop, I'll usually go in the house for awhile until she calms down and she's better when I come back out. I try to let her know that she won't keep getting my attention if she keeps nipping. We do a "check" (perimeter walk) inside the fenced area twice a day and she is with me during chores feeding the ducks. Normally she doesn't bother them, but if one of them decides to freak out and run or flap around her, now and then she will look like she wants to play with it and I stop her before she even starts to try. Then promptly take her out of the pen. Thankfully she listens to that quickly. Usually she has no problem and will drink their water or eat some of their grain while I'm doing chores and not even look at the ducks no matter how noisy they are being. She is mostly outside as she is training to become a livestock guardian dog for my ducks. They are in their predator proof pen except for when I let them forage for a couple hours a day in part of the yard that I gate Bella away from. I haven't let her walk around with them outside of their pens much yet. They don't even really like ME near them, so I don't push it. lol She has a dog house, a kennel in half of my woodshed, and access to the front porch at all times. I just don't bring her inside because I have 3 inside cats and 2 senior small dogs (the female doesn't like other females) that have their own fenced yard (40x40 area) with a dog door near where Bella's yard and the ducks are. I know she's still a baby, a 60+lb big baby, and right now I am trying my best to help her learn obedience skills, socialization with touching her feet, putting my fingers in her mouth to take something out, look at her teeth/gums etc. She may not like it when I take something away, but if it's something she can have, I'll practice "leave it", take it away, then give it back after I look at it. Otherwise, I say "yucky!" and throw it away. I try to teach "mine" and "yours" or "Bella's" as well. But I'm also teaching her things like perimeter walks/checks and getting her used to being around the ducks, etc. She's usually ok with leave it and "yucky!" means she doesn't get to keep it. But sometimes she gets mad about it and throws a tantrum if she doesn't get to keep it. I have no intention of rehoming her. Since the puppy teeth have been changing to adult, clothes are getting torn less thankfully, but it would be nice to not have bruises on my arms and legs. Thankfully she does have bite inhibition, but still. Ouch. She reacted the same way with the "yip" noises as Penelope's dog. Sees it as a challenge. She does that at times if I say "No!" sternly as well. When off-leash I try corrections in a progression like "Look, Noise, Charge, Touch, Pin" to get her to calm down if I can't get away from her and into the house or something easily and she's escalating. Sometimes I get stern when she starts nipping while out on the long lead and she starts to ramp up her nipping. So if I can, I try more just to remain as calm as possible and hold her away with the leash and tell her "No bite" and "Stop". She seems to calm down faster when I can remain calmer during corrections. Sometimes it is very hard to do when you're getting bruises, but I do try! I bought her a pool and filled it with sand to be able to hide treats and toys in it. I'm going to try that soon to help with mental exercise. She has tons of toys, bones, ropes, etc to play with as well. I can't do "brain" plastic toys with the little food compartments with her because she figures it out, then gets mad at the toy and wants to destroy it. LOL I'm thinking of trying a snuffle mat soon, but I'd like to hide things in the sand since she loves to dig. I might have to kennel her, go hide things, then take her to the sand and tell her to "Find it!" to get her wearing out a bit more that way. I read you don't want to walk the large breeds too much too young because of their developing joints. So I'm trying to figure out how to wear her out other ways. Does it sound like I am mostly on the right track and just need to keep re-enforcing things? Any other thoughts about what to do in the moment when she's "throwing a tantrum" and nipping me all over? I'll be Gandalf if I have to, but would rather not have to juggle a staff too. Though I did just buy a hiking belt to be able to clip her long steel cable lead to when we're walking so I guess I have a hand free. LOL Thanks so much for your help and thoughts in advance! Erin

Hi everyone, I just purchased the brain training class and am new to the forum. We're still in preschool, obviously. I have a 3 month old Australian cattle dog/Labrador mix that we just adopted about 10 days ago. She was found on the side of the road with her sister and taken to the shelter. We're in puppy hell right now... but determined to get through this. We have a 7 mo. and 11 mo. kitten as well and I've been reading the forums and courses on what we can do with that. Thank you Adrienne for the wealth of information available! I'm so excited to start working with her on impulse control and teaching her to go to her mat, etc.! She's crazy smart. We were able to teach her in the first two days to sit at the door and wait for us to invite her inside and she learned "leave it" her second day with us as well. She learned sit after just 2-3 tries! However, we are struggling with massive tantrums and I didn't see any posts about puppy tantrums. Now that she is comfortable with us, whenever she doesn't have our constant attention she will chew anything in sight and cry or bark - and if we ignore her, she throws a tantrum. I realize I should not give her attention but what do we do about the tantrums while she learns? We can't exercise her until she is vaxxed and she doesn't know how to play with anything (our previous dogs liked to fetch and just always knew how). We just have her chew things and give her kongs stuffed with kibble. But when we want to tend to the cats or go take a shower, or are in a meeting for work - she will start crying and then if we ignore her she quickly starts to bark and screech which literally send shocks up my spine. We also have a shared wall with a neighbor (we live in a duplex house so one shared wall touches all the rooms except the living room/kitchen). So ignoring her tantrums is hard to do as well because I feel bad for the neighbor. (He hasn't complained and we introduced him to her so he would know what the ruckus was but still, I want to be considerate of him). They happen once or twice a day and I struggle with my patience. And then my second question is about sleep. Keeping a sleep/activity journal has been helpful and eye-opening in realizing that she was not sleeping enough. Letting her nap instead of trying to wear her out has helped a lot. But sometimes when she wants to play with the cats, she will not sleep and then she gets cranky. Yesterday she only clocked 11.75 hours of sleep out of the 24. Her usual is around 15 hours. I can't get her to sleep any more than that. When she is wound up, I've started sitting near her and petting her (not when she is crying) and then she falls asleep but I don't want her to become dependent on us for sleep. How can I get her to sleep the full amount she needs? Is it ok to calm her down like that first? Thank you! - Caity

Hi Caitlin, Welcome to the forums, please see my observation under your bold statements: I just purchased the brain training class and am new to the forum. We're still in preschool, obviously. I have a 3 month old Australian cattle dog/Labrador mix that we just adopted about 10 days ago. She was found on the side of the road with her sister and taken to the shelter. We're in puppy hell right now... but determined to get through this. We have a 7 mo. and 11 mo. kitten as well and I've been reading the forums and courses on what we can do with that. Thank you Adrienne for the wealth of information available! I'm so excited to start working with her on impulse control and teaching her to go to her mat, etc.! She's crazy smart. We were able to teach her in the first two days to sit at the door and wait for us to invite her inside and she learned "leave it" her second day with us as well. She learned sit after just 2-3 tries! It's so sad when people just dump these precious pups on the side of the road. I am glad though that this has a happy ending. Your Aussie/Lab mix is very fortunate to have found you! She is very smart to have mastered leave it and sit after 2-3 tries and that she was ready to apply that at the door waiting for you to invite her out! Kudos to you too! However, we are struggling with massive tantrums and I didn't see any posts about puppy tantrums. Now that she is comfortable with us, whenever she doesn't have our constant attention she will chew anything in sight and cry or bark - and if we ignore her, she throws a tantrum. I don't have an official post about tantrums in the course, the term can mean different things depending on who you speak, but there's a read on impulse control and frustration tolerance that covers tantrums: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ "Tantrums" have also been discussed on the forums several times, as you can see you are not alone! https://braintraining4dogs.com/forum/search/?q=tantrum&quick=1 However, there are tantrums and tantrums and their approach may vary based on the underlying cause. I realize I should not give her attention but what do we do about the tantrums while she learns? We can't exercise her until she is vaxxed and she doesn't know how to play with anything (our previous dogs liked to fetch and just always knew how). We just have her chew things and give her kongs stuffed with kibble At 3 months, your pup's window of socialization is about to close, but these pups should still be granted ongoing socialization in a safe manner. Puppy classes are a great way to allow this, although with the pandemic, these are now organized a tad bit differently. There are still though a bunch of other activities that can be added, such as car rides, just watching the world go by a window or from the porch (LAT is great game to start forming positive associations https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/) and playing dress-up where family members can wear hats, sunglasses, take turns walking with a cane, an umbrella, wearing last year's Halloween costume etc. Also, don't forget to provide tactile sensation (walking on a variety of surfaces) It's interesting that you mention she doesn't know how to play. Have you tried tossing her kibble for her to catch? Or her chew toys? How about using a flirt pole? I would expect a pup of this age and breed to have some prey drive. Did she get a check-up from the vet just in case? But when we want to tend to the cats or go take a shower, or are in a meeting for work - she will start crying and then if we ignore her she quickly starts to bark and screech which literally send shocks up my spine. We also have a shared wall with a neighbor (we live in a duplex house so one shared wall touches all the rooms except the living room/kitchen). So ignoring her tantrums is hard to do as well because I feel bad for the neighbor. (He hasn't complained and we introduced him to her so he would know what the ruckus was but still, I want to be considerate of him). They happen once or twice a day and I struggle with my patience. I hear you! I am familiar with those ear-piercing screeches that make your spine chill. Actually, interestingly, there is a reason why we exhibit such a visceral reaction to certain ear-splitting sounds. Researchers have found that our response to the sounds of a crying baby or a human scream is ultimately as well tied to survival. This because these frequencies may prompt us to rescue a crying infant sooner, improving the baby's chances for survival. In a similar fashion, hearing a puppy vocalize may prompt in us similar alarm responses that make us want to step in and make it stop. Most likely, this goes both ways. Puppies instinctively screech as a survival mechanism. Being an altricial species, dogs as young puppies are very vulnerable, and being left alone is a scary experience. Those ear-piercing vocalizations are meant to attract mother dog and attend to her puppies. Most likely, your pup's screeching is also what may have grabbed the attention of humans by the side of the road so this instinctive screeching has been ulteriorly reinforced. Now, if this is induced by anxiety, we need to tread with caution, taking baby steps and gradually helping these pups learn to be less dependent on us. However, what to do though in the meanwhile considering that this is not an overnight process. This is a good question, also because it may seem like if we use one approach or another we are a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place. If we give the puppy attention in these cases, we may risk that, over time, she may eventually learn that her behavior works in getting what she wants, but ignoring would trigger an extinction burst (Jennifer already pointed you to some sources that discuss this term, but we'll cover more about that below) and the occasional spontaneous recovery-not great if you have neighbors who share a wall. Also, if this is triggered by anxiety, more and more behavior professionals are concerned that, the more a puppy experiences the trauma of being left alone and acts panicky, the sooner panic will set in next time and may even predispose to separation anxiety. So in these cases, it may be best doing everything you can to prevent the excessive crying from occurring in the first place. If you puppy has a tantrum at a certain time of the day or in a specific situation, you have a big advantage: predictability. If you can say, "my puppy misbehaves when....." or "my puppy misbehaves every time he sees xyz..." you have more control over the situation because you know when or in what context the undesirable behavior presents and can take steps to tackle it. In your case, it sounds like this happens once or twice a day when you tend to the cats, go take a shower or are in a meeting for work. Since you mentioned "we" it may therefore help if some other family member can stick with the puppy while doing these anxiety-inducing things. The goal here is to prevent rehearsal of the problematic behavior (the more dogs engage in certain behaviors the more they become habit-forming), protecting your relationship with your neighbor, and preventing full intensity manifestations while we take steps to ameliorate the pup's ability to become more independent. Exercises that help foster independence can be found here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-to-prevent-separation-anxiety-in-puppies/ We want to take baby steps, and progress steadily and gradually working at the pup's pace. For instance, while you take a shower, a family member can stay with the pup, but he or she can occasionally walk around the room with very brief instances of being out of sight, always working at a level that doesn't induce anxiety-basically under threshold, more on this here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ There are also calming aids that can help such as: DAP diffusers,-Adaptil offers a variety of products meant to help new puppies adapt to their new homes. Its products are made with synthetic pheromones which mimic the pheromones mother dogs produce to sooth their puppies when they're nursing. Calming music for dogs. "Through a dog's ear" is music specifically crafted for dogs, but you can find hours of music for dogs for free on YouTube. Snuggle Puppy Behavior Aid This may seem like a simple stuffed animal, but it was purposely crafted for lonely pups. It emanates warmth and also mimics a heart beat to help sooth distressed puppies. Sometimes leaving a shirt with our smell can help soothe the pups as well and covering the crate with a blanket may help some (not all). Fortunately, as puppies mature, they tend to become more independent, although we may see some challenges with some pups like those who were removed from the litter too early or puppies who who where were never left home alone or puppies with early illness. Fearful puppies may also be predisposed because they never get to learn independence and grow to be overly dependent on their caretakers. And then of course, there are other predisposing factors to consider such as the impact of change, where an owner that was always home starts working back in the office (a common scenario with the pandemic), vacations etc. Something as mentioned that may occur when we give attention to puppies crying is that puppies may learn to eventually whine/cry (add any other undesirable behavior) for attention. Often times, we fail to give attention to our dogs when they are behaving, but immediately give them attention the moment they misbehave, isn't that something? Tackling puppies misbehaving for attention is not an easy task. It requires a different approach than a dog crying for anxiety. You need to firstly evaluate whether your puppy is crying because of a truly impellent physiological need (thirsty, hungry, tired, too hot, too cold, under-exercised, needing to be taken out to go potty) and once you have ruled that out, your next step may be ignoring unwanted behaviors. This is the most difficult part because you need to ignore these behaviors totally, no looking, no talking, no scolding, no pushing, no making eye contact. No attention at all, even attention of the negative type. You would therefore have to pretend as if your pup isn't there, waiting for her to give up engaging in the undesirable behavior. As one persists in not providing attention, it's important to be aware of a particular phenomenon known as an "extinction burst." In simple words, an extinction burst takes place when you have provided your dog with attention and then suddenly stop providing it. The behavior will typically intensify or the dog may try new behaviors in hopes of getting attention again. If you endure this temporary intensification, you will eventually succeed. If you give in though and dole just about any form of attention, you will be back to square one, or may have even regressed, as you have reinforced persistence. So yes, expect behaviors to get worse before getting better, but take extinction bursts as a sign that whatever you are doing is working! Often, puppies may rebel to being confined, often under the form of strong protesting in the form of barking and whining along with chewing the bars when crated or enclosed in a play pen. A well-meaning concerned owner may inadvertently reinforce this behavior by either attending to the puppy or, releasing the puppy from his confinement. This paves the path to a strong history of reinforcement since the puppy learns how his behavior works in granting him the freedom. However, it's important to rule out anxiety. There's a difference in the body language/ vocalizations of a puppy crying simply because of being cranky and one crying from full-mode anxiety panic. Ideally, breeders should get puppies used to being confined when in their care, but it's unfortunate that many do not. If not, we can help pups get used to confinement gradually, here is a guide: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/ This is the ideal approach, in the case of puppies crying in the crate because they're not used to being confined. Shoving a puppy who was never crate trained in a crate and letting him/her cry will only make matters worse, as that's flooding rather than gradual desensitization/counterconditioning. Having said that, back to pups just rebelling to being closed and not being anxious, ignoring the behavior (and it's accompanying extinction bursts) in this case can be effective in reducing this type of behavior. The puppy should soon learn that his crate is only opened when he has been quiet for some time. Special care is therefore needed in avoiding falling into the extinction burst trap or the occasional spontaneous recovery. For sake of comparison, Williams (1959) reported the case of a “tyrant-like tantrum behavior” expressed by a 2-year-old toddler every time it was time to go to bed. The family ignoring the behavior worked well, leading to several tantrum-free nights, until one night when the child exhibited an episode of tantrum behavior (spontaneous recovery) while an aunt was watching him and she attended to him. This single reinforcing event was sufficient to cause the tantrum behavior to recover, requiring another series of extinction trials, and finally the behavior was fully extinguished. Of course, this may not be very feasible in the case of neighbors sharing a wall, but it can be doable if we strategically coordinate our training with the neighbor keeping us informed when he'll be on vacation or on an extended business trip for some time so we can take advantage and make most of that time. Of course, one must factor in, that the longer one has reinforced attention-seeking behaviors, the longer it will take to extinguish and this can a pain-staking process, which is why this is far better being tackled earlier rather than later, ideally taking as many preventive steps as possible. And then my second question is about sleep. Keeping a sleep/activity journal has been helpful and eye-opening in realizing that she was not sleeping enough. Letting her nap instead of trying to wear her out has helped a lot. But sometimes when she wants to play with the cats, she will not sleep and then she gets cranky. Yesterday she only clocked 11.75 hours of sleep out of the 24. Her usual is around 15 hours. I can't get her to sleep any more than that. When she is wound up, I've started sitting near her and petting her (not when she is crying) and then she falls asleep but I don't want her to become dependent on us for sleep. How can I get her to sleep the full amount she needs? Is it ok to calm her down like that first? Thank you! - Caity Puppies may also throw what looks like a tantrum when they are cranky and in dire need for a nap and they're still overstimulated. Expect crankiness when pups start misbehaving and therefore whine, bark, chew, bite or hump more. "This can be equated to kids spending all day at an amusement park and then are unable to sleep because they are so wound up and cranky from all the excitement," says Nan Arthur in her book Chill Out Fido. While young puppies are balls of energy, but their energy drains very fast and they need sleep to recuperate. It is estimated that young puppies require around eighteen to twenty hours for sleep per day. This may sound a whole lot, but it makes sense since puppies do most of their growing while sleeping! So it sounds like your pup needs her quiet spot- that is, definitely away from the cats. Sticking to a routine can help provide structure and reassurance. You can help a cranky puppy fall asleep by reducing stimulation and taking the following steps: -Bring your puppy to a quiet place where they usually sleep (crate, exercise pen). -Remove access to overly stimulating toys, other puppies/pets or children. -Encourage calming activities by offering a chew toy or edible chew to gnaw on top of a mat/ dog bed (these can act as pacifiers). -Close all curtains and blinds (or place a blanket over the crate). -Play calming music (like Through a Dog's Ear) -For young puppies, provide a shirt that smells like you or a soothing toy like -Consider that pups may get more cranky when they are teething Teaching your pup to lie on a mat is also great and I see that you are already considering that. I hope this helps! Happy training!

Hi Erin, Welcome to the forums! I am sorry to hear that you're dealing with lots of mouthing, and several other behaviors. Over all, it seems like she's dealing with frustration and this is something that will need tackled early taking a multi-pronged approach, in a step-by-step, systematic manner. Please see my observations in non-bold. I am going through a similar situation with my Anatolian Shepherd/Maremma Sheepdog Bella. She is also almost 6 months old and over 60lbs. She doesn't bite/nip on me constantly, but does like to mouth a lot. I try to praise the heck out of licking to get her to give "kissies" more. But so far she prefer mouthing more. She does more biting/nipping mostly when she wants to try to escalate to play fight (as if I'm another dog) or is doing what I call "throwing a tantrum" because of being corrected from doing something she shouldn't. (digging holes looking for moles, or trying to eat deer poop out in the field on our long line leash walks.) At 6 months, Bella is now approaching the adolescent stage. Livestock guardians, as you already know are slow to mature, so you may see many pup behaviors, but caged in a large body. This is a time of many challenging behaviors, and in some cases, they may get pretty overwhelming. Here is a general read about what happens during adolescence: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ You are on the right track in praising a whole lot the licking. If she's praise driven, you should see licking behaviors increase in frequency and strengthen eventually superseding the mouthing. However, from what I have read so far, I feel that there is an underlying emotion of frustration and impulsivity that may be driving certain behaviors, so this root cause needs to be addressed. Frustration-based nipping episodes are best tackled by taking a multi-faceted approach, here are some general guidelines/tips: 1) Provide outlets for her instinctive needs. For example, provide her with a digging spot where she can dig to her heart's content. You can even put digging on cue, by pointing to it and telling her to go "find stuff!" that you have previously buried under. Oh, I see now that you are actually planning on that! That's awesome! 2) Encourage independent play through brain games and food puzzles. Treasure hunts https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/ the Muffin Game https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-muffin-game/ Kong wobbler, stuffed Kongs, Topplers, Lickimats etc. If she's prone to getting frustrated, you will need to make these extra easy to empty initially, gradually increasing difficulty as she learns better impulse control. 3) Avoid corrections as much as possible. Focus on preempting undesirable behaviors, training what you would like her to do using replacement behaviors. Corrections for frustration and arousal-related behaviors is like adding fuel to the fire. Risks doing more harm than good. We need to work on lessening her struggles rather than adding to them. So it's best to tell her what you would like her to do instead and praise/reward those generously. Behaviors that are reinforced, repeat and strengthen, especially if you are able to strategically make engaging in these far more rewarding than engaging in the undesirable behavior. For example, practice working on "leave its" rather than pulling her away, and reward her with something she absolutely loves. Here is the guide for training leave it: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ 4) Preempt undesirable behaviors as much as possible. This means implement management so that you prevent rehearsal of the problematic behaviors you don't want. This means, if you see deer poop ahead, walk her at a distance from it, or even better, go on a deer poop patrol removing it from the path you're planning on walking. 5) Consider challenges. When dogs are kept outdoors for most of the time, they are free to do what they like, so they will likely struggle and feel frustrated when we expect them to do what we want. For example, if she's off leash eating poop when she feels like it, she'll likely feel frustrated being on leash and being refrained from eating deer poop. So if we put her on leash, we need to find ways to make it extra rewarding along with the training. I used to walk a dog who was free over 10 acres of land and ate all the poop he wanted, when we walked by poop, on a short leash he would manifest his frustration by scratching his neck, coincidentally right by the collar. We worked through this by practicing "leave its" using the highest value treats he drooled buckets for, and soon his behavior morphed from wanting to eat poop, to signaling me when he found poop in hopes of getting a tasty treat. More about poop eating is covered here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/eating-poop/ Management is the best option for this, and this often means erecting a fence (but I see you have this planned). 6) Provide games that allow outlets for her need to play, but without physically involving you. Consider flirt poles or long tug toys, kibble toss game (when you notice her approaching you with an intent to bite, toss a kibble *before* she has the chance to latch on. Once latched on, it's difficult to redirect them and we don't want to form any behavior chains (dog bites on purpose for getting a treat tossed afterward). 7) Practice impulse control exercises to increase her frustration tolerance. You need to take really tiny steps so to prevent frustration. So reward every little small step in the desired direction. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ 8. Redirect when you end training so that no frustration builds up. Last adolescent dog who got easily frustrated, would start nipping when we were done training, so I would end the session by letting him have a Kong stuffed with his wet kibble that was frozen beforehand. 9. Careful with ignoring behaviors that were previously reinforced. Ignoring can lead to the phenomenon of extinction bursts, which is increased frustration where the pup's behavior increases in frequency, becomes more variable, intensifies or new behaviors surface. This can be risky with dogs who tend to mouth, because it may cause them to mouth harder. I have found that if I walk with a large walking stick in my fenced in half acre with her, she doesn't try to nip/bite me. Or if she does, I place the walking stick between us and she stays back (she might nip towards the stick a few times, then will chase her own tail or something to expend her energy that way). Kind of like a shepherd with a staff? I *never* hit her with it or anything. It's just the act of putting it between us that keeps her back when we are off leash. Kind of like a flirt pole I guess? Is there anything wrong with walking with a big stick/staff and putting it between us like this? This really depends on how she perceives the stick. Some dogs are wary of large items and become fearful of them. Every time a behavior reduces, we should consider whether the dog is perceiving it as a form of punishment. However, it sounds like she still tries to nip when around it, so she may not be really fearful of it, she may just perceive it as a boundary not to cross. Yet, we are seeing that this measure frustrates her enough as she cannot reach her goal (nipping you) so that it triggers a frustration response/displacement behavior of circling/ tail chasing. So when we see frustrated behaviors, we need to take notice and find ways to reduce that. We don't want to encourage certain displacement behaviors like chasing the tail because these repetitive actions sometimes can become compulsive, which are pretty difficult to eradicate often requiring behavior modification and meds. So it would be ideal engaging her in a different way. You can try a flirt pole versus a stick at least she gets something to mouth and mouthing helps release tension, allowing a sense of closure, versus getting frustrated and attempting to grab her tail which may be difficult to grasp and may lead to a behavior vacuum (the same reason dogs get compulsive over laser pointers, they never get to grab it and this leads to a build up of frustration). Another option may be engaging her in a treat/kibble toss game, where the moment you notice her approach you with an intent to mouth (remember to catch her *before*) you toss a few kibble and/or treats, and prompt her to search for them. Once she gets good at this, you may even insert an operant behavior such as asking for a sit or hand target before tossing the treat. In the field by the house I haven't fenced in yet (planning to fence in around 2 acres around the property next year), I walk her nightly on a long line (50ft) in the area and for the most part she does great. But if she tries to get into something I don't want her to and I lead/pull her away (such as deer poop) she will usually charge me and start "throwing a tantrum". I am glad that you'll be erecting a fence. This should hopefully solve the deer poop eating behavior so something less to worry about. It would be great if this could be done sooner than later. Eating deer poop can cause GI problems, and sometimes deer may eat things that may be toxic to dogs. Not aggressive at all. Just nipping at my legs, butt, clothes, hands. I see it like she's complaining I didn't let her do what she wanted so she's trying to bully me into letting her do it and/or telling me how upset she is for not letting her do the thing. She mostly does this kind of behavior if I'm not letting her do something she wants to do, or stopping her from doing something she wants to do when we're out on the long line. I usually choke up on the leash and/or grab her collar and hold her away from me as much as possible until she calms down and repeat "No bite!!" "Stop!" until she wears out and stops and sits calmly, then praise for being "nice" and sitting calmly. After a little rest, she's fine again and ready to keep walking. The only thing I haven't tried yet is bringing my walking stick with me while out on the leash too. What am I becoming now, Gandalf the Grey?? LOL Any other ideas to get her to stop throwing a tantrum when she's kept from doing something she wants to do? Should I just accept I am a shepherd and need to always keep my staff with me now or at least until she's 2 years old and more mature? lol For other things when I tell her no, leave it, etc like when she looks like she is going to try to play with the ducks, for instance, she stops right away and has no problem with learning the boundary. She only throws a tantrum on a correction when it's doing something she REALLY wanted to do (digging holes and eating deer poop for instance) or if I'm standing talking to my mom and she wants to keep walking, she'll come over and start nipping me or my mom or both of us all over. We tell her no in a stern voice and sometimes she'll roll on her back to show she's submitting, but keep kicking and nipping at us as she does it. Usually I have to choke up on her leash and/or grab her collar to hold her away until she calms again(she's usually twisting around and trying to nip/bite and/or get away to nip/bite for a minute or two at this point).. I keep telling her "No bite!" and "Stop!" She knows "nice" so sometimes I try "Be nice" too. Yesterday I tried running through all of her obedience training that we practice twice every day (sit, lay, shake, look at me, etc) and that took her focus and stopped her for a minute, but then she remembered she was being a butt before and started throwing a fit again after performing her training tricks. She is struggling with the duration. She does show the ability to focus on you, but not for that long. Try giving her something to chew on while you're talking, a hand-made Kong, kibble/treat tosses/ treasure hunts. Also, try to keep the talks brief for now, and end them on a positive note to set her for success. For example, you start talking, then ask her to perform the behaviors (sit, lay, shake etc) and then end the talk and resume walking. You gradually increase duration but make sure to mix in shorter talks so that she doesn't detect an increase in difficulty. If we're closer to the house and in the fenced area and off leash and she starts nipping a bunch and won't stop, I'll usually go in the house for awhile until she calms down and she's better when I come back out. I try to let her know that she won't keep getting my attention if she keeps nipping. We do a "check" (perimeter walk) inside the fenced area twice a day and she is with me during chores feeding the ducks. Normally she doesn't bother them, but if one of them decides to freak out and run or flap around her, now and then she will look like she wants to play with it and I stop her before she even starts to try. Then promptly take her out of the pen. Thankfully she listens to that quickly. A time out carried out in a timely matter, where you are the one leaving rather than having her move to a different area is preferable in these cases, as it doesn't involve physically restraining her. It needs to be clear that your departure is contingent upon her mouthing behavior, and your staying is contingent upon her behaving in desirable ways. However, be watchful for signs of frustration when you leave (does she start circling? biting her tail? if so, we may need a different less frustration building intervention). I know she's still a baby, a 60+lb big baby, and right now I am trying my best to help her learn obedience skills, socialization with touching her feet, putting my fingers in her mouth to take something out, look at her teeth/gums etc. She may not like it when I take something away, but if it's something she can have, I'll practice "leave it", take it away, then give it back after I look at it. Otherwise, I say "yucky!" and throw it away. I try to teach "mine" and "yours" or "Bella's" as well. But I'm also teaching her things like perimeter walks/checks and getting her used to being around the ducks, etc. She's usually ok with leave it and "yucky!" means she doesn't get to keep it. But sometimes she gets mad about it and throws a tantrum if she doesn't get to keep it. I would add some sort of reward for training this, you don't want to take this for granted and you want to form positive associations toprevent the onset of resource guarding. So I would practice mouth inspections and taking something away and replace it with something yummy. This is to build enough positive associations, so that that day, when we may not have something yummy to replace, she'll be compliant and we can praise lavishly and pet her and tell her how good she was, and then practice more with yummy exchanges to maintain the behavior. More about preventing resource guarding and getting things out of the mouth is covered here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/the-importance-of-preventing-resource-guarding-in-puppies/ However, I would aim to train drop it as a first line of option as there's always a risk for bites when trying to remove something from the mouth, and if not bites, the dog may learn to keep the jaws clenched tight making the item difficult to remove if we aren't keeping up with the positive associations. Drop it is covered here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/ More about the process of touching body parts is using desensitization and counterconditioning is covered under the puppy handling exercises: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-to-teach-puppies-to-tolerate-touch/ I have no intention of rehoming her. Since the puppy teeth have been changing to adult, clothes are getting torn less thankfully, but it would be nice to not have bruises on my arms and legs. Thankfully she does have bite inhibition, but still. Ouch. She reacted the same way with the "yip" noises as Penelope's dog. Sees it as a challenge. She does that at times if I say "No!" sternly as well. When off-leash I try corrections in a progression like "Look, Noise, Charge, Touch, Pin" to get her to calm down if I can't get away from her and into the house or something easily and she's escalating. Sometimes I get stern when she starts nipping while out on the long lead and she starts to ramp up her nipping. So if I can, I try more just to remain as calm as possible and hold her away with the leash and tell her "No bite" and "Stop". She seems to calm down faster when I can remain calmer during corrections. Sometimes it is very hard to do when you're getting bruises, but I do try! I bought her a pool and filled it with sand to be able to hide treats and toys in it. I'm going to try that soon to help with mental exercise. She has tons of toys, bones, ropes, etc to play with as well. I can't do "brain" plastic toys with the little food compartments with her because she figures it out, then gets mad at the toy and wants to destroy it. LOL The muffin tin game can work, Kong Wobbler is pretty strong but need to gradually teach her to not get frustrated and bite it, by making filling it a lot so that kibble easily flows out. I'm thinking of trying a snuffle mat soon, but I'd like to hide things in the sand since she loves to dig. I might have to kennel her, go hide things, then take her to the sand and tell her to "Find it!" to get her wearing out a bit more that way. I read you don't want to walk the large breeds too much too young because of their developing joints. So I'm trying to figure out how to wear her out other ways. Check with your vet on this (puppy growth plates/joints) as he/she can give you a better ballpark figure on how much is too much for her age. But for sure, more brain games, training (clicker training through free shaping exercises are great for building frustration tolerance) and puzzles will help drain her energy. Does it sound like I am mostly on the right track and just need to keep re-enforcing things? Any other thoughts about what to do in the moment when she's "throwing a tantrum" and nipping me all over? I'll be Gandalf if I have to, but would rather not have to juggle a staff too. Though I did just buy a hiking belt to be able to clip her long steel cable lead to when we're walking so I guess I have a hand free. LOL You are on the right track in capturing desired behaviors such as licking and praising/rewarding those. I would aim to find ways to avoid collar grabs, and start working on creating positive associations with those so that she doesn't start mouthing/possibly acting defensive when she senses you're about to grasp the collar. This is covered in the recall section towards the end, you may need more work on this, since she's not a blank slate: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/recall/ Another option that I learned from working with a shelter is sliding a PVC pipe on a leash. This makes the leash less flexible and provides more distance so that it's more difficult for the dog to reach us to nip us. This may be an option to combine with using leave its, kibble/treat toss games, and praising rewarding for engaging in replacement behaviors. As it happens in people, frustration is a negative emotional state which tends to occur when they are prevented from accessing something that they may find reinforcing. It's important to recognize and accept what frustration really is and remove any inappropriate labeling such as a dog being "stubborn," or "challenging me" which only harms the dog and owner relationship. Synonyms of frustration include words such as disheartening, discontentment or even dispiritedness. Just think that the antonym of frustration is satisfaction and happiness. This goes to explain how a puppy isn't really being stubborn or trying to challenge. The emotional turmoil is simply prompted by access to something being denied or some expectation not being met. The puppy is simply undergoing a negative emotional state and hasn't had the opportunity to master any coping mechanisms as of yet. We typically see frustrated behaviors in dogs with a strong seeking system/genetics, dogs who are very hungry, young dogs who haven't learn how to cope with frustration, dogs who are tired, cranky and in pain, dogs used to doing what they want most of the time (outdoor dogs), dogs with a history of obtaining what they want when acting frustrated. Frustration, left untreated or tackled in the wrong way, may escalate in further problems such as redirected aggression, displacement behaviors, repetitive behaviors and compulsive disorders. When a dog is intensely frustrated, it can impair their cognitive abilities, making it difficult for them to learn. For a good part, young pups and adolescent dogs struggle to some extent with frustration and impulse control, some more, some less. As you may know, livestock guardians are different from other dogs. They were selectively bred for being independent thinkers. If we want to train them certain tasks, we need to motivate them because they may feel it's not important from their point of view as they have more important tasks to do (patrolling, checking perimeters, protecting). These dogs take their jobs very seriously and may find attending to our cues to sit, down, stay etc. as redundant and boring unless we prove them otherwise through the use of positive reinforcement. I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any further questions, and keep us posted on how things go! Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your puppy or dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques (no shock, prongs, or physical corrections) for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course (or any online source) are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dogs' behavior against you or others.

Thanks for all the additional info! So we were having her behind the baby gate with the door open but she was doing so well we decided to progress things. When she threw the tantrum last week, the cats were roaming the living room and we were having her practice her obedience training/try to ignore. But one of the cats walks slowly around the entire room - she also played on her cat tree - and Atari was freaking out. We reverted to keeping the baby gate between them and she is completely calm and well-behaved as long as we keep actively working with her. Like we can make her sit, get up, lie down, look at us, leave it, shake, etc. and she glances at the cats but doesn't do anything. If we left the gate up but door open all the time, the cats would come to the living room and/or she would jump up on the fence (front paws on it) and cry. So we do about 15 minutes a day (sometimes twice a day but usually it's hard to find time when we're both available) and then keep the door closed the rest of the time. We are trying to do it twice a day more frequently though to speed things along. How close were they to your puppy when she had the tantrum compare to the other times? It sounds like she was significantly over threshold compared to the previous training you have done where she was able to ignore. It was going well with Atari listening to us until Kora the little one walked right up to her and was sitting on the coffee table. Kora then jumped down and walked right past Atari's feet and sat a foot away. I let her inch close to Kora but then she lunged and scared her (Kora just crouched down and put ears back) so I pulled her back a few feet and made her sit and then she erupted into the horrendous tantrum. We had to wait for her to stop before we could put the cats back behind the door because she was jumping around and we were trying to distract her with other things. Kora won't leave the room unless we lure her back with treats. First off, it's great to hear that you were able to graduate to keeping her behind the baby gate with the door open and that she was doing very well that you considering progressing! When we progress though, there is often the risk of some type of setback. Indeed, progressing is one of the number one causes of setbacks we seen in behavior modification, because the dog may not be ready for that level of closer interaction, and we get so very hopeful and we just start seeing everything with pink-colored glasses... But there are other dynamics at play. With the cats feeling more comfortable around Atari, most likely they are getting a little more confident and moving around more and doing unusual things and this is triggering your pup and sending her over threshold. In the case of cats sharing the house with dogs, a big challenge is that it is difficult to control the environment. A cat may happen to come too close or may do something unexpected and can easily tip the dog over threshold. So if she was doing OK with the baby gate with the door open, but not OK with the cats approaching the living room (causing her to jump up on the crate and cry) we may need an intermediate space buffer such as a pet fence between the baby gate and the living room where, they can see each other, but the cats are prevented from coming too close. In lieu of a pet fence, an opened exercise pen can work as well as a temporary barrier that we can gradually fade. She was barking and screeching because she wanted to be let off her harness. We were trying to get her to sit down and look at us but once she escalated, it was impossible. Has anything negative happened lately on walks or prior to walks? No, I think she was remembering the tantrum the night before and how the harness was the source of her frustration. She is ok with the harness now though since we have had four walks. Sounds like some barrier frustration. If a dog was ever allowed in the past to go meet/greet other dogs/people or chase/get closer to the cats when pulling, that time that they cannot, they'll have a little "tantrum" which can also be called an extinction burst. If we stick to our determination in not letting them achieve their goal by pulling/vocalizing -no matter how dramatic, they should soon learn that their behavior "doesn't work" and eventually stop trying (with the occasional return of the undesirable behavior courtesy of a phenomenon known as lovely spontaneous recovery). If we though allow them to pull (and get closer to what they want) sometimes yes and sometimes no, we reinforce persistence and make the behavior of pulling/displaying a tantrum more and more established because it'll be put on an intermittent schedule. Intermittent schedules, make behaviors stronger and more established. An intermittent schedule can make people addicted to certain behaviors. If we go to play the slots in Vegas, and we win every now and then, we'll likely get addicted and want to play more and more. That's what they want. They want us to have a thrilling experience making us get more and more dopamine rushes. Same with a vending machine, if it delivers a snack every time we put a dollar, and then one day it does not, we'll get frustrated that day it doesn't work. So we'll likely kick the machine.. If this works in dislodging the snack, that will reinforce our behavior, so next time, it happens again, you guessed it.... we will likely try kicking again, but that day it doesn't not liberate our holy snack, we'll likely try kicking harder, curse and get even angry ( an extinction burst). If this method stops working though, most likely we'll avoid that vending machine and stop using it altogether. So on the plus sign, consider that with time (and as she develops more frustration tolerance/impulse control), Atari will come to realize that her tantrums won't get her harness to come magically off or the leash to loosen so that she can get closer to the cats. However, we don't want her to create negative associations with the harness (glad that she was able to overcome that with the happy walks!) so we may try to take steps to better control the environment next time or maybe even train something that we can use to redirect her quickly. For example, in an area way from the cats, we can train her to make an about turn and walk quickly with us the opposite direction. This sounds like an emergency u- turn, but being in a home you may not have much space, so let's call it "giving in to leash pressure." In simple words, away from the cats, sit on the couch with your pup on the floor, and when she happens to get at the end of the leash, creating tension on it, looking away trying to get somewhere, make 2-3 kissy sounds and gently guide her back to you tugging very, very lightly on the leash and mark giving in to that pressure and moving in your direction with a yes/click and reward with a treat once she reaches you. Rinse and repeat several times up to the point where she'll move in your direction quickly without the need of your prompt-that is, the gently tugging/putting pressure on the leash. Practice this in several areas of the home (initially away from the cats) then in the yard, then on walks, and then at home at a distance from the cats. The goal is to catch her *before* she goes overly focused/over threshold upon seeing a cat and redirecting her to walk away from the cats with you and then you can toss a treat always away from the cats. Make it fun and upbeat like a game! (You can initially hold a treat at eye level to help her comply and focus on that) You can also use this when she's at the baby gate off leash, when she's looking at the cats, and you want her to disengage from them. Make your 2-3 kissy sounds and toss a treat away from the gate. As she gets better, you can put her on an umbilical cord (leash around your waist) so she's always near you and teach her to back up with you away from the cats. Always be aware of where your cats are, and don't allow her to fixate and "hard stare' the cats. This is a situation that needs to be highly managed and lots of patience is needed. It can sometimes take about 2-3 months for things to get better and when you aren't training, your pup needs to be in a place where all pets are safe and Atari doesn't get to rehearse any problematic behaviors around the cats. Dog and cats will always need to be supervised, kept separated when not, and an additional tier of safety can be obtained by providing cats with high places to retreat to as needed and having the pup drag a leash (so to quickly get a hold of the dog as needed) before allowing off-leash freedom. Neither of the cats run from her. Our fearless smaller cat walks around and when the gate is between them, she tries to play with Atari's tail (Atari doesn't react as long as we are engaging her). Kora the fearless one just circles the room or goes into her hammock and plays by herself. The other cat will lie in his hammock and go to sleep even if Atari is there but when she starts her screechy yipping, he gets annoyed and walks out. He also does not come into the living room when she is there. They both maintain relaxed body language but Crixus, the older one will either hide under couch (He's the one who escapes and then he realizes she is there and he goes under couch) or just stay away altogether. One day, he escaped, saw her, and ran under couch and I couldn't get him out. She laid down and stared at him but was quiet. I had a meeting so I couldn't do anything else but I put the leash on her and held onto it. Since she was calm, I just left her there. She fell asleep about 20 minutes later and then the cat silently came out and then went back over the gate and I could close the door. Do your cats appear scared of her or stressed in any way? Only when she is screeching/tantrum or if they escape and she chases them. We have put her on leash and let her get close to them as long as she is calm-ish. like if she gets excited she has to step back. if she goes slowly, we let her step forward. But then once she got close to them. Crixus the big one hissed and puffed up. The little one was fine but then when she started sniffing her super excitedly, she got a little scared and put her ears back. Neither of them swat her or run ever. Sounds like Crixus will be the one struggling the most, but this is often seen with the older cats. I find they are more likely to be settled in their ways and get more easily stressed. I would therefore focus on training a strong response to leash pressure to the point of it being very fluent. Also provide her with food puzzles, chews and brain games so to keep her mind busy and make the cats less interesting. During walks now, she wants to sniff and roll around on people's yards and she pulls on the leash. Until now, she was heeling all the time even though she didn't know the word yet. This is from flight stage though, right? Should we just reinforce the heel when she is calm/at home and then make her sit more on the walk until she calms down? They are more investigative during this time and want to explore more and more. Keep practicing good heeling at home and in the yard, and in front of the home and progress the walk based on how well she is heeling. You can always make some about turns if she's pulling, and if she really wants to sniff something in an area she's allowed to go, you can "Premack it" by letting her go sniff only once she's walking towards that spot on a loose leash. You can give her permission by saying "go sniff!" and then resume the walk by saying "lets go!" here is more about the premack principle: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/premack-principle/ If she's pulling towards an grassy area, you can guide her away by walking in a circle and giving her another opportunity to go sniff if, once completing the circle, she's moving on a loose leash towards the area. Oh, ok, how interesting! She also peed on the mat under her bed (bed and mat underneath used to be our old dog's who passed away in January). We think it's because it smelled like him. We washed it and she has not done it again until this incident with my parent's dog's blanket. The dog was in the other room because she wouldn't stop barking at him to play and he did not want to play with her. My dad said she walked up to the blanket (he had been separated from her for over an hour) and sniffed it and then squatted and peed on it. We happened to walk in just as she was walking away from the blanket. Was she "empty" before entering the home (peed recently)? Yes, she had been outside for a couple of hours in their yard and he said he had seen her pee. But if she drank a lot of water, that might not matter. Was this a little trickle or more like a larger puddle? It was a normal puddle. Ok thanks, we'll look for other triggers then. They have a cat as well who just ignores her but she won't stop barking at it so my parents have just been keeping her away from both the cat and older dog. Older dog is like 16 years old and a little white dog who used to live with an old woman before they took him after she died. So he's not very dog-like and just tries to walk away from her but then she paws at him and barks obsessively. My dad can't get her to stop so he just separates them. It could be she was leaving her pee to confirm her "puppy license to misbehave." Older dogs smell the puppy pee and perceive it as a sign of "innocence" and that whatever the pups do, it is just because they are socially-illiterate juveniles. The older dogs therefore should technically provide them with "license to misbehave" forgiving them more easily, although not all of them grant this. Older dogs may struggle dealing with young pups and they may have joint issues/ mobility issues and their patience tends to run much shorter and they get easily overwhelmed by all that puppy energy. The odor of "dog" seemed to be a trigger in both cases, so she's likely trying to communicate something if she doesn't normally pee on her own blankets at home.

Hello, sorry for the delay. I have been traveling on a repositioning cruise across the Atlantic and the internet package was horrible. It’s wonderful that you’re planning ahead for a service dog to assist your daughter, and it’s clear you care deeply for the wellbeing of both your "Old Man" and your new "Wackadoodle." You are correct that keeping them separated for now is the safest choice, especially given the puppy’s size, energy, and lack of awareness around fragile dogs. Puppies, particularly those bred from high-energy working lines like Aussiedoodles, often lack the impulse control needed to interact gently without direct, structured guidance. What you are seeing with "Wackadoodle" throwing his body, biting the fence, and trying to escape is frustration-driven behavior. In his mind, the barrier is blocking him from the fun, social interaction, and exploration he craves. He has fear of missing out. Even though he has space, toys, and outdoor access, his need for mental engagement and structure isn't fully satisfied yet and that’s very normal for his developmental stage. Here are some targeted recommendations to help settle him: Reinforce calm behaviors- Actively train "Wackadoodle" to relax near the barrier rather than fight it. You can reward him only when he is calm, for example, quietly sitting, lying down, or chewing a toy. Scatter feeding (tossing small handfuls of kibble around his area for him to sniff and find) can also promote natural foraging behaviors that reduce frustration. Provide Predictable Routines-Puppies thrive on predictability. Create a clear routine where he learns, “When I am calm and quiet, I get ______” (access to humans, a short play session, a treat puzzle, etc.). If he tantrums at the fence, do your best to not reward the behavior with attention, even negative attention. Only interact when he’s calm, even briefly. Shorter but more frequent rotations: right now, the longer he is penned without enough structured activities, the more frustrated he becomes. You might find it helpful to rotate the dogs more frequently for shorter periods, but pair "Wackadoodle’s" penned times with enrichment activities, such as: Food-dispensing toys (Kong, Toppl, treat balls) Snuffle mats Lick mats Scent games (e.g., hide treats for him to find) https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/ Impulse Control Exercises: Early training on go to your "place" work (going to a bed and staying) https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/ and basic obedience can channel that big brain and busy body. Aussiedoodles are extremely smart, and mental work can tire them out even faster than physical exercise. Set up impulse control games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/10-impulse-control-games-for-dogs/ Barrier Desensitization: Start brief, structured sessions where you approach and reward him only when he is calm behind the barrier. If he throws a tantrum, walk away. If he calms even for 2-3 seconds, reward that with a food treat tossed behind the gate or gentle praise. Over time, he’ll learn that the barrier is not an obstacle to happiness, calmness is the key. Exercise and Social Outlets: He may benefit from additional structured exercise like leash walks, basic training outings, or puppy classes geared toward service dog prospects. Just "access to the backyard" often isn't enough for high-drive puppies; they need their bodies and minds actively worked under supervission. You are doing a lot right already by providing supervision, safe separation, and attention to both dogs' needs. This frustration phase is common at this age, but with calm consistency, plenty of mental stimulation, and carefully building up positive associations with being behind the barrier, you’ll see improvement. And most importantly: managing his impulses now will only help his future success as a service dog. Let me know if you need any further assistance!

Her teeth were also bothering her a ton - she lost four or five in two days and today she's been very good all day. So I think the teeth were a major part of the problem. Yes, teething can really put a "dent" in their behaviors and makes them extra cranky! I got some plastic scat mats for the couch (NOT electric - they are just sort of spikey but not enough to hurt her) and she has stopped jumping on it. I am glad that you found those spikey things helpful, I have seen them lately on sale but didn't see enough feedback to determine whether they can turn extra helpful or not. I have known some of my clients using those sort of plastic carpet runner things turned upside down so the hard points are facing upward and it helped to make the couch lose its appeal. We did more cat training but let the cats walk around and she threw a crazy tantrum wanting to chase them - she would not listen to us on the training anymore and it probably sounded to the neighbors like we were doing something terrible to her. So now we're back to doing the cat training with the gate between them and feeding the cats treats while she trains/ignores them. Seems there is no solution but time for the cat thing. However, I'm making a point to go and spend more time with them during the day so that it is not just Dan with them and that is helping. I think they thought I was replacing them with Atari. There's not much else we can do at this point so I hope the cats will be ok over the long haul. Some day they will all be friends! It's extra hard on them as they are puppies as they want to play and being restrained can create frustration especially if the cats keep on running away. Your pup is young and often this is the best time to introduce them to other pets and let them learn how to interact with each other. Was your puppy on leash or behind a baby gate or other barrier when this happened? How was your cat's body language overall when they were walking around prior to the tantrum? Do your cats appear scared of her or stressed in any way? How close were they to your puppy when she had the tantrum compare to the other times? It sounds like she was significantly over threshold compared to the previous training you have done where she was able to ignore. Then the next morning she was hesitant to put on her harness for a walk Has anything negative happened lately on walks or prior to walks? However, I took her to my parent's house yesterday so we could run some errands and they have an elderly dog she wants to play with so they have to keep them separated so she doesn't keep barking at him to play. She went over to the elderly dog's blanket and peed on it. Was she marking it? How do we prevent her from doing that, especially when she is at someone else's house? She seems quite young for marking in the real sense of the word, but puppies may urinate to prove to older dogs that they are only "puppies." Puppy urine has a smell that older dogs recognize and learn that puppies are just puppies and mean no harm. They also can display submissive/excitement urination in presence of dogs. I would suggest closely monitoring her just as you would a puppy who is being house trained, and removing the blanket if that was a trigger that prompted the marking. Also, if the dogs greet/meet, best to do it outdoors if that prompts her to pee. If you can recognize a pattern that evokes her to pee that can help you predict it and avoid those situations/distract. Do you by any chance use pee pads? Some pups pee on anything that may look like or feel like a pee pad. Was the older dog nearby when she peed on the blanket? If so, what happened right prior to the peeing? Was she "empty" before entering the home (peed recently)? Was this a little trickle or more like a larger puddle?

Hi again, Ok, so now we have some new issues coming up and it sort of feels like everything is getting way harder even though Atari totally knows what we expect of her by now. I can tell she does everything for attention because she will start to chew the table or something and I will see her and she instantly stops and pretends she's doing something else (like "I was just gonna lick it, I swear"). More than attention-seeking, this sounds like a normal pup who has a natural desire to chew and stops the moment you look at her, simply because she has associated your presence with being told to stop. Sort of like a natural re-direction of "Oops, I thought I wasn't watched! Am I in trouble? Let me do something else then." With attention-seeking dogs instead we see more of them purposely going to chew things and continuing to chew just for the purpose of getting the attention. So it would be more like "Look at me, I am chewing! Hello? Don't you come to stop me? I am seeking interaction!" I would make sure she has access to chew toys (look for toys made for teething puppies) and interactive food puzzles that are rotated randomly so to keep her interest alive. Consider that, from the age of 12 to 16 weeks, baby teeth are shed and permanent teeth start coming in. This stage is particularly painful to pups sort of like babies crying from sore gums. They can get very chewy and cranky. There are also commercially available chew toys specifically designed to be frozen prior to use for teething puppies. The concept behind these toys is same as with the ice pack provided to people after a painful dentist visit. The only difference is these toys can be re-frozen and re-used. Alternatively, you can save some money by making your own frozen chew toys. All you need is an old dishrag or towel which you can twist into a long and stick-like shape and put in the freezer for couple of hours. Then, once well-frozen, give the dishrag or towel to your teething puppy. The cold relieves oral discomfort while the towel’s texture and chewiness promote proper biting behavior. Finally, you can use edible items, such as dog-safe frozen fruits and vegetables. Bananas, strawberries and carrots make excellent and tasty frozen pain relievers. Their coldness will numb the sore gums and their density may aid the removal of the already loose teeth. (Careful with carrots as some pups may swallow them whole or too big chunks of them which can predispose to blockages, this is not very common, but better safe than sorry). Make sure to keep an eye on her teeth to ensure that there are no retained baby teeth. These should be removed by the time the pup is 5 months. Here is a picture of a dog I boarded. The owner wasn't aware she had baby teeth because she wasn't very collaborative in having her mouth checked. Some things are getting a little better - car rides are getting somewhat calmer as long as we give her a chew or I pet her and talk to her. That's great! Keep up creating positive associations with the car and car rides! She waits for me to get up before she gets out of bed now in the morning. Great, we all benefit from some extra sleep! She's doing really well with the cats as long as it's supervised and controlled. However, the cats keep crying to come into the living room and trying to escape their side of the house because it's like they want to be her friend and she keeps trying to open the door to the hallway now even though we keep a gate there too. (She figured out how to open the door and my fiance calls her a raptor, haha). But without the controlled visits, she will chase them instantly. If we engage her the whole time, she will relax and ignore them. They escape once a day now, and attempt even more often. Today we tried to let them all roam and we kept the leash on her and supervised but then we both had to get back to work so it was not something we could do for long. She kept trying to chase them anytime we did not make her sit. You have a mix of breeds with strong drives to herd/chase, plus being a puppy there is this strong need to play and then you have cats who are inquisitive, but tend to flee. Lot's of things to work on! Your pup needs to learn to be better under control, and at the same time, your cats need to learn not to fear your pup because, the more they flee due to fear, the more you'll pup will feel the need to chase. And constantly working on this can be time consuming and impractical if we lead busy lives. I worked with a beagle last summer living with a cat, and the poor cat lived most of her life on the counters and shelves. I could tell she felt left out. The dog immediately would chase her and try to hump her if she ever jumped down. We had to work a lot on getting the dog under control using the leash at first, then the leash came off and we used the smacking sound,https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/ and at some point you could tell the cat was starting to feel relief when the dog was no longer constantly trying to chase her. She started jumping on the floor more and more and gained a bit of confidence, but if the dog and cat were ever not supervised/controlled, the dog would go back to its instincts (history of long rehearsal made things more challenging). So we found a compromise of each day allowing the cat some quality time in the living room, while the dog was kept busy with a stuffed frozen Kong. After the Kong, the dog would may have tried to chase the cat again but was redirected promptly using the smacking sound and given something else to do (such as a safe bone to chew) and afterward, she would nap in the exercise pen. We also did exercises where the cat was fed a treat, and the dog a treat right after upon being asked to sit (yes, cats can be trained to sit too!) After some time, the beagle started associating the cat with getting all these goodies and also learned to *relax* (not chase) despite the cat being around, while the cat learned to be more relaxed around the dog and no longer running the moment she saw him. Gradually, they got to spend more time like this. I haven't gotten an update for some time, but last picture she sent me showed dog and cat sleeping nearby, so I guess all is good. Now, you have the advantage of having a young pup and young cats so there are better chances of each accepting each other, but problems arise when the cats are always acting fearful and they get into the habit of always fleeing. So if there is a door or baby gate that opens, get that fixed and make sure your pup doesn't scare the cats. However, it also true that there are cats and cats and cats. My cats were introduced with my Rotties at a young age so even if they were chased, they ran up a chair, but they weren't stressed by the dogs. They rather seemed to be amused, perhaps they thought it was a game, and sometimes when in the mood, they would even wrestle with my Rotties and even knead on top of them! So it's important evaluating their body language and how they really feel. Some cats seem to get a kick out of being chased and will purposely get close and try to get dogs to chase them. But if it's fear-based fleeing, there may be risks that the cats may learn to live in a vertical world. Which is not necessary a bad thing, many dog/cat owners have cats that live like that, but I feel that the cats need to have at least some time to feel included in the family and not feel as if they "were totally replaced by the dog." If you can do more and more of these leash introductions with guidance, its good so they get to know about each other and if you can feed them treats to reward them for being relaxed that can help in creating positive associations (have a helper feed the treat to the cats at distance while you treat your pup on the leash). That would be ok to live with if that is all there was - but now she is jumping on the couch for attention and chewing it up and she is throwing more and more tantrums - ear piercing ones. This still sounds like the puppy chewing phase with teething pups. Fabric feels good on the sore gums. If you don't want her on the couch, you can try to place bulky items there. If she chews, train a fluent 'leave it" https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ (she should respond well considering that you stated that sometimes just looking at her gets to stop chewing when she shows an intent) and when you cannot supervise, you can place an exercise pen around the couch. Basically for the dumbest reasons like she wants to go for a walk in the middle of the day which we never do. We are also surrounded by houses with dogs who bark (not all the time, but probably once or twice a day- no big deal) and she always ignored them before but now she barks back - today she barked at noises at the front door that I couldn't even hear - probably people walking by at the street? She's also getting more demanding of our attention. It used to be that I could work and she would take a nap, but now if she hears my fiance's voice when he's on a work call, she will wake up and run to the door and then throw a tantrum wanting him to come out. She wants us both to be with her now. You are not alone on this, trust me, so many new puppy owners are dealing with this especially with many of them working at home. You can find several tips on this issue here: Tonight, I was the only one home and I was on the phone but she got so upset that I was not paying attention to her that she started trying to play bite my legs and jump on the furniture to get my attention. When I ignored her, she threw a loud tantrum. I kept ignoring her and she got right in my face and barked. Sounds like a big extinction burst, what happened afterward? If we reinforce this by getting up and attending to her, that would have reinforced persistence. She has also taken to trying to bolt outside the front door whenever she can - even though we always make her sit and wait before she is allowed to walk through any doors. Now that she is getting walks, she tries to rush outside even if we are going to take the garbage out or get the mail. She may be entering the flight period: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/flight-instinct-period-4-8-months/ You can outsmart her by using your body to block passage through the door. Keep the door slightly ajar and don't open it fully until you have a nice solid sit-stay and if she tries to slip through, be fast to close it. Open the door very slowly, making it clear that any of her forward movement will cause the door to close, open wide only once she got the concept and is on her best solid sit/stay and then invite her out. I thought we were doing everything right -redirecting her instead of giving attention - working on her impulse control, training her - she knows tons of commands and games. At puppy class, the instructor saw that we make her sit at the door and wait before she walked through and she commented that even the dogs in her obedience II classes can't do that yet. That's impressive! I think you are on the right track, things often seem to get worse rather than better at times, you know all the extinction bursts, and being puppy owners is a lot of work (sort of like having a baby) but also teething can cause lots of crankiness and the flight periods can cause new behaviors too. But when class starts, she gets so excited that she struggles to look at us or listen to us - we basically stop existing once the other puppies arrive. We've increased the value of her treats which helps a little but not a lot. We basically try to survive until puppy play time - but it's embarrassing when she throws a tantrum and all the other puppies are learning their commands and being all quiet and stuff. She's a social butterfly and just wants to go play with them but the first 2/3 of class are for obedience training. Discuss this with the trainer, the trainer can take steps to decrease her arousal using more distance and sometimes visual barriers that can be gradually removed once she calms down. Giving her something to chew can help too. Make sure she gets to join puppy time only once she's a little calmer and capable of listening to cues otherwise we risk reinforcing her hyper behaviors. She also gets excited and pees when she meets new people almost every time. I just don't know what to do about the excitement stuff. She walks great and we go twice a day for about 15 minutes - aside from zig-zagging, she basically walks next to us every time. We're working on heel still. I'm increasing the amount of times we train her to listen to her name at home - but once we're out in the world, it doesn't matter anymore. She has no name. For the excitement urination you can toss treats on the ground to distract her from the peeing. You also may want to have people try to ignore her. Most pups outgrow this eventually. More on this here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/submissive-urination/ So I guess I could use help on the tantrums and the over-excitement and any additional advice on the cat stuff? I don't know if we should just keep doing what we're doing and be patient... but it does feel like everything is getting harder and I worry that it's all because I'm doing something wrong. Should we do jazz up/settle down when we have friends come over? You can practice hand targeting with the guests https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ and practice her taking cues from the guests (sits, downs etc) and you can also do round-robin recalls (sit in a circle and take turns calling her and rewarding her), but also teach her to relax on a mat with a chew once she's less excited. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/ How do we redirect her from barking at the cats through the office window or the neighborhood dogs - when we are inside the house? Because I feel like us going outside is a form of reward but then I can't stop it without doing that. And she won't stop on her own, I've tried waiting to see if she does. Thank you. 🙂 You can try the 'hear that' method: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/ and also buffer the sounds with some white noise (fan, tv, radio). You can place window film on the window if feasible or do something to block visuals. I hope this helps! Best, Adrienne

Hi again, Ok, so now we have some new issues coming up and it sort of feels like everything is getting way harder even though Atari totally knows what we expect of her by now. I can tell she does everything for attention because she will start to chew the table or something and I will see her and she instantly stops and pretends she's doing something else (like "I was just gonna lick it, I swear"). Some things are getting a little better - car rides are getting somewhat calmer as long as we give her a chew or I pet her and talk to her. She waits for me to get up before she gets out of bed now in the morning. She's doing really well with the cats as long as it's supervised and controlled. However, the cats keep crying to come into the living room and trying to escape their side of the house because it's like they want to be her friend and she keeps trying to open the door to the hallway now even though we keep a gate there too. (She figured out how to open the door and my fiance calls her a raptor, haha). But without the controlled visits, she will chase them instantly. If we engage her the whole time, she will relax and ignore them. They escape once a day now, and attempt even more often. Today we tried to let them all roam and we kept the leash on her and supervised but then we both had to get back to work so it was not something we could do for long. She kept trying to chase them anytime we did not make her sit. That would be ok to live with if that is all there was - but now she is jumping on the couch for attention and chewing it up and she is throwing more and more tantrums - ear piercing ones. Basically for the dumbest reasons like she wants to go for a walk in the middle of the day which we never do. We are also surrounded by houses with dogs who bark (not all the time, but probably once or twice a day- no big deal) and she always ignored them before but now she barks back - today she barked at noises at the front door that I couldn't even hear - probably people walking by at the street? She's also getting more demanding of our attention. It used to be that I could work and she would take a nap, but now if she hears my fiance's voice when he's on a work call, she will wake up and run to the door and then throw a tantrum wanting him to come out. She wants us both to be with her now. Tonight, I was the only one home and I was on the phone but she got so upset that I was not paying attention to her that she started trying to play bite my legs and jump on the furniture to get my attention. When I ignored her, she threw a loud tantrum. I kept ignoring her and she got right in my face and barked. She has also taken to trying to bolt outside the front door whenever she can - even though we always make her sit and wait before she is allowed to walk through any doors. Now that she is getting walks, she tries to rush outside even if we are going to take the garbage out or get the mail. I thought we were doing everything right -redirecting her instead of giving attention - working on her impulse control, training her - she knows tons of commands and games. At puppy class, the instructor saw that we make her sit at the door and wait before she walked through and she commented that even the dogs in her obedience II classes can't do that yet. But when class starts, she gets so excited that she struggles to look at us or listen to us - we basically stop existing once the other puppies arrive. We've increased the value of her treats which helps a little but not a lot. We basically try to survive until puppy play time - but it's embarrassing when she throws a tantrum and all the other puppies are learning their commands and being all quiet and stuff. She's a social butterfly and just wants to go play with them but the first 2/3 of class are for obedience training. She also gets excited and pees when she meets new people almost every time. I just don't know what to do about the excitement stuff. She walks great and we go twice a day for about 15 minutes - aside from zig-zagging, she basically walks next to us every time. We're working on heel still. I'm increasing the amount of times we train her to listen to her name at home - but once we're out in the world, it doesn't matter anymore. She has no name. So I guess I could use help on the tantrums and the over-excitement and any additional advice on the cat stuff? I don't know if we should just keep doing what we're doing and be patient... but it does feel like everything is getting harder and I worry that it's all because I'm doing something wrong. Should we do jazz up/settle down when we have friends come over? How do we redirect her from barking at the cats through the office window or the neighborhood dogs - when we are inside the house? Because I feel like us going outside is a form of reward but then I can't stop it without doing that. And she won't stop on her own, I've tried waiting to see if she does. Thank you. 🙂

What activities are happening when he's biting? A Beagle should be pretty easy to avoid when talking about hands, given their height. It sounds like y'all might be sitting or in another position that makes hands easily accessible. If that's the case you could remove yourself, and thus your hands, from biting range and he'll eventually figure out, "hey, when I put my teeth on them, they go away - that's no fun!" He Might switch to a different behavior, though, so it's important to know what is going on when he's biting the hands. Or, you could put him on the ground when he starts to bite (assuming you're in a position where that would resolve the issue). Is he doing this when he's tired? After playing and you're ready to stop? Or are you sitting there, minding your own business, when he starts to chomp? Is he neutered? Ummm, what else can I ask to help Adrienne troubleshoot? Does he go for feet, too? Or is his preference for hands? I know one thing that's been recommended if he's breaking the skin is to wear gloves until he learns bite inhibition. That helps with your own tolerance, and prevents scratches and wounds. Here's the threshold article to help you determine whether he's over threshold: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ And the puppy tantrum: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/ A search of the forums for all the tantrum threads (there are plenty, lol!) https://braintraining4dogs.com/forum/search/?q=tantrum&quick=1 And bite inhibition: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-to-teach-puppies-to-tolerate-touch/ Touching hands with a purpose: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ Because he's a Beagle and has that magnificent nose, here's a calmer game that will tire out his brain: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/

Hi there! Welcome to the forums! So sorry to hear about the loss of your Pry. These losses deeply impact us and our dogs. Many dogs get overly excited when they see the leash. If this is a new behavior, there's likely also some element of anxiety as well considering all the recent changes. I hope she has good bite inhibition, when dogs "miss" and end up biting us in this highly aroused state, the may not be as good in gauging the pressure of their bites. Please make safety your top priority. If she's rough with her mouth use a bite-proof basket muzzle for extra safety, (https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-wear-a-muzzle/) and if you notice aggressive behavior, please don't hesitate to work along with a dog behavior professional for safety. Now, let's think like our dogs for a moment. A leash on its own may be a neutral stimulus and something that our dogs could care less about. In fact, a puppy who has never seen or worn a leash before may even perceive it as annoying, entertaining, or something to chew on. As your puppy or dog gets used to having the leash clipped on and taken for a walk, the leash then starts to represent some strong, positive associations. It turns into a conditioned stimulus (previously a neutral stimulus), and your dog develops a conditioned emotional response to it. This conditioned response may consist of a variety of emotions depending on how walks are perceived. For some dogs who are fearful of the great outdoors—those scared of noises, seeing people, or other dogs—their emotional response may be based more on fear than excitement. For others, it can be great emotional arousal from going on the hunt for critters, new intriguing smells and meeting other dogs and people. Some others there may be elements of mixed emotions, anxiety, fear mixed with excitement for all the things that can happen. Trying to tone down the excitement/anxiety by scolding or pushing away can often makes things worse, and even if the dog maybe stays still for a bit, it's more a result of us suppressing the dog's emotions which can lead to side effects. For example, in sensitive dogs, it may lead to further anxiety of going outside. So rather than getting frustrated we can tackle this excess excitement/anxiety in two ways: 1)Using the leash to our advantage to reinforce desired behaviors and 2) reducing the saliency of the leash. It's worthy to skip walks for a while so that you stop reinforcing all the excitement package taking place when your dog is in this hyper/aroused state. Because if every time we go out for a walk, Elizabeth is rehearsing all these problematic behaviors just prior, soon a new routine establishes and we're reinforcing it, sort of like letting a toddler go play with his friends outside after throwing a major tantrum. If the tantrum works in having mom and dad let him out, he'll be likely to repeat this scene over and over. So here are some tips: -Use a Chain Leash Since you mention your dog chewing the leash, I would suggest for a while using a chain leash. Most dogs don't like to chew on chain and will give up chewing it after some time. With a new leash you also have an object with "less baggage'' in other words less rehearsal history. -Prevent Rehearsal of the Problematic Behavior If every time you grab the leash, your dog gets hyper excited just by seeing it, you will have to start changing things, or you may be stuck with a dog that lacks impulse control. On top of this, your dog may adopt these impatient these behaviors in many other aspects of her life. So we need to tone down things and prevent her from practicing all these hyper aroused behaviors. We therefore need to take several steps to keep her better under threshold. Here's the thing: when dogs get into too aroused states, they tend to get nippy, jumpy, humpy, and yes, they may chatter their teeth if anticipating something. So the primary goal is taking several steps to keep your dog under threshold: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ -Try My "Unpower the Leash" Method Here's the thing: dogs live in a world of associations. The leash therefore becomes particularly salient to our dogs because it's presented at distinct times, that is, always right before the walks. For sake of comparison, we can say that the leash becomes super salient and highly predictable such as the noise of the food bowl announcing dinner, or the treat bag announcing a fun training session, or the door bell announcing guests, or our car keys announcing our departure (and triggering anxiety in dogs with separation-related issues). The contingency leash=walks therefore becomes particularly strong. So how can we break up this contingency? By removing the power from the leash and making it less salient. We will therefore present it throughout the day so to desensitize her to it -Casually keep the leash around I would skip grabbing the leash in front of your dog for now because she'll likely get all revved up, and maybe even more nippy because she may get frustrated that it will be presented when she's not going on walk. So let's start easy peasy, when she's out in the yard or in another room, away from where the leash is kept, get that leash out and place it on the couch or hang it to the door knob. Then, let her find it on her own. Because the leash is lifeless at this point and not in your hands, she shouldn't get overly excited about it. ***If at any time she tries to grab the leash/steal it, say 'leave it" and toss a kibble away. If she knows "leave it" already, even better. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ -Add Movement Have the leash on the couch or hanging by the door knob, and casually during the day, move it a teeny bit. Your dog may show interest at this point, twitch an ear or come running towards it, so be ready to toss her a kibble or treat every time you move it. The kibble or treat should keep her from thinking about nipping you and keep her mind busy on something else. It also reinforces any other behavior than the nipping. Do this several times. -Add Sits If your dog knows how to sit, start practicing this exercise: Move the leash a little bit and then ask for a sit and toss a kibble/treat to reward that. Rinse and repeat several times, the movement/noise of the leash should become a predictor that a sit must follow. The treat toss should keep her busy and prevent her from thinking about nipping. -Start wearing the leash If your dog did well with the above exercise, start "wearing" the leash. In other words, walk around with the leash clipped to your belt. You want your dog to start getting used to seeing it around more and more without getting excited. Every now and then, stand in front of your dog, lift the leash a bit, ask for a sit and toss a treat. -Desensitize to the clipping noise Every now and then, as the leash is clipped to your belt, stand in front of your dog, lift the leash a bit ask for a sit, make the clipping noise by opening the snap hook thingy and toss a treat. Rinse and repeat several times, lift leash-ask for a sit, clipping sound- toss treat. -Start practicing clipping on the leash Start practicing clipping on the leash to your dog's collar, when your dog is sitting calmly. Lift the leash a bit make the clipping noise by opening the snap hook thingy, ask for a sit, clip it to the collar, feed a treat. Then, unclip it and give another treat. Rinse and repeat several times. The leash comes on only when you dog is sitting calmly. -Work by the door Do the same exercise this time by the door. Lift the leash a bit, make the clipping noise by opening the snap hook thingy, ask for a sit, clip it to the collar, feed a treat. Then, unclip it and give another treat. Rinse and repeat several times. The leash always comes on only when you dog is sitting calmly. -Walk Away From Undesirable Behavior What if your dog breaks the sit or starts getting nippy right when you are about to clip on the leash? In that scenario, stop trying to clip the leash, turn around, and walk away. By doing this, you are informing your dog that their excited behavior sends you away. Come back and try again. If your dog is still wiggly and bouncy, make an about turn and try again. At some point, your dog will tire out from acting excited and will get the message. You should, therefore, start seeing some calmer behaviors. At that point, ask for the sit, clip the leash on, and go out the door a brief second and then back inside, unclip the leash and feed a treat (you can toss several small pieces, treasure hunt style) -Don't Be Afraid to Repeat the Technique What if your dog sits nicely when you clip the leash on but pulls towards the door, jumping and acting hyper again? In that case, once again, turn around. You don't want to reinforce this behavior. Make sure you exit the door only when your dog is in a calmer state of mind. It may take some time to get out of the door the first few times, but since you keep going towards the door and then turning the moment your dog acts hyper, your dog will get tired; you will eventually start to see a calmer dog. Things get better once your dog understands that calmness equals walking towards the door and getting out. If you are consistent, you will notice an improvement. -Watch for Frustration If you notice any signs of frustration building up, or reverting back to nipping/jumping, take that as a sign that you have progressed to fast. You may have raised criteria too fast and need to back to a few steps in the process. Make sure to use treats that are valuable enough to your dog so that it's easy for her to make good choices. -Implement Impulse control games Dogs who get overly excited and struggle coping with their emotions, benefit from learning more impulse control. Training is ultimately teaching dogs to better cope with their emotions and develop better frustration tolerance. They must learn that patience pays and only calm behavior leads to what they want. Here are several impulse control games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/10-impulse-control-games-for-dogs/ Once the leash has lost its salience and you are putting the leash on and walking towards the door only when your dog is calm, you are tackling the issue on several fronts: -You are no longer reinforcing excited behaviors -You are rewarding calm behaviors -The leash will have assumed less importance so that you can help your dog succeed -Your dog is learning how to tone down her emotions The above techniques are more tailored for dogs who act super excited when they see the leash. Remember, if your dog is super excited, this may be a sign that your dog needs more training, enrichment and mental stimulation during the day. Make sure you provide enough brain games, training, food puzzles so that you will have a calmer and better behaved dog. Now, you have mentioned some issues on walks and these will need to be tackled too, as they're part of the arousal problem package. I will be discussing this later today in the next post. Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your puppy or dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques (no shock, prongs, or physical corrections) for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course (or any online source) are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dogs' behavior against you or others.

Thank you so much for your reply! I sadly did not get a notification of the reply for some reason. I'm going to have to stay logged in to the forum and watch more closely. (Oh.. I just found the little toggle at the bottom to "Follow topic". I didn't realize I had to do that on my own post. Oops!) Sorry it took so long for me to get back with you! So sorry to hear you have been waiting so long. Notifications for forums can be hit and miss sometimes and some may go into spam folders. I find it works best to just visit the forums. I'm going to read through everything you've replied with and see where I can strengthen her mental stimulating play some more. I did try the sandbox! It worked a couple of times, but then she stopped being as interested in going to look for treats and things and wouldn't really engage much if they were buried more than an inch deep and she couldn't easily just find them lying around the box. In these cases, if the dog gives up because finds the exercise/task too difficult, it helps to keep it easy and worthy with high rewards. Once it establishes a stronger reinforcement history, and we increase motivation, we can try placing them gradually a bit deeper, maybe starting with some lower value items closer to the surface, and some higher value items a little deeper. I haven't tried a snuffle mat yet, but did try one of those toys with the treats hidden under things. She did great with it, but then at the end wanted to tear it apart looking for more treats! lol (and that was when she was like 12 weeks old) In this case, you want to remove access to the toy before she has a chance to destroy it. Once the toy is devoid of any treats, simply, swap it with a handful of tossed kibble/treats or a tossed cookie. Toss them in the opposite direction and retrieve the toy. It is best to invest in puzzle toys that are quite durable (like a Kong Wobbler) as these withstand better teeth trying to get any food remnants from the toy. I agree about the potential aggression issues. So far she's never lunged aggressively at me with any sort of attitude like that. It's all always been mouthing/nipping like as if she's just really wanting to play fight/tussle. She puts her mouth on me when frustrated when she's got that "tantrum" attitude for being taken away from something she wants or when wanting to play fight, but ALWAYS bite inhibited (even if she leaves bruises because I just have sensitive skin unfortunately). Her attitude is always more like "Come on mom, play fight!" and I say no and she does it again. She doesn't want to give up easily when she starts that. It's good that you haven't noticed any signs of aggression and that it seems more like play. The ultimate goal should be going to the root of the problem, that is, preventing so much frustration to build up in the first place. So when taking her away from something, make it rewarding so no frustration builds up. For example, redirect her at the earliest signs, creating a fluent response to a smacking sound. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/ Ask for sits and toss a kibble to reward. Offer activities that surpass in value her enjoyment of physically engaging with you. Of course, the ultimate goal is to build up her frustration tolerance so we'll do that in the background, but at the spur of the moment, find a way to divert her from physically engaging with you such as tossing a treat so no aversive feelings of frustration build up and she doesn't rehearse undesirable nipping behavior. Grabs my hand/arm/wrist or nips me in the butt or leg. Sometimes I can redirect her to a different training command, but if I have a large stick available and can put it between us she will either bite on that or stop nipping at me at least. Again I've never tried to hit her with a stick of course! It's always been more of a barrier she respects right away for whatever reason. (thankfully) I don't know if there's a genetic respect of a large staff with shepherds or what, but it does help when I remember to have one nearby when she's in one of those tantrum or trying to get me to play fight modes. 🙂 It can be that you're looking at a behavior chain, where undesirable behaviors are inadvertently reinforced. In other words, she's likely hoping for a reaction from you, so when she nips and you place the stick in between, if she bites that, that may qualify as interaction, so it can happen that she purposely starts nipping because that means you'll offer the stick, which is like an extension of your arm and something fun to chew. In these cases again, it's best to avoid getting her into this frustrated mindset, and if she does, catching her *before* she has a chance to start physically engaging with you. She hates anything rubber unfortunately (like kongs), BUT I have been able to get her some cow hooves from tractor supply and fill those with cream cheese and freeze them. She gets one of those at night and loves cream cheese thankfully! Careful as cow hooves have been known for causing dental fractures. When you say she "hates rubber" what do you mean exactly? Does she not want to engage with the toy? She won't lick anything smeared in it? As always, whatever we place in it initially needs to be easy to remove, if too challenging she may give up. Baby steps are needed with dogs who get frustrated easily and give up. I am definitely thinking of trying a lick mat. I tried one of the games with the treats hidden under boxes or slider things when she was about 12 weeks old and she got all the treats, then got frustrated with the toy itself and started trying to tear it apart looking for more treats. Again, try taking it away before she gets to rehearse frustrated behaviors. Always trade the toy with something else. Yes, I've been trying to avoid corrections, definitely! I've noticed she's better if I can get her redirected or put a large stick between us as I tell her no. Like a reminder to stop nipping at me. I agree about the corrections for frustration adding fuel to the fire! I can definitely see where those have done that. "No" often doesn't provide much info, they seem to do better when we tell them what we would like them to do instead. I have found treat/kibble toss game useful, ideally inserting a sit and making it extra fun. We have to feed them anyhow, so why not put their kibble to good use rather than letting them wolf it down in a food bowl withing seconds? https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/adriennes-picks/top-5-dog-feeding-toys/ She's never acted afraid of the stick. Most times she'll just bite on it, or chase her tail or something and stop biting on me. We have actually worked on leave it since she was little. She will let me take things from her mouth, put my fingers in and take them out. I practice with bones she likes, look at it, and give it back. That way she is more likely to let me take things. Sometimes she is a little stubborn at first, but will let me take things after I say "leave it" a few times. Taking things away and removing items from the mouth needs to be always be followed by something positive. I didn't see mentioned any trading or use of high value rewards, so just mentioning this in case. See trading and mouth inspections (drop it always better than mouth removals as these can carry some elements of risk, depending on the dog or item the dog has. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/the-importance-of-preventing-resource-guarding-in-puppies/ I am recently trying to work on "drop it" with her ball and get her to let it go if she wants me to toss the ball. She will fetch a ball a few times before she's bored with it for the day so I only get to practice this a few times a day, but she's smart so hopefully it will start kicking in quickly. I also just started teaching her "touch" to get her to nose my palm on command. She learns pretty quickly thankfully. That's awesome! The "touch" is referred to as targeting in the course, you can find more about it here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/ Agreed with trying to keep her away from the deer poop altogether. Not as easy when the deer frequent my acreage a lot, but I did start steering clear of areas where I knew the piles were! I hear you! I have had the problem of rabbit poop instead and it's terribly difficult spotting these tiny droppings! Oh, I like that thought! Practicing leave it with her favorite treats around something like poop so she will start to signal it for a treat instead of going after it. (yes the multi acreage fencing will definitely help cut down on deer poop too. I can't wait!) Fencing can provide loads of peace of mind on several fronts. I am glad that's in the planning. I am going to have to start carrying extra treats in different pockets. She already knows I tend to carry treats in at least one pocket and sometimes will try to chew on my jacket looking for one. lol But I like the concept of tossing a treat on the ground away from me when I see her start to decide she's going to get excited and mouth on me. I am definitely going to start trying that! Redirect before she gets a chance to start the biting game. Treat tossing has worked very nicely for me with several nippy dogs. Catching them *before* makes the whole difference. As the concept sinks in, you can then add a sit and at some point you may notice they start offering that voluntarily. As always, I start this training indoors, and then carry it over outdoors by a porch/deck. 7. I'll definitely take a look at the impulse control article! This can help a lot in creating a foundation of better frustration tolerance/impulse control. 8. That is a thought too! She definitely gets more nippy after training when she knows I am going to go inside to get my shoes changed to leave for work. Not every time, but usually. I might definitely have to try another frozen cream cheese cow hoof at the end of the morning perimeter walk and training. Toppl by West Paw may offer a safer alternative to the cow hooves. The concept and shape are quite similar. Maybe start taking it out in a different pocket and in a baggie so she can't smell it as much and try to eat my coat. LOL But be able to get her to sit and take it before she starts getting frustrated that she knows training time or play time is over for now. They recently also made a smell proof dog training bag. It's made by Whager. Thank you for the suggestion about the piece of PVC pipe on walks! I might try that when out in the field as an extra safety when out there. I can't always hold her far enough away from me when she acts out and I want to be able to get her to stop without having to really try to do corrections since I agree they tend to escalate things. I do have 1/2 acre fenced in for her now! We do our leash walks in the field less lately because she has more room to run. Next spring we will be fencing in around 2 more acres, but I was at least able to get 1/2 acre done for now to give her running room. It sounds like I'm going to have to try keeping treats in baggies and in different pockets. She knows I keep some in my pockets when it's time for training. And I am going to try keeping a frozen cream cheese cow hoof in my pocket to end morning perimeter walks/training sessions. I will read your article on working on frustration/impulse control too. I'm very interested in that! I think it sounds promising for her. I will report back on how things are going more soon! Thanks again, Great! Keep us posted on how things go! Happy training! Adrienne

Thank you so much for your reply! I sadly did not get a notification of the reply for some reason. I'm going to have to stay logged in to the forum and watch more closely. (Oh.. I just found the little toggle at the bottom to "Follow topic". I didn't realize I had to do that on my own post. Oops!) Sorry it took so long for me to get back with you! I'm going to read through everything you've replied with and see where I can strengthen her mental stimulating play some more. I did try the sandbox! It worked a couple of times, but then she stopped being as interested in going to look for treats and things and wouldn't really engage much if they were buried more than an inch deep and she couldn't easily just find them lying around the box. I haven't tried a snuffle mat yet, but did try one of those toys with the treats hidden under things. She did great with it, but then at the end wanted to tear it apart looking for more treats! lol (and that was when she was like 12 weeks old) I agree about the potential aggression issues. So far she's never lunged aggressively at me with any sort of attitude like that. It's all always been mouthing/nipping like as if she's just really wanting to play fight/tussle. She puts her mouth on me when frustrated when she's got that "tantrum" attitude for being taken away from something she wants or when wanting to play fight, but ALWAYS bite inhibited (even if she leaves bruises because I just have sensitive skin unfortunately). Her attitude is always more like "Come on mom, play fight!" and I say no and she does it again. She doesn't want to give up easily when she starts that. Grabs my hand/arm/wrist or nips me in the butt or leg. Sometimes I can redirect her to a different training command, but if I have a large stick available and can put it between us she will either bite on that or stop nipping at me at least. Again I've never tried to hit her with a stick of course! It's always been more of a barrier she respects right away for whatever reason. (thankfully) I don't know if there's a genetic respect of a large staff with shepherds or what, but it does help when I remember to have one nearby when she's in one of those tantrum or trying to get me to play fight modes. 🙂

Thanks for the video and extra info. The barking directed towards you (and maybe somebody sitting next to you?) in that way looks like he's expecting a response or some type of interaction. If there are no noises around he's attending to, and triggering this, this type of barking can be seen in dogs who are in search of reassurance/ guidance/interaction and struggle with changes in their environment/idle times. So in these cases, we may need to take a multi-pronged approach, and also try various things and see what works best. These cases can sometimes be tricky; some dogs may just need a little tweaking with more exercise/activities, while others need considerably less. Balance is key, but getting there, may take some experimenting as each dog has different needs. So with the provision of exercise/activities there can be too main issues: Too little exercise/mental stimulation. This doesn't sound like your case, but just pointing it out for readers. This is often the case of dogs left home alone for a good part of the day and then they are fed and owners watch TV without providing enough exercise/activities. However, it can occur as well when working at home where not much time can be dedicated to the dog. Maybe the dog is walked, but it's just a walk around the neighborhood, the dog just gets exercise and very little mental enrichment or the dog is just let out in the yard to rehearse problematic behaviors most of the day. A yard doesn't cut it for meeting a dog's needs for exercise and mental stimulation. Too much training/exercise/activities. I can see this as a possibility, since you are so committed. When we do too much, we risk over-compensating and the dog may get used to all the attention, that, the moment it's lacking the dog gets lost, and looks for something to do. Even distracting the dog can be perceived as a form of attention. These dogs may need to learn to cope with just doing nothing and enjoy downtime that doesn't involve direct interaction with us. Balance is therefore key and sometimes finding that right balance can require some experimenting to see what works best. For example you can try: -Making some little tweaks to his routine so that puzzle toys are given during TV time and his nap shortly follows. -Providing activities that don't involve you directly. It may help to let your dog "find these remotely" rather than showing your dog that you are giving him something to do at the lightest sign of him getting bored/seeking interaction. For instance, you can take him out in the yard or let him explore a room he's not around much, while a helper prepare in advance a Muffin Tin game, stuffs a Kong or Kong Wobbler or hides kibble around the home/some of his favorite chews so that when you sit down to watch TV, he finds his own activities that don't personally involve you. -You can try "overlapping" so to prevent the barking. For example, if one of you is cooking, the other can take him on a sniff walk or ride in the car and then come back home when the whole dinner preparation is done. Or during TV time, one starts watching and the other takes Finn out and then returns and lets him find several things to do prepared in advance that not involve you (bubble making machine for dogs that emits bacon flavored bubbles, automatic treat dispenser set to toss a kibble at set intervals). -Barking can be reinforced if we provide any type of attention to a dog seeking interaction. That involves looking at the dog, talking to the dog, even scolding him or pushing him away. Even giving him something to do qualifies as attention. Inadvertent attention is one of the primary causes of attention-seeking barking. This can be worked on by becoming "professional ignorers", staring at a blank point, acting like a statue when the dog barks, but there are extinction bursts to be aware of where the behavior gets worse before getting better in hopes of getting attention. The behavior worsening is sign that ignoring is working. For sake of an example, imagine a mom who always gives in and buys candy for her toddler when she whines and cries for it upon visiting the grocery store. Then, out of the blue, one day the child's dentist notices the candy is ruining the child's teeth. So from the next day, no more candy. At the store, the toddler therefore cries, and cries and cries in hopes of candy, and then eventually starts throwing a super big temper tantrum at the store (behavior getting worse), since the crying is no longer working as before. What happens though if, after several days in a row, the mom is super determined to not give in? After the crying has gotten temporarily worse, it eventually extinguishes just like a fire that is deprived from oxygen. Moral of the story: if your dog barks for attention, food or for you to toss a ball and you decide to totally ignore your pup's attention-seeking/demand barking out of the blue, expect the behavior to get worse before it gets better. During the extinction burst your dog may bark louder and for longer or he may even try new behaviors in hopes of re-gaining attention or out of frustration such as pawing at you or chewing something nearby (remove expensive rugs). If you stick to the plan though, after such increase, you should see the behavior gradually declining and then eventually extinguishing (other than an occasional whine here and there due to another phenomenon known as "spontaneous recovery.)" What happens though if during an extinction burst, you happen to inadvertently give any attention? This can create significant setbacks. The reason is because now, you will have reinforced persistence. Back to the toddler example, if mom decided to purchase the toddler some candy to just shut her up and avoid the momentary embarrassment, this would fuel the behavior even more than before, turning it into a bigger fire that is always more and more difficult to extinguish! Next time, you can bet when the child doesn't get candy, she'll be turning into a scaled down version of the Incredible Hulk! Now, if mom decided again to be more determined to not buy candy, she would likely have to go through more intense and sustained yelling and screaming behaviors because the toddler has learned that if she insists, and reaches mom's breaking point, she can finally get what she wants, but after that hurdle the behavior should eventually extinguish. I am not a big fan of ignoring as a "stand-alone approach," although it can and does work. The reason for this is that it can cause major frustration in some dogs (sometimes frustration may turn into aggression, so in dogs prone to this, it's important working with a behavior professional) and it also fail to tackle the underlying cause of "demand barking". So I usually suggest taking note of when the barking occurs and trying to take steps to prevent it from happening in the first place (antecedent control), while also taking measures to tackle any underlying anxiety/ unmet needs etc. So we need to consider whether his behavior is an underlying sign of stress/anxiety and that root cause needs tackled. Pay attention on whether he struggles with certain noises, sights etc. It sounds like he needs help to learn how to cope with idle times and not being involved in certain activities. Some dogs also have a deep fear or missing out (FOMO). We may need to take baby steps in teaching coping skills always taking measures to not push the dog over threshold/repeatedly rehearsing the problematic behavior. There are many calming aids nowadays on the market that can help too take the edge off. There are calming sprays, diffusers, supplements and even diets and probiotics that are crafted to help dogs cope. -Helping him relax during TV time through petting is another option, but *only in case* we are sure his evening barking is due to being cranky and tired (you mention he usually naps after his tantrum). The objective is making a new routine where the TV turns on and you sit on the floor or couch, call him to you (before he has a chance to bark) and ask him to sit and lie down (I like all dogs to learn to say "please" by sitting or lying down for petting so to not inadvertently reward nudging, jumping up or pawing) and pet him/massage him in a soothing way in hopes of him relaxing enough to fall asleep. However, a disclaimer is warranted here: this may or may not work. If he's too hyper he may try to nip or be rough in which case it won't work (we can lower these chances by draining some of that excess energy prior in low-impact ways discussed earlier). On top of this, this option comes with some "side effects." You may be stuck with a dog who wants to be pet every evening this way. Einstein turned out being this way, but hubby has always loved to pet him for long while watching TV so this turned out being a win-win, although aging caused him to ask for less pats. With my female, I pet her a bit and then gave her a "that's enough" cue because she could have gone all night long," pretending to fall asleep" and awakening if I stopped petting and then ask for more. So I just left it to a few pats, that's enough and then she would plop on her bed and lie down chewing her toy. Hubby instead has found the evening affection time with Einstein very relaxing. As a plus, research has found that when we pet our dogs, our cortisol levels drop and there's the whole oxytocin thing going on. so it became the routine. In the best case scenario, the dog relaxes and eventually falls asleep and you can return to sitting on the couch. The worst case scenario is that, he will not accept petting, or will awaken when you stop petting and start demand barking to resume. In which case, a consequence is needed for the barking, and that may involve, rather than taking him into another room, you leaving the room until he is quiet and then return once quiet and rinse repeat until he gets the idea that barking makes his owner leave. However, when in doubt, it may be best to just use management, which involves also teaching him more how to chill. So rather than putting him in timeout when he barks while watching TV, he can be placed in his crate/exercise pen/ behind a baby gate with toys and chews *beforehand.* So these are just some options worthy of trying.

I'm definitely not in the "you spoil the kid by going to it" school I'm into attachment parenting with babies! Most of her whining has been fairly low key kind of attention grabbing but can be a bit ow, ow, ow, ow, if she's got going a bit more, It's not been for more than a few minutes (unless we're eating a meal) I'm there waiting for her to stop so that I can let her out, but should I ignore her and not look at her atll while shes whining? or should I talk to her (give her attention) and try reassure her with my voice? (this is what I've done with her at night, if needed the first few nights I would go and open the crate and fuss her and stroke her to sleep again then close the door again). That's a great mindset! Thank so you much for sharing the pictures, she's adorable! I am all for reassuring the pups their first nights as it can be very stressful. I like to keep the crate nearby the bed and then dangle my arm down and talk and pet them to reassure them they are not alone. As the days go by though and the pups start adjusting, I gradually move the crate a bit farther and may use a Smart Pet Love Snuggle Pup behavioral aid for those who still struggle a bit. This is a fairly new, brilliant invention that has helped me a lot. So to your question, when I am sure that the whining stems from attention (basically, I know all her needs have been met, she doesn't need to potty, she's not hot, thirsty, stressed or terrified of being alone, and she seems OK being crated) it helps to send these pups the message that calm behaviors get us to open the crate, while impatient behaviors do not. So the concept we want to send is that "patience pays." So what I do with pups who whine like this is this: let's say a pup is in the crate in a room whining, I would wait by the door for a little break in the whining and immediately enter the room and walk her way, nothing emotional, just matter of fact. She starts to whine again? I make an abrupt turn and show my back. The whining intensifies? I manage to leave the room. The whining stops? I turn around and go back towards the crate. The whining resumes? I turn around again. Whining stops again, I walk back. I like to particularly turn around/ walk back towards the pup sloooowly almost to show that I am very tentative about what happens next. Almost to send the message "I am walking your way, but I am very carefully paying attention to what you are doing, if you keep quiet, I'll keep moving your way, if you make a sound I will turn and even the leave the room if it persists." I basically, help the pup understand how it's her choice whether I 'll get closer to the crate. After several trials, most pups get the idea that quiet gets you closer and even open the crate, while whining gets you farther away and even leave the room if it persists. Now, a phenomenon to be aware of with attention-seeking whining is the so-called extinction burst. Here's an example of an extinction burst: Let's imagine a mom who always gives in and buys candy for her toddler when she cries upon visiting the grocery store. Then, one day the child's dentist notices the candy is ruining the child's teeth. So from the next day, no more candy. At the store, the toddler therefore cries, and cries and cries in hopes of candy, and then eventually starts throwing a super big temper tantrum at the store (behavior getting worse), since the crying is no longer working as before. What happens though if, after several days in a row, the mom is super determined to not give in? After the crying has gotten temporarily worse, it eventually extinguishes just like a fire that is deprived from oxygen. Moral of the story: if you decide to totally ignore your pup's attention-seeking whining expect the behavior to get worse before it gets better. During the extinction burst your dog may whine louder and for longer or she may even try new behaviors in hopes of re-gaining attention such as mouthing at the crate or pawing at it. If you stick to the plan though and not approach when whining, after such increase, you should see the behavior gradually declining and then eventually extinguishing (other than an occasional whine here and there due to another phenomenon known as "spontaneous recovery." What happens though if during an extinction burst, you happen to inadvertently give any attention? This can create setbacks. The reason is because now, you will have reinforced persistence. In other words, back to the toddler example, what would have happened if the mom would have given in and bought candy right when the child had a tantrum, yelling and screaming to her embarrassment? This would have caused the old behavior of crying for candy to make a quick comeback, becoming even more established than before! Now, if mom decided again to be more determined to not buy candy, she would likely have to go through more intense yelling and screaming behaviors because the toddler has learned that if she insists, and reaches mom's breaking point, she can finally get what she wants. Sure, dogs may not intently think in such a way, but extinctions bursts are a real thing and we are destined to encounter more hurdles if we inadvertently reinforce a behavior during this delicate stage. Now, here's where things get complicated. If we recognize attention whining, and work hard on reducing that, that day we are late from work and our pup is crated and urgently needs to potty and is whining and we go open the crate door, we may risk having a comeback of whining for attention, even though in this case the underlying motive was the urge to potty. Inconsistencies aren't much our friend in training dogs because they create confusion, just like dogs who are allowed sometimes yes and sometimes no on the couch. It's the power of an intermittent schedule So there are three things we can do: 1) wait to work on attention-seeking whining when inside the crate later on, once the puppy has better bladder and bowel control, has been accustomed to being in a new place and does fine in the crate and is a little more independent, or 2) work on it from the get-go but being super diligent in doing our best of not putting the pup in the position of having to urgently be let out (which can be a bit of a challenge in the case pups have diarrhea or urinary tract infections), and ensuring the crate remains a positive, great to be in or 3) work on it intermittently-going with the flow, basically trying to tackle attention-seeking whining when it seems to stem from attention, and getting the pup out when we suspect something may be amiss. As we familiarize with our pups more, we may be able to differentiate the different types of vocalizations, although some smarty pants pups learn that if they vocalize a certain way they get us running and it may become a part of their extinction burst strategy fooling us. So it's not very easy and we need to consider several variables such as age, how well the pup is potty trained, how well the puppy does in the crate, how long the pups has been in the home, how far away the crate is from the person etc. Some great breeders are now getting really really good in getting pups used to the crate from a young age and potty training them early so that once they're in their new homes a lot of the major work has been cut for the new owners. There's a new program that has come out for educating dog breeders and many breeders are starting to teach puppies from an early age to learn the art of "manding". Pups learn to politely sit quietly in front of the crate to be asked to be let out. So in a young pup under the age of 4-5 months we can certainly introduce the pre- concept of quiet and calm gets you out of the crate (breeders have now started this as early as 4-5 weeks), although we can't be super strict about it because young pups may have their moments of being too over threshold to be able to think about sitting when they need to potty badly or are scared of being left alone or are super excited to see us etc. However, if all needs are met and we keep at it and work though the occasional extinction burst, once the pups is 5 months old and has aced potty training for the most part, and is more independent, and by now the crate feels comfy like his second home, we will have established a nice foundation and now the pre-concept has sunk in as a solid concept and can be even turned into a rule. So I guess it boils down to this, introducing the pre-concept of "patience pays" when pups are young, and then as they develop, making it more of a concept and establish it then as rule that we expect from them now that their bladders and bowels are fully developed and they have all the necessary hardware for more serious impulse control training.

Hi Diane and Cosmo, Thank you so much for the extra details, they are very helpful! Please see your statements in bold and my observations below. She has always exhibited this behavior with me sitting at the dining table far as I can remember. Sooo....if she has been performing this behavior for as far as you can remember, we are dealing with a strongly established reinforcement history. In other words, the behavior has been rehearsed for quite some time, and the more they are rehearsed, the more ingrained and established they become. This makes them more difficult to overcome, compared to behaviors that have recently started from fresh and can be better nipped in the bud, so to say. So it's not going to be easy. I do not believe that there is any specific sound or smell that bothers her. I am either doing diamond art or paint by numbers but it doesn’t matter which one I’m doing….Cosmo’s response is the same There can still be some issue associated with smells although, we may really never know, so speculating on this won't get us much anywhere but thought to bring it up as a possibility. Just to share some anecdotal evidence: when cooking lamb meat, I use high oven temps and the meat tends to make a lot of smoke due to its grease content, so it would turn on our smoke alarm. Our Rottweiler Petra, hated the sound of the smoke alarm, but I think it was for a good part also because my husband upon hearing it, would get up with a sense of urgency and go open all the windows and doors. It took a couple of times for this scene to repeat, that Petra started acting anxious whining and pacing anytime I was cooking lamb meat even if the smoke alarm never went off as we took precautionary measures such as opening all windows before or covering the alarm with towels. This just to say, that some dogs can quickly learn to associate a particular activity with something they dislike, even if what they dislike doesn't always present itself. I know some dogs who get anxious in response to certain smells such as solvents, strong glues or paints. Einstein used to get anxious upon smelling skunks after being skunked once. Single-event learning. He never forgot. Once I sit down the pacing seems to start fairly quickly and just doesn’t stop. I think one time it went for over an hour because I was trying to fully ignore her to see if she would calm herself down at all. Ignoring works well for behaviors that are reinforced by attention. However, when ignoring a behavior that has established, it would take some time for it to extinguish and you must be aware of the phenomenon of extinction bursts. Here's the thing: our attention can be very reinforcing to our dogs, and that includes attention of the positive type (praise, petting, food, toys, caringly making eye contact, sweet talking to our dogs) or attention of the negative type (looking at the dog sternly, scolding the dog, pushing him away, getting any type of angry/frustrated reaction from us. With this in mind, in order for ignoring to work, you would need to therefore be totally unaware of your dog. This takes a certain skill, and be even not feasible, especially when the barking is sustained and very loud and we live in a tight-knit neighborhood You may need to wear headphones to endure the barking and remind yourself to not look at your dog or interact with her in any way when she is barking. All family must be consistent and on board in not giving the dog any attention of any type when the dog is demand-barking. When a dog has been receiving attention of any kind for many weeks, months or even years, and now you are totally ignoring, an extinction burst will often take place and this may at first appear as if ignoring is not working. An extinction burst in dogs, is the phenomenon of behaviors getting worse before they are getting better. As bad as this sounds, it's actually a good thing if you know how to tackle it. For sake of an example, a mom who always gives in and buys candy for her toddler when she cries upon visiting the grocery store. Then, one day the child's dentist notices the candy is ruining the child's teeth. So from the next day, no more candy. At the store, the toddler therefore cries, and cries and cries in hopes of candy, and then eventually starts throwing a super big temper tantrum at the store (behavior getting worse)., since the crying is no longer working as before. What happens though if, after several days in a row, the mom is super determined to not give in? After the crying has gotten temporarily worse, it eventually extinguishes just like a fire that is deprived from oxygen. Moral of the story: if you decide to totally ignore your dog's barking expect the behavior to get worse before it gets better. During the extinction burst your dog may bark louder and for longer or she may even try new behaviors in hopes of regaining his attention. If you stick to the plan though, after such increase, you should see the behavior gradually declining and then eventually extinguishing. What happens though if during an extinction burst, you happen to inadvertently give any attention? This would be a recipe for disaster! The reason is because now, you will have reinforced persistence. In other words, back to the toddler example, what would have happened if the mom would have given in and bought candy right when the child had a tantrum, yelling and screaming to her embarrassment? This would have caused the old behavior of crying for candy to make a quick comeback, becoming even more established than before! Now, if mom decided again to be more determined to not buy candy, she would likely have to go through more intense yelling and screaming behaviors because the toddler has learned that if he insists, and reaches mom's breaking point, he can finally get what he wants. Sure, dogs may not intently think in such a way, but extinctions bursts are a real thing and we are deemed to encounter more hurdles if we inadvertently reinforce a behavior during this delicate stage. Now in your dog's case though, the behavior may not be necessarily attention-driven, there may be some element of anxiety at play. Pacing and whining sounds more like anxiety versus a more confident demand-barking. So an ignoring-the- dog strategy may not work well, and even if it would, I wouldn't recommend plain ignoring as a stand alone method as it's likely to cause lots of frustration. "As soon as I sit on the couch she stops and lays down" This seems to prove that there's something about your activity that is disturbing her. If she were to want attention, we would expect her to also do so when you sit on the couch. However, if you have been petting her and giving her attention on the couch and ignoring her when crafting that can bring attention-seeking back to being a strong possibility. So I have further a questions (sorry, this is quite a puzzle, but the more puzzle pieces the better!) -What do you do on the couch differently? Are you petting her, giving her attention when there? Many of us have an established habit of petting dogs automatically when we sit on the couch. It soon becomes a desired routine, so there could be chances a dog may be whining/pacing in anticipation of us sitting on the couch, especially if we always sit on the couch after crafting or at the same times every day. -Have you ever tried working from a different table? I don't suggest trying to do the crafts on the couch because we don't want her to associate it with that since she settles so nicely there. Just trying to exclude a possible issue with a certain table. -Do you wear different glasses when you work at the table? Anything that changes our appearance can sometimes upset dogs. -Do you do crafting mostly at a certain time of the day? Is it a set routine? What do you right after? Like if you feed her meal right after, she may be whining because she may want to be fed earlier. Even if you keep on crafting and then feed her, she may think that her whining worked in getting you to feed her. If you sit on the couch right after, she may also think she has gotten you to join her thanks to the whining. -Have you tried crating her with a stuffed Kong at a distance from you (in case there's some smell that bothers her). Have you tried placing a blanket on the crate? In case there's something visually bothering her. -After how much time of her whining and pacing, do you sit on the couch? She may be tired/exhausted by the time you go there after all the pacing and whining. -Can you sit on the table without her whining when you don't do crafts? Like for eating? Thanks again!

I think I heard something already about the witching hours. I didn't know it was also part of zoomies. For me zoomies was just when they run around franctically during several minutes until they are exhausted 🙂 Well, yes the whole running around and frenetic behaviors are known as zoomies or FRAP, but humans sometimes like to use colorful terms, and it seems the witching hour is used mostly for pups who engage in these frenetic activities particularly in the evenings, and maybe have also that sort of "crazy look in their eyes!" I also see what's sort of a"stress release" behavior in some dogs at times. Mostly have seen this with shelter dogs, the behavior looks like a bad case of zoomies, with the worse behaviors all taking place at once. Sort of like a temper tantrum. Interestingly, shortly after this, these dogs were then on their best behaviors, becoming more responsive and calm as if they just rid their bodies from accumulated stress hormones. I have looked whether this phenomenon has a name and couldn't find any literature, but one day I plan to post these observations in some groups run by those often working with recently rescued dogs to see whether there is a trend of this. That may definitely come into play, but I'm not totally sure about this one, because the evening walk is the longest one, and we are both doing it, my gf and I. We even do exercises during the walk, like recalls, hide and seek in the forest... So he would have plenty stimulation, I would rather balance on too much side, than too little Something to consider though is that there is a fine line between providing physical exercise to tire the dog out, and increasing the dog's stamina which can have the opposite effect. In other words, the dog comes to crave more and more exercise as he gets more and more fit. Another aggravating factor is the adolescent stage, which as mentioned in the article/link posted above, leads to boundless energy. I wasn't thinking about dominance training, but more the fact that he displays behavior while playing with dogs that ressemble him bossing others 🙂 He would try to mount whereas the others don't, and would always want to be on top, stuff like that... IT's like he prefer to be the "bully" than the "bullied". Not sure if that's a thing, but I was thinking, if he's acting bossy around other dogs, why wouldn't he be with us, as part of his character more expressing itself Mounting other pups can be triggered by a variety of emotional/physiological states, excess energy, overstimulation, getting cranky. It can also be a displacement behavior. Being a breed with history of herding, it could be possible he likes to play in a way that "controls" the movement of the other pups, but even if so, dogs know we're not dogs. Dogs aren't wolves, and we aren't dogs, therefore a dog is not going to act "dominant" or "bossy" towards us with the intent to raise his status in the human pack for the simple fact that he’s not part of the human pack. Part of our families? Absolutely—but not of our "pack." When we fall into the "dog acting like a bully" or "dog trying to boss us around," mindset, we automatically tend to fall into the trap of wanting to put the dog into his place and that automatically creates an adversarial relationship with us defaulting into implementing pack rules and other correction-based methods originating by the misleading belief that we are dealing with "wolves in dog clothing. " "There is no evidence that dogs are programmed to dominate their owners" or that owners must act dominant in order to have good dogs," claims board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr Ilana Reisner. Maybe we should force the nap again. I mean at least contain him, just let him some time to cool down. Is the crate ok to that ? With him being better now, the pen is off as we could start again watching tv shows and movies. (but if needed we could put it back). Even with all this time, I always feel off about containing him. Still afraid he would resent the crate, or the pen, and make it more complicated to contain him when we will really need it. Or afraid that he doesn't need the nap, and would just throw a tantrum while contained. This depends on the relationship he has with the crate. Our dogs all eagerly went in the crate because they associated being there with getting goodies they would exclusively get in there. As soon as we would open the door they came running in anticipation because they got super yummy things when closed there. If he hasn't been crated for some time, or doesn't have this strong positive conditioned emotional response to it, then the play pen may work better as long as he looks forward to it. If you haven't used the play pen or crate for some time, there are risks that he has enjoyed too much freedom and may feel frustrated being closed. Not at all. He's like the most friendly dog ever. This sitting is more like "look ! I'm having a good behavior, let me go play with him." Then he pull to say like "hey ! I was nice, I was sitting, and you didn't let me go play with him, why so ? I'll get there myself then !" Gotcha! That's a nice behavior you have built there, especially if you can get him to stay nicely sitting. I imagine he's looking at the dog and then at you in trepidation for being released. Maintaining the sit as the dog walks by is not easy to train, and I can see how he may get impatient at some point. The more it's practiced the better. If dogs are seen sporadically, that makes them too salient and the event too exciting. It helps a lot to do daily walks in areas with lots of dogs around such as the perimeter of dog parks and practice calm-er behaviors taking baby steps. He usually already over threshold when in that state. Wouldn't more brain games tire him even more, making it worse ? I thought brain games would stimulates them even more than physical games, and that wouldn't help calming them down I have listed trying several different approaches to see what works best considering that the hyper behaviors described may stem from a variety of underlying causes. Cookie-cutter approaches are set to fail when we assume there's only one reason and don't test what works best. This was one approach in the case that, with the long walks he has built physical stamina, and therefore has some extra energy to spare or maybe he may benefit from some "winding down" activities to set the tone for a more relaxed evening.

Thank you for the extra details, they are very helpful! I agree with you that, since you were four people entering the door from the outside, it is difficult to establish who Sky may have been exactly barking at. Also, the fact that you were outside with them may have made him more likely to bark, considering that, when left alone, many dogs may feel more insecure and they may be more prone to take a "bark first and assess later" role. All the commotion you describe could have startled him, making him more likely to react. On the other hand, we need to consider the possibility of the barrier (the dog gate) potentially having caused him some level of frustration. Dogs who are generally friendly toward people or other dogs, may develop what's known as barrier frustration. In this case, the behavior may look quite reactive, (and even scary sometimes!), but it's mostly a temper tantrum tossed from a dog who is simply frustrated because the barrier prevents him from meeting and greeting as he normally would. If the said dog was free from the barrier, he would act in a friendly way (approaching and greeting happily with a wiggly body). More about this phenomenon: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/barrier-frustration/ So this can be one differential to consider, but since we don't know for sure what his true emotions were and based on his past history, I feel that in these cases it never hurts to be extra cautious, so let's assume that he was specifically barking at the child and that the barking was because he wasn't comfortable with the child being there. We also need to factor in that he is now about one year and a half which is the age when a German shepherd reaches social maturity. During late adolescence/early social maturity is when their territorial/protective instincts kick in in fuller gear. German shepherds are known for being extra attentive to their surroundings which are the traits that have made German shepherds cherished guardians of the home and farm. These dogs, (just like Rottweilers) are not the average Golden or Labrador retriever who, as social butterflies" will rush to greet and befriend anyone they meet (although there are always exceptions). Sure, in general, young German shepherd as pups and juveniles are happy and eager to meet and greet people. As they meet and greet, they are all wiggly and may solicit attention and petting from people, but as they start to mature, they may edge more on the reserved side and their standard clearly states that their aloofness "does not lend itself to immediate and indiscriminate friendships." With this breed's innate predisposition, it is therefore important recognizing how, without proper socialization, training and guidance, one may be walking on a fine line. Left untackled, a German shepherd's natural aloofness may morph into suspiciousness, mistrust, reactivity and even excessive territorial aggression. We also have to be wary of excessive "protective behaviors" as it's not unheard of some dogs to start acting protective of children living in the home with them and not allowing other children/humans to approach them. It may start in a subtle way like getting in between, and then the behavior may get more and more intense, building up to snarling/growling at anybody who approaches the dog's perceived family. We want to avoid getting to this point. I have said this, and will say it again: I feel that it's far better having a "failed guardian" than a liability on our hands. German shepherds and Rottweilers are already intimidating on their own and normal people wouldn't mess with them based on their looks alone. Yet, I never told people that my Rotties would rather lick strangers to death than harm them, so this was my big secret. How did I get to that? I may lucked out with their genetics, but I also worked oodles on getting them to not bark/react to Fedex guys and any general delivery men/repair persons/gardeners/you name it as soon as the first protective/territorial signs of this started. The big test day arrived when my landlord ignored the "Rottweilers on patrol sign" in my yard and climbed over the fence to start painting our shed. He froze in horror when my Rotties rushed to him, but all he got was tail wags and some love licks. I attained this positive conditioned emotional response https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/conditioned-emotional-response-cer/ through lots of practice doing the "look at that" though the window exercises explained below and then practicing this when on leash making my smacking sound repeatedly and giving treats when encountering people. Consider that your smaller dog may also influence your German shepherd (just as it can happen on walks) to react to things in his environment excessively, causing him to be in a hypervigilant state, when we may rather want these dogs to remain poised, and only switch into full barking/growling gear when there is a true threat (think a thief in the middle of the night breaking in). So this is something to consider if you notice him being influenced by the smaller guy (which you may want to involve in the training). If this whole barking behavior is generally a relatively new behavior, you are therefore doing the right thing about wanting to tackle it early rather than just assuming it's normal behavior and allowing it to put roots and establish. So in these cases, I would suggest implementing management and behavior modification, (which is somewhat similar to the work you have done for Sky's reactivity on leash). So here are some general guidelines/approaches about dog/child safety and having dogs better cope with visitors in the home. Some of these may sound obvious, and some may appear to be overkill, but it's so as to cover many basis. It's always important mentioning them and always making safety top priority if there are ever concerns. Prevent Rehearsal of the Problematic Behavior The more your dog rehearses problematic behaviors associated children/people entering his perceived territory, the more these problem behaviors put roots and establish. It is therefore fundamental that you take steps to manage your dog's environment so that your dog isn't put into the position of practicing problematic behaviors which are often reinforced by the children/humans withdrawing. You can implement management by setting up a designated area in the home where you can take your dog when visitors, especially children, are present. This allows your dog to have access to a a quiet and secure area where he can relax without feeling stressed and rehearsing problematic behaviors over and over. Based on the level of a dog's reactivity, this space may or may not allow visuals of the visitors. If your GSD is capable of jumping a dog gate, it would be important investing in a taller one or securely stacking another gate on top of that. Become a Pro in to Reading Your Dog This is important for anybody who owns dogs. Prior to barking or growling, dogs often exhibit a variety of subtle signs. It's important to therefore get as accustomed as possible with a dog's precursor signs so as to intervene quickly and reduce any stress associated with visitors. Kendal Shepherd's Ladder of Aggression can come handy: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dogs-dont-bite-blue/ Supervise All Interactions Active supervision is the key. Toddlers and young children generally under the age of 10 in particular are known for carrying out behaviors that may not be well-tolerated by dogs, even the most patient ones. According to a study, the majority of dog bites occur in children 5 years of age or younger with over half of the cases being provoked. Children 5 years old and younger in particular are at high risk for being bitten in the face by a familiar. Yet sometimes supervision is not enough. One day we had some children over, which our dogs were fine with since puppies. One child happened to trip and almost fell over our dog which was caught by surprise and in turn growled and snapped. Pheww... that was really close and I couldn't stop thinking all evening how quickly things could have turned very bad if my dog happened to intently bite. What a wakeup call! From that day on, I took steps to ensure nothing like this could happen again so interactions were limited to having the dogs behind a baby gate and having the children ask them to sit or hand target and feed them some treats. This was a win-win because this structured setting helped further polish our dogs' training, gave the children a safer way to interact (rather than running around) while also creating positive associations. Give Your Dog Some Breaks Being around children can be exhausting to dogs. If your dog lives in a home with children or is around children for prolonged periods of times, it can cause overstimulation and stress which lowers a dog's threshold for aggression/biting. Encourage only positive interactions in a structured and as safe as possible way and provide breaks so as to have the situation under control by having the children behave when around the dog and reinforcing the dog (with tasty treats) for engaging in desirable trained behaviors and attending to your cues. If you have *any reason* to suspect your dog may act aggressively around children, it's always best to play it safe and limit/avoid direct interactions. Muzzle Train Your Dog If you are concerned about your dog manifesting potentially aggressive behaviors when around people, you may want to muzzle train your dog so as to add an extra layer of safety. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-wear-a-muzzle/ Look for a bite-proof muzzle. Examples of bite-proof muzzles include wire basket muzzles from Dean and Tyler and some varieties of Jafco muzzles. Consider that children fingers can fit through gaps so you may need muzzles with no gaps (like muzzles with "stool guards") if your dog will be around children. ***Important! Always inquire with the manufacturing company to make sure that a muzzle is truly bite-proof before purchasing. Don't just trust what you read online or what people tell you! It's important to realize that a muzzle won't fix any aggressive tendencies. Putting a muzzle on a potentially reactive/ aggressive dog without working on the underlying issue is looking for trouble. Even though a muzzled dog can't bite, he will still be emotionally charged and he may get to rehearse reactive/aggressive behaviors such as barking, growling, snarling and lunging. Once again, the more dogs get to rehearse these problematic behaviors, the more they put roots and become habit-forming. On top of this, when dogs rehearse reactive/aggressive behaviors stress hormones circulate around the dog's body. Therefore, it's important to avoid any situations that may cause your dog to react negatively. This is once again attained through management and the systematic implementation of behavior modification. Address The Root Problem While managing the environment can turn helpful in the immediate situation, it's important to tackle the underlying issue and search for a long-term resolution. It's unfortunate, but management usually fails at some point. The more triggers and situations that require to be managed, the more likely one is to have a failure in the management plan. If management remains the only way to prevent a dog from potentially harming a child, then the situation is quite critical. It is therefore important to address the root problem. Whether a dog's dislike of strangers/visitors/children is triggered by fear, stress, anxiety, territorial instincts, past negative experiences, or a combination of factors, you'll need to invest time in taking a multipronged approach aiming to change your dog's emotional response towards children. This can be done through the use of systematic desensitization and counterconditioning carried out under the guidance of a professional for safety and correct implementation. There can be many ways to approach the problem behavior by incorporating elements of desensitization and counterconditioning. I will list several ones, but each case is different and will often require a different, individualized approach. 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/ The goal is to gradually expose the dog to children/adults visiting in a controlled systematic way, starting with a distance and level of intensity where your dog is well under threshold and doesn't trigger their reactive behavior. Positive associations can be formed through the use of high-value treats delivered contingent upon observing the children/adult visitors at a safe distance. This can be started with a simple "look at that" exercise where the dog is taught to respond to smacking sound and not react to watching people/children walking by from an indoor window: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ The same exercise can then be done by having the dog watch people/children walk by parallel to the property with the dog is on leash through an opened door, where the dog is fed treats contingent upon seeing them walk by and treat delivery is stopped when people/children are out of sight in an open bar/closed bar fashion: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/ Then progress can be made by having adults/children visiting the house and always working on small steps and creating positive associations. Here is a general guide on how I worked with a dog who barked when a particular person entered the house: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/ The treat/retreat game can turn handy too if there is a large enough indoor space as adults/old enough children can be instructed to toss a treat past the dog so as to create positive associations. This can be started outdoors. General guide: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/treat-retreat-game/ Revised edition: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/how-to-play-the-treat-and-retreat-game/ You asked: "In ideal scenario, if guest are here and I am with them, then one warning bark may be is okay but then he should settle down?" Yes, we can have a warning bark or two, but then we want them to settle down and be responsive to our cues, which brings us to the next general tip. Train Helpful Cues On top of changing your dog's emotional response towards visitors, it's also important training your dog to develop a steady-fast response to certain training cues that can come handy when around visitors. Important cues to train include the following: "sit," "down," "stay," "come," "hand target" and "leave it," which can turn useful when you'll need to quickly redirect your dog's attention to you and maintain control in situations involving visitors once his emotions are better under control. You may also find it helpful training your dog to go to a mat: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/ ***Remember: If your dog is in an unresponsive state, he is too over threshold. Behavior modification should pave the path towards a calmer emotional state that allows a dog to better cognitively function. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ Avoid Punishment Studies have shown that the implementation of punishment risks making behavior problems worse, not better. "Our study demonstrated that many confrontational training methods, whether staring down dogs, striking them or intimidating them with physical manipulation does little to correct improper behavior and can elicit aggressive responses," points out board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Meghan E. Herron, the lead author of the study. Such punishment-based approaches should be therefore be avoided as they may evoke fearful or defensively aggressive behaviors in dogs. On top of this, you risk suppressing a dog's early cues which act as warning systems. For example, if you punish a dog for growling at children, you risk suppressing the growl, which is an important warning system. You may therefore end up with a dog who directly bites without giving any warning. This is likely removing the batteries from a smoke alarm. You have no more warning system to rely on. Seek Professional Help Once again, enlist the help of a certified professional dog trainer, certified applied animal behaviorist or board-certified veterinary behaviorist experienced in working with behavior issues. The goal is to carry out a thorough functional assessment and design a customized behavior modification plan so as to address the specific issues your dog is facing. Working with a professional is important for safety and the correct implementation of behavior modification. My preferred go-to are Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists (CAAB) and Board-Certified Veterinary Behaviorists (DACVB). Be Patient and Consistent It goes without saying that changing a dog's behavior takes time and it's best to nip behavior problems in the bud before they establish. Behavior modification takes time and no guarantees can be made over the outcome of behavior modification. Any progress will be gradual and you may witness setbacks, but with consistent effort and professional guidance, you should be likely to notice improvements over time. Keep Socializing Your Dog Socialization efforts should be in place for the rest of the dog's life. While it's true that puppies go through a critical socialization period, it's also true that dogs keep learning throughout their lives. Teach Children How to Behave Around Dogs This involves teaching our own children how to behavior around our dog as well as any visiting children. Teach them to avoid moving suddenly, use their "indoor voices," and respect your dog's personal space. Be your dog's ambassador. You can warn any approaching children that you think your dog may struggle with by telling them that your dog is a guard dog and not for petting. Basically, do as much as you can to control the situation and help your dog feel secure knowing that you're there to 'protect' him from random strangers/children that you feel he's not eager to interact with. A Word of Caution The ultimate goal of management and behavior modification when it comes to dogs who struggle with visitors/children is to attain a reduction in the frequency and intensity of behaviors such as barking and growling. When it comes to the interactions between dogs and children, there are several risks that need to be considered. Children are particularly vulnerable and there are specific risks involved due to the fact that they're less reliably to follow instructions and struggle recognizing subtle cues that dogs are getting increasingly stressed and may be about to bite. The stakes are therefore much higher and it’s harder to control the outcome when it comes to dogs and children. Of course, every case is different. An old and toothless small dog weighing 10 pounds poses less risks compared to a a two-year old dog weighing 90 pounds. The risks at stake are always high as there can be dangerous consequences for any mishap. It's important to recognize that some dogs, despite the commitment and the skill level of the trainer/behavior specialist, will pose a high risk and the situation may be too dangerous should management fail one day. Of course this is the worst case scenario, but worth mentioning. No trainer/behavior specialist should provide guarantees on the outcome of training/behavior modification. I will be answering your other queries shortly in the next post. Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your puppy or dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques (no shock, prongs, or physical corrections) for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course (or any online source) are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dogs' behavior against you or others.

I'm on a row with bad episode Yesterday, little error, he went to bed for the night with access to the pen. While he usually goes from 22pm to at least 5am, he made a tantrum at 2am, in the pen, jumping on the fence, whining... I got down, opened while thinking there could be a need, put him out with no fuss, no look, he had a pee, we went back, in the crate, and closed the pen access Tantrum and whining quite while he usually had no problem with the crate but as we just went out, I played the ignore card... Finally settled after quite some time, whining again 2 hours after. Ignored again, settled, and last whine was at wake up time Potty time... And he pooped... While he never poop first thing in the morning.. besides it finished liquid... I had a bad feeling about this... There was indeed a poop accident in the crate... He never pooped at night so I didn't even considered that would be his call... I just thought of excitment with the pen access open and the pee he actually made Will that provoque a setback in crate training ? And pooping in there made a négative association ? How do I proceed from here ? Or it's ok and will get back to normal ? I cleaned with just water. In house accident I also use white vinegar but didn't want to put some in the crate as I used it for the repulsive effect Will water cleaning be enough ? Poor guy should have had an horrible night. He didn't touch his breakfast Kong and fall asleep in the middle of the living room He had a vaccines booster shot friday but was totally fine saturday and sunday... So I dont think of this to be the issue... Too much fruits as treats can provoke liquid stools and higher poop frequency ? Thank you for the help

So in most cases, leash reactivity in dogs doesn't just happen on a whim. Rather, the behavior of barking and lunging has some specific underlying function that fuels and maintains the behavior alive. It can be said that in general, dog leash-reactivity behaviors can be classified into two main categories: escape and access. -Escape Escape, as implied, involves dogs attempting to escape from some stimulus or circumstance that they perceive as unpleasant or aversive. When dogs are on a leash, they become more vulnerable as their choice to flee is removed and often this puts them into the situation to choose "fight" versus flight. These dogs are therefore trying to put distance between themselves and the trigger, but since they are prevented from fleeing, they are forced to put up a threatening display in hopes of scaring the trigger away. For sake of an example, imaging a person being terrified of mice. A mouse makes its way in the home and is approaching the person. The person cornered, will stomp her feet in hopes of scaring the rodent away. The mouse perceives the threat and rushes back to its original hiding spot, a crack of a wall. Since this behavior "works," this person will repeat this behavior in the future should a similar circumstance happen again. Among dogs, we see rehearsal of this behavior quite often in the case of dogs barking at the mailman. Bark, after bark, the dog soon realizes that the mailman eventually leaves and therefore his barking ultimately "works." Of course, this is from the dog's perspective, us humans know for a fact that the mailman isn't really escaping from the dog but just going on with his postal duties! Cases of leash reactivity where the dog feels threatened, require changing the dog's emotional response so that manifesting all the associated stress/anxiety/fear-related behavioral manifestations becomes redundant. -Access Access, as the name implies, access-driven behaviors involves dogs trying to access some stimulus that they find appealing. At a first glance, it may seem odd for a dog to bark, growl and lunge when they want to reach something appealing, but in reality those angry vocalizations are triggered by frustration. These are typically dogs who are social butterflies and have a history of playing well with other dogs at the off leash dog park, but put them on leash and they will throw the canine equivalent of a "temper tantrum" when they can't go to greet and meet dogs on walks. This type of leash-reactivity is quite different than the one elicited by fear and therefore requires a slightly different approach. Rather than changing the dog's emotions, we give them something else to do. In other words, If you think your dog is barking out of frustration because he can't go meet people or other dogs, check out the guide on barrier frustration in dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/barrier-frustration/ So here is the "meaty section." An example of behavior modification for dogs who overreact and their behavior stems from an underlying state of stress/anxiety/fear. It goes without saying that, to stop a dog from being reactive on leash, you'll need to take a multi-pronged approach, tackling the issue from a variety of angles. This because, behind the lunging and barking, there are underlying emotions at play. It's no more a simple matter of just training, but behavior modification is involved. As mentioned,, barking and lunging are simply the external manifestations of an internal turmoil, and therefore it's important getting to the root cause of the behavior, which is the underlying emotional response towards evoking triggers and situations. Following is an example of steps to ameliorate the situation. -Ensure health It's always good at a first step, ensuring the dog is feeling well and healthy. There are certain medical conditions that can lower a dog's threshold for reactivity making them more likely to react showing signs of excess arousal, fear or aggression. A through vet visit can help rule these things out. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/medical-causes-aggressive-behavior-dogs/ -Prevent Rehearsal of Problematic Behavior Just like actors get better and better in their recitals the more they practice, the more your dog's lunging and barking behaviors establish and become more and more habit-forming, the more he gets to repeat them. As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect." It therefore goes without saying, that a fundamental part of the rehabilitation process will entail preventing your dog from engaging in barking and lunging behavior. Here's the thing: even if your dog gets to lunge and bark occasionally as he doesn't always encounter his triggers on walks, those occasional rehearsals maintain the behavior alive, because escaping from fearful or stress-inducing situations is an adaptive behavior that will persist because it's associated with survival. Preventing rehearsal can therefore mean no more walks until your dog is better equipped with coping skills and has demonstrated the ability to tolerate very low intensity exposures towards triggers. Taking your dog off the reactivity fog will allow both of you to get some relief and destress. No worries, this is not a permanent solution and there are many ways to keep your dog active, and happy in the meanwhile through brain games, food puzzles, clicker training, foraging opportunities, fun games in the yard (fetch, treasure hunts, use of herding balls for dogs), sniffing adventures, canine sports, possibly hikes in rural areas (where you are absolutely sure there are no dogs). - Familiarize With Desensitization and Counterconditioning These are two very powerful behavior modification techniques that are also used in humans to treat fears and phobias. Desensitization is simply the process where you expose your dog to his triggers in a systematic manner so that they don't evoke his lunging and barking behavior. This often means presenting them at a distance if the trigger is visual or playing recordings at a low volume if the trigger is auditory. More about this is covered here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/ Counterconditioning is instead the process of creating positive associations with the trigger. The goal is eliciting what is known as a conditioned emotional response, where the dog goes from dreading the trigger to looking forward to it because it leads to wonderful things. The most common implementation of this is through the use of food. Basically, every time the trigger is seen, the dog is fed something high in value. More about this is covered here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/ When desensitization is combined with counterconditioning you therefore get the best of both worlds: low level, more tolerable exposures to the trigger and wonderful associations with food (remember to go very high value outdoors, I like to use baked liver strips, low sodium-organic beef hot dogs, chicken breast-the white meat only, no skin or bones-check with your vet if your dog has allergies/dietary intolerances/ a sensitive GI system). - Become a Pro In Reading Your Dog In order to implement behavior modification correctly, it's important to familiarize yourself with your dog's body language. Recognize when he is in an emotional baseline level and when he's starting to rev up. If you have recordings of your dog's reactive behavior, watch them in slow motion and watch carefully the precursor signs. There may have been a quick lip lick, wrinkling of the skin on the forehead or he may stopped panting focusing on something in the distance. You mentioned whining, but what happens right prior to the whining or turning the head? A good behavior modification plan will have your dog orienting towards the trigger, but without causing him to react. You therefore need to pay extra attention that your dog doesn't go over threshold. Here is how to know when a dog is over or under threshold (hint, when your dog spits treats, he very over) https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ -Train Replacement Behaviors The goal is to gradually train an alternate behavior for your dog to engage in and obtain a fluid response so that it can be then eventually prompted in face of the trigger. This training should be started in the comfort of the home away from distractions. With cases of reactivity, I have found more success in using dynamic behaviors (like attention heeling) rather than static behaviors (like sits, downs and stays) because I find that dogs struggle more staying still when they are concerned about their surroundings. One of my favorite replacement behaviors is to train is attention heeling (where the dog looks at me while walking past distractions). If your dogs pull, you'll want to work on this any way so there's a double whammy of benefits (tackling the pulling, giving the dog an alternate behavior to engage in rather than barking and pulling). Here is the guide: You should start training in the hallway possibly using kibble, then move to then garage and then fenced yard using high-value treats (since there are more distractions),as long as you are sure there are no triggers. I would also recommend again working on conditioning your dog to respond to a smacking sound. Train this by making the sound and then tossing your dog immediately a treat. Smacking sound/treat, smacking sound/treat. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/ Practice in low distraction areas, gradually adding in distractions (not the actual trigger though). You want your dog to immediately orient towards you for his treat. -Train The Emergency U-Turn The emergency U-turn is an important skill to train considering that one day, you may find yourself stuck in a sticky situation where your dog's trigger is walking your way. The emergency U-turn teaches your dog to turn on cue. If you practice often enough, your dog should quickly do an about-turn with you saving you from a potentially challenging situation. Here is a guide: how to train the emergency U-turn: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ - Keep Your Dog Under Better Control As mentioned, just a plain buckle collar attached to a leash in general will give you poor control of your dog. This can also personally cause us humans stress and anxiety when going on walks because we're concerned about falling, or our dogs dragging you too close to the trigger or tugging strong enough that the leash slips through our hands. Our dogs may sense this stress, and this can travel down the leash to the point where both you and your dog are feeding on each others' emotions. By having a better sense of control, we can feel more confident. We can gain some of that using a front-attachment harness where the leash attaches to the front ring of the harness. For cases where I am particularly concerned about safety, or there's a struggle in walking the dog, I may even invest in a head halter. Prong collars, choke collars or shock collars are a big no-no as these do the total opposite of what we are trying to achieve (create positive associations) since they cause discomfort/pain. - Start With Easy Systematic Exposures Once you have learned how to read your dog's body language, the basics of desensitization and counterconditioning, how to keep a dog under threshold, acclimatized your dog to wearing a harness (or muzzle training if necessary for safety) and practiced a replacement behavior, it is time to start working with systematic exposures. These are again low-intensity exposures where you can control the intensity of the trigger through set-ups (like volunteers walking back and forth with a dog at a subthreshold distance). You won't ask for trained replacement behaviors yet, because it's not easy for a dog to perform operant behaviors when they are concerned about a potential trigger (think about trying to focus when a big spider is about to crawl on your arm!), and on top of that, you want your dog to focus on the trigger so that you can pair it with good things. There are several games and exercises that use desensitization and counterconditioning that come handy when working with reactive dogs. These exercises/games are rather easy for the dog to perform since they don't involve much thinking but just looking at triggers and forming positive associations with them. A great game to play to create positive associations with a trigger is the Look at That Exercise. In this exercise, you just feed treats when your dog sees the trigger, aiming for a positive conditioned emotional response. If I have a dog who isn't very territorial, I can even start this exercise indoors, by looking at the trigger from a window at a distance. Skipping the leash may help initially. Here is the guide on that: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ If you want to make things crystal clear, you can use the Open Bar/Close Bar method, taking advantage of visual obstructions. For example, if a dog is reactive towards other dogs, one can have a helper walk a dog parallel to parked cars. Feed treats when your dog sees the other dog, stop feeding treats when he no longer sees him (as the cars block the view). Here is the guide on this: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/ Another helpful game that aims to provide positive associations is a "Treasure Hunt game" with a twist. Upon noticing the trigger at a distance, toss a handful of treats and and say "go get em!" in a happy tone as you point towards the treats. A Treat Toss game instead consists of the dog noticing the trigger at a distance, I then make the smacking sound tossing the treat a little ahead on the road for the dog to catch. I have found some dogs respond better to tossed treats rather than hand-feeding as it stimulates their prey drive and allows them to release some energy too. For dogs worried about dogs and turning around repeatedly when worried about other dogs, I created a form of LAT on the go, you'll find a video in the case study section: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/03-homer-homers-reactivity/ Tip: If your dog has been exhibiting reactive behavior always on walks around the neighborhood, it may be worthy to start working on the issue in a new place so to establish new routines/habits. - Progress to Actual Training Once your dog has shown signs of associating the trigger with tasty treats and he is in a calmer state, you can start asking for the replacement behaviors. Right upon passing by the trigger, make your smacking sound, hold the treat at eye level and ask your dog to do some steps of attention heeling, looking at you as you feed him treats every step. Once past the trigger, no more treats. Make it clear that the trigger is what starts all the fun! -Have a Plan for Setbacks If at any time, your dog becomes reactive, take that as a sign that you have progressed too fast or the trigger was at a too intense level. If caught very early, if possible, interrupt the behavior at the earliest sign by making your smacking sound or tossing treats telling your dog to "get them" increasing distance from the trigger. If the trigger is approaching head-on, prompt the emergency turn immediately, Always end the session on a positive note, feeding treats as your dog sees the trigger from a distance that doesn't evoke a reaction, and call it a day. Once home, make a mental note of presenting the trigger at less intense levels. It could be the trigger was presented too close or for too long or was too animated. Each of these elements should be presented one at a time, as too many elements presented at once can easily push a dog at the edge. It could also be that your dog has endured other stressful events at home (hence the importance of reducing stress at home too) and due to trigger stacking his threshold for feeling reactive has temporarily lowered. Maybe he is not feeling well, or the exposure was just too much incorporated various elements at once. - Consider Calming Aids For cases of reactivity that aren't too responsive, you may need to add some calming aids. Examples include calming supplements, DAP collars, calming sprays etc. These options can be discussed with a vet. In certain cases, where the dog is a bite-risk or the reactivity occurs across various contexts, or when the triggers are difficult to manage and there is no improvement, the use of medications prescribed by the vet may be recommended along with behavior medication. - Consider Professional Help It goes without saying that ideally, reactivity in dogs should be tackled with the in-person help of a professional for safety and the correct implementation of behavior modification. It is important to seek help by professional committed to force-free training and behavior modification. Professionals to seek out include dog trainers specializing in reactivity, board-certified veterinary behaviorist and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists. -Importance of Improving the Dog's Emotional Wellbeing On top of working around the reactivity, it's important to not forget to also tackle the dog's overall emotional wellbeing. Improvements can be made by decreasing the overall stress in the dog's life, promoting relaxation (relax on a mat), increasing the dog's confidence and helping the dog develop coping skills. Particularly beneficial may be adding enrichment under the form of brain games and food puzzles, promoting positive experiences, shaping, clicker training, impulse control training, letting the dog explore the world at his own pace, building frustration tolerance, splitting exercises in easy steps, teaching the dog to relax. Any noise phobias should be tackled as well: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/ I hope this helps reduce the overreactive state of both your dogs! Please keep us posted and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. Happy training! Best, Adrienne Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your puppy or dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques (no shock, prongs, or physical corrections) for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course (or any online source) are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dogs' behavior against you or others.

So in most cases, leash reactivity in dogs doesn't just happen on a whim. Rather, the behavior of barking and lunging has some specific underlying function that fuels and maintains the behavior alive. It can be said that in general, dog leash-reactivity behaviors can be classified into two main categories: escape and access. -Escape Escape, as implied, involves dogs attempting to escape from some stimulus or circumstance that they perceive as unpleasant or aversive. When dogs are on a leash, they become more vulnerable as their choice to flee is removed and often this puts them into the situation to choose "fight" versus flight. These dogs are therefore trying to put distance between themselves and the trigger, but since they are prevented from fleeing, they are forced to put up a threatening display in hopes of scaring the trigger away. For sake of an example, imaging a person being terrified of mice. A mouse makes its way in the home and is approaching the person. The person cornered, will stomp her feet in hopes of scaring the rodent away. The mouse perceives the threat and rushes back to its original hiding spot, a crack of a wall. Since this behavior "works," this person will repeat this behavior in the future should a similar circumstance happen again. Among dogs, we see rehearsal of this behavior quite often in the case of dogs barking at the mailman. Bark, after bark, the dog soon realizes that the mailman eventually leaves and therefore his barking ultimately "works." Of course, this is from the dog's perspective, us humans know for a fact that the mailman isn't really escaping from the dog but just going on with his postal duties! Cases of leash reactivity where the dog feels threatened, require changing the dog's emotional response so that manifesting all the associated stress/anxiety/fear-related behavioral manifestations becomes redundant. -Access Access, as the name implies, access-driven behaviors involves dogs trying to access some stimulus that they find appealing. At a first glance, it may seem odd for a dog to bark, growl and lunge when they want to reach something appealing, but in reality those angry vocalizations are triggered by frustration. These are typically dogs who are social butterflies and have a history of playing well with other dogs at the off leash dog park, but put them on leash and they will throw the canine equivalent of a "temper tantrum" when they can't go to greet and meet dogs on walks. This type of leash-reactivity is quite different than the one elicited by fear and therefore requires a slightly different approach. Rather than changing the dog's emotions, we give them something else to do. In other words, If you think your dog is barking out of frustration because he can't go meet people or other dogs, check out the guide on barrier frustration in dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/barrier-frustration/ However, you mentioned: "I believe he just wants to say hello. He used to be more social, now he is hesitant to go and say hello (but i believe he wants to) and then he might freeze while the other dog sniffs and bounces around him, or he says a quick hello and suddenly does a play bow and runs away (once) and this is when he is on the lead, it is hard to know if it is really 'play' because it looks like a mix of 'play' and 'flee'" It sounds like Cali may have mixed feelings. He is reaching an age where play and interacting with other dogs may no longer be at the very top of their priorities, and when they try to play and flee, I call it the "approach/'avoidance dance." In other words, they are interested and approach, but when they approach they may come to realize they're not really that comfortable. However, it could also be a play tactic, where the dog play bows and then tries to engage the other dog in chasing him. So hard to say without seeing the behavior. However, the fact that you mention he is less social than before and he is hesitant to say hi, seem to point more towards mixed feelings.

Hi Penelope! You are very welcome! Please see my observations/tips in non-bold. I definitely use a different tone with her when she is doing something she shouldn't be doing. Are we supposed to always use a happy tone with them even when they are doing something wrong for the hundredth time ? I did realize after your last email that I use more words than necessary when making a command so I have corrected that and she responds better. If a dog is doing something wrong for the hundredth time, that likely means we are repeating our cues over and over and they have lost their meaning. I will list a few things that may cause a dog to not listen despite us telling them over and over. -Too Much Distraction One of the most common reasons for dogs not listening is a too distracting environment. We need to remember that dogs are blessed with significantly stronger senses than us, and therefore they are more tuned in to their environment compared to us. On top of this, when they are focused on a task, they may be unable to focus on something else. If you therefore catch your dog digging and chewing in the act, he may too focused on the task to be able to orient toward you. -Lack of Training Training a dog to perform a behavior fluently takes a lot of practice. It requires several reps to allow muscle memory to set in and you'll then need to train the behavior in a variety of contexts and situations. The process of making a behavior more and more reliable is known as "proofing" and the process of creating a responsive state in a variety of locations and situations is known as "generalization." If a dog is therefore not sitting when you have guests over in the yard, despite having just trained him to sit just a week ago in your living room, it may be too early for your dog to perform the behavior in that setting. -Too Concentrated on Sniffing Did you know? When a dog is sniffing, a great portion of his brain is utilized for the task, and this can make it difficult for him to focus on something else. It is therefore best not to call a dog or cue him to perform a behavior when he's actively sniffing, unless you have a strong history of training under that setting using super-duper high value treats. -Repeating Your Cues It's a common mistake repeating cues over and over when a dog doesn't listen. This can lead to a phenomenon known as learned irrelevance, where your cue loses more and more power the more it is repeated without a response. Soon, our cue becomes as irrelevant as the birds chirping in the trees. -No History of Reinforcement Contrary to what we may have heard, dogs don't typically obey to our cues just to please us. Rather, we need to motivate them to perform the behavior using reinforcement (rewards) so that it strengthens and repeats. One of the best incentives is food, often under the form of tasty treats. If you fail to provide any type of reinforcement, it will be unlikely that your dog will be interested in performing the behavior, let alone be involved in any training. -Too Low Value Treats When you train in a distracting environment where there is something your dog is really focused on, you also need to up the value of your treats so to compete with the distractions and win your dog's attention. For example, if you use kibble to train outdoors, your dog may be disinterested as she finds more rewarding things to do such as go sniff and try to meet other dogs. -Too Much Energy/Excitement If your dog is young and overly excited or very energetic, it will be difficult to grab her attention at certain times. Don't take it personally. Imagine a toddler who is overly excited by seeing all the rides and cartoon characters walking down the road at Disney World. It will be difficult asking them to ignore all the great stuff and pay attention to us. -Enjoying the attention You sometimes stumble on dogs who are super attention-seekers who enjoy any sort of attention, even the attention of the negative type (like a toddler who cries when mom is on the phone and even her scolding him qualifies as attention). These readily learn that when they behave, they get no attention, but when they misbehave, they get plenty, so you'll see them misbehave more and more just for the extra attention. These though are often dogs left alone for a good part of the day who deeply crave social engagement. -Lack of Consistency If you tell your dog to "leave it" when she tries to dig nearby your roses, but then you ignore her when he's digging there when there are guests over and you're busy talking, your dog will learn that he/she can dig when you are distracted. Dogs struggle with inconsistencies, they understand rules as in black and white and don't understand shades of grey. From the dog's perspective these rules are inconsistent and confusing, so it's not surprising if they keep on trying. -Cranky From Being Tired Puppies and young dogs need a lot of sleep to continue growing and to consolidate what they have learned during the day. If your dog is tired because she hasn't napped enough or you have been training her for too long, she may turn cranky and misbehave. A puppy that is cranky when tired, is one of the primary reasons for acting out and displaying a "temper tantrum." -Sensing Our Frustration If we often get upset when our dogs don't obey, our dogs will sense that. Dogs are masters in reading our emotions, and therefore, when they sense our negative emotions, this can put a dent in their responsiveness. They are not purposely though trying to be defiant. They are just reacting to our tone. For example, if we call our dog in a frustrated tone, she may come to us at a very slow pace. Walking slowly is a calming signal, our dogs are hoping to calm us down because they find us intimidating. At other times, if they sense our anger, they may engage in what is known as "the fool around stress response" barking, doing a play bow, nipping playfully or pleading to be chased. -Basic Needs Not Being Met Dogs, in order to feel comfortable and thrive, need a nourishing environment. Learning can only happen when a dog feels safe, happy and all their basic needs such as food, water, physical exercise, socialization and mental stimulation, have been met. There isn't anything around that cabinet - I've checked several times. Another thing she does is go into the kitchen and dig at the trim underneath the cabinets. She lies on her side and just scrapes away. Over and over and over. There is no spilled food or any reason she should be doing this. And she has chewed off the weather stripping from the bottom of my entry doors. Just wouldn't leave it alone until there wasn't anything left to rip off. I have blocked things off from her or removed them if I could until she gets older. I'll have to figure something out with that cabinet. If that cabinet is attracting Molly like a magnet and she is also interested in digging at the trim and chewing off weather stripping, it sounds like a bored adolescent dog desperately looking for more mental stimulation. You can read more about what happens during doggy adolescence here and what to expect:https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/ We have been practicing the leave it - take drill. She is very good about leaving it during our practice, but anywhere else she usually ignores me. But we'll keep working at it. Here is a multi-faceted approach you can try so to up the chances for success, it may repeat some of the earlier discussed strategies but may go more in depth on some. -Stop Repeating Cues As mentioned, if you keep on repeating your cues over and over and with no response, you risk them becoming irrelevant and losing power. Once they have lost their power and ultimate meaning, it may be best to start training a fresh, new cue from scratch (just substitute the word, so instead of saying "Molly come!" as a recall, you can say "Molly over, here!" and taking steps to make the response to this cue very fluent and not repeating it over and over. If you need to repeat a cue more than once, you'll need to troubleshoot why it's happening (too value treat? too strong need to chew not being satiated in other ways?) -Block Access to Problematic areas In other words, do anything that makes accessing the cabinet area difficult. You can place bulky boxes in front, erect a temporary baby gate or put several chairs in front. This at least until you have fluently trained your dog an alternate, replacement behavior. For persistent cases, some dog owners spray a product known as Bitter Yuck or Bitter Apple on the furniture to discourage any chewing. Some dogs though seem to care less and still manage to chew. -Train an alternate replacement behavior The dog should be trained an alternate behavior to engage in. This alternate behavior should ideally be incompatible with digging/chewing the cabinet. For example, a dog can't dig or chew if she's asked go to lie down on a mat or if she's asked to "leave it" and will move towards you for a treat. Ideally, these replacement behaviors should be asked at the earliest sign that the dog is about to engage in the problematic behavior. This means that you would say "leave it" or " go to your mat" https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/the moment you see her approach the cabinet area. After some time, you can practice leave its with you from a certain distance and gradually build more and more distance and then progress to remotely monitoring your dog from another room and practice saying leaves its from there. This informs the dog that the area should be still be left alone even when we are out of sight (although there is no guarantee the area will be left alone when we aren't around for some time without remotely monitoring). If you ask for the replacement behavior too late when your dog is already digging and chewing, you risk her not paying attention to you and risk creating a behavior chain of your dog purposely going to dig/chew so that you then redirect her by saying "leave it" or sending her to her mat and get a treat/durable safe chew. -Use High Value Treats Because dogs love to chew and dig, and these are naturally reinforcing behaviors on their own, it's important to use high-value treats to reinforce the replacement behavior. This creates a stronger, more reliable response. You can find many high-value treat rewards in pet stores. -Provide more mental stimulation If your dog keeps wanting to go towards the cabinet and it's drawing her like a magnet, you may want to provide your dog with more enrichment. If your dog loves to dig, provide her with a digging pit full of sand and bury her toys under. Your dog may also have fun with the magic carpet game https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/college/the-magic-carpet/ If your dog loves to chew, make sure she has plenty of chew toys that capture her attention. You may have to rotate toys to keep her interest alive. Hide some for a few days and offer them later. Chew toys that are filled with food like Kong Wobblers and Kongs stuffed with kibble mixed with some canned dog food and then frozen can provide entertainment for hours. I recommend these to owners all the time, as dogs need to be mentally stimulated to keep busy and happy. These legit options can help satiate their needs. And don't forget about more brain games! -Ensure she gets sleep As mentioned, growing dogs need lots of sleep to keep on doing their growing. You want that nice REM sleep where they're lying on their side and occasionally twitching. This is the restorative type of sleep that helps them recharge. -Provide exercise Many dog breeds were selectively bred to carry out a variety of tasks for a good part of the day. You have a mix of dogs who used to work a lot and are blessed with lots of stamina. This meant moving around a lot. It goes without saying, that age-appropriate walks and exercise (check with your vet on this as you need to wait for your puppy's growth plates to close before engaging in vigorous types of exercise and canine sports) is important. Her pen - she sleeps, eats, has her water there plus that is where she spends her time when I'm out of the house. 4 x 6 feet on tile and it's not isolated from the rest of the house. I took a dog play pen and attached the fence to the walls so she couldn't tip it over. And it has a door that I leave open unless she needs to be in there. She has lots of great chew toys and other toys plus some doggie puzzle toys. I know she is very intelligent - I just bought her another Kong toy that you can put treats in and chew on. She learned within seconds that if she drops it on the wood floor, the treats bounce out. She just keeps dropping it until nothing comes out, then leaves it. Sounds like she has a great place to retreat to! You may need to enforce the naps if she isn't voluntarily napping enough at structured times of the day. Provide a quiet, dark area, inducive to sleep and possibly stick to a routine. If you soak her kibble with some water and then place it in the Kong and freeze it, you will have a longer lasting food puzzle which can help keep her more busy. I've always found with my other dogs that they are eager to please and do what we request. Molly is typically just engrossed in what she wants to do. She is not penned up when I'm home and we spend a lot of time together. It seems if she isn't focused on anything, she responds to me better. But if she is focused on something, it is very difficult to get her attention, even if I go to her and gently touch her to get her to look at me. It's almost as if her brain is on overload. With modern dog training, we have strayed away from the belief that dogs must please us and should obey every our request just because we say so. This could have been the case when, in the old times, dogs were put to work by engaging in behaviors that were natural to them or back in time when dogs were coerced into performing certain behaviors using painful scare tactics (sort of how teachers in the past used to pull children's hair). For example, asking a beagle to go follow a hot trail where rabbits were frolicking moments earlier or asking a retriever to find a shot bird and bring it back to the hunter, could have been perceived as "dogs with a great eagerness to please" when in reality they were carrying out instinctive behaviors that have been deeply inculcated in them courtesy of centuries of selective breeding. From a human standpoint, this can be the equivalent of asking a cook to go bake e cake or asking a gardener to go plant some flower bulbs. These people are eagerly performing these behaviors because they are naturally passionate about the activity and therefore don't obey mechanically just to please us. In our modern worlds, dogs are kept more as companions so they aren't expected to go hunt or retrieve downed birds as in the past. This has created a major shift in their lives with our modern expectations. Dogs that were built to have loads of stamina, running around, herding and guarding livestock and putting their nose to use to find meals to put on our tables, are now for the most part left unemployed. This leads to a big behavior vacuum, causing dogs to often feel frustrated and with a surplus of energy they don't know how to get rid of. Gone are the large open spaces, the ability to walk and run freely and engage in the behaviors they were specifically built for. Modern dogs are expected to walk politely on a leash, bark as minimally as possible, tolerate being closed in a crate and bein respectful of our belongings. On top of this, we expect them to engage in behaviors that are total opposite of what they may have been bred for. For example, not lunging at birds, not pulling to search for rabbits, not digging through dirt to find prey, and not barking when they sense the presence of intruders. Modern dog training also strays away from the outdated "dominant dog" beliefs of the past. Contrary to what we used to think in the past, dogs who don't listen aren't being purposefully defiant because they are "dominant dogs" with a wish to challenge. Rather, in most cases, dogs are disobedient for a variety of more down-to-earth reasons, other than wanting to rule. "Believe it or not, there is no secret army of pets waiting to take over the world as this is not the planet of the apes!," points our board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Sabrina Poggiagliolmi. The belief that dogs are misbehaving because of being "dominant" has led to dog owners feeling compelled to establish themselves as higher ranking over the dog, through the use of a variety of punishment-based physical interventions. Use of such interventions have led to an escalation of aggressive displays from the dog, explains board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. John Ciribassi. A study by Herron et al., 2009, clearly demonstrated that the use of confrontational methods such as “stare downs”, yelling no, “alpha rolls” and “dominance downs” frequently evoked an aggressive response. This is because such corrections lead to the dog feeling highly threatened and stressed which leads to defensive aggression. Link to study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159108003717 Dogs Ultimately Do What They Find Reinforcing Ultimately, it can be said that dogs engage in behaviors that they find reinforcing. In simple words, dogs do what they do because it simply works for them and leads to pleasant outcomes. "When a dog does something that makes us happy, we shouldn’t jump to the assumption that a dog “only wants to please us” —they are doing things to make us happy because it also gets them a treat or a belly rub or a pleasant environment to be in," explains the Association of Professional Dog Trainers. Sticking to the belief that dogs must follow our instructions just to please us, risks leading to problems down the road because our dogs will struggle understanding what behaviors we like and would like us to see more of. I have gone through the links you recommended before and am working on those. I will check out the ones that are new. At least I'm not feeling so overwhelmed with her as she has finally stopped jumping on and biting me. She mouths me a lot but doesn't hurt me anymore. Thanks again for your help ! Penelope You are very welcome! I am glad to hear that Molly has stopped jumping and biting on you, that is great progress. Kudos to you for having worked on this so diligently to have attained such fast progress! Keep up the great work!

IMG_0369.MOV Here he is barking today. No, he doesn’t get food until mealtimes or during training. In the past we try and ride these tantrums out, or we get up and leave the room, shut the door and come back in after 15 seconds or so. If it goes on too long he goes in a quiet room with toys or chews. Sometimes they’re only brief before he gives up and crashes. Usually it’s when we both sit down together, if one is sitting and the other doing jobs he’s fine. We never throw him a ball because he’s always attention seeking with a ball. He’ll drop it under a chair or sofa and bark because he can’t get it. When we sit down though he’s always had his needs taken care of and gets a chew of some sort. He gets a lot of attention, and a lot of exercise during the day. He can nap anytime he wants, which is usually mornings after his first walk. He’ll also nap in evenings after his tantrum has finished. To answer your questions. He’s very particular about petting. He usually naps away from us. When he wants a cuddle he walks up to us and nuzzles our hands, or jumps up beside us and paws us. First thing in the morning when he comes out of his cage he lies down for a massage and stroke. He’s a lot better at relaxing these days, when he was a puppy he was always restless and couldn’t settle. We took him to the vet for X-rays to check he was OK and had no misalignment problems. He checked out fine, the vet said he was just anxious and needs more rest. So we put him in his cage at 9 pm with a kong and he stays in there until 9am with a short break for a wee at midnight before we go to sleep. He loves his cage and goes straight in. He sleeps most of the time in there or relaxes. Yes, he does tend to follow us around. He likes to be in whatever room we’re in. Even if we’re in the gym working out he’ll wander in with his chew and sit contentedly and watch us. He never runs off if we’re outside, even if the gates open. We have a big garden and if we’re working he’ll just sit and watch us. I think he’s quite insecure. If we’re in the fields playing behind our house and I walk towards the garden gate to go back in, he runs in like a shot before me. He doesn’t like to be left alone, and he’s come to rely on us for entertainment. He’s hopeless at entertaining himself. If he’s in the garden on his own, he’s immediately into mischief, like digging up the lawn. We have neighbours on one side and if we talk over the fence, he’ll dig up the lawn while we’re talking, after he’s had a cuddle from them of course. They love him. He wants attention most of the time unless he knows we’re working on stuff and then he seems content to watch us. We really need to work on his independence. But because we’re at home all day, he’s sort of spoilt compared to most dogs. Here he is napping after. Lol.