Baxter

[SusanOgilvie]

> From Susan: 

What do you recommend then?  We got him from a shelter.  They just  keep passing the problems on and on again to other well meaning mugs.  He'll just keep coming back.  We have given him nine months.  I'm 69.  I need help to deal with him!
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> https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/forum/5-dog-training-amp-behavior/?do=add
> I definitely don't recommend murdering the affectionate dog, as many shelters would be glad to have him.
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>
>> From Susan: 

Dear Adrienne,
>> I purchased your programme to help me with my dog Baxter. Baxter is a rescue dog, now about two years old.  He'd been found as a stray and although he was chipped, the owner could not be found.  
>> We've had him for nine months.  We call him a Staffrador, as we think he might be a Staffy x Labrador.  We think he may have been thrown out by his owner as he is 'a handful'.
>> For the first six/eight weeks he was destructive, but fortunately he seems to have gotten over that.  Once we realised we had got ourselves a problem, we had some one-to-one training and then classes with a local dog trainer, using methods the same as yours.  Baxter walks out fairly well, but can get a little bit pulley when we are in new places, understandable.  He sits and lies down on command.  He will leave food when told to and will wait until he is given the go ahead to eat his meals.  He has no recall, just turns a deaf ear, regardless of the lure.  He is never allowed off the lead outside of our home/garden.  He has no aggression.  He doesn't bark, growl, snarl or bare his teeth.  You can take anything off him.  He is quite affectionate.  Our best friends have a two year old Standard Poodle and a huge garden.  We took Baxter there to socialise him.  They got on well, though a bit boisterous the first time.  After the third occasion we had to take Baxter away as he was charging at her like a bull and had injured her.
>> Our problem is that he is a serious jumper.  He jumps in the house on us and our visitors.  We have tried turning our back, leaving the room and putting him on time out.  He does eventually calm down from exhaustion - us and him.  When we are out, he jumps at people passing by, chases bicycle riders and when we see other dogs he goes absolutely bonkers.  He jumps into the air and throws himself to the ground.  He will take the lead in his teeth and play tug of war, often circling me.  He has pulled me into the road and had me off my feet on several occasions.  The dog trainer showed how to distract him from other dogs with sausage, but how much sausage can I carry around with me and have I got to do this forever?  We live in a village surrounded by countryside.  I walk him every day.  This morning we went on a three hour hike.  When we returned, he ate his breakfast and then ran through the house and garden bouncing off the shed, walls and furniture and knocking my husband to the floor.
>> I was hoping that there would be something in your programme that would help me to solve these problems, but there's nothing new there, except some party tricks.  If I cannot get on top of this and transform Baxter into a well behaved dog that I can be proud of, I will have him put down.  I could not in all good conscience, pass him to some other unsuspecting person.
>> You seem to be counselling your readers to contact a local dog trainer.  Been there, done that.  Why should I buy the programme if that's your best answer.  What can I do?  What can you do?  As you can appreciate from my message, I am at the end of my tether.  He just brings me to tears
>> I look forward to hearing from you,

Regards,

Susan Ogilvie
>
 

[Adrienne]

Hi Susan, 

Welcome to the forums.

I am a bit confused about your post. I see parts with a link that goes to a page to make a new post and not sure who said " I definitely don't recommend murdering the affectionate dog, as many shelters would be glad to have him."

In most cases,  where owners are counselled to contact a local trainer, they are aggression cases (which require in-person guidance for safety and correct implementation) or severe anxiety requiring medications. These cases are very delicate and the upmost care is required. No dog training and behavior modification is ultimately totally safe though (people may get scratched, bitten, may fall), hence why disclaimers are needed. 

Also, I am sorry to hear that you think there's nothing here except some "party tricks." I am afraid you missed the sections on obedience training,  brain games, behavior training, the archive with hundreds of articles tackling all kinds of problems, the case study section (sharing methods I personally craft for individual cases which is always expanding), the glossary, and the forums where we can do deep troubleshooting on many common and not-so-common problems.  

I can feel your frustration. After contacting a local trainer and not getting the results desired can feel very depressing especially when we have high expectations and hope. Here's the thing, behavior change takes time and the longer a dog rehearses a problematic behavior, the longer it takes to tackle. You got Baxter as a rescue, so we don't know what happened in the past. Very likely,  as you postulate, the owner had his hands full and this dog is a work in progress. Some dogs can be a lot of work.

I have an owner picking up a dog in a few minutes, I will be posting some troubleshooting for the issues you are facing in my next post later today. Hang in there. 

 

 

 

[Adrienne]

Hi Susan,

I am sorry to hear about the struggles you are going through. Your dog is two, which is a difficult age as he's in the peak adolescent stage. Not surprisingly,  statistics shows that this is a stage during which most dogs are relinquished to shelters. You can read more about the dog adolescent stage here:  https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/  Fortunately, as these dogs go through this stage (which can feel very long) if we remain consistent and on top of the game, things get better once the dog progresses into the adult stage.

Now, you need to really give yourself a pat on the back. These dogs are not easy. I have fostered and rehabbed several dogs like this and the process can be exhausting mentally and physically. You put a lot of work initially, often with little payback, but then as the days progress, you often start seeing little glimpses of progress. There may be ups and downs, with progress and sometimes dogs reverting to their old habits, but as time goes by, the progress gets more and more steady, to the point where you start seeing more desirable behaviors surface than the undesirable ones.  

To put things in perspective let's weight the progress made so far:

• he was destructive,  but now it seems he has gotten over that
•  he sits and lies down on command
•  he will leave food when told to and will wait until he is given the go ahead to eat his meals
• You can take anything off him.
• He is quite affectionate.
• He has no aggression.

So let's take a closer look at the behavior problems you are facing:

•  Baxter walks out fairly well, but can get a little bit pulley when we are in new places.
• He has no recall, just turns a deaf ear, regardless of the lure.
• Our best friends have a two year old Standard Poodle and a huge garden.  We took Baxter there to socialise him.  They got on well, though a bit boisterous the first time.  After the third occasion we had to take Baxter away as he was charging at her like a bull and had injured her.
• Our problem is that he is a serious jumper.  He jumps in the house on us and our visitors.  We have tried turning our back, leaving the room and putting him on time out.  He does eventually calm down from exhaustion - us and him. 
• When we are out, he jumps at people passing by, chases bicycle riders and when we see other dogs he goes absolutely bonkers.  He jumps into the air and throws himself to the ground.  He will take the lead in his teeth and play tug of war, often circling me.  He has pulled me into the road and had me off my feet on several occasions.  The dog trainer showed how to distract him from other dogs with sausage, but how much sausage can I carry around with me and have I got to do this forever?  We live in a village surrounded by countryside.  I walk him every day.  This morning we went on a three hour hike.  When we returned, he ate his breakfast and then ran through the house and garden bouncing off the shed, walls and furniture and knocking my husband to the floor.

I will be now do some troubleshooting for each problem one by one. Making one post for each specific problem. 

 

[Adrienne]

Please note: text is blue is clickable and leads to articles for further in depth explanations/ readings. You need to be logged into to Brain Training for Dogs Course to read them. 

1)  Baxter walks out fairly well, but can get a little bit pulley when we are in new places.

Yes,  you are correct that this is understandable. When dogs are in new places, it is difficult to apply what they learned in an area with more distractions going on. There is often an element of anxiety going on here. Dogs may feel insecure and not in their element, and often they want to sniff to learn more about their new whereabouts.

If this is the case, we need to implement some level of behavior modification trying to ease the anxiety through gradual introductions (desensitization) and creating positive associations with exploring and visiting novel places (counterconditioning), while also working more on creating more confidence in these dogs. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-build-confidence-insecure-dogs/

On the other hand, this can just be a matter of the dog not being able to generalize the training he has received so far in areas with more distractions. In these cases, it helps to identify what triggers the pulling on these walks, and work through those elements gradually by asking the dog to heel despite them. One dog I had used to pull a lot when there were rabbits scurrying through the tall grass. So we worked on heeling exercises by having my hubby throw rocks in the grass to mimic the rabbit's movement, while I asked to heel using super high value treats to reinforce that heeling. The more we practiced, the more solid the response. Soon, the dog started heeling upon noticing the rabbits.

I don't know what walking gear you are using, but if you are small-built like me and your dog is strong, you may find a front-attachment harness (where the leash attaches to a ring by the dog's chest area like the Easy walk harness, the Walk Your Dog With Love Harness or the Sensitive harness or Freedom harness) helpful. Alternatively, a halti head collar, which controls the dog's head can turn helpful, although these require some conditioning (time to get used to using desensitization and counterconditioning).  

[Adrienne]

2) He has no recall, just turns a deaf ear, regardless of the lure

Start with baby steps, training in a low distraction area and using high value treats. Here is the section on recall training to start with:

 https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/recall/

The come when calling exercise is something that we need to practice life-long.  It's important to make it fun, upbeat and follow several important rules.  You will find these threads with troubleshooting tips helpful. Read through the most stubborn cases too as you may find some helpful tips if you ever stumble on similar hurdles as you navigate through the process: 

 

[Adrienne]

Our best friends have a two year old Standard Poodle and a huge garden.  We took Baxter there to socialise him.  They got on well, though a bit boisterous the first time.  After the third occasion we had to take Baxter away as he was charging at her like a bull and had injured her.

Here's a fact that is often difficult for many dog owners to swallow: many dogs when they reach social maturity (12 to 36 months of age), change in the way they interact with other dogs. They may play well as puppies, but then it's as if a switch turns on during social maturity and things start deteriorating. Often it starts with dogs being more selective on which dogs to befriend or dogs who become more intolerant over certain types of play. They may no longer tolerate paws on their shoulders or all-in-your-face play.  I am not sure if there is an element of aggression here, or if he was just playing rough, but just thought to point this out as this may be what may be happening. 

[Adrienne]

Our problem is that he is a serious jumper.  He jumps in the house on us and our visitors.  We have tried turning our back, leaving the room and putting him on time out.  He does eventually calm down from exhaustion - us and him. 

To train a dog to stop jumping we first need to work on reducing the jumping on us since visitors are a distraction. As with pulling on the leash, dogs need to first learn in less distracting environments, and then apply gradually to increasing distracting scenarios.  So once your dog learns to not jump on you, you can employ some guests to works as stimuli and practice with their help. They need to follow careful rules so to not reinforce the jumping (no attention when the dog jumps) You can see here a general guide on jumping and a case study on how I tackled a dog with a severe jumping behavior. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/jumping/

Case study with video:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-assessing-jumping-behavior-desensitization/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-practice-greetings/

Getting a dog used to door knocks and door bells ans polite greeting behaviors:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/barking/doorbells-knocks-on-doors/

If you want more troubleshooting ideas, please provide more details on when the jumping occurs the most (when you enter the home, when you get up in the morning, when you get the collar/leash etc. )

[Adrienne]

When we are out, he jumps at people passing by, chases bicycle riders and when we see other dogs he goes absolutely bonkers.  He jumps into the air and throws himself to the ground.  He will take the lead in his teeth and play tug of war, often circling me.  He has pulled me into the road and had me off my feet on several occasions.  The dog trainer showed how to distract him from other dogs with sausage, but how much sausage can I carry around with me and have I got to do this forever?  We live in a village surrounded by countryside.  I walk him every day.  This morning we went on a three hour hike.  When we returned, he ate his breakfast and then ran through the house and garden bouncing off the shed, walls and furniture and knocking my husband to the floor.

Firstly, I would try using a harness or gentle leader as discussed before. Next, I would practice on Look at That if possible from a window or at a distance from his triggers making sure he is not over threshold. Please take a look at the the look at that method here: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

It's important that he is kept at a distance from his triggers until he learns to act calmer. Read here about threshold levels:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

You may be interested as well in this method:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

Here are tips for biting on leash:

The rushing through the house sounds like a case of zoomies. You can try to redirect this excess energy (or release of stress) with brain games. Toss a handful of his kibble on the ground and let him search it (see the Treasure hunt game), try the Bottle Game and feed  a portion of his meals in a Kong Wobbler. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/

To answer your question, the sausage is mostly needed initially when we want to reinforce desired behaviors or create positive associations. As he gets calmer around these stimuli, there will be less need, to the point where you may need considerable less just to maintain the progress made. Practice makes perfect, so the more you work with him around these distractions, paying attention to not sending him over threshold, the better.  Consider that the more he gets to rehearse these problematic behaviors, the stronger and more resistant to extinction they become. 

Let me know if you need more details on the process. 

[SusanOgilvie]

Thank you Adrienne for all of these posts.  I have a lot to get through before I can comment.  However, I do a harness with connection in front of the chest and between the shoulder blades.  I also use a training lead to give a little extra distance when trying recall.  I also carry a slip lead for when he is being particularly active, to try to get a little more control.  I taught him to take a bow this week.  I'll do a lot of reading and will be in touch,  Thanks again, Susie

[Adrienne]

I am glad you are using these tools, they can help a lot! Of course, no tool is a substitute for training as they don't work alone, so we need to complement them with appropriate training exercises. Taking small steps applies to both dogs and their owners, so take your time to read through and if possible, aim to create small goals every day. This frame of mind can help not feel overwhelmed and helps take a more objective look at measuring progress. If at any time, things seem too challenging, it's often a sign we need to back up or split the exercise in easier to attain steps.

It's great you were able to train him to take a bow so quickly! Kudos to you!

I am always here for any elucidations, updates or further info. 

Happy training!

Adrienne

[SusanOgilvie]

I concentrated on walking today.  To think about what was happening.  As I told you, we walk in the countryside - woods and fields.  We are surrounded by rabbits, hares, monk jack, badgers, squirrels and dear.  These are all too interesting for a dog to ignore.  When these other creatures are around, that's when Baxter pulls.  Understandably.  When I call him back 'here Baxter', he returns to my side, takes his treat and goes back to hunting mode until the beast has gone.  It's not ideal, but I can put up with it quite easily.  Also today, we stopped to talk to someone in their drive for about 15 minutes.  Baxter stood and sat and was a very good boy until the person tried to approach him.  Then he jumped.  A back was turned and he got no attention.  We are still in lock down in the UK and had to move on, but it was a good exercise for us.  Oh, I forgot cats and dogs in my list of distractions.  I'll carry on with this until I have read through a lot more of the information you sent to me.  I don't see this behaviour as fear, anxiety or insecurity.  Everything is just too exiting for him. 

I sent my initial query by regular email.  I think the response regarding 'not murdering the affectionate dog' came from your offices, with the instruction to address my problem through the forum.

[Adrienne]

With dogs who come to your side to take the treat and then go back to whatever is distracting them, I usually aim to add duration as well so to prevent the yo-yo effect. This may take a bit to master because it's a bit of advanced training, but if you were able to call him away from the distraction in the first place, I think you may be able to succeed in keeping his attention a little longer.

Here's what I do (this is also covered in the obedience 101, attention heeling section):  rather than calling the dog by name, I prefer to make a smacking, kissy sound with my mouth to grab attention, then I keep a treat at eye level, let the dog walk several steps looking up at me as we walk past the distraction, and then I praise and toss the treat ahead of me so that we gain further distance from the distraction and the dog spends some time with the head lowered looking for the treat and then eating it.

All these distractions can be wonderful opportunities for training.

Glad to hear that Baxter behaved well when you stopped to talk to someone for 15 minutes. That's quite a stretch of time for a dog undergoing  the dull idle moments of owners chatting. I had many new dogs who struggled with these breaks, often engaging in undesirable behaviors in hopes we would get moving again. We had to split then for briefer times or I had to bring along items to keep the dog occupied (tug toy,  treats to toss to the ground, flirt poles etc.) It's great that this person disengaged turning his back the moment Baxter jumped. If everybody we know could  be on the same page, it would help get jumping under control aster.  I often struggled with people who gave attention to dogs.They just couldn't resist giving them attention. So I decided then to make the rules clear from the get-go before even being approached, if he jumps please turn your back and even walk a few steps away if he still tries to jump. I had to have a back-up plan too if they were the types not willing to follow rules,  so the moment my dog jumped,  I would be the one to make an about-turn and move away with the dog.

 

 

[SusanOgilvie]

We found a field to rent for an hour.  It's in the middle of nowhere, with no distractions.  Baxter performed some terrific recalls and learned, very quickly that as we called him, he got a treat.  He then went from one to the other, until we noticed what he was doing.  Very clever!  We'll go again when we can get a slot and I've ordered some more things for him to play with.  Thanks for your help

 

[Adrienne]

That's awesome! That's so nice of you to rent a place to practice recalls. 

Keep up the great work,

Happy training, 

Adrienne