One difficult dog taught the other one bad habits

[GeorgiaRainer]

Hi, we have three dogs and two of them are young (1 and 1.5 years). Suki, the 1.5 year old Australian Shepherd, has not been adequately socialized with humans. We got her right before the pandemic began, and when she was about 5 months old she stopped seeing other people. Now she is only comfortable around youngish women. She barks very intensely towards men and children. We have had a hard time taking her to dog parks because she will chase men and children barking at them aggressively (especially after about 20 minutes when she starts to get tired after running and swimming - it's a great dog park!). Now we mostly take her hiking, but she pulls strongly on the leash. We are now starting the training to heel, but in the meantime, how do we exercise her?

I understand the she needs to be desensitized to men and children, but I don't currently have any male friends in town (they moved home during the pandemic) or friends with children for her practice with. She has barking problems in general. She barks loudly and intensely when she goes outside in the corners of the yard (right next to the neighbors), when she's playing with our other dogs, when she hears any noise that she's unsure of its origin (often it's a noise we make by setting down or moving an object or when I call someone on the phone and they answer), when we arrive home, when people or dogs walk by the house or the neighbors are in their own yard, or occasionally for attention. I have taught her to "speak" on command and then to be "quiet" but it only works sometimes and after I reward her for being quiet she immediately barks like crazy again. 

Now we have another young dog, Cocoa, that we rescued (thinking more with our hearts than our heads) who is about a year old. When we got her she didn't really bark, but she has quickly learned from her sister that she must now bark at everything. As soon as she goes outside she barks, no questions asked. She also barks at people now even though she loves people. She barks with her sister in solidarity and then goes over to receive pets from the stranger. Additionally, when she's excited she jumps up and bites our hands/arms/shirts and legs/ankles. She's a small dog but she bites hard enough to hurt. We're trying to ignore it but it's really difficult when one dog is barking like crazy and the other one is jumping and biting. Lastly, she whines the whole time we are in the car. We think it's because she's so excited we're going out (it usually means we're going to park or going hiking) but we're not sure. We haven't taken her on any longer trips until this weekend where she whined for about an hour of the 1.5 hour trip. We went canoeing and she whined the whole time in the canoe. We went hiking to tire her out and then set up camp and she whined at the campsite. Then she and Suki hear an owl or any other creature and go crazy barking. 

We want to be able to take all of our dogs to do the outdoorsy things that we enjoy (as we have with our other dog that is 9 years old and very obedient and dignified) but these two are making it really difficult. They both have thundershirts, which has helped some, and we just started this training program, so hopefully things will get better soon. We will follow the training program, but if you have any advice in the meantime, it would be greatly appreciated. 

[Adrienne]

Hello and welcome to the forums,

I am glad that you stopped taking Suki to the dog park as that would have allowed her to rehearse the problematic behavior of barking and chasing men and children. The more a dog rehearses a problem behavior, the more it puts roots and establishes. We want to avoid that. 

Hikes  are much better, but I am sure it's not pleasant when a dog pulls most of the time! To answer your question, on how to exercise her while she's learning to walk politely on leash, here are some options:

-It helps to drain as much energy as possible before walks. Play in the yard (if you have one), but don't forget about getting that brain tired. Many experts lately agree that keeping a dog's mind busy can be equally as tiring as physical exercise. Nosework, treasure hunts, brain games and clicker training can all be tiring activities. 

-Try a front-attachment harness. This can help you in the initial stages of training to keep her better under control. There are many makes and models nowadays. Some that have received rave reviews so far are the Perfect Fit harness, The Balance harness and the Ruffwear Front Range harness. 

-Walk in low distraction areas. Plan walking in low distractions areas at first so that you can set her up for success. 

-Provide consequences. When your dog walks nicely on leash and the leash is loose, praise/give treats and reinforce the loose-leash walking with forward movement (you keep walking with her). When your dog pulls and the leash is tense, stop in your tracks (or turn around and walk the opposite way).  Resume walking only once your leash is loose again (if you stopped walking, you can train her to come back to your side to get you walking again). The loose leash is your accelerator, the tense leash is your brakes. Your first walks may take forever initially, but she will eventually learn that loose leash walking gives her a triple whammy of benefits (praise, treats, forward movement) while a tense leash gets her nothing (no praise, no treats, no more forward movement or actually she gets farther from what attracts her (when you turn the opposite way). 

 -Use super high-value treats that help her make great choices. These treats must surpass in value anything that may attract her on walks. I had dogs learn to heel quickly using strips of baked liver cut up in small pieces. These dogs were literally glued to me. 

Once your dog gets the concept, walks get better, but its's normal initially to struggle when a dog has rehearsed pulling behavior for quite some time.

You mention though that your dog is  reactive towards people, in particular men and this may require more behavior modification than training initially. The goal of behavior modification is changing a dog's emotions towards triggers. I like to use methods based on desensitization and counterconditioning. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

It may therefore turn helpful training her to respond to a smacking sound:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/

And then doing some prep-work by creating positive associations by watching men walking by the window (before applying it on walks)

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

and then progressing to doing something similar to this on walks (this is just an example, each dog may require a more individualized approach).

If there are no men or children around for the time being, this can mean going to look for them. Driving to a nearest town and parking nearby a place where the dog may watch men or children from inside the car and practicing look at that from there at a distance where your dog is under threshold can be a starting place. Afterward, you can practice from outside the car, always keeping distance as needed. 

The smacking sound can turn handy as well for barking at noises. You can find a guide here that can turn helpful if you know what her triggers are. I can see it helpful for when people answer when you call them, just have treats or your dog's kibble (if she loves it) handy when you make those calls and catch her before she has a chance to bark. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/

Barking when playing with other dogs is rather normal in most cases and just the noise of a dog having fun. 

In regards to your new dog, it's very true that dogs learn quickly from other dogs. Barking is also self-reinforcing so it can quickly get out of hand. She can too benefit from the hear that method and it can be trained to both dogs. I would start training it individually and then adding the distractions of each other. It's nice when you can just make one smacking sounds and have both dogs stop barking and coming to you. 

About the biting, we would have hoped this was tackled much earlier, but with rescues, this is not possible, but there is still hope of learning some bite inhibition. This is a very important skill. A good exercise to train this using treats is here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/

We also want to prevent biting us as much as possible: Here are some ways to redirect the behavior which needs to be done preferably before the dog has latched on to us:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/

We have many threads covering biting, here are a few:

For barking at people here is an example of behavior modification:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/

For whining in the car, many dogs do better if they are crated. Have you crate trained her yet? Is it something you will be considering? Here is a guide:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/

Other options are found here: 

Sorry if this is long. I hope I didn't overwhelm you, but it sounds like you have many things going on! As with training dogs, it's also important that you take baby steps and create small daily goals each day. Pat yourself on the back for each small accomplishment. 

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

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 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.

[GeorgiaRainer]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your response. I was not overwhelming at all. In fact, the more I read the articles and threads, the more confident I feel that we can have well behaved dogs prior to them being elderly. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and provide additional information. 

You are totally right, the brain games are tiring them! They have even been sleeping later in the mornings after we practice some basic obedience and do some games during the day. They love the muffin game and the treasure hunt! We have started desensitizing them to noises, knocking on furniture and doors at random. They are doing much better about not barking or being anxious at these sounds. We also started desensitizing and counterconditioning Suki at the sight of strangers (all men, in this case). We often take them in the car when running errands so now we are prepared with treats. The other day I ran into Walgreens and there were several people around the parking lot and coming and going from the store. My partner was able to get her attention and give her a treat before she barked at any of the people she saw.

However, she seems to have increased her attention seeking barking, as we are now totally ignoring her. I'm hoping this is part of the extinction burst. One thing I'm unclear about though, she seems to bark at the other dogs for attention as well. Like if they are playing together and then the other dog stops, she barks at them until they start again. She also polices them. So if we tell our other dogs "no" for any reason, then she will bark and bite them (not super aggressive but not gentle) as though she's enforcing our will. Additionally, if we give them all treats - so Rizzo the 9 year old Husky has a digestive disorder and is just generally unimpressed with food and often takes her treat and goes and lays down with it but doesn't eat it for a while, or maybe not at all - Suki and Cocoa harass her. Suki barks at her from a safe distance and Cocoa (the 1 year old rescue) jumps up and down and growls and shows her teeth. We usually try and make the little girls stop and give Rizzo time to decide about her treat. If after a while she still hasn't eaten it then we take it and put it up for her to have later. Or if one dog is chewing on a bone that Suki later decides she wants, she just continuously barks at them. I'm not sure what we are supposed to do when she's barking at the other dogs. Ignore it so we don't reinforce it with our attention or stop it so she doesn't keep rehearsing the bad behavior?

Also, I'm not sure what to with Cocoa in certain situations. Cocoa was a stray living on the streets of Mexico City until she was about 6 months old. She had a broken leg that the vet said occurred from a dog bite when my partner's cousin found her. She lived another two months in Mexico as she recovered from her leg surgery and started learning some basic obedience. During her time in Mexico, she rode in a car several times (mostly to and from the vet and then to and from my partner's mother's house) up to an hour at a time and she never whined. We then had to transport her to the U.S. where I live with the rest of our animals as my partner travels often, and because she was too big to fit under the seat in front, she had to ride in the cargo. Since arriving here, she whines in the car every trip. Now we are speculating that maybe the plane ride was a bit traumatizing and being in a moving vehicle makes her anxious. You asked if she is crate trained and yes, she is, but now that she has proven herself to be trustworthy (not destructive and house-broken), she hasn't been using the crate. She was getting a little big for it and our other dogs don't use crates so we transitioned her out of it. We could potentially use the crate in the car, but I have a camry so we couldn't fit her with the crate and the other dogs in the car at once. I thought maybe we could countercondition her to think the car is fun, so we gave her treats while we were out running errands, along with Suki for not barking at people, but she still whined the whole time. I know she won't be fixed in one attempt, but is this a possibly effective strategy? 

Lastly, I'm unsure about what to do in the following situation. I mentioned before that Cocoa jumps like a goat and bites us. As soon as she gets excited, which happens easily, she's jumping and biting. When we wake up in the morning and we're walking to the door to the yard, she's jumping and biting. I started turning my back to her and when she sits I give her a treat. But what do I do when I'm just walking through the house and she's excited for whatever reason and jumping and biting? I did like you demonstrated in one of the videos where I acted excited and she's understanding that if she resists the jump she gets treats, so that is going well. But now she runs and jumps on my back, well sort of parkours off my back, and then sits and I give her a treat. After a few of these times though I felt like she was thinking the back jumping is part of the ok behavior, as long as she sits after. So today I was walking in the yard trying to practice "come" with them. She knows I have treats and she's jumping and biting my hands and arms, and jumping off me like a weird springboard. So I hold up my arms from her reach (which she can get to nearly my shoulder even though she's pretty small) and turn my back then she sits and I give her treat. I take another step and it repeats, jumping, biting, sitting. Is this just the process of her learning that sitting is what gets rewarded or am I accidentally reinforcing the whole pattern of behavior? Meanwhile I'm playing fetch with Suki and practicing "come" and "drop it," but Cocoa doesn't leave my side and just keeps jumping/biting. Maybe she's frustrated that the other dogs are getting treats too? Or the distractions make her act crazier? Ideally, I'd like to train them together as much as possible since it maximizes my time, but maybe that's not the best idea yet? I can't be sure if it's the other dogs making it worse, in general Cocoa is super food motivated so she easily gets ecstatic when there are treats involved. Many of the games we can play with just her own food and she's happy about it, but I was trying to use higher value things for commands like "come" that I really want them to do better. 

Any advice you have on the above issues would be greatly appreciated. We're having so much fun with the games and I'm very grateful for all the resources you provide here. 

[GeorgiaRainer]

Here's Rizzo the husky, Cocoa the little unique breed in the middle, and Suki the aussie on top. 

[Adrienne]

Thanks for posting the picture of your canine crew, adorable dogs and such a nice variety!

I am glad to hear that you are feeling more confident on working with your dogs and that you are already seeing results. I can tell that you are a very dedicated owner and determined to help them out! I will be tackling the additional behaviors you are facing one by one (this may require multiple posts, so that it's easier to assimilate). In bold you will find your quotes and below my answers. 

You are totally right, the brain games are tiring them! They have even been sleeping later in the mornings after we practice some basic obedience and do some games during the day. They love the muffin game and the treasure hunt! We have started desensitizing them to noises, knocking on furniture and doors at random. They are doing much better about not barking or being anxious at these sounds.

We also started desensitizing and counterconditioning Suki at the sight of strangers (all men, in this case). We often take them in the car when running errands so now we are prepared with treats. The other day I ran into Walgreens and there were several people around the parking lot and coming and going from the store. My partner was able to get her attention and give her a treat before she barked at any of the people she saw.

However, she seems to have increased her attention seeking barking, as we are now totally ignoring her. I'm hoping this is part of the extinction burst. 

You have mentioned that Suki barks in a variety of circumstances. Now, normally, for attention-seeking behavior, ignoring helps. We do this when we have ascertained that the dog is excessively barking because he just craves a lot of attention and we have previously reinforced the whining/barking either by giving positive or negative attention. You can read more about attention seeking barking here, even though it says whining, it applies to barking as well. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/whining/attention-seeking/

When a dog who has been positively or negatively reinforced for barking/whining for some time, ignoring leads to extinction bursts. That is, the dog may whine/bark more insistently, or he or she may try to use some new behavior just to see whether it works. It's sort sort of like a toddler who cries and mom always buys candy at the store, and then, one day, after visiting a dentist who finds several cavities, no more candy is bought. The toddler the first day at the store throws a tantrum, crying and yelling and may even try pinching mom to get her to buy candy. However, if mom doesn't give in, day after day, the crying reduces once the child realizes it no longer works. 

Now, I not a fan of just ignoring and that's it. I think it's also important finding out why a dog craves so much attention in the first place so that one can take a multi-faceted, approach tackling the root cause. Is he or she getting enough exercise and mental stimulation? Can he she want more individualized attention? Can it be the dog is asking for something in particular? Can the water bowl be empty, can the dog need to be taken outside to potty, or maybe the dog has noticed something out of the ordinary from the window? 

Additionally, we need to differentiate attention-seeking whining/barking from anxious-based whining/barking which requires a different approach. Some forms of barking you have mentioned, sound anxiety-based (like the person talking on the other end of the phone or reaction to outdoor noises) which require a different approach (mostly based on desensitization and counterconditioning). More on this here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/whining/anxious/

One thing I'm unclear about though, she seems to bark at the other dogs for attention as well. Like if they are playing together and then the other dog stops, she barks at them until they start again. She also polices them. 

This can be due to her being an Aussie, which is a herding breed and Aussies can be prone to taking the 'fun police role."  It can also be a "splitting" behavior which is often seen when play gets out of hand and the dog wants to stop things from escalating. Since it happens when they stop though it can also be that she's just playing  the "cheer leader" role.  In any case, if it gets out of hand or escalates to more than barking (chasing, body blocking, nipping in a controlling way) then it would be important not allowing her to rehearse this behavior as it can lead to fights. It can therefore benefit all three dogs, scheduling  separated two-on-two play sessions.

It is also possible working on this behavior, but it requires a superior level of training, in other words, behaviors trained to a fluent level.  Here's the thing: dog are prone to instinctive behaviors, but we can morph these behaviors if we can prove to them over time that engaging in an in alternate behavior is far more rewarding. We can do this by reinforcing the alternate behavior with things the dog finds highly rewarding.

For example, you can train Suki to do something that will keep her occupied and happy while your two dogs play. It's important though that she finds the alternate behavior much more reinforcing to engage in than playing the fun police role. For example, you can train her to come to you and hold a sit/stay or down/stay on a mat nearby you where she is rewarded with intermittent delivery of high-value treats for just hanging in there. Here is a guide on training a dog to stay on a mat: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/

 Or you can keep her busy by asking her to do several obedience behaviors or fun tricks in a row like give paw, play bow and target your hand. It goes without saying that such behaviors need to be trained well beforehand and up to a very fluent level, before asking them in face of the strong distractions of your two other dogs playing. You may need to keep Suki on leash initially to ensure she stays focused on you and isn't tempted to just take off.

Equally important is to recognize early signs of trouble so that you can interrupt her quickly *before* she has a chance of rehearsing the problematic behavior. Here's the thing: once your dog is already chasing and barking, it may be too late: she'll likely be too focused on the task to listen. For instance, my Rottweiler Petra had a tendency to be the fun police and I discovered it once I took her along with me to some specialized classes to become a dog trainer.

Dogs in classes were allowed to be off-leash and play every now and then (these were great opportunities to watch and interpret different body language), and I knew she would go into "paw enforcement" mode when she would get a serious stare in her face (her forehead skin would wrinkle) and sometimes she would lift her paw before thinking to chase. If I would call her at this point, she would still be responsive to my "leave it" cue and would therefore switch her brain away from focusing on her targets.

Being a young Aussie, Suki may also benefit from learning better impulse control and being provided with outlets for  natural herding behaviors. Here are several impulse control games for dogs. These games help dogs better control their impulses. It's important training dogs enough to a level of fluency so they can learn how to cognitively function despite high arousal levels.  Herding trials and the sport of Treiball also provide great outlets for natural herding behaviors, but it's important to also incorporate training.

 So if we tell our other dogs "no" for any reason, then she will bark and bite them (not super aggressive but not gentle) as though she's enforcing our will.

This behavior sort of matches as well the herding and personality traits typical of herding breeds. Your "no" likely evokes some level of emotional arousal and puts Suki on alert mode and she redirects on them. We have two main ways we can tackle this, although when there is aggression involved, I always suggest to enlist the help of a dog behavior professional for safety and correct implementation. 

Option 1 would entail desensitizing to the word "no." In other words, your Aussie is on leash (away from your other dogs) and every time you say 'no,"  you mark it (with the click of a clicker or the verbal marker yes) followed by a treat. Once you have obtained a conditioned emotional response to the word no, you can turn the word "no" into a cue that tells your dog to come to you for a treat (you can use a smacking sound following the word "no" https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/). 

Once you have a reliable response, you can practice with the other dogs present (keeping your Aussie always leashed initially until she has proven reliability). One problem with this approach is that you will need to use another cue  other than “no” when you catch your Aussie doing something she isn't supposed to. My personal preference is that I don’t use “no” because it doesn’t give the dog any sort of direction. So if I catch a dog getting close to the trash can,  I will  use leave it. If the dog is carrying an item in the mouth he's not supposed to have, I will use "drop it". If the dog gets on the couch and it's not permitted, I will use "off."  

Option 2 is just that, avoiding using the word "no" and redirecting using more friendly communication such as "leave it" that has less negative emotions attached. So if your two dogs get in trouble, like getting near something they shouldn't touch, you can say "leave it" and then redirect to other activities. Your Aussie should be redirected first, so to keep her busy and prevent her from engaging in the undesirable behavior. You can once again, say "leave it' and then ask her to go to her mat where she'll receive something tasty to keep busy, while your other dogs can be sent out in the yard for some fun treasure hunts or a play session.

Here's the guide on leave it: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/

Hope this helps! I will be tackling the other behaviors 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 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.

[Adrienne]

Additionally, if we give them all treats - so Rizzo the 9 year old Husky has a digestive disorder and is just generally unimpressed with food and often takes her treat and goes and lays down with it but doesn't eat it for a while, or maybe not at all - Suki and Cocoa harass her. Suki barks at her from a safe distance and Cocoa (the 1 year old rescue) jumps up and down and growls and shows her teeth. We usually try and make the little girls stop and give Rizzo time to decide about her treat. If after a while she still hasn't eaten it then we take it and put it up for her to have later. Or if one dog is chewing on a bone that Suki later decides she wants, she just continuously barks at them. I'm not sure what we are supposed to do when she's barking at the other dogs. Ignore it so we don't reinforce it with our attention or stop it so she doesn't keep rehearsing the bad behavior?

This sounds more like a management issue and a matter of not allowing the dogs to rehearse problematic behaviors. Practice makes perfect, goes the famous saying. The more your dogs rehearse the bothering-Rizzo-when-she- has-a- treat behavior, the more the behavior becomes habit-forming and ingrained, getting more out of hand.

Soon, bothering Rizzo becomes the dogs' default behavior, even as soon as they see you grab the treat. Grabbing the treat and giving it to Rizzo basically risks becoming the "cue" of the initiation of harassment behavior. 

So rather than ignoring the behavior (which will only lead to it persisting and most likely even worsening) or stopping it repeatedly, it would be ideal to separate all dogs when there is high-value food involved. This is a win-win situation for all, as the dogs won't get to rehearse the problem behavior and each dog gets to eat in peace without a barking frenzy going on. 

 

[Adrienne]

Also, I'm not sure what to with Cocoa in certain situations. Cocoa was a stray living on the streets of Mexico City until she was about 6 months old. She had a broken leg that the vet said occurred from a dog bite when my partner's cousin found her. She lived another two months in Mexico as she recovered from her leg surgery and started learning some basic obedience. During her time in Mexico, she rode in a car several times (mostly to and from the vet and then to and from my partner's mother's house) up to an hour at a time and she never whined.

We then had to transport her to the U.S. where I live with the rest of our animals as my partner travels often, and because she was too big to fit under the seat in front, she had to ride in the cargo. Since arriving here, she whines in the car every trip. Now we are speculating that maybe the plane ride was a bit traumatizing and being in a moving vehicle makes her anxious.

You asked if she is crate trained and yes, she is, but now that she has proven herself to be trustworthy (not destructive and house-broken), she hasn't been using the crate. She was getting a little big for it and our other dogs don't use crates so we transitioned her out of it. We could potentially use the crate in the car, but I have a camry so we couldn't fit her with the crate and the other dogs in the car at once.

I thought maybe we could countercondition her to think the car is fun, so we gave her treats while we were out running errands, along with Suki for not barking at people, but she still whined the whole time. I know she won't be fixed in one attempt, but is this a possibly effective strategy? 

Counterconditioning is the way to go if she has some form of anxiety associated with car rides, but it needs to be coupled with desensitization, that is, taking very little baby steps to ensure that she doesn't go over threshold.

Here is a read on desensitization: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

And here is a read about dog threshold levels:

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

Since you mention that she whined the whole time, it sounds like things went too fast too quickly for her, so we may need to tweak her behavior modification protocol  to involve small steps. Here's an example;

Start by allowing some fun time in the car while it's stationary. Give toys and treats and then end all the fun once your dog is asked to go out of the car. Rinse and repeat several times. Eventually, turn on the car, while offering some high-value treats and lots of praise. Stop feeding the treats, once your dog is asked to get out of the car.  Progress gradually to driving the car for just a few seconds while a helper feeds treats or gives the dog a fun toy.

Gradually increase the length of these trips, but randomly mix in some short trips as well.  If, at any point, the dog shows signs of anxiety, the process should be halted and the exercise must resume at a level the dog was able to tolerate and gradually built from there.  Consider that behavior modification may take weeks or even months of daily training to see results. 

One thing that may compound anxiety of the car is motion sickness. Often car anxiety and motion sickness go hand in hand, leading to a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma (dogs can even have a combination of both!), but often behind a case of car phobia is a case of car sickness acting as the leading culprit.

Dogs are naturally prone to car sickness because their sense of balance in their brain is much better than ours so they become particularly susceptible to the motion of cars. Puppies are particularly predisposed to car sickness, and many luckily outgrow it with help, but not all dogs outgrow it as they mature. 

Dogs prone to car sickness tend to salivate excessively, lip their lips, yawn and drool. They may also pace, pant, shake, and swallow often, and some even manage to vomit. What makes things particularly challenging though is the fact that dogs who are primarily anxious, also tend to drool, pant, shake, whine and pace when stressed, so often it is not possible to entirely distinguish one case from the other.  In general though, dogs who are motion sick tend to feel better once the car stops moving although it may take a little bit of time to feel better. If you suspect motion sickness, ask your vet whether you can do a trial of antinausea medications and see if it helps.

And then there can be specific fears. Some dogs may be anxious in the car due to being noise sensitive and may act fearful upon hearing car honks, the sound of traffic and even the clicking turn signal. Some dogs are scared of rumble strips and speed bumps. And then, some other dogs may be afraid of their insecure footing, like when you use the brakes and your dog doesn't expect it. This is often an issue in dogs who are scared when the car moves. 

Attention should be paid on whether dogs anxious in the car appear to act fearful of specific stimuli or situations they are exposed to when in the car.  Of course, dogs may also have fear of a combination of things/situations and the fear may generalize from one thing to another leading to a form of generalized anxiety. 

And then, there are dogs simply anxious in the car because they associate it with going to unpleasant places or being left alone. Dogs have a very strong perception of things and many dog owners swear their dogs know the way towards the vet's clinic and the way towards the dog park. When turning towards the vet, these dogs start panting and shaking, when turning towards the dog park, they start acting excited with happy anticipation. 

As seen, there may be several causes for dogs acting anxious of car rides. Treating the anxiety therefore varies based on the underlying cause, so if you are able to pinpoint any components that trigger fear, you are advantaged as you know what to work more on (creating positive associations with noises, movement, places etc).

[Adrienne]

Lastly, I'm unsure about what to do in the following situation. I mentioned before that Cocoa jumps like a goat and bites us. As soon as she gets excited, which happens easily, she's jumping and biting. When we wake up in the morning and we're walking to the door to the yard, she's jumping and biting. I started turning my back to her and when she sits I give her a treat.

In this specific context, it sounds like she's overly excited and maybe eager to be let outside. In such a case, I would make walking towards the door the main reinforcer and provide it a little at a time based on your dog's behavior. In other words, I would make it crystal clear to her that, every time she bites or jumps, you freeze and stop moving. When she stops biting and jumping you proceed to walking towards the door. If she still bites/jumps when you freeze, you turn around and move towards the bed (or the room you were coming from). 

It may take what feels like forever the first time you do this, but it gets better after several reps! I would suggest waking up a little earlier on the first training days in case she needs to go potty quick first thing in the morning. A family member should take the other dogs out while you do this, so to not let them interfere.

 So to cover all basis, here is a general guide:

 You wake up from bed, your dog sees you up and gets up too. You move out of the bedroom, if Cocoa jumps and bites, you stop in your tracks. If she persists jumping and biting while you are still, you turn your back and walk back to inside the bedroom. If she keeps at it, you even go back to bed and wait for her to give up (do something else or act calmer). Once she gives up, you get up again, rinse and repeat. If she jumps or bites, you stop and show her your intent to go back towards the bed if she persists. When she's calmer, you walk out of the bedroom. Move slowly. 

Now, I would start raising criteria. When you see her even approaching you with the intent to jump, stop in your tracks and stand still. Wait for her to give up. Then resume walking slowly but advancing. Calm behaviors unlock your movements towards the door that leads to the yard, biting and jumping making you stop and even retreat towards the bedroom or even go back to bed! This teaches dogs how calm behaviors lead to what they want while hyper behaviors get them farther from their goal. 

But what do I do when I'm just walking through the house and she's excited for whatever reason and jumping and biting?

I would try to identify if possible what she's excited about and use whatever it is as a reinforcer providing it contingent upon calm behavior. For example, if it's meal time, I would use the above method once again, where her calm behavior gets you to work faster in meal preparation whereas, her impatient behaviors makes you slower and even sitting down. I like to have dogs learn to stay on their mats or hold a down stay during meal preparation as the final goal once they are calmer. 

 I did like you demonstrated in one of the videos where I acted excited and she's understanding that if she resists the jump she gets treats, so that is going well. But now she runs and jumps on my back, well sort of parkours off my back, and then sits and I give her a treat. After a few of these times though I felt like she was thinking the back jumping is part of the ok behavior, as long as she sits after.

 I think you are referring to the case study with Maggie. In that particular case, Maggie was very excited when I was walking through the door. In the video, her calm behavior made me walk through the door and give her a treat and her hyper behavior made me leave. You can see how at some point things started "clicking in her brain" and the occurrence of her calmer, non jumping behaviors started increasing. After several reps, she was calmer and even learned to perform a default sit. 

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

In the video on desensitizing to excitement, you can see where at some point we may be seeing the onset of what in training terms is known as a "behavior chain" basically a dog possibly learning to think that jumping is part of the exercise (every time I jump and then sit I get a treat). This sounds like what you are referring to. Some dogs are more prone to develop behavior chains than others. Here is the video:

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

Ways to prevent a behavior chain from establishing include:

-Preventing the jumping in the first place:  this is the method I used in the video. This method is useful because it prevents rehearsal of problem behavior, but it can be difficult to be always "a step ahead" of the dog" and "step in" before the dog jumps. Dogs are quite quick in their movements and it's easy for them to catch us unprepared.

-Breaking the Chain. This is one of the most common ways to deal with a behavior chain, letting it extinguish by breaking the chain. In other words, we would stop providing reinforcement for the chain, so after some time it extinguishes. So in the case of the dog who jumps and then sits, we would stop rewarding all jumps followed by sits and just reward plain sits with no jumping prior. 

-Adding more Elements to the Chain In this case, we are trying to break up the association between one behavior and another by adding more elements to the chain. For instance, if the dog jumps and is used to sitting right afterward, we add asking the dog to give paw, sit/stay and then come when called before giving reinforcement.

This method is crafted in hopes of breaking the association between jump and sit, but it's not proven to be very effective, for the simple fact that dogs are capable of understanding chains that are longer than two behaviors, so you may be stuck with a dog who still jumps, but then does all the following chained behaviors. 

- Creating a Delay Anther method is to create a delay in hopes of breaking up the association between the elements. So in the case of the dog who jumps and then sits, you would delay rewarding the sit in hopes that the dogs forgets about the previous behavior and thinks he is being rewarded for only the actual sitting.

Trainers seem to have different preference on what method to use. I am a big fan of prevention. 

So today I was walking in the yard trying to practice "come" with them. She knows I have treats and she's jumping and biting my hands and arms, and jumping off me like a weird springboard. So I hold up my arms from her reach (which she can get to nearly my shoulder even though she's pretty small) and turn my back then she sits and I give her treat. I take another step and it repeats, jumping, biting, sitting. Is this just the process of her learning that sitting is what gets rewarded or am I accidentally reinforcing the whole pattern of behavior?

It could be that you are seeing a behavior chain, although it can just be that she has very little impulse control and is just keeping on doing what she has always done but intermittently. It could also be that holding your arms up evoke the jumping as she's trying to grasp the treats. In such a case I would aim to prevent the jumping by:

-Keeping the treats in your pocket or treat bag rather than in your hands when walking in the yard. Out of sight, out of mind. 

-When asking her for a sit, toss the treat at a distance from you (avoid if your other dogs are nearby to prevent any squabbles over food). This way, your dog gets work out going to get the treat, you can break a bit any possible behavior chains, and you have more time to prepare to ask for a next sit as she heads back towards you before she has a chance to start jumping again. 

I would also aim to train a powerful impulse control game, the Airplane Game, going gradually using kibble at first to make her less excited. This is done stationary, so she may be less inclined to jump and bite as it sounds like your movement *walking* seems to be a big trigger. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/

Other ways to prevent jumping and biting include the following (do this before your dog has a chance to bite/jump as once they're jumping and latching on they're rehearsing the behavior and often too overly aroused to listen and on top of that, we increase the chances for behavior chains. 

-As soon as your dog approaches you with the intent to bite jump, prevent it by engaging her with toys that add movement into the game such as a tennis ball tossed in the opposite direction (make it extra fun!) or a flirt pole (stick with a stuffed animal attached one end). The goal is to find a way to make these toys much more interesting, rewarding and fun to interact with than your body/clothing. I like to carry some tennis balls in my pocket and a flirt pole around my waist so I can use these tools at moment's notice. 

-As soon as your dog approaches you with the intent to bite jump, prevent it by redirecting to an interactive game with you. I like to keep kibble always in my treat bag/pocket ready for this. As soon as she approaches you, ask her for a sit and reward by tossing one piece of kibble/treat. She'll likely eat it and come for more if she perceives them as valuable enough. Repeat several times, catching her always before he even has the chance to think of biting. This makes your dog tired, provides an outlet for chasing instincts while you incorporate some fun obedience. 

-As soon as your dog approaches you with the intent to bite jump, prevent it by redirecting to an empty water bottle with no lid filled up. Most dogs cannot resist the crinkling sounds produced by chewing on these. They make an economical. temporary chew toy. Always monitor your dog when chewing if your dog tends to ingest things and consider that excess chewing can make some parts sharp. To make the bottle even more interesting, fill it up with a portion of your puppy's daily ratio of kibble so your puppy will keep busy trying to roll the kibble out. You can read more about this fun game here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/

Meanwhile I'm playing fetch with Suki and practicing "come" and "drop it," but Cocoa doesn't leave my side and just keeps jumping/biting. Maybe she's frustrated that the other dogs are getting treats too? Or the distractions make her act crazier? Ideally, I'd like to train them together as much as possible since it maximizes my time, but maybe that's not the best idea yet? I can't be sure if it's the other dogs making it worse, in general Cocoa is super food motivated so she easily gets ecstatic when there are treats involved. Many of the games we can play with just her own food and she's happy about it, but I was trying to use higher value things for commands like "come" that I really want them to do better. 

Usually, we want some level of impulse control in place before training so many dogs together. Here is a read on why it's so important training individually at first:

 

I hope this helps,

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Happy training,

Best,

Adrienne