kateykateykatey

aaw, thanks. There might be better ways of doing this, this is just what's worked for me. I meant to add, something I've learned with my dog is that if he barks at the door, and gets let inside, he will almost definitely bark more the following night, and usually earlier. If I'm going to let him inside anyway, I make sure he's quiet for a few minutes before letting him in, because I don't want him to reinforce the barking at all. Barking like that is best if it's ignored completely, but I understand this is hard, particularly when living with housemates.

Hey Ben! I have a BC x as well, and he's been known to do the same thing in the past, so I know how frustrating it can be. With regard to the couches, I wouldn't let her on one at all, I'd just reinforce the bed thing a lot. So, at night if you want her to come inside, make her sit (hard to do if you have a solid door, perhaps try doing it with the door open a crack) and wait till you tell her to come inside, with a release word like "inside". When she's inside, tell her straight away to go to her bed, if that's where you want her to stay. The command then should be "BED" or something similar. I point at the bed so it's absolutely clear where I want them to go, but initially you'll likely need to start by standing right next to her bed and getting her to sit on it. Reward her for this, with pats or treats. When she gets off her bed, call her back on, and praise her when she returns. This'll again probably mean you'll have to go over to her bed and call her to it initially, but eventually she'll be able to go to her bed with just being told, but without you going over there every single time. IMO (and anyone, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) putting her outside when she's being silly inside is only going to make the barking worse, because you're using outside as a punishment... if that makes sense. If she gets silly inside, try instead to divert her attention to things that you want her to do, such as going to her mat, sitting properly, and then laying down. Generally speaking, I don't reward "silly behaviour" from my dogs with attention, because it's not something I want to perpetuate. It also means I don't go mental with pats and hugs when they do come inside, if this makes sense. To help her stay on her bed and make it somewhere to enjoy, give her a kong stuffed with peanut butter. This will keep her occupied and in one place for a while. Sounds like she gets lots of exercise, which is great, but work on a few obedience things with her to keep her brain occupied, as this is really important to wear her out... and tired dogs are quiet dogs. :D ETA: A crate is a good idea, too. I don't have the space for them, but I think they're incredibly useful. Another suggestion is to keep her confined to a room with a baby gate, particularly while you're working on getting her to stay in one spot (her bed).

Yeah, absolutely. It's not easy (I mean, who wants to ignore a cute little doggy?) but it's absolutely essential- currently it sounds like she's getting lots of reinforcement for dictating when and what can happen. It's important to be able to pick her up comfortably, such as in situations like vet visits, but otherwise I generally try to avoid picking up my little dog.

That's funny, because my experience was that the floaters were essential (particularly initially, in the beginners class with our reactive dawg), silly that they would be offended by this position! Of course behavioural problems need to be referred to the instructor, but so much of the "am I luring too much" or "what if the dog sits after it stands" kind of questions don't *need* to be answered by the head instructor, and wouldn't get answered if it weren't for the floaters!

In defence of vet nurses, some can be qualified as trainers, ours was a vet nurse.

She's so adorable and cute and fluffy! Tia's first video is pretty much exactly what I'm doing with Lil. I think I'm expecting too much progress too soon, and she'll figure out the mouthing with a bit of patience.

Yeah, I've been kind of thinking the same thing. Crate training might be the answer, maybe. Because of her size, I wasn't sure if it was a matter of her just being too little to wait all night, you know? But then, plenty of dogs are small and do, I guess.

So, in an effort to avoid the weeing on the mat (or atleast make the cleanup easier) I put some puppy pads (happened to have them left over! lucky!) on the spot where I've noticed she's urinated before. I also let her out late that night, took her to the grass and told her to "be quick" as she was weeing and praised her for going outside. I thought we'd won! But she still urinated inside, this time near the back door (on another mat there...we have floorboards and tiles so there's a lot of floor mats!). We're getting closer to the right spot, but I'm wondering if crating her would help, or if teaching her to alert me to her need to go outside might work better. She's been inside overnight and not done this, this seems like a new problem that's occuring.

Now that the weather is getting colder, Lil and Scrimp have been sleeping inside overnight. Lil has taken to weeing on a particular mat inside- I don't know if it's because overnight is too long, or because she doesn't know how to let me know she has to get outside for a wee. Has anyone got any advice? She's not crated overnight, she has a bed she sleeps on (next to Scrimp's) and afaik sleeps there, though ends up on my bed often enough. The mat where she wees is in a walkway through the kitchen next to the family room where her bed is. She doesn't wee close to either the front or back door, kind of in the middle. This could mean nothing! But I've never dealt with a problem like this, so I'm at a loss. She's a clever cookie, I can teach her to tell me to let her outside for a wee, but what and how? ETA: AFAIK at the foster home where she was after the shelter and before I got her she slept inside, and I imagine they would have said "not toilet trained" as they were quite frank about her other habits (pulling, jumping).

We've been trying this the last few days. I am getting a much quicker and stronger response from little Lil, while Scrimp mouthed his dumbbell a couple of times he's also just as likely to not look at it. I think I need to work on "Very Important Object" more with him, and stop looking just for mouth interaction... I guess. I'm having trouble getting Lil to do anything other than a touch (as in a target) or at best a lick. Anyone got any clues for this? Waiting her out currently, but she gets bored and frustrated.

haha, I just googled Lagotto and got a picture of a beautifully groomed white Lagotto with a bow... called Kiss. Cuteness!

We learned recall using a high pitched, excited voice, calling out Lily "coooome" (or any effective word). Grabbing the collar when the dog gets to you is essential, but once the dog's collar is in your hands LOTS of treats and pats. I also click my tongue to get my dog's attention, like the "giddyup" sound people make for horses. I've reinforced this by treating when she looks at me when I click my tongue, and for my little dog I get a *very* strong response. I make the clicking sound before I call her, though I don't know how effective this is from far away!

Yeah, I completely forgot about the iceblock idea- my brother does this for his dog. Thanks He's not a great fan of the water (we have a pool) but a kiddie pool might be a bit less intimidating to him. I'm beginning to wonder if he spends all day exhausted from the heat, and feels a bit revived as it cools... maybe.

Scrimp (8 yo Border male border collie x) seems to be coping poorly with the heat, I think- but only the last few days. He seems to be panting a lot (even at night, when it's cooler) and has been barking very late at night/early morning to the point where last night we let him inside, and he was still barking in the bathroom (which is uncommon). He does tend to bark when weather changes, and has severe thunderstorm phobia, but last night's barking was beyond what I would consider normal. I'm not sure if it's the heat, or there's other issues there. I'll have a chat to our dog trainer tonight, but in the interim, has anyone got any related stories or suggestions? I can't decide if it's because he's not coping with the heat, or it's anxiety related, lack of stimulation -we've scaled back the exercise because it's been so hot, but he's still doing daily obedience.

Which one is the other thread?

Bucket-o-beef Doesn't look like they deliver in Brisbane.

Try it when she's not jumping around, but not stressed, and see what happens! I've never tried it on my dogs when they're actually jumping around, that sounds funny!

That's an excellent point. This article on calming signals tells you about yawning and lip licking that dogs use to calm themselves and those around them. Body language can make all the difference to an anxious dog. So I'll start yawning too then. I'll be sure to let you know how she goes at the vet. How'd you go with the calming signals? Don't just try it in the car, try it all the time- it feels silly but it does work. Our behavioural vet also told us to teach 'calm on command' which is basically patting the dog when it is calm, and repeating the word (in a soothing voice) 'caaalm'. I don't know how effective it is, generally just coo it at my dogs when I pat them, running my fingers down the length of their back (massage style). They *love* it.

Look, it's great that you're trying to fix the problem at all, and I reckon that it can be *really* hard at times (particularly barking) on the patience. I don't know any dog trainers on the Gold Coast, so I can't make this recommendation based on personal experience. However, Gold Coast Dog Obedience are Delta Society trainers, so they're positive reinforcement trainers (which it sounded like you were interested in). Good luck!

That's an excellent point. This article on calming signals tells you about yawning and lip licking that dogs use to calm themselves and those around them. Body language can make all the difference to an anxious dog.

If you get anxious, for example when you look at her and worry that she looks scared, try singing nursery rhymes. You'll feel really silly, but that's kind of the point. It's hard to be nervous when you're feeling a bit dumb. Our behaviourist told us to use this technique with our dog-reactive dog so that we weren't inadvertantly encouraging anxious behaviour by being anxious ourselves.

I'd never heard of Kumalong before, they seem really reasonably priced! Ta

18 months! That's dedication! How often does that sort of thing happen? I'd always assumed that the dogs that did agility and flyball didn't attack other dogs...? Sounds naive, but I'd never let a dog offlead near dogs I didn't know if I thought mine was going to attack them. I suppose these things can be hard to predict...but still...wow. @ your CK clowning around and looking at his girlfriends!

Oh that's an *awesome* story Redii! Making a comeback after being attacked would have been a real challenge, I'm really impressed you persevered, I'm sure lots of people would give up. :D My dog reactive, king of the border collie stare doggo, Scrimp, had beautiful focus and attention last night at training. It's only a beginners class, and we're rehashing stuff he well and truly knows, but that's kind of the point- he's supposed to be learning to watch and focus and behave while other dogs are in close proximity to him. There's other reactive dogs in the class, and also a big puppy that he'd had a fixation on previously (trainer says it's a size/age thing) but last night he successfully ignored all of that and watched and focused really well! Small steps, but a far cry from the lunging, whining and barking that I've had to deal with previously.

I bought a Sporn head collar a few weeks ago to try out and I really like it. The nose band is padded, and the lead attaches at the back of the neck, not the throat. You can slip the nose band off the dog and use it simply as a flat collar. Although my dog doesn't pull much anymore, I like to keep a head collar on him in places where he's easily distracted.....crowds of people, other dogs etc. So far I like the Sporn better than the gentle leader but havn't yet tried the Infin8. I just saw the sporn ones in a shop the other day- seem quite similar to the Infin8. I said this in another thread, but the infin8 has been one of the best things I've bought. Scrimp is dog reactive, and the infin8 enables me to maintain adequate control of his when he sees another dog (he will lunge, bark, whine, etc) and continue walking past the other dog. I don't have this kind of control with a check chain, martingale, or even with a traditional head collar. With the check chain and martingale, he is first and foremost too strong, and the tension necessary to prevent this seems to amplify the problem. With the Gentle Leader if he was particularly stressed he'd thrash his head and plant himself, which isn't cool. This doesn't happen with the infin8, because the lead attaches to the back. What's more, he loves it. We have the nose band only very loose (so it acts primarily as a martingale) and it's really helped. I have confidence that I have enough control to help him through stressful situations...so much so that at dog obedience last night our trainer was absolutely amazed at how focused on me Scrimp was, and how well he was ignoring other dogs. We had almost constant watching while walking-- a massive achievement! :D