5-year-old dog suddenly showing neurotic behavior; opening cabinets, knocking down trash, opening fridge, etc. Dogtraining

To paint the picture: My parents have three dogs (13-year-old Gordon Setter, 5-year-old English Setter, 1.5-year-old rescue/mutt). I grew up with the 13-year-old and the 5-year-old, but after moving out of the house for college 5 years ago, I only ever see the dogs when I'm home to visit (they normally now live with my mom and stepdad). These instances I'm about to explain ONLY ever happen when we're all out of the house, or are upstairs sleeping.

The issue: my 5-year-old English Setter has always been very attached to his people (me, my mom, and my stepdad), and has a very sweet, calm disposition. Pretty smart too, he figured out how to stand up and press his paw on the ice machine on the refrigerator to get an ice cube when he was puppy. Never was a problem dog.

However, in the past 5-6 months, he's really causing mayhem for my parents and it's escalating.

1) - First, he learned how to open the heavy-duty, complicated mechanical garbage can in the kitchen and would knock it over to get into the trash. 2) - Then, we put the trash can into the bathroom and close the door, but we'd come home (or downstairs in the morning) the door would be open and trash down. 3) - Then, we switched to a smaller trash can to put on top of the fridge. He learned how to leap onto the counter to knock down the trash. 4) - And now that we put the trash upstairs whenever we leave the house, he goes on the top of the fridge anyway and knocks over whatever we have up there (potatoes, tinfoil, whatever) 5) - He also learned to open ALL the kitchen cabinets, and now we've lost track of how many times he's gotten into the cabinets and ripped up bags of flour, boxes of soup, etc.

So now whenever we leave the house we blockade all the cabinets with chairs, bring the garbage upstairs, make sure the bathroom door is open so he doesn't scratch it and ruin the door... you get the picture and see how inconvenient this is.

Not only is it inconvenient, but I'm really stumped as to why he's showing this behavior. My parents work from home, he plays with the other dogs, they have lots of toys, and they all go to the dog park multiple times a week (on top of us living on a lot of property so they have plenty of space to roam), so I really don't think simple boredom is the answer.

I also know that it's the English Setter because I've caught him in the act twice. Both times the mutt was hiding in his crate (I think he knew what was going on was bad, and wanted to go away), and the Gordon Setter is just so old and fragile that there's no way in hell it's him. (Though I'm sure he enjoys rummaging through the garbage once it's on the floor).

Sorry this is so long. I would love ANY and all help and insight. As much as we want to stop being inconvenienced in our daily lives, I want to know why my pup is acting so oddly.

Thank you!

Submitted December 31, 2017 at 10:11PM by tatertotski http://ift.tt/2CjgOOA Dogtraining

Very reactive dog. Nothing is working. Struggling to deal with it. Dogtraining

Hi all, I currently own a male dog. He is a 20lb ish West Highland White Terrier mix. He'll be 5 years old this October. I got him from a BYB, before I knew better, and I strongly believe genetics is one of the reasons he has behavior issues.

I bought him as a 9 week old puppy and I did everything by the book. He attended training classes from day one and I did lots of socialization. By 13 months old he was seriously same sex aggressive. I'd heard off lots of terrier owners that same sex aggression is very common in young, adolescent male terriers due to the serge of testosterone, so we rode it out.

He did get better to an extent. I would no longer consider him aggressive, but I do consider him reactive. He will growl and snap at any dog that gets within 10ft of him and we have been thrown out of every training class we have attended because he snapped at other dogs that came near him and I can no longer take him to agility trials, which was something I always wanted to do with my dog.

I can let him offleash on hiking trails and he'll ignore and want to be ignored. Unfortunately other dogs still approach him. He has never injured another dog, but he will snap. He's so much better offleash and will completely blank other dogs, even if they are close by.

I could probably deal with the above, if not for his other reactive behaviors. He is very, very reactive indoors. He barks at literally everything. Anything. Any slight bump in the house, someone coming down the street in a car, even just the refrigerator making noises, someone opening a door, he'll bark. Incessantly. If someone stands up in the house, or hug each other or even just talk in another room, he'll run up barking. And when someone comes to the door, including when the humans come home from work, he is horrendous. He will run to the window and bark for a good 10-15 minutes constantly, including when the person has come in the house. He once ripped his entire paw pad open trying to get to the door because he heard a noise, costing me several hundred in vet fees. He is constantly on edge, always waiting for the next noise in the house to react to.

Then there is the vets. When we have to go (often because he is accident prone) he has a doggy panic attack. Last time we went, I was holding him whilst the vet tried to inspect him and he bit me pretty badly on my hand, which meant I couldn't write for a week or so. So now he has to be muzzled and pinned down at the vets and sometimes sedated. I feel so so sorry for him. I know he doesn't want to bite, but he doesn't know how to deal with it.

In case anyone is curious, he gets 2-3 hours a day of exercise/stimulation, so he is not lacking in exercise.

His issues are really starting to affect us all. I currently live with my family in the suburbs. His issues are badly straining the relationship between me and my parents because we are arguing over the dog, everyone is constantly winding up with headaches because of his constant barking and it can't be nice for the dog himself. Probably the most pressing issue is the fact that me and the dog are planning on moving out in 2 years time to the city, where we will be living in an apartment and I am absolutely terrified that I will be evicted because of the dogs barking.

I will not rehome him. He's not even really rehomeable anyway. I appreciate that we probably need to get a behaviorist in, but I've got tons of things that I need to pay out for, and I can't afford a behaviorist until at least Spring next year. But none of us can go on like this. I'm really stuck on things to do.

I've done research on reactivity/excessive barking and I've tried removing him from the room when he barks, telling him off, teaching him to bark on command and using a quiet cue, distracting him. I've had very limited success. In 4.5 years.

Any advice in the meantime would be much appreciated. He has a full checkup at the vets every year and we have never found anything physically wrong with him. In every other way, he's an awesome dog, but we are struggling with this very significant behavioral issue.

Submitted June 14, 2017 at 08:00PM by AshBailey http://ift.tt/2sAYKcW Dogtraining

Puppy/young dog barking at self in the mirror, can't sleep Dogtraining

Hi! This week we got our new dog, a cavalier spaniel named Mala, and she's been good so far but we're having some issues. Any time she sees her reflection in a mirror (our bedrooms all have full-length mirrors on the closets), in a glass coffee table or even a refrigerator, she barks at it like crazy.

During the day, this is no problem because my brother and I are home from college and can keep an eye on her, but at night she's been keeping my mom from sleeping by barking at the mirror in her room. Could this be just because she's nervous about being in a new environment for the first few days, or is this something we need to actively address?

Thanks!

Submitted January 10, 2017 at 08:16PM by Geoffpecar http://ift.tt/2iclGpA Dogtraining

Why does my dog clear the refrigerator when sick? Dogtraining

Yesterday for the second time in a year I came home to a kitchen (where our dog spends the day) covered in dog poop & vomit and the refrigerator completely clear of pictures, children's artwork, etc. The stuff was scattered on the floor but not ripped or chewed. I'm not sure what came first the fridge or the sickness, but while she's a counter surfer (so we keep the counters clear), she only goes after the fridge when she's not feeling well. She's a lab mutt if that helps http://ift.tt/2hFUrYL We've had her just under a year - she's estimated at 3 years old. Just trying to understand this behavior. Thanks!

Submitted December 15, 2016 at 01:18AM by buffyybot http://ift.tt/2gByIwb Dogtraining

How do I keep my dog out of the kitchen? Dogtraining

My dog (Luke) has some moderate SA and he takes it all out on my kitchen. He can open and move my refrigerator, he soils on the floor and he raids the trash. I've been working with a behaviorist, and while it's been a huge help in general, the kitchen stuff persists. I also take my dog to daycare during the week. Here are some things I've tried so far and hope anyone else has other suggestions:

• Crating (he broke out and hurt himself in the process)
• Room confinement (he broke the doorknob off and got out)
• baby gate to the kitchen (he seems to have jumped over it. When I tried two on top of each other, he smashed through them)
• actual dog gate (he smashed through it and took some of the wall with him)
• child locks on the fridge (he ripped them off)
• bungee cords around the fridge (he somehow separated the cords from the hooks. Covering the connection with duct tape didn't help)
• duct taping the fridge shut (he ripped it off)
• duct taping the fridge shut, then turning the fridge so the door is against the counter, thus making it impossible to open the door (he moved the fridge across the kitchen and ripped off the duct tape and tore the fridge gasket)
• Training the dog not to go to the fridge without my permission (works like a charm... when I'm home)

The trainer currently has me working on Luke not entering the kitchen at all. It's only been a week and he's taken to it beautifully when I'm there, but I'm not really optimistic for results when I'm gone. In addition to my extremely high power bill and grocery budget, I'm terrified that he's going to topple the fridge onto him. I've started putting the trash can in the bathroom when I leave. The daycare during the week also helps, but it's at the point where I don't go grocery shopping.

I've considered getting one of those devices that give a shock when the dog goes near something they shouldn't (similar to an invisible fence), but the reviews seem pretty mixed. I was also considering getting an actual chain to put around the fridge, but I don't know how to keep it in place. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears!

Submitted December 05, 2016 at 11:56PM by jlk1980 http://ift.tt/2g1pwWn Dogtraining

Should I let my dog cower in is favorite corner? Dogtraining

I adopted a cowardly street mongrel from a shelter 2 days ago, he seems healthy and sound other than the fact that he's afraid of everything ever: the passing cars outside, the wind, and me.

I understand it will take time for him to adapt, but he seemed to have found a tight cozy spot which is behind our refrigerator, which is also hard to reach for us, and every time he ends up there I'm unable to lure him out.

Food and treats only work within close proximity to him (like under 2 feet). If I offer it to him on my hand or leave it on the floor, he comes out, takes it, brings it back in, and then only chews on it, and in very slow and cautious movements. I once tried leaving a food trail on the floor all the way to his food bowl but he got frightened by a noise while following it halfway and he went back into his corner.

So my question is, should I continue to let him have his peace and quiet there or should I block it off and let him learn to use his crate as his hideout? Or should I move my furniture around and move his crate over to the spot instead?

Submitted February 05, 2016 at 12:05PM by whoispyxis http://ift.tt/1KtSo3e Dogtraining

Expose fearful dog to things that frighten her? Or tread lightly? Dogtraining

I have a new foster dog as of this week. She's a very timid little dog (adult Min Pin) and runs away from even an opening refrigerator door. She's terrified of my furnace (not clear if it's the noise or the hot air it blows out). She always cowers whenever I go to pick her up (though she very clearly loves being held). And she's frightened whenever I'm moving quickly around the kitchen. (Though she still likes to get in the way like every other dork dog in the world.)

We don't really know much of anything about her history.

I'm working on overcoming her fear of the furnace with counterconditioning. For everything else which scares her, given that it poses her no actual harm (not that she knows that) and she'll be repeatedly exposed to the stimulus every single day, is it advisable to work on counterconditioning with everything? Or can I trust that simple repeated exposure to things like an opening fridge door will simply become normal and less scary in time?

Submitted January 15, 2016 at 08:24PM by yelimseht http://ift.tt/1UUzZNf Dogtraining

He's perfect and I don't want to break him. Dogtraining

4 months ago I adopted a chihuahua from the humane society. He's 10-12 years old and perfectly house trained. It is obvious that someone took a lot of time teaching him where and when to use the bathroom. I've owned chihuahuas before but never one that was so well trained.

The problem is, although he is perfectly trained, I am not. I know nothing about training a dog and I am afraid that I will "break" him. So far I have been just following his lead (letting him train me). He asks to go out every morning on awaking and at night before bed. Sometimes he's asks in the middle of the day at different times.

Is it OK for me to continue to let him take the lead on this? He obviously knows more about this than I do. Is there something I should be doing to support and reward his good behavior? After coming back in the house he always goes and stands next to the refrigerator so I took that to mean that he is supposed to get a treat, so I give him a little piece of cheese because he loves it.

This little dog is so perfect. Please help me keep him that way. Thanks.

Submitted December 22, 2015 at 10:32PM by srcdren http://ift.tt/1Mu8Iei Dogtraining

He's perfect and I don't want to break him. Dogtraining

4 months ago I adopted a chihuahua from the humane society. He's 10-12 years old and perfectly house trained. It is obvious that someone took a lot of time teaching him where and when to use the bathroom. I've owned chihuahuas before but never one that was so well trained.

The problem is, although he is perfectly trained, I am not. I know nothing about training a dog and I am afraid that I will "break" him. So far I have been just following his lead (letting him train me). He asks to go out every morning on awaking and at night before bed. Sometimes he's asks in the middle of the day at different times.

Is it OK for me to continue to let him take the lead on this? He obviously knows more about this than I do. Is there something I should be doing to support and reward his good behavior? After coming back in the house he always goes and stands next to the refrigerator so I took that to mean that he is supposed to get a treat, so I give him a little piece of cheese because he loves it.

This little dog is so perfect. Please help me keep him that way. Thanks.

Submitted December 22, 2015 at 10:32PM by srcdren http://ift.tt/1Mu8Iei Dogtraining

He's perfect and I don't want to break him. Dogtraining

4 months ago I adopted a chihuahua from the humane society. He's 10-12 years old and perfectly house trained. It is obvious that someone took a lot of time teaching him where and when to use the bathroom. I've owned chihuahuas before but never one that was so well trained.

The problem is, although he is perfectly trained, I am not. I know nothing about training a dog and I am afraid that I will "break" him. So far I have been just following his lead (letting him train me). He asks to go out every morning on awaking and at night before bed. Sometimes he's asks in the middle of the day at different times.

Is it OK for me to continue to let him take the lead on this? He obviously knows more about this than I do. Is there something I should be doing to support and reward his good behavior? After coming back in the house he always goes and stands next to the refrigerator so I took that to mean that he is supposed to get a treat, so I give him a little piece of cheese because he loves it.

This little dog is so perfect. Please help me keep him that way. Thanks.

Submitted December 22, 2015 at 10:32PM by srcdren http://ift.tt/1Mu8Iei Dogtraining

dog urinating in my bed Dogtraining

I have a 9.5 year old female Westie, who I adopted as a puppy. She was house trained early on, but did sometimes have accidents if I was unexpectedly held up at work or something similar.

Anyway, in the last year or so, she's been urinating in the house much more often. In her bed, on the bath mats, on the rugs, and, most problematically, in my bed. My husband and I are pulling out our hair over this. She's been checked over by the vet, she's been on two medications (DES and Proin), neither of which worked, probably because her problem isn't incontinence, it's some kind of behavior issue. She's been checked for UTI's, cushing's, and had a whole abdominal ultrasound.

So I've been doing some research online and I'm not seeing any answers. I know I'll have to go back to my vet about it but I thought maybe you guys might have some insight that could prove useful.

This last time, tonight, my husband was folding laundry in the bedroom and she came in so he asked her if she wanted to come up on the bed. She did, so he lifted her up and she went to the other side of the bed and squatted. !?!? She hadn't just come inside but she'd been out within an hour or two.

We're just kind of at the end of our rope. We have two other dogs (husband's from before we met) who cause enough problems (opening refrigerator, pulling dishes out of the sink...). But the dogs all get along and we've been living together for more than 6 months and we started socializing them long before that.

I feel like we're failing all of them. They're sweet dogs, if kind of terrible, but I know that their terribleness is our fault, not theirs. I am gone for 12 hours a day and I can't get husband or step kids on board with stepping up their dog-care game. I try to pay them lots of attention when I get home but that's only going to get us so far.

I guess this is like half rant, half cry for help. Thanks for listening.

Submitted October 29, 2015 at 05:35AM by danaraincloud http://ift.tt/1P6nmOh Dogtraining

New 1yr-old GSD rescue. Help critique our adjustment/training plan? Dogtraining

We picked up our new 10 to 12 month-old male GSD/Cattle dog pup, Jack, this past Saturday night. It's been less than a week and he is doing well, but I wanted some advice/critiques on how we are helping him adjust and learn. Thanks in advance!

A bit about him: He's still young, a year tops, but already 60lbs. We brought him up to Portland, Maine from a farm in TN (Relevant). He is high energy and loves to wrestle with our current dog Piper (a 42lb female 3y/o shepherd/husky/border collie mix) and play outside with me. He feels very uncomfortable around men he doesn't know. He barks out the window at people and noises. He chews anything he can get his mouth on. Between the roughhousing inside and chewing, we can't leave him around the house while we're at work (Like we do with our older dog).

How we're addressing these things:

Strange men: He was very timid around me at first so I let him come to me on his terms, and any time he did he got some treats. Once he was somewhat comfortable I gave him a bath and he loved it - good bonding experience. Any time he sees a man and barks, I calm him down, and once he stops barking and seems calm, I ask the stranger if they're comfortable giving Jack a treat. The thought here is that barking accomplishes nothing, but being calm gets strange people to give him food.

Constant playing: We try to give him as much outside time and long walks as possible, about 2 miles a couple times a week in addition to normal walks and play. He's allowed to wrestle with Piper in the back yard. We allow her to put him in place if she's had enough, but will step in and redirect his energy if he ignores her signals. Sometimes it doesn't matter what we do, he won't stop trying to get her to play.

Barking out the window: As I stated before he came from a 22 acre farm, and now is in a non-urban residential zone in a medium sized city. We live across the street from a high school and there is a fire station just down the street; lots of scary and unfamiliar things to bark at. When he barks we give a quiet command, when he stops barking, even for breath, he gets a treat. If he keeps barking he gets nothing. It seems to be working so far, but it's only been 5 days, hard to tell.

Inappropriate Chewing: We give a 'no' correction immediately followed by a chew toy or antler when we catch him chewing furniture or shoes. It seems to work, but he is trying everything he can (Books, table, blankets, refrigerator magnets, etc).

We're crating him during the day with some toys and NPR; the room is closed away from other dog but has view of back yard. We want to eventually be able to leave him free about the house with Piper but need to correct these issues first. It's only been 5 days and we've seen good progress, but I want to make sure that we're not accidentally teaching him bad habits. Any critiques or other advice? I have read the sidebar and viewed some Kikopup videos.

Thanks!

Submitted September 17, 2015 at 06:01PM by StanMikitasDonuts http://ift.tt/1KoCAbd Dogtraining

Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark -- help! Dogtraining

Hello! We adopted our approximately 6 year old schnauzer mix a year and a half ago and he's grown into a super companion. He's now great with other dogs, walks loose leash and has a good grasp of commands. The only thing driving me crazy is the 'watch dog' barking. I can live with him barking at people walking by the house, but he's not a good greeter when people walk onto our property or into our house. He goes into full watch dog and barks aggressively (for several looong minutes) and on occasion will jump on people unexpectedly. He's not a big dog (25 lbs) but that's not a factor -- we need to find a way to stop this.

We'd like to take him camping, but who wants to camp next to a dog that will bark at the slightest threatening sound? Threatening in his mind, that is -- he's awoken us at night to save us from the refrigerator, which apparently made an aggressive 'thunk'. Good boy.

I tried giving him lots of tasty treats when people entered the house, or when he barked at people on the street. This seemed to turn into bark, bark -- where's my treat? -- bark, bark. Not quite the affect intended.

He's getting the idea of 'quite' and 'shh' more these days and will eventual stifle his bark to a softer woof, or five. But if he's in full on protection mode it'll take a few minutes to even hear us, it seems. And he has to get that last 'woof' in. No way I'm getting in that last word. Oh ya, he's stubborn. (Okay, that last willful 'woof' makes us chuckle on occasion -- quite the personality on this mutt!)

We've put in a front patio and want to invite the neighbours over to help us desensitize him. What do you think? Good idea or bad idea? How should we do this? Have them give him treats, or everyone ignore him?

Any other ideas? I'm at my wits end. As I mentioned, we want to take him camping (thinking of a multi-week holiday), but his barking just won't work -- I can just imagine him losing his little terrier mind every time a camper strolls by our site. Ya, not a good time. Help?

Submitted June 12, 2015 at 06:16PM by silvrlining http://ift.tt/1MOs40p Dogtraining

High Value Treats for Outside? Dogtraining

My dog is a wonderful dog inside the home. She sits, stays, shakes, lays, crawls, and even bows! She does get a bit riled up every now and then but that's natural. We got a personal dog trainer for her and we did the inside basics listed above, and we've worked diligently on training her.

Outside it's a whole different story. It's almost like we don't even exist. We had these treats that you get from the refrigerator that she LOVED at first. Now, she couldn't care less. Liver treats? Nope. Beef jerkey? Nope. Grilled chicken? Nope. Outside she comes up, sniffs, walks away. Once she determines she doesn't care for the snack, she simply won't even acknowledge my existence any more. First thing she does is run towards the gate to see if there's an opening. She won't sit, stay, lay, or most importantly, come. It's incredibly frustrating. I want to train her outside but it's proving to be impossible if she doesn't even care for the treats I'm trying to give her.

Does anyone have any irresistible treats that I could test out? I'm open to making anything, as I've read that dog treats simply don't cut it for some dogs. Thanks in advance!

Submitted April 21, 2015 at 04:03AM by rambosis http://ift.tt/1Gc9dtw Dogtraining

High Value Treats for Outside? Dogtraining

My dog is a wonderful dog inside the home. She sits, stays, shakes, lays, crawls, and even bows! She does get a bit riled up every now and then but that's natural. We got a personal dog trainer for her and we did the inside basics listed above, and we've worked diligently on training her.

Outside it's a whole different story. It's almost like we don't even exist. We had these treats that you get from the refrigerator that she LOVED at first. Now, she couldn't care less. Liver treats? Nope. Beef jerkey? Nope. Grilled chicken? Nope. Outside she comes up, sniffs, walks away. Once she determines she doesn't care for the snack, she simply won't even acknowledge my existence any more. First thing she does is run towards the gate to see if there's an opening. She won't sit, stay, lay, or most importantly, come. It's incredibly frustrating. I want to train her outside but it's proving to be impossible if she doesn't even care for the treats I'm trying to give her.

Does anyone have any irresistible treats that I could test out? I'm open to making anything, as I've read that dog treats simply don't cut it for some dogs. Thanks in advance!

Submitted April 21, 2015 at 04:03AM by rambosis http://ift.tt/1Gc9dtw Dogtraining

How to train my young GSD that he's not allowed in the kitchen? Dogtraining

I moved from a house to a one bedroom apartment with a small galley kitchen a few months ago and I have been trying to train Cerberus that he is not allowed in there. He's 15 months old and at least 90lbs so, he gets in the way a lot. He's not happy unless he's underfoot or in your face. Its dangerous for him to be in the kitchen when I'm cooking though, tripping over him with a hot pot or a knife would end badly for both of us! There is no way for me to bar access to the kitchen as I literally have to step into the hallway in order to open the refrigerator and he seems to take gates as a challenge anyway.

Treat training has worked pretty well in other areas but, I don't want him going in and out of the kitchen expecting treats when I'm cooking. I've just been pointing and giving a firm "OUT!" whenever he comes in but, its not helping. What do I do?

Submitted November 13, 2014 at 09:17PM by alwaystoomuch http://ift.tt/1xRMWvP Dogtraining