Dog help

ergonomics

Hi all. I really really need some help. My family dog is a female mongrel. She has some terrier in her for sure. She's 8 years old and isn't neutered. Please don't give out to me about that. My Mum is the one who organises all her medical stuff. I am a college student and can barely afford to feed myself as it is. Anyway, the dog, Honey, is so disobedient. Myself and my boyfriend spend a lot of time with her, trying to get her to behave a little better. If she's on the lead, she pulls and pulls and pulls. Nothing will stop her. On walks we let her off the lead. She used to be fine doing this. She always stays close and comes back when called. Since the weekend she's decided she's had enough of this. She refuses to come back when called and as soon as her lead is let off she runs away. She did this just now and I caught her and gave her a slap. Her response was to let out a real gutteral growl and she bared her teeth at me. I was so scared. She's never behaved like this before and it is the last straw.

She ignores any commands and just does her own thing. She's been trained to do certain things - sit, stay, lie down, and stay inside when the door is open. She now ignores all of this stuff. She can't be any other animal, not matter what it is, because she wants to kill it. I don't live at home anymore but this dog, who I have loved with all my heart and soul is a stranger to me and scares me. She's not a pleasure to be around anymore and I don't know what to do. My Mum isn't interested, but then she never brings her for walks so she doesn't know how bold she is. Are obedience lessons expensive and how much does it cost to neuter her? Will neutering make any difference or is too late now? I can't afford obedience lessons or neutering but I'll do whatever it takes to enjoy my dog's company again.

carwash_2006

Well, you could start by making her want to come back to you. I'm sorry, but if I were her and I got away from you I'd run and run to make sure you didn't get hold of me and slap me. What makes you think that slapping her when you catch her is going to make her want to stay anywhere near you

You need to work on her recall, make her want to come to you. This means rewarding her when you do get her to you, regardless of how. I would advise you keep her on a lead untill you are sure that this is 100%. If you get a long rope of some kind you can let her run off a bit and then when you call her tug on the rope and if necessary gently reel her in, giving her a treat and lots of praise when she gets to you.

Can you talk to your mom and see if perhaps she might look into getting her spayed? If cost is an issue you could possibly get her done on the subsidised neutering by the dogstrust, if you know anyone on benefits it would only cost €14. It could be that she is coming into heat and that could be why she is suddenly not reliable off lead, at her age becoming pregnant could be very dangerous for her, not to mention expensive if anything goes wrong healthwise.

Hope you can work it out, don't want to alienate you by the stuff I said at the start btw, just trying to make you see it from the dogs point of view.

Intothesea

Hello there. It sounds as if there are
a few contributing factors there, a few
of which might be:

The dog's age: 8 is probably old and grumpy
time for the average dog, but it doesn't
excuse the snapping and lawlessness for her!

The lack of walking is detrimental to any dog, as
they are committed to scoping out new
territory. A dog that doesn't move forward into
different territories to smell the grass and track
new things is a very bored, frustrated dog
by definition.

I would start out by getting back into a
training cycle, just to remind her who the
boss is and who she has to please. Back to
the random treat and praise for doing old
and new tricks (with recall - 'come here' the
strongest request). I would do this inside and
outside, on the lead. This will set the new
tone for you, give you (and your mother)
more sway in her eyes.

For the walk problem, I wouldn't let her off
the lead at all for a few weeks. This will
tune her in to who is really controlling the
walks. Has she ever been able to walk
nicely on the lead?

If you have a closed-in garden I would wear
her out before walk-time and then basically
train to walk on lead. There are many
sites offering good info on how to approach
this, here's a pretty good one to start:

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/looseleashwalking.htm

After you strengthen the 'boss' situation for her,
she might just 'get it' and revert to doing what
you want on walks. If she has terrier IQ you
won't have to struggle!

Neutering would always be a good idea for
any dog, a calm bond is easier to maintain
when invisible invites aren't floating in the
air

Hope that helps

peasant

This might help:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055205286&highlight=nilif

(link rather than typing it all again)

ergonomics

carwash - As she has never run away like this before I felt I needed to punish the behaviour. If I caught up with her and just brought her back I didn't think it would teach her anything. I physically had to catch her and pick her up to get her to come back, she was being that disobedient. Maybe she is coming into heat though, I will check that.

Intothesea - Some of your advice is very good. That website is also very helpful. It infuriates me that my Mum doesn't walk her but now I am living back in the same city as her for the summer I will make an effort to bring her for more walks. Believe it or not, I spent a good hour playing with her in our garden before bringing her on the lead and she just seemed more determined to get away.

I hate being annoyed at her, she's very affectionate and now she's lying on the other side of the sitting room being remoresful. She's smart too though - 9 times out of 10 when she has done something wrong she acts all sad until you forgive her and then she goes and does whatever got her in trouble again. I'm worried if I forgive her too soon that she'll start acting up again. Now she's being better behaved than I've seen her in months. She's very intelligent, I just wish it would compute into good behaviour.

Just wondering - I've been with my boyfriend for 18 months and just moved in with him. Honey loves him to death (and is a lot more obedient for him) but if we sit together she'll try and get in between us, etc. I've been in college for the past 3 years so I'm normally only around at weekends but do you think that she might know I'm living with him now, rather than college, and is acting up because she's jealous? Or is that totally far-fetched?

ergonomics

Peasant - that thread is very helpful, thanks a million. Honey is extremely hyper also so there's a couple of good tips in there.

Can anyone recommend a good book on dog training maybe? I'm going to do this properly and could do with some tips.

Sigma Force

Getting her spayed should be done regardless, nother tale of a local dog here that at a much older age having to have it done now anyway think she had some sort of prolapse. It also prevents reproductive cancers but will not solve the behaviour problems. However there are neutering vouchers available dogs trust to them, if you can get one from them I think you then take it to the vet with you.

She should not be left off the lead especially if she has no recall. So keep her on the lead at all times. If she's on a collar and lead then switch to a regular dog harness instead if this doesn't give you more control there is another harness called a Halti the packaging should give you instructions.

Clicker training may help with recall esp. if she's fond of her grub.
But all this will be in vain if the mother doesn't play a part in this.
Clickers are available in pet shops and some vets the instructions are on them too but training must be consistent.

Sounds like she might rule the roost at home, so that needs to be addressed as well. Does she barge passed you when you are going through a door way, is she overly spoiled.

A dog trainer may help but as said all this is in vain if the owner will not comply as well.

Intothesea

Ah, it doesn't sound like you'll have many
issues there Ergonomics! I wouldn't discount
a dog's ability to be jealous, and moreso when
they're sharp. I've never dealt with the issue
before, but would say training Honey with
your boyfriend and forming a unit with you
as leader, your boyfriend as equal or just
below and the dog at the bottom would help
her relax (if that's the issue)

ETA: there are lots of great training books
available (though I'm not sure where you'd
go for them in Ireland). I use a few and try
to distill my own system from them. HTH.

peasant

ergonomics wrote: »

She refuses to come back when called and as soon as her lead is let off she runs away. She did this just now and I caught her and gave her a slap. Her response was to let out a real gutteral growl and she bared her teeth at me. I was so scared. She's never behaved like this before and it is the last straw.

Two mistakes there:

1) Do not punish a dog for running away once it's back. Dogs mostly think very short term only and only connect praise or punishement to what they are doing right now. So punishing her when she is back at your side means punishing her for being near you (in her mind) ...so why would she want to be?

2)Do not hit your dog. Violence is the sign of a weak leader. Your dog already has notions that she doesn't have to accept your authority. Hitting her will only strengthen her case (as she's clearly shown you by snarling at you)

What you need to do is clearly establish your authority. The best way to do this is to make it clear to her who controls the resoursces.

Read the bit on "NILIF" in the link above and put it to work.

From tomorrow on, you are going to be a different person towards your dog.
You will do nothing for her until you see some co-operation first.

Keep your cool, don't be confrontational, don't get loud or violent and ignore any bad behaviour from her.

Give her a clear choice ...sit and you will get your bowl of food, do not sit and you get nothing.

Give her the choice once, if she doesn't do it, put the bowl out of reach and walk away. Try again some time later.

The second she acts up or protests, walk away, leave her behind, ignore her.

She should cop on pretty quickly.

As for walking ...until you can be sure that normal relations have been established, she will not be off the lead. (she'll survive that for a few days)

peasant

ergonomics wrote: »

I hate being annoyed at her, she's very affectionate and now she's lying on the other side of the sitting room being remoresful. She's smart too though - 9 times out of 10 when she has done something wrong she acts all sad until you forgive her and then she goes and does whatever got her in trouble again. I'm worried if I forgive her too soon that she'll start acting up again. Now she's being better behaved than I've seen her in months. She's very intelligent, I just wish it would compute into good behaviour.

She's not "better behaved", she's just wrapping you round her little paw to get what she wants

That look that dogs do so well is the best weapon in their arsenal. Clever ones (like yours) figure out that they can get away with everything as long as they produce that remorseful "but I really love you and I'm so sorry" look afterwards.

For the next few days, learn to resist.

Do not let her get the initiative for cuddlies and play ...you do it instead. So when she barges in to be cuddled, push her off. Then, a short bit later invite her for a cuddle ...and also end the cuddle on your terms.

When she brings her toys, ignore her. Then, some time later, you get the toys and start the play ...and stop it before she gets tired of it.

You get the jist ...

carwash_2006

Punishment for dogs does not have the effect you might think. They rarely understand why you are mad at them, just that you are. You might look at their behavior and think they are looking guilty and therefore they know what they have done wrong. In actual fact, all they know is that you are annoyed and they are behaving in an appeasing manner to try and get your approval again.

There are loads of very good training books out there. If you would be interested in trying clicker training Karen Pryors Clicker Training for Dogs is a good start. If you get on well with that you could move on to Don't Shoot the Dog.