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Help training a dog with barrier frustration at a daycare.
Hi all! Thank you in advance for your help! I am a dog trainer at a dog daycare facility and I am having trouble with one of the dogs I’m training currently and looking for some advice. The dog is a shepherd mix rescue, 7 months old and has been coming to the daycare since he was 4 months old. Sweet boy and has some anxiety. Generally he’s fine with the other dogs. He comes with his dog brother and they mostly play together although sometimes they’ll also play with other dogs.
I believe he has a barrier frustration problem. When the gate opens for a dog to leave, he thinks he’s going home, gets anxious and then redirects his energy and snaps at any dog near him, which has caused some scuffles at the gate. It’s getting to a point where something needs to be done, or he’s going to be dismissed.
Myself and the owner of the dog decided to try training. I was transparent with them from the beginning that this may or may not work. He’s never had training prior to when I first started working with him. My plan was to start with teaching him a foundation of basic obedience commands. Once he had that foundation, I would get a small group of neutral dogs in a play yard and practice opening and closing the gate, have other dogs go in and out while the dog is in a sit or down stay and rewarding when hes indifferent/calm. Then we would eventually go to working in the normal group.
He’s very smart and food motivated, a little impulsive as puppies are. He’s doing great so far when I work with him one on one.
It is our busiest time of year in August and because of the number of dogs we have we have multiple staff members in the play yards. I’ve instructed them that when the gate opens for the staff to switch out or let a dog in or out, one person should lead him away from the gate (which he does without issue) and then let him go when all is settled. We practice “gate management” regularly so the dogs learn they can’t bolt out whenever the gate opens. If he does snap or looks like he’s about to, I tell him to close the gate, lead the dog away, have him sit and then go back to gate management or letting a dog out or whatever they were doing.
I’m just wondering if I’m doing the right things, the wrong things or if anyone has any suggestions of things I can try. Thank you so much.
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6 Replies
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@Ava , it’s great that you can provide training services to try to help this dog, and I hope you are compensated for that extra service.
Am I understanding correctly, the group of dogs is big and there IS more than one staff person assigned to the group…? If so, I would make it the norm that one person guides him away (distance from the gate certainly helps) and — if it’s safe to do so — use treats to reward him for calm focus on the person and, after a bit of training, reward him for responding to other simple cues.I understand having food on you when in a group of dogs can potentially lead to competitiveness or tension, but was thinking perhaps most of the dogs will remain near the gate where the action is occurring…?
If you have the time to train the dog to go settle at a specific spot like a raised platform (far from the gate), then the dog will learn to move himself far from the gate rather than having to be physically guided. You can ultimately teach him that gate activity is the cue to go to his platform, though you can certainly train this behavior to a verbal cue as well.-
Hi Virginia! Yes that’s correct, we have multiple staff members in one group of dogs. That’s my initial concern with using treats in a group and why I don’t usually do training in the play group, but you make a good point! We do have raised platforms in the play yards that I can use for a “place” cue for him. I didn’t think of doing that but that’s a great thing to try!
I’m going to try both of those things next time I have him for training. Thank you for the advice!
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Looking forward to your progress reports, Ava!
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Hi Ava! I am so glad you are training at a daycare. I worked at one for a couple years. I totally get the gate frustration. We had many dogs that were like this, those dogs had to go out last or come in last. It was usually our herding breeds. If we had other staff members they would leash them with a slip lead, made into a harness. So it wasn’t actually used as a slip lead, that person would create distance from the group and reward the dog with plain Cheerios (low value with such a big group) but the dogs loved them. We also did the opposite as well and let that dog in first and a worker created distance inside from the gate in, and rewarded the dog. So management ( leash) and rewarding a down or sit is what we did. It worked out amazing! Hope that gives you some ideas:) The biggest thing was that distance was enough it didn’t cause frustration seeing all the dogs run through the door….
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Wow, really awesome advice, @pawsup ! I like the reading with low value Cheerios, because of all the other dogs. That’s fascinating that they loved them.☺️
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It has it’s sets of challenges that’s for sure! Thank you for the advice!
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