-
Puppy Woes
I have a 7 month old undersocialized dobie pup, and she likes to bark at EVERYTHING, more problematic is when we are socializing in public, and she sees a bouncy kid and starts barking/growling. This is a fear response, but she is having trouble overcoming it. Similar situations with adults, but less fearful. I want her to learn that people kids and other dogs are boring and not that important…. ideally, but at least not to fear everything. I have had her for a month now. Solid training tips are welcome…
-
10 Replies
-
Hi @Cami – this is such a common issue, especially for adolescent dogs! What have you tried so far?
-
I have been taking her to a local pet store, for short periods, just to get her used to it. At first she was terrified and shaking, but it was still good in the end with lots of praise and we did not stay long. Similar training via the course of days has her not fearful of going into stores, but still warry of strangers, and wigged out by kids. If they offer a hand to sniff, she usually calms down some and sniffs, or licks, but sometimes does all of the above and still barks. I made an error the other day at a local park, thinking to just walk by it to reach our car… she had a melt down. Ended up picking up my 40 plus pound pup and carrying her to the car, which at least got her to stop barking and fighting me. I did not realize the situation was that bad, but it was educational for me. She is ALWAYS on leash, unless at home or in a dog park with friendly dogs. She is fine once inside the gates with the other dogs…. She did try to attack another dog at this other park, prior to melt down. Not sure why exactly. This is my first puppy. I thought I knew a lot about dog training, lol, until this wonder walked into my life, now I am questioning everything! And on the search for solutions to help my fur kid become the mature confident adult I know she can become.
-
-
Hi @Cami
By having her interact or bringing her too close to any of her triggers, you will only exacerbate the problem. In this situation distance is your best friend . So the first step, before even contemplating any interaction is to determine where her threshold is. This means finding that distance where she notices the stimulus but does not show signs of distress. At that point, you can have her take a quick look at the stimulus then MARK and reward by having her turn her head back to you and come and collect her treat. (Don’t reach out, make her come back to you to get it). Practice a few repetitions of this, at that distance then take a step closer and repeat. If at any point you feel any tension in the leash you are too close and need to take a step back. Also you want to watch her body language to look for any signs of distress (body stiffening or leaning back, high stiff tail wagging rapidly, ears back, etc). If you notice that then you also need to move her away and start from a further distance or just get her out of the situation and try again when she is calmer.
-
I mostly agree, however just the sight of kids bouncing around sets her off, no one knows why. We can be half a football field away, and she starts barking. So this would be complete avoidance at this point, and we need her to learn that kids are ok… avoidance is not an option, so some pushing of her triggers is going to have to happen. This is not a dog that can go her whole life with utterly no kids in sight… or strange adults…. I am going to try this method anyway, but it will have to have some triggers in it. We will start from a nice long distance however. Currently playing dodgeball with the weather, some days its nice and park weather, other days its miserably cold or wet or both… or I am too busy. Hoping this weekend to start working on it. I am asking around, seeing what ideas are out there…
-
-
@Cami you noted “the sight of kids bouncing around sets her off”. The key is to try to do these exposures in as a controlled environment as possible. One idea is you can try a doll and have someone help you by placing the doll somewhere where your dog notices it and you can work on distances from there. Start with the doll not facing directly. Then have your helper face the doll towards your dog, t then move one of the arms on the doll to where it is raised above it’s head. Then raise the other arm. Then have your helper bounce the doll around slowly then gradually increase speed.
Then you may want to enlist a child as a helper. Of course that child should be accompanied by an adult and should not be in any range where the dog can interact with him. The first exposure should be where the child is standing, motionless, and not facing the dog. Then turning towards the dog, then raising hands, then raising slowly waving hands, then quickly waving hands, than lowering hands and moving sideways back and forth slowly, then quicker movements, until the kid is jumping up and down at a distance where your dog is not reacting. Then gradually decrease distance and start over.
Desensitization is a very slow, watch the paint dry process. It requires a lot of time and patience.
-
I agree with @doggonespecial I would start with a doll at a distance and follow her protocol of it not even facing the dog. Controlling the environment and distance is your best friend! I also suggest kid noises from YouTube. You can find many. At a really low volume something she is okay with and treat and reward. Slowly adding kids screaming and playing. Sometimes even the nosies of children are scary because they are so high pitch and fast. Try to think of your goal and make it more simple and then make it more simple and start there. For example- my dog was scared of vet after covid. We did many many sessions sitting in parking lot and getting treats and then I moved to sitting in parking lot giving him treats while I was outside the car. That’s how slow it went because that’s where his level of comfort was… Emotions are at play!
Let us know how it goes! It can be tough because I think us humans want to move too fast…
-
-
I have my students practice a fun routine with their dogs. Something like touch, sit, touch, treat scatter. (I add in tug for toy dogs). I have them practice that routine (as a game) in tons of situations. If your dog learns to love this game, she should be able to play it with you when she sees kids a football field away. In general Dobies love to train and play with their people, so you are using her strengths to counter the fear of children. She is learning that interacting with you is preferable to reacting to the environment. Gradually you can go closer to the triggers. But don’t hurry. She’s getting good training and exercise when playing with you at a distance.
I agree with the others that “flooding” her with the trigger will probably make matters worse. I did that with a past dog by bringing her to a farmers’ market. I thought she was getting over the fear, but she was actually shutting down and blindly following me. Her fears became worse in situations where she wasn’t shut down. That poor dog was my guinea pig for so many bad strategies. I wish I had brought her to an experienced trainer. She would have been much happier, and I would have learned valuable info for future use.
-
@Cami , you’ve been getting great advice thus far from other members! It really is important to avoid flooding. And since it sounds like your dog has numerous triggers, I’d suggest you begin with the easiest triggers first — build confidence and relaxation with that, and then move on to the next. I understand you can’t always control what happens in the environment, but careful selection of locations to work, where ample distance is available, and where triggers won’t be overwhelming, is ideal.
Something else I’d recommend you look into are Pattern Games by Leslie McDevitt.
-
Great advice from everybody. @Cami I actually just logged on thinking about tell you to try Super bowls and saw @virginiad about Pattern Games. Super Bowls is a fantastic game. I use it a lot for reactive dogs and fearful dogs that I work with. It’s a very simple game for you to administer and your dog to learn. Dogs love it and it gives them the predictability they are looking for while other things are going on in the environment. I recommend starting it indoors first, in a low distraction setting, gradually adding distractions then take it outside.
-
@Cami – you’ve gotten some great advice so far. The advice about trigger distance is worth a revisit. The problem with “pushing her triggers” and trying to work with her in a high arousal/fearful state is that you will end up making the situation worse with time. If you are unable to get far enough away so that she sees/alerts to but does not panic/react, then it’s time to look for other modalities of therapy, including the possibility of a DAP collar, a Thundershirt or medications.
Do you have a Canine Behavior Consultant (CBCC) or a Veterinary Behaviorist of an Applied Animal Behaviorist in your area? I highly recommend doing at least one consultation with one or more of the above. The veterinarian is the only one who can prescribe a medication. What you can accomplish during a year of pharmaceutical support is usually light years beyond what you can without it, for a dog like this.
Check out these directories for local support.
https://www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/committees-applied-behavior-directory.php
https://iaabc.org/certs/members
I’m glad you brought your situation here and we very much want to help. Please do keep us posted on your progress!
Log in to reply.