It's the dog or me!
Discussion
Well not quite but getting there...
We got a dog from a dogs home about 2-3 months ago. His name is Bruno, coming up to about a year old and he's a cross with a staff/lab. Things started off quite good, he knew basic commands and he responds well to my whistle. Like any new dog we had a few accidents in the house but with a bit of guidance he soon started doing his business outside and is considerate enough to do it behind the little fella's football goals.
Now here comes the problem, we went away last week to Cyprus and left him with my parents who also have a chocolate lab. They said he was a bit of a handful but generally okay. We also got his dangly bits chopped off before we went to try and calm him down (along with all the other reasons but primarily to calm him down). However, since being back from holiday he has been a nightmare, he's gone back to jumping on the kitchen work tops, trashing the garden, digging, jumping on the garden table, emptying the cardboard recycling everywhere, snapped the washing line pole (god knows how!), pee'ing and poo'ing in the house and generally running riot - to name a few!
On walks he can be okay if nothings about but as soon as he see's birds, dogs, cats, children he goes wild wanting to play with them. We take him to dog training once a week and he behaves well once he knows I have cheese in my hand.
He's driving me insane to the point I'm considering getting rid of him as its causing no end of arguments in the house.
Is this normal behavior, is he telling us he's pee'd off at us for leaving him or he is just pushing the boundaries and trying to be the dominating one in the household?
Help, please!!!
We got a dog from a dogs home about 2-3 months ago. His name is Bruno, coming up to about a year old and he's a cross with a staff/lab. Things started off quite good, he knew basic commands and he responds well to my whistle. Like any new dog we had a few accidents in the house but with a bit of guidance he soon started doing his business outside and is considerate enough to do it behind the little fella's football goals.
Now here comes the problem, we went away last week to Cyprus and left him with my parents who also have a chocolate lab. They said he was a bit of a handful but generally okay. We also got his dangly bits chopped off before we went to try and calm him down (along with all the other reasons but primarily to calm him down). However, since being back from holiday he has been a nightmare, he's gone back to jumping on the kitchen work tops, trashing the garden, digging, jumping on the garden table, emptying the cardboard recycling everywhere, snapped the washing line pole (god knows how!), pee'ing and poo'ing in the house and generally running riot - to name a few!
On walks he can be okay if nothings about but as soon as he see's birds, dogs, cats, children he goes wild wanting to play with them. We take him to dog training once a week and he behaves well once he knows I have cheese in my hand.
He's driving me insane to the point I'm considering getting rid of him as its causing no end of arguments in the house.
Is this normal behavior, is he telling us he's pee'd off at us for leaving him or he is just pushing the boundaries and trying to be the dominating one in the household?
Help, please!!!
I wouldn't say he is punishing you, as I'm pretty sure dogs don't think like that but my best guess would be that he is very unsettled after being with your parents for a week after you not having him that long and then back to you again - especially if you don't know how much he has been shunted around before you got him. (I am NOT saying they weren't good with him, or you did the wrong thing!)
As others have said, pack leader and dominance theory has been disproven, and if you try and use these techniques on him you will probably end up with an even more stressed, insecure, and therefore badly behaved animal.
I know it's tough, we've got two rescues, but a bit of effort and understanding will go a long way and you will all end up happy
As others have said, pack leader and dominance theory has been disproven, and if you try and use these techniques on him you will probably end up with an even more stressed, insecure, and therefore badly behaved animal.
I know it's tough, we've got two rescues, but a bit of effort and understanding will go a long way and you will all end up happy
.R2D2 said:
Had dogs in the family before but this is the first one of my own.
So how do I tell him I'm the boss?
mount him!So how do I tell him I'm the boss?
he has to learn you are the boss and follow through on commands.
tell him once then put him in the position and praise when he does it well, cheese is a good bribe
Sounds like he's settled in now, and is showing his true personality, which may be the reason he ended up in a dog home to start with. He has also reached an age where many dogs are difficult... he's becoming a teenager 
!
Remove some of his "freedom" (he could hurt himself with all that destruction he's causing), give him lots of boundaries, lots of praise when he does the right thing, and as much exercise as you can both manage.
The more consistent you are, the quicker he'll get the message.
A couple of 20 minute training sessions a day will also help him bond with you and understand you better.
And pictures, please
!Remove some of his "freedom" (he could hurt himself with all that destruction he's causing), give him lots of boundaries, lots of praise when he does the right thing, and as much exercise as you can both manage.
The more consistent you are, the quicker he'll get the message.
A couple of 20 minute training sessions a day will also help him bond with you and understand you better.
And pictures, please
And as if by magic 
Yeah - dominance and pack leader theory has been disproved over at least the past 40 years, so I would throw that one away immediately as it would only make things worse
It's hard to say for definite what's going on over the web, so I will generalise and make a few guesses/assumptions. Nothing I say though will do any harm
Dogs show stress/insecurities in many ways. Generally they can be lumped together under the Four Fs:
The amount of time he has been with you is very short, so he is unlikely to have been feeling very secure. Add to that moving to another home for a time then he is bound to feel stressed. I am also guessing that something may have gone on while you were away that upset him. What you are seeing are the results, unfortunately
So - this is what I would do:
Hope it all works out
Oh - I nearly forgot! What are you feeding him?
Yeah - dominance and pack leader theory has been disproved over at least the past 40 years, so I would throw that one away immediately as it would only make things worse
It's hard to say for definite what's going on over the web, so I will generalise and make a few guesses/assumptions. Nothing I say though will do any harm
Dogs show stress/insecurities in many ways. Generally they can be lumped together under the Four Fs:
- Fight
- Flight
- Freeze
- Fiddle/Fool around (the polite term
The amount of time he has been with you is very short, so he is unlikely to have been feeling very secure. Add to that moving to another home for a time then he is bound to feel stressed. I am also guessing that something may have gone on while you were away that upset him. What you are seeing are the results, unfortunately
So - this is what I would do:
- Give him some down time, so nothing that overstimulates him very much. You want his adrenalin levels to drop. If he's finding that things on walks are a bit too much, take him to places where you don't meet many other people or dogs. If you do see anything, give them a very wide berth so he stays below threshold. Do this for as long as it takes for him to calm down, then very, very gradually start to introduce the distractions. Once his adrenalin levels have dropped he will be able to cope with a lot more and just take it in his stride. Adrenalin levels can take a long, long time to drop though (days/weeks), so if there is an incident today, over the next couple of days he is still likely to be hyper from it.
- At home, give him stuff to do that makes him use his brain a bit. Instead of feeding him from a bowl, perhaps scatter his kibble around the garden for him to use his nose and find it. Or you could use a treat ball, something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Company-Animals-Pyramid-Tr... or this one is easier: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dog_toys_dog_tr...
- I also use Kongs or smoked bones stuffed with any variety of things. Frozen, natural yoghurt mixed with tuna, etc.
- Hide some treats in a box with some scrunched up paper
- Clicker training - teaches dogs to think (which they find very tiring!). You can teach them to do all manner of things. One of mine will run out and round a bucket, spin right or left, run backwards, figure of eight through my legs, weave through my legs, etc. Much more about clicker training here: http://www.clickertraining.com/dogtraining You need to sign up to the site but then have access to a load of articles.
- Interact when out on a walk, or they go self-employed! My walks are a mix of allowing them to just be a dog (sniffing, peeing, running about in the undergrowth), training, play and just sitting down and having some chill time. Mine will walk to heel off lead and as a reward, they can go sniff for bunnies (the Premack Principle). If I did nothing other than just mooch about with them, they would be off chasing bunnies all the time. I use a ball sometimes as a reward for a good recall, but only chuck it a couple of times for a few occasions during the whole walk. Because they don't know if this time will be when they get the ball, they come back every time, just in case. However, I don't want them to go from fixating on bunnies to fixating on a ball, hence I only use it on occasions and it is a special ball only used on walks.
Hope it all works out
Oh - I nearly forgot! What are you feeding him?
Oh and something else I forgot 
When you are training him, remember the Four Fs. If you see any of them, then he is probably finding things too difficult and you need to make things easier for him. Watch for stuff like lip licking, turning his head away, sniffing the ground, scratching. They are all signs he is a little bit stressy.
My girl will just act like a total loon if she doesn't understand what I am asking her to do - shouting, jumping up, grabbing my clothes. My boy will turn away from me, sniff, scratch act deaf and perhaps roll on his back. These signs all tell me that I am making things too hard and need to take a step or two back.
As I said, these can be subtle signs and often misinterpreted as deliberate stubborness
When you are training him, remember the Four Fs. If you see any of them, then he is probably finding things too difficult and you need to make things easier for him. Watch for stuff like lip licking, turning his head away, sniffing the ground, scratching. They are all signs he is a little bit stressy.
My girl will just act like a total loon if she doesn't understand what I am asking her to do - shouting, jumping up, grabbing my clothes. My boy will turn away from me, sniff, scratch act deaf and perhaps roll on his back. These signs all tell me that I am making things too hard and need to take a step or two back.
As I said, these can be subtle signs and often misinterpreted as deliberate stubborness
.R2D2 said:
he has been a nightmare, he's gone back to jumping on the kitchen work tops, trashing the garden, digging, jumping on the garden table, emptying the cardboard recycling everywhere, snapped the washing line pole (god knows how!), pee'ing and poo'ing in the house and generally running riot - to name a few!
Where are you whilst he 'runs riot'?The items I listed he's doing without me knowing until I happen to look out of the window or investigate what the noise is so he's not doing that in my face. The running riot though is when he runs in and out of the house likes he's got his own F1 track in his head. Any of the family can be there when he does this.
.R2D2 said:
The items I listed he's doing without me knowing until I happen to look out of the window or investigate what the noise is so he's not doing that in my face. The running riot though is when he runs in and out of the house likes he's got his own F1 track in his head. Any of the family can be there when he does this.
OK well first of all, don't let him out in the garden unsupervised.Reprimand any actions you don't like with a firm "No" if you see him in the act of doing something you don't want him to do.
Praise any actions you do like with a big fuss and/or treats.
Keep calm and consistent. Always remember if he is doing something "wrong" it's essentially your fault for not training him properly.
Stevenj214 said:
OK well first of all, don't let him out in the garden unsupervised.
Reprimand any actions you don't like with a firm "No" if you see him in the act of doing something you don't want him to do.
Praise any actions you do like with a big fuss and/or treats.
Keep calm and consistent. Always remember if he is doing something "wrong" it's essentially your fault for not training him properly.
Apart from leaving him the garden unsupervised we are pretty much doing the other bits you have mentioned. I agree though, it is our/my fault for the lack of time spent training him. Reprimand any actions you don't like with a firm "No" if you see him in the act of doing something you don't want him to do.
Praise any actions you do like with a big fuss and/or treats.
Keep calm and consistent. Always remember if he is doing something "wrong" it's essentially your fault for not training him properly.
One thing I have forgot to mention is we have a cage/crate for him which he sleeps in during the night (there is no way I would leave him out of the cage overnight), we also use this to put him in there when we have caught him been naughty. It doesn't detour him from going in there when it is bed time so hopefully we are doing something right there. In fact, every-now and then he will go in himself, hopefully he see's it as a bit of security and that its his space.
.R2D2 said:
Apart from leaving him the garden unsupervised we are pretty much doing the other bits you have mentioned. I agree though, it is our/my fault for the lack of time spent training him.
One thing I have forgot to mention is we have a cage/crate for him which he sleeps in during the night (there is no way I would leave him out of the cage overnight), we also use this to put him in there when we have caught him been naughty. It doesn't detour him from going in there when it is bed time so hopefully we are doing something right there. In fact, every-now and then he will go in himself, hopefully he see's it as a bit of security and that its his space.
He won't associate being put in the cage as 'punishment'.One thing I have forgot to mention is we have a cage/crate for him which he sleeps in during the night (there is no way I would leave him out of the cage overnight), we also use this to put him in there when we have caught him been naughty. It doesn't detour him from going in there when it is bed time so hopefully we are doing something right there. In fact, every-now and then he will go in himself, hopefully he see's it as a bit of security and that its his space.
From what you're saying, and reading between the lines, it sounds like you don't have the time and/or inclination to give him the supervision and training he currently needs.
Imagine how you would treat a new 8 week old puppy. Every waking moment would be supervised or safe in the crate. Good actions would be instantly praised, unwanted actions would be reprimanded or attention instantly diverted to wanted actions. Toilet accidents would be anticipated and acted on immediately (taking outside to finish off and lavishly praised).
Your dog needs this same level of attention, and probably for longer than a puppy would need because you have to retrain already learned behaviours.
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