Laura asks…

dog training – how to correct aggressive and manic behavior towards other dogs?

We have a 3 year old french bulldog who loses her mind (jumping, barking, running..) when another dog walks past the house or she sees one on tv. Not only is it annoying and embarrassing but we’re afraid she might hurt herself. Any suggestions for correcting her behavior.

admin answers:

I had this same problem with my toy poodle, only everything was higher pitch. :p As much as I corrected or made noise or said “HEY” it didn’t even make him flinch. I seemed to be invisible to him. Every time a person walked by our window, there was all out barking, but if they had a dog, it was all over, crazy barking and growling. When he was younger he also barked like crazy whenever I was watching Dog Whisperer and a dog was barking on TV. He;s now a very well mannered dog. Here’s what I did.

TV barking: when he starts barking I paused or mute the show and address him immediately, saying “Hey.” When he’s quiet and calm again, I would continue watching the show and if he starts up again, SAME THING. Repeat until he is completely quiet.

Barking at passing people and dogs: I had to use counter conditioning for him. Every time something pass buy I had tons of treats handy and fed him one after another. He slowly started associating passing objects as a positive experience. Did this for a couple weeks and starting weaning him off treats. He’s pretty good now. Does not bark at people walking by now and only mumbles when dogs walk by. It’s a long process but it’s pretty solid. Best wishes.

ADD: It’s spelt Cesar Millan and DO NOT USE a prong collar on your french bulldog, you will choke it.

Sandra asks…

Anyone know the easiest and best dog behavior training course and where to find? Not a puppy with bad habits?

admin answers:

Petsmart has a wonderful program. They use positive reinforcement, no choke chains or anything. It is reasonably priced too.
Look on your city’s website. Some offer classes through Parks and Recreation. Usually cheap and good.
Good luck.

Charles asks…

which one would you go to for dog behavior training?

Roxy’s my 1 year old female pit bull Had’s so much . And wen my kids leave the house she gets separation anxiety and cry”s like a baby Recently she been jumping on small children and knocking them down. she doesn’t know how strong she is. shes still a baby in her mind. i have been working on the jumping. So i decided im going to take her to training classes. but i wanted to see what the people on yahoo q&a? say about these 2 places pet smart or pet co and if they had any dog training done at one of them? And which one and how was it?

admin answers:

I took my dog to petco, and i will tell you, they train you not the dog. Yes you take the dog to classes with you and they help you but they teach you how to train your dog.

In the basics class, we learned:
Sit
come
stay
down
leave it
heel

I went to petsmart and was just look at their training pamphlet and it looked like they covered more. But still, they train you how to train your dog. They do give you good tips tho.

Maria asks…

I have two questions about dog training/behavior?

So, me and my boyfriend got our first dog since living on our own… we had family dogs growing up and helped foster dogs before getting our own. Our puppy was doing really good with his recall then somehow (our fault) he discovered the game of chase and eventually we could not let him off lead outside anymore because he will not come back and we will have to chase him down. So, since then we have completely started from the beginning with the recall training using a long lead and and a line that is twenty-five feet long to practice and he had been doing great. We even have practiced it without a lead in a fenced in yard and responds on point to that as well. Now… it’s time to try it without a lead or fence. What would be the best was going about that without him running off?

My second question is regarding his barking. This pup is a silent little bugger and just now all of a sudden he barks all the flippin time: anytime someone walks by the house, comes up to the door, next door neighbor lets their dog out, I stop playing with him and he doesn’t want to, when he wants to go out, feeling hungry, wants me to wake up. I know that is a means of communication for him but, why now is he doing that? It’s not a problem, I just tell him “shh” or spray him with a water bottle and he stops but for the last five months he has never done anything like that and now being noisy is his favorite thing in the whole wide world.

Thanks for you help/opinions!!! :)
I am sorry, for the second question I meant to ask… why is he doing this now and not before? Not, what do I do to fix it.
He is a lab/doberman/shepherd mix… really cute and almost eight months old. He is easily distracted. It took forever to proof him on basic commands with other people and dogs around and recall has been quite a challenge for him and us. We are enrolled in our second obedience class… he finished puppy class about 1 1/2 months ago.

admin answers:

I went through the “recall blues” with my two dogs as pups. They were doing great then out of no where something would grab their attention and we’d be off to the races. Literally the only thing that helped was repetition. I used a 25 foot for one, then brought them together, then did the same with a 50 foot. It took two weeks of daily use to get them to be OK, and another two weeks of daily use to have them listen to the commands. One little slip, and it was back to square one. Something to think about would be to use an incentive, such as a light treat, then to slowly phase the incentive out over time. My pups are 3 years old now and they still occasionally will have a “relapse.” I’d say keep doing what you’re doing, and keep repeating it until you think it’s sunk in, then do it some more!

The barking has nothing to do with you or any changes you’ve made. Your pup is becoming a dog and he’s beginning to realize it. The barking is his way of communication to anyone outside of his pack, or in other words anyone (or any dog) that isn’t in his immediate life on a daily basis. When he barks at the neighbor’s dog, he’s letting them know he sees them and is aware they are very close to his home turf. When he barks at you, he’s testing his own pack. The more you give in to whatever it is he’s demanding by barking, the more you lose face in the pack so to speak. Keep a firm and even response, and don’t forget to be positive too. It helps more than you can imagine.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Michael asks…

dog behavior training?

How do I train my dog not to chase my indoor cats?

admin answers:

Put your dog on a short lead and introduce him to the cats. If he attempts to chase them, yank the lead firmly and say ‘No’, and ask him to sit. When he complies give him a treat.

Repeat this exercise with a short lead until he doesn’t try to chase the cats. Once you’ve reached this point, exchange the short lead for a long one. This is to give the impression that he’s ‘free’. If he tries to chase, do as you did with the short lead.

It will take time, but eventually he’ll learn the cats aren’t to be chased. Another thing to note would be that if the cats didn’t run he probably would ignore them, because there would be no fun in it.

Good luck.

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