Bad behavior between our dogs

sherryberry · #1 11-10-2009, 08:59 AM

I have a 9 mo Boxer girl and a 3yo Jack Russell/Beagle boy.

The boxer is so incredibly jealous of the little one getting ANY attention at all, that she will come over and wedge herself between me and the little dog, even if all I was doing was patting his head. This will start the little dog to growl/snap at her which causes her to bark which causes the little one to chase her and so on and so on!

When they start on each other, there isn't much I can do to get them to stop so I usually just let them figure it out. But... it would be nice for my little dog to get affection!! I feel he is neglected now because when I ask for kisses from the little one he gets all obsessive and jittery and tries to lick my face at unknown speeds and you have to pry him away!!

The boxer will also take the little dogs toys away when he is playing with them. Always. The little dog doesn't get to play anymore. He even fears to fetch because those long legs will bulldozer him out of the way to get the toy.

I know the boxer is young and a little crazy. I wanted to sign her up to classes but Petsmart only has Intermediate starting up in the next month at 8pm or another time that isnt do-able. Theres this K-9 place near me that does classes but they recommend shock collars on their website!! I wont be going there...

I guess I just don't know how to enforce the No! at home. They get escalated and wont listen. If I try to punish the little dog for barking out the window and say No and pull him away... I get a boxer jumping and barking at me! I need help... I feel like she's gotten so out of control!

But if theres a scooby snack... oh she's so well behaved and will do anything I ask!!! But I feel by getting out a scooby snack and telling her to sit that I will be rewarding the barking/chaos if they get treats every time? Not sure how a dog will view it.

Sorry this was so long!!!

TwoDogs · #2 11-11-2009, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sherryberry

I guess I just don't know how to enforce the No! at home. They get escalated and wont listen.

But if theres a scooby snack... oh she's so well behaved and will do anything I ask!!! But I feel by getting out a scooby snack and telling her to sit that I will be rewarding the barking/chaos if they get treats every time? Not sure how a dog will view it.

Sorry this was so long!!!

When you say "NO", you aren't giving the dog alot of information. At the most you're saying "Don't do that", but how do they really know that a "No" that earlier meant "Don't get into the garbage" is different than a "No" that now means "Don't jump at the window"? Consider instead teaching an alternative behavior so that instead of telling the dog "Don't do that" and leaving it up to them to try and figure out what they should be doing instead, you can tell them clearly what they ARE supposed to be doing.

If you don't want your Boxer to steal your Jack's ball when you throw it, teach your Boxer to hold a "Down" position while you throw the ball to the Jack. Her reward will be that she gets a turn next.

With regards to your Boxer needing to see the treat before deciding to do the behavior, that is a common mistake in training with treats. Often times, handlers never fade the lure out of the cue, or don't deliver the treat from a location other than their body. Another common mistake is to never put the behavior on a variable schedule of reinforcement. The solution is to fade the lure early and once you get the behavior reliable, to randomly reinforce the behavior with treats that are not on your person.

When you sign up for your class, tell the instructor that you need help doing those three things. If they don't know what you are talking about (and alot of the big box petstore trainers don't have a good grasp on how to get a finished, fluent behavior) go somewhere else.

sherryberry · #3 11-14-2009, 10:58 PM

Thanks for the info!! I guess I never really did phase out the treats after training at all. I hadnt even thought about that.

For the bad behaviors at home, with the other dog, not to mention she is a bully to me when we are in the backyard (jumping, slamming her body into me, biting and ignoring doesn't work)... would it be a good idea to maybe get a home visit from a dog trainer?

There is a trainer in town I just found that started her animal training with training orca's, dolphins, primates, rhino's, etc then moved onto dogs in 1995. Sounds like really good experience, so I think if I don't have a home visit I will definitely sign up to her classes. But would a home visit be better to get started with the behavior at home, I'm wondering...

TwoDogs · #4 11-15-2009, 01:18 PM

From what you describe of her background, this trainer sounds promising. I would definitely recommend a private session with her, either at home, or at her facility. Personally, I learn better one-on-one with someone where I can feel free to ask questions and progress at my own pace. A private session or two where you can focus on learning theory and obtaining the guidance and skills you will need to to effectively train your dog as well as address any specific training difficulties or problem behaviors is always a good thing. Then once you have a training plan and feel a little more confident that you know what you are doing, you can sign up for a group class.