QUESTIONS FOR THE DOG TRAINER
ASKristin - Why does my dog…?
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We have a choc. lab 7 yrs., a ylw lab 6 yrs., and a 35# mutt (we don’t know what she is as we rescued her as a puppy. The ylw lab is also a rescue) The dogs are fine watch dogs as they bark to let us know someone is here, but after we tell them it’s OK they go about their business and leave the guests alone for the most part. The trouble comes when someone leaves. As they are heading for the door they bark and carry on like they were coming in! We don’t know how this started or how to stop it. They are well behaved pets except for this. Please help us understand and correct the problem. Thank you. Martha in Grafton
Im sure she would have looked just as good with out the lipstick.lol
She looked just fine, but I’m such a girly-girl I had to turn to whole thing into a makeover.
Christi
Hi Martha-
Without actually seeing the dogs and knowing the type of barking and carrying on they are displaying, I will give you a couple of different possible reasons.
If your dogs are nervous or uncomfortable with the visitors being in the home, then this behavior works well for them. “I am not 100% comfy that these people are in my home. When they get up and head to the door I act like this and they leave. Mission Accomplished.”
At this time the dog thinks the behavior that they displayed helped predict the outcome. “I barked at the visitors and they left.” The dog doesn’t know that they were going to leave whether they barked or not. They think because they barked that it helped them leave.
It also sounds that the majority of your dog‘s behavior is a result of learned behavior. This is simply what they have learned to do this when people are leaving the home.
The only difference in good behavior and bad is how we deal with it. We must counteract our dog’s bad behavior to make it good learned behavior.
I would ask the dogs to do something incompatible with what they are currently doing. As soon as the visitors are about to leave, I would tell my dog to come here and sit and then tell them what to do instead. Rewrite their job description. Instead of barking and carrying on, I want my dog to this _____ instead. And fill in the blank and train that behavior. They may be just simply doing that behavior because that is what they think they should be doing. If you are saying something to them like “stop” or “no”, we need to give them another option of what we would rather them do instead.
I would also give your visitor tasty treats, something that they get at no other time except when people are leaving. As your visitors are in the process of getting up, they should throw the tasty treats all over the floor. As the dogs are foraging for all the yummy pieces you are accomplishing two things. One, you are pairing the visitors departure with a positive experience for the dogs. Second, the dogs will be less likely to act up because they now have an alternative behavior to do, foraging for food. It is also difficult for dogs to become highly aroused when they are eating.
I hope this helps!
-Kristin Branagan
CPDT-KA
I have a six month old mixed that I took in as a stray. He appears to be part Australian Shepard. The problem is he bites you. Although it is not a aggressive bite it is painful and annoying. He will bite hands, legs, thighs; whatever body part he can. He does it A LOT!!! It seems like he wants attention and so I try to ignore him but its hard to ignore painful bites. He wants attention constantly. I play with him and give him lots of attention but if you are trying to do anything else, like wash dishes, he will come up behind you and bite you. Sometime he acts like its a game. He will bite you, run away, and then return to do it over and over. I have read books and tried many methods. I’ve even tried using a spray bottle with vinegar and water to keep him under control. I need help to keep our sanity!
My 2 yr. old maltese barks when we try to talk to neighbors or if somebody comes close to us. She has a real shrill voice, and frankly it scares the life out of me.. Any way to get her to stop. She is also becoming agressive toward joggers and others when we walk.