Some Help Please!!!!!
I have not posted here in a while, but our 1 year old Kayla has gone through a very strange phase and I need some advice from other Sheepdog owners on how to handle this. 1. Kayla pretty much embodies all the Sheepdog behaviors we read about here. For some reason she still is going through a nipping stage and it can get somewhat painful. If her mood is right she will try to bite your hands while petting her and giving her positive attention. It is not biting, but a quick repetitive nipping. Is this normal behavior for her age? We try to get a toy in her mouth but her focus is always on us. 2. This is the most annoying and troubling behavior. For some reason if my wife or kids (sometimes me) are on the couch watching TV or reading minding there (our) own business she will very rudely stand with her two fron paws on the couch and bark to get some attention. And by rude I mean a very persistent bark and attempt to bite the book or magazine. I have been interupted too many times lately by screaming & yelling, and having to get Kayla out of the room so they can have some peace and quitet. The thing is is even if you do give her attention it does not stop and she gets even more wound up and just goes crazy (jumping from couch to couch no matter if anyone is sitting there). It can get pretty bad and chasing her down is no longer that easy. I used to get real angry and shout at her, but this has been replaced with getting her into a different part of the house and calmy trying to get her to relax. It seems to be a better remedy short term but she has still continued bothering the toe girls (15 & 10) and my wife. 3. She has become obsessed with our 10 year olds big down winter coat and gloves. If she puts these on in the morning getting ready she goes after her trying to get both items. This again gets really bad and she also goes after sweatshirts, sleeves etc. We are really working hard with her, but there are evenings where it is total chaos all because of our dog. I am hoping she will at some point move past this, but I know it is not guaranteed. Please any advice would be greatly apprecited. Also we tried the coins in a soda can when she jumps up on people and it scared her, but she just ended up going after the can. Her jumping on stragers continues and this is something that we are going to have to invest some money into hopefully getting some training. Thank You, Jay |
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| Thank you for posting here for help, I hope you get lots of advice. My 6 month old also does no.1 & 2 and the jumping up on strangers, I hope someone will post answers to these things! It sounds to me like your dog needs some basic 'alpha' training, to let the dog know you are in charge!!
If you do these things first, your dog will listen to you more and make training easier. There are lots of little things you can do daily to help this, here are just a few, EVERYONE in your house needs to stick to these otherwise it just won't work; 1. Ignore the dog for a good 5 mins whenever you enter the room. No talking to him, no touching & NO eye contact. Also ignore him when you leave. Your dog will begin to understand you go where you like, when you like & it's not up to him to look after you. 2. YOU go through doors first, get him to sit and wait, then invite him to come. 3. When you feed him, make him sit and wait for his food when you put it on the floor. He may eat it when you give your release command. For us it's "OK boy" this has helped our dog learn some manners, he has stopped stealing food and grabbing treats. These things have generally helped with our dog, but we had to train my dad to do them too (which was really hard!) and we still do them daily, Rufus is a more polite dog now. When ours barks in our faces like you described, it's usually because he wants to play. I have tried to settle him down, I've ended up using his nylabone as a pacifier & he usually has a good chew. I have found lots of excersise helps, Ru has two 1 hour walks a day (with playing fetch in the park) so I'm getting up an hour earlier & taking him out when I get back from work too. Good luck! |
| I found with Sammy that he would get excited when people who come to the house and he would push in to greet them, when he did this we gave him the "drop' command" and this helped tremendously so that when people come to visit now he lie down and wait for the visitor to speak to him. Part of this behavious could be his age, several people told me that OES can be quite excitably until they turn 2 and then for some reason they seem to calm down,
As to the clothes, I haven't had this problem but from the day Sammy came home he has had his own toys, try getting some toys that have catnip in them and see if that helps along with a very firm "NO" when ever he tries to take something that isn't his. |
| Is your sheepie getting enough exercise??? and have you done any obedience classes with her? I think both would help. Sorry you are having problems. If you dog learns a sit and down command then she will do so and not jump up. A tired dog is a happy dog. The barking in your face may be lets play I am bored. |
| Most dogs I think are somewhat crazy and rambunctious, and shouting for attention means she is bored and wants to play....
However, they also get really really tired very fast. Just 30min-1hrs of intense playtime or training will knock them out for the night. How much exercise is Kayla getting? How often do you practice training with her? I remember our Royce, who is a super genious dog (With him I'm like the super intense soccer +cheerleading +manager mom) did almost everything Kayla did. It seemed like the dog had a super energizer in him. It was rough. But even he would fall asleep after 1 hrs of trick training or a game of "find it!". He would get so tired you could kick him and he wouldn't even open his eye. Also, is Kayla crate trained? This is something I highly recommend because in your case, she can learn to stay calm in her crate while you don't want to be bothered. I see both of my dogs each in their crate, with the doors opened, knocked out in lala land and can't help smiling... their own sanctuary... Still, as a puppy Royce has torn through all my PJ pants!!! sometimes along the process he bit my anckle! Please don't flame me for this.... I even shook and accidentally kicked him off once or twice!!! This I think is common for puppies and will go away after they mature. I must admit, Yes, Sheepies are dogs that work all day long.. but even short daily exercise tire them out too. For example, Twice a week around 6-7PM I tie up Pita on a bike and we go to the nearby gas station to buy a lotto ticket. I think it's a dollar well spent for the fun we have. She learns to sit patiently outside the store till I come out. I bike slowly along the bike path, and it takes us 1 hr and 15 min total.. Afterwards she lies like a rug. If you are not active, or don't think you can tire the dog out, let other dogs tire her out. This depends on where you live. I found that most cities have dog parks, or small gatherings in the evening for dogs to come and socialize together. This is by far the fastest and the surest way to tire the dogs out. They will not bother you... |
| I am not sure how old Kayla is, but it sounds like 2 things need to happen:
Obedience classes. Involve the entire family. Exercise of Kayla. Involve the entire family in walking her. My kids always had a set time that it was their job to walk the dog(s), depending on their age and schedule. The dog got exercised and the dog learned that the child was in charge of them. However, if your wife and children are not used to being in charge of Kayla, start with obedience classes so that everybody can learn how to walk Kayla without being pulled about. Everybody will be safer and enjoy the walks much more. Quote: If her mood is right she will try to bite your hands while petting her and giving her positive attention. It is not biting, but a quick repetitive nipping. Is this normal behavior for her age? We try to get a toy in her mouth but her focus is always on us.
If I am understanding this correctly, Kayla is doing what my first OES, and to a lesser extent, the other 3 do. We call it getting the nits: It doesn't hurt, unless the dog isn't careful and a quick, loud, pained OW from the human will get the careless dog to back off and be very sorry. We think it's a form of grooming/affection. It shouldn't hurt you--if it does, you certainly should stop the behavior. Same if it merely annoys you. A great command to teach Kayla is : Off! meaning get your mouth off of (whatever). Amazingly enough, dogs will learn the difference between that kind of off and Off! (of the bed, couch, visitor, etc.). I don't know how they do it, but they do. I think that your wife and kid should be involved in training Kayla. You shouldn't be the rescuer: they need to be equally in charge. My sheepies love to insert themselves between people whenever they can so they can be in the middle of any affection, or better, the recipient of all of it. I tolerate this when I want to, but when I don't, I tell them no and send them off. It sounds difficult, but once you decide that you and your wife and your kids really are in charge of Kayla, it will translate into how you interact with her: she'll get it. Yelling isn't very effective, bu you've figured that out. Firm voice works best, and so do hand signals: When I want a dog out of the room, I say "Git" and forcefully point in the direction I want them to go. No yelling, very calm. But firm. They know I mean it, so they do it. Re: down coat, sweaters, etc. Partly, it's a dominance thing, I think: Kayla doesn't see your daughter as being higher than she is, so she thinks it's fine to take what she wants. OR Kayla is trying to engage your daughter in play. Of course, a jacket or sweater isn't the right toy, but a lot of dogs really enjoy soft toys a lot--Maybe Kayla needs some of her own, and somebody to play with her. |
| Hi Jay1234, Congratulations you have in my opinion a perfectly normal & playful OES, all my sheepies were persistant when they wanted attention if they felt they were not getting enough and this is something I think makes the OES so special, as far as the nipping is concerned if I understand you properly they are just playing, my girl will be four and she did that as well as a young dog, if she does this just get up and walk away saying NO, she will soon catch on and stop this behaviour. Take more time with your sheepie they look for an unlimited amount of attention from the family they have adopted and they like to show their love in return.  |
| Just a quick warning- 1 hour of playing long distance fetch, where my sheepie is running almost constantly is NOT enough. We do this twice a day & he still demands play in betwen, we have not seen him sleep during the day since we first got him. He is always walking around even if we ignore him for hours so 1 hour excersise might not be enough but it's a good start!! |
Hint of Mischief wrote: 1. Ignore the dog for a good 5 mins whenever you enter the room. No talking to him, no touching & NO eye contact. Also ignore him when you leave. Your dog will begin to understand you go where you like, when you like & it's not up to him to look after you.
I totally agree with this technique. No touching, no talking, no eye contact. Any of these things is seen as attention by the dog. It will take a while to break the habit, but as long as you & your family is consistent with this approach, it will work. |
| I can only say what I always say and because it's long I copy it here from previous jumping problems that we discussed here on the forum.
Quote: Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:52 am About jumping...there was an older post I replied to so I'm just going to copy my answer here. Quote: Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 12:35 pm Post subject: Jumping and Nipping He is a juvenile, which means he is like a 16-17 year old boy. You have to be extremely consistent, strict and firm with them at this time. If you say "No", you mean it. You are not asking him to do you a favor. They will really test your limits and I mean REALLY! Has he been neutered? Put a leash on him to control him better. Make him sit and step on the leash so it is loose when he is sitting but he cannot jump up. As soon as his butt touches the floor praise him! You can also have treats on you and as soon as he approaches throw the treats on the floor. So when he comes to you he will start looking for the treats on the floor instead of jumping. Have you tried a spray bottle (with water)? See if he doesn't like to be sprayed in the face. Please do make sure to praise him when he is sitting or laying down and every time he is being calm. If you don't let him know what you want him to do will do anything to get your attention in his own ways. Another important information about dogs is that they are pack animals, so they can't survive by themselves. They need to make sure they belong to a pack, a family. You have to tell him how he has to behave to be in your pack/family. Since they need attention they will do anything to get your attention. Just think about it. Which dog are you going to say or do anything. A) a dog that is jumping, nipping, barking B) a dog that is lying down in the corner quietly When your dog jumps up on you or others, you will say "No", or push him off, or say "You are such a bad boy", etc. You are giving him affection. Yes, negative affection but for him it is still better then nothing. When he is lying down quietly and nobody says anything to him, he is not getting affection. This is why you have to make sure to reward quiet and calm behavior and ignore bad behavior. You can turn your back on him without saying anything but as soon as he sits down you have to praise him - calmly so you don't get him over excited. He will jump more and may even bark to get your attention because he learnt that this was the way to get your attention. So, first it will get worse but then he will realized that you are still ignoring him but when he is calm and sitting nicely you give him what he wants - ATTENTION.  This is called "Extension burst". Try to think of it, when you are changing the channel on TV with your remote and nothing happens (probably your battery is dying). You start pressing it harder and harder and still nothing happens. Then you stop and think what else you need to do to change the channel.  _________________ Kata, Lumpi and Boni |
Hint of Mischief wrote: Just a quick warning- 1 hour of playing long distance fetch, where my sheepie is running almost constantly is NOT enough. We do this twice a day & he still demands play in betwen, we have not seen him sleep during the day since we first got him. He is always walking around even if we ignore him for hours so 1 hour excersise might not be enough but it's a good start!!
You might want to consider changing his food - there may be too much protein. |
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