How to fix misbehavior and house training?
 !, goes through the trash and eats the cat
s food even when he knows he's not suppose to. And when I go near him to remove him from the area, he growls and snaps at me and anyone else who is near. We went out of town this weekend and left him at a kennel and when we picked him up he behaved like a "perfect" dog. He listened to all commands, didn't make a mess in the house, didn't go through the trash, and after walking him I was able to bring him back in the house without worrying about him making a mess. This lasted for 4 days. And now he's back to being his usual misbehaving self. I don't like the idea of having him outside, especially when there's a foot of snow on the ground. He doesn't like to go in the garage (which is left open for him as shelter from the weather). Can anyone help me with this problem? |
|
|
Welcome to the forum 
If this is new behaviour I think you should take him to the vet. If it's not new behaviour have you had him his whole nine years? If so, what have you done about it in the past? Is he crate trained? Any obedience training? Has he had regular vet check ups? Have you had stressful changes in your home or family? Changed his food? There are so many things that can cause these things... more information would help us help you |
| Yes, I have had him for his whole nine years. I bought him from a pet store when he was 4 months old.
He was house trained for the first five years while we lived in Georgia. During that time he was agressive and didn't respond well to physical discipline (he fought back). We continued trying different approaches except professional training for lack of funds. Then we moved to Ohio, where my mother-n-law insisted on keeping him outside because of her asthma. After she moved, we attempted to bring him back in the house but he became even more agressive with us when he was caught doing something wrong (ie., going in the trash, and making a mess in the house). We haven't changed his food. He has regular vet visits in which no medical problem was found. The only recent change in the house is that our son left for college, (but he was just as agressive with our son when he was here). I'm trying to understand what's wrong, because he is a very loving dog when he wants to be. He's not abused and we even gave up physical discipline a long time ago as we discovered it didn't work. At one point, we tried the electric collar and choke chain for the walking issues, but that just made hime angrier! We love our pets and don't think putting him down is the just punishment for misbehavior but I have become very frustrated with the situation. |
| That sounds like a hard situation. It is great that you are looking for advice on how to work with your dog and I think you've found a great resource in the many people here. I hope that you consider your dog coming home from the kennel well behaved as a good sign that the dog can be a good dog and is able to learn/do what you want. Sounds like he needs to learn that you are in charge and that physical methods don't work with him. I hope others here will have constructive suggestions for you. I know that I found two books very helpful -- the dog listener by jan fennel and good owners, great dogs by brian kilcommons. I also really love the show the dog whisperer cesar milan on national geographic channel.
Cesar's Way : The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems (Hardcover), by Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier People Training for Dogs, Cesar Milan's DVD All of these suggest methods for indicating to your dog that you are alpha in a calm, assertive manner that is clear but nonthreatening to the dog. I am currently working on similar issues with a 1 year old rescue I just brought into my home. She is learning that if she barks and jumps, i will ignore her, she will not get dinner, etc. As a last resort, if you do find that you cannot deal with your dog's issues, I hope that you would consider offering him to a rescue organization instead of putting him down. . .But I really hope you two can work this out! Best wishes, Valerie |
| I think the use of physical discipline at any point has made him come to expect that, and fear it. I'm sorry he is reacting this way, but I strongly suggest positive reinforcement training only. I would also suggest the use of a crate. The less opportunity he has to get into trouble, the safer he is and the more chances you will have to reward him for being good, and establishing new behaviours that you want.
I wish you the best of luck, and please let us know how it goes |
| Hi Wanda, welcome to the forum!
Our 13 year old Maggie recently started showing changes in personality, "selective hearing" and left us a "present" on the rug. After doing some research she fit all the symptoms of Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome, what you might call "Doggy Alzheimers". She has now been on Anipryl for one week. It usually takes a month to show its affect so I will post again later on the results. We have heard from other OES owners it has helped their dogs, so it's worth a look at this site and a trip to your vet for a consultation. www.cdsindogs.com/ Aggressive behavior is not typically a symptom of CDS so I may be way off base here. Patience and understanding may be all you can offer. I'm sure there are others on this forum who can relate their stories to you help you find the answer. |
| My apologies to anyone if I explained the only discipline he received was physical.
He did not receive this for nine years. I have tried positive reinforcement as well. In fact, I just brought him back in this evening, even after his mishap earlier and he still growled at me when all I said to him was lay down. I never planned on putting him down. I explained the situation to our vet and he made the suggestion. (go figure, a vet who can't help) Anyway, I thank you for your advice and I will be patient and attempt to stay consistent with positive reinforcement. I'll also look into the medicine for alzheimers. Also, does anyone think his agressivesness has anything to do with the fact he has never been with a female? I haven't had him fixed. (in other words, he's still has all his parts). |
| That could explain everything. Your vet didn't suggest having him nuetered? |
| Also the fact that he is over 9 and not de-sexed I would also have the vet look at maybe prostrate problems, this can affect an older entire male dog. And yes it can affect the bowel if the prostrate gland is enlarged. They either have trouble controlling it or the opposite, trying to go & can make them cranky as they are in pain with this problem. Just the fact you stated that he is lying down when he has his little accidents seems to me he is loosing control in that department. Raiding bins and cat food, well personally I don't think this is causing his problems, I'd hate to tell you what my dogs over the years have found & eaten and yes sometimes the dreaded runny droppings, but never lacking control just lying around.
And No his beaviour problems has nothing to do with wether he has had a stud or not! He just seems a little bit too young to maybe have dementia yet? |
| No, my vet did not suggest having him nuetered.
I'll make an appointment as soon as possible to have his prostrate looked at. I hope it's as simple as that because it isn't as if though he has diarhea and can't control his bowel movement. His feces are normal. Thanks for the advice. |
| Welcome to the forum.
You'll find a lot of help and support here. I hope you don't take offense but, if the best my vet could offer was to put him down, I'd be looking for a new vet. It is very important to rule out any medical problem before moving on. No matter how hard you try if he hurts or feeling sick he is not going to want to cooperate. Good luck to you, keep us posted. |
| Let me get the picture here. You've had this dog for 9 years, since he was a 4 month old pet store pup. He has always been agressive towards you and your family. He misbehaves by getting into the garbage and trying to eat the cat food, and growls and snaps at you when you try to remove him. He was house-trained and now he is not.
Let's forget about the garbage and the cat food, and just eliminate his access to them to avoid any confrontation over them. To a dog both of these are food, and sometime high valued food, and it is next to impossible to "train" a dog to avoid them once he has already had frequent access. It is probably very engrained into him, so from this point on it would be strictly management, and that will solve that problem. I'd like more information on the "agression" that he has always shown. Agression to one person is not always understood as agression to another one. Aggression to me is an unprovoked will to do harm to another...the key being unprovoked. Can you describe in detail what starts the behavior, how he reacts, and also most importantly, how you or his person reacts to his reaction? In your post about removing him from the area I assume you are physically pulling him away, correct? By his collar or fur or whatever? Just as an advice, 30% of dog bites are the result of dogs biting their own family members grabbing at their collars. Growls and snaps are warnings to be heeded. He is not being agressive, he is defending himself or something he has. That is not acceptable behavior by any means, but it is normal behavior for any dog who feels threatened. You need to find a way of distracting him in a positive way when you want him to do something, or get away from something. As for the house-training, you need to do some detective work. I suspect a medical problem, if he is doing a bowel movement while lying down. That is not a normal position. Unless he did it earlier and it got stuck to his behind. Seen that happen! So a vet check with some suggested suspicions and yes, a new vet may help. And let us have a bit more information on his behavior so we can see about the rest. |
| Whatever the outcome of the other medical checks, please consider having your dog neutered.
I'm sure you're a responsible pet owner so accidental unwanted pups are not the issue. Neutering an aggressive/dominant dog can completely cure the problem. Our first dog was supposedly neutered (his vet records said he was), but had a "cryptorchid" or an undescended testicle. All of his life he was dominant/aggressive, frequently biting me hard, so much so that the rescue lady who placed him with us said that if it weren't for us dealing with him that he would probably have been put down... At the age of 11 he started to get very ill, turns out he developed a form of testicular cancer call a sertoli tumor, and it was generating tons of estrogen. His magnificent thick coat got very thin, his skin got a mottled appearance and his nipples enlarged. After determining the cause, and removing the cancerous testicle, his symptoms went away, and he also became a very sweet and mellow dog. We had no clue that we had been dealing with an intact male for all of those years. I am kind of surprised that your vet hadn't suggested neutering previously. |
| I too would strongly recommend having him neutered as soon as possible. His temperament may change within a month of simply having this done. I'm surprised the vet didn't encourage this. Along with "taming the beast" it will also help prevent cancer. (I lost an intact dog to prostate cancer when I was a kid.)
As for the garbage, simply remove it from his reach. Put it up high if necessary. Our bathroom wastebasket is on the toilet tank and we finally went to a kitchen wastebasket with a lid that sits in a doorless cupboard just outside the kitchen (we have a counter surfing, garbage lovin', separation anxiety afflicted sheepie-girl). Remove the temptation and you'll remove the frustration. One final comment- take his warnings seriously. We had a dog that we needed to respect for her limits. Instead of forcing any confrontation, we bribed her away from the inappropriate behavior or whatever she had that we needed to take, with an extra special SMALL treat. You can bribe him into another room with a door so you can close it behind him if necessary. You get the same result but avoid the hassle and upset for both of you. And remember what they say... "A tired dog is a good dog." It doesn't mean just putting a dog outside but actually interacting with him or her so it's fun. Playing with him outdoors or walking him for even 15 minutes can be beneficial. ALL of my girls love to have training secessions with treats... it's a fun game for them but is also a training refresher. There are medications that can be used on aggressive dogs but should only be used as an absolute last resort after neutering, positive training methods, etc. Please let us know how things go for you both. |
| Hi, and welcome to the forum. I may be way off base with this comment, but based one the many suggestions offered regarding the importance of a vet's intervention, I would suggest you find a different vet for another opinion about the whole situation. Seems like many of the suggestions offered should have been given or at least reinforced by your vet.
I too strongly recommend Jan Fennel's book. Read the chapter on Amichien Bonding - I think its the only way to get your dog's attention. |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|