Thoughts on using a water spray bottle?
As an aside, she is behaving a bit better ever since I started following the trainer's advice to walk as if she was not there. That is, no going around her. Walk towards/ through her and expect her to move out of the way. Seems to help. . . |
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| That's wonderful that she got the water bottle idea right away.
We tried that with Mojo and he thought it was a game. He would bark at it and try to catch the water! SPRAY ME MORE!! |
| This last time, the cat was on his way, Maggie started twitching (like she wanted to jump up and lunge), I reached for the water bottle, and then she got up and came over to me to be petted instead! Progress! But is it ok or is it considered physical correction rather than positive direction? |
| I'm not sure I'd call it positive direction but, hey, if it works, go with it. You're not actually using the water anymore so it isn't physical. At worst, at the sight of the water bottle, she'll either not jump up or chase the cat-- even if you didn't intend it. Years ago I did a similar thing with Lucy for attention barking (she used to bark to be petted to the point where it was ridiculous) and, like Maggie, it only took one spray then the sight of it stopped her. Within a week the barking stopped completely and we never used the bottle again. |
| A spray bottle can be classified in a couple of views.
One is a punishment- it is not great in that category because if you are not there to "punish" every time she does in (which would mean having her glued to you 24/7 and you having the bottle in your hand 24/7) then she still has the opporunity to chase the cat when you are not around. In this way she learns to chase the cat when you are not there, because it is "safe". Not good. The other way is as an interuption- In this way what it does is it stops her behavior so you can get her attention. From the sounds of it the spray seems to be having this affect. She sees the cat then looks to you. That is great. What you need to do is give her a reward like a small treat for NOT chasing the cat. Or if she doesn't look at you right away you can call her to you, hopefully she will turn to look at you and then you can reward her. Timing is everything, though. You never want to miss out and spray her as she is turing to look at you, if you are not quick enough to stop. are e, eAnd try to call her to you often, all day long, and carry cheerios or small tidbits in your pockets. Any time you call her to you, even for no reason, and she comes she gets a treat. NEVER a scolding. Hopefully the chasing behavior will extingusih itself, once she does not do it anymore. As for walking as if she is not there, I have mixed feelings on this. I like my dogs to pay attention to me, all the time, so that if I give them a hand signals they will be watching. So by having them move out of the way, it encourages them to keep an eye on me and where I am. On the other hand, I like to respect my dogs, too, and if we just got back from the dog park, and Bosley is spread out exhausted in the doorway, I will definitely walk over him. You might also consider that if you put your dog in a down/stay, do you expect him to move when you walk over him, or around him? You may be giving him mixed messages if you barrel into him when you walk by, but then expect him not to move at other times. I use the down position much more often then "sit", as it is relaxing and they are less likely to jump up. So if we are around kids or whatever, I put my dogs in a down, and then kids can run around them or even walk over them, and they do NOT expect to get pushed into to get up. So I guess it depends on state you want your dogs to be in when they are lying down. I like lying down to be settled, and not destrurbed, so I generally leave them alone. But if they are just standing around or sitting doing nothing, then they can move for me. |
I think they should move for us. Only because of the number of times they jump up to stand and trip you as you're stepping over them. Mine wouldn't just lay there, they'd always follow me so it was better for me to just make them move first. "Plus, when you're younger you can catch yourself easier."  And, I think it depends on how many dogs you have. When you have several (I had 7 at one time) I found it was safer to tell them to "move it" than it was for me to go through the maze. Of course, that depends on what kind of maze you're working your way through.
I had stairs to deal with so they were "always" told to go on before I started up or down. Spray bottle works on birds too. But, like you say they turn it into games and the bird found it an easy way to get a bath. I think it depends on the individual animal on what the end result will be. Good luck. |
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