Trouble with a neighbor

Devi_D · 6 days

Honestly, completely unsupervised back yard time is not a good idea, especially for a dog who is working on better doggy communication. I saw a seminar by Grisha Stewart who put up a picture of some dogs sitting at a window and said "I hope their people want them to bark because that's what they are getting trained to do all day." If her coping method is growling that's what she'll practice in the yard, when whatever it is eventually goes away it will be strongly reinforced, and worse proper dog communication has zero change of working for her... and that's even if boxer guy doesn't come.

Leaving her out there alone is going to completely undo all of your hard work.

The link above (Grisha's name) is a website devoted to getting dogs to make better communication choices, and to reward them and teach them to reward themselves with polite behavior and removing themselves from situations which they don't like. It's an excellent extension to counter conditioning and rewarding calming signals which sounds like what you are doing.

Once you get to the point where she can make good decisions like give a calming signal and then walk away even when she is being barked at through the fence you can re-evalute, but until then you really need to keep her inside or supervised. Episodes like this will very easily undo everything you are working on. Even if you successfully deal with this one guy, there will be another. And another, and another. It's an unfortunate reality that many people see dogs in distress and find it funny.

nockt · 6 days

Cool! I've heard of someone who uses a spray bottle as a reward for his boxer in the summer... and so I've actually had counter conditioning the spray bottle on the to do list for my dog before the hot weather hits... he came to me with neurosis though and his safe distance from the spray bottle is still across the room.

Aversives are in the eye of the beholder though. One dog loving the spray bottle doesn't mean it won't cause other dogs distress.

ennui_myway · 7 days

Humping is an overstimulated/socially inept/stress thing. It can be stressful for your dog though, so rescue him when it happens if you aren't sure he is down with it (he probably isn't). Otherwise he'll learn that other dogs are stressful and he can't get away -- which may lead him to conclude he needs to growl/snap/bite to get his space.

I can't say if he is doing anything that elicits this behavior and let's not blame the victim too much :-) but I'd look at the calming signals links in the sidebar. Most likely he is setting them off because he is unneutered, but there is a chance he may additionally be making other dogs nervous with his body language (if he is nervous) or most likely his smell might be setting them off since he is un-neutered. In any case,

Here is Dr. Sophia Yin on dogs humping.

There are legitimate reasons not to neuter, behavior isn't one I've heard, but there are some health consequences. If he remains intact extra care around other males may be necessary because they are more likely to fight. I hope it's obvious that he should be kept away from the fertile bitches too :-)

nockt · 7 days

Exactly. And if the dog is scared, stressed or hurt by the technique I'd say do something else. A tin can will only work if the dog is scared of it or it hurts his ears, so it's not something I'd recommend.

If the dog is scared of the sister it will only make that worse (not to mention how stressful not understanding when you'll have a can hurled near you is for a dog.) If the dog is barking out of boredom or wants attention then he'll learn quickly if his family makes sure he doesn't give him attention when he barks but proactively does reward better behavior.

hereforaday · 9 days

For aggression many trainers start training with decoy dogs and they do work... though obviously the dog will catch on if he is allowed to be close to it.

I think it might be a really good idea to use a fake rat so that you can train an incompatible behavior (like a default lie on your mat) with no screw ups, and then sub in the rat for the stuffy as soon as the behavior is solid.

nockt · 9 days

I'd say most people punish or scold their dogs in ways that aren't clear to the dog. I'm guilty of this too. (I adopted my dog before I knew any better. I still have to catch myself sometimes, yelling "stop!" comes much more naturally than "leave it!") We're just so used to dealing with humans who already know they are doing something wrong before we tell them.

nockt · 9 days

Thing is, "no" isn't a command unless it's been trained to be. "Drop", "down", "off", "sit" are all commands if they are trained, and "no" could be a cue if you train a behavior with it, but the dog doesn't know what "no" means, and "stop the thing that is annoying me at this time" is not a clear meaning you can teach. (However, "lie down and be quiet" or "sit and look at me" is a clear behavior, and they are incompatible with most annoying behaviors.)

A dog doesn't have a concept that some behaviors are "wrong" so they have trouble predicting when they will be punished and most can be easily stressed out. To explain this to me once, my training mentor came at me yelling "NO, BAD, STOP, NO!!!" and then asked don't you know what I want you to do? Not only was that stressful (even though I knew I was an example!) I really didn't know if she wanted me to get out of my chair, put down my pen, etc. That was her point... since I didn't attach any moral issues to these activities I didn't know which was the problem. Additionally, for positively trained dogs, we like to encourage them to be creative, and they are less likely to if sometimes behaviors have scary outcomes.

Of course, dogs will go into appeasement mode and quite often this interrupts whatever they were doing. Certainly, you can get by this way... and many dogs won't develop severe anxiety. I still think it's preferable to teach the dog what to do and I think the dogs agree.

nockt · 9 days

Quite possibly.

gfunk420 · 9 days

You should always be concerned about aggression and training. For any dog. Here is an easy starter textbook. Socialize, socialize, socialize. Note that some socialization should be teaching the dog (with rewards) to walk past strangers to avoid frustration when he can't meet every person or dog in the future.

hereforaday · 9 days

Definitely possible. The biggest concern is the risk of adopting a dog who has a strong reinforcement history of chasing small animals. For instance, if you adopt a husky who has caught a rat before you have a long road ahead. I'd avoid high prey drive breeds, and if possible try to adopt a dog who is in a foster home with small animals (so there is time for any prey drive to show up.)

When you get the new addition, I'd actively train him to sit in view of the rat on a mat and reinforce ignoring the rat. Always supervise, and try to have the rat behaving in a boring manner at first if possible. If the rat is running across the room then that's way too enticing.

nockt · 9 days

Honestly - spray bottles can lead to fear or aggression to. It's true that some dogs won't care much about the spray, but if it's aversive enough to work it's aversive enough to cause anxiety.

nockt · 9 days

More likely he'll fear the sister.

nockt · 9 days

Give him something to lie on and a bowl of water. Until you get the behavior under control it's more humane than punishment and it actually is likely to work.

nockt · 9 days

Having your sister reward him for being quiet is great. The missing link here is that you need to plan ahead of time and try not to set the dog up to fail. This probably means keeping him away from your sister when you aren't there.

I want to point out that correcting him obviously is not (and will not) work. He may stop barking at that moment, but you are most likely, if anything, increasing the intensity of the behavior.

nockt · 9 days

First why do you think the dog is barking?

It sounds like your diagnosis is that the dog wants attention. So you & your sister have rewarded the behavior - which means from the dog's perspective you have trained him to bark. When she ignores him, he goes through what is known as an extinction burst. That means the behavior will get worse as he gets frustrated. She has to wait that out before it will get better.

I would bet, that given that you both have rewarded the behavior, and he only barks at her that some of the barking is already anxiety. Dogs when they are even slightly stressed are more likely to be brats. Any sort of punishing the behavior is (1) giving it attention which is what the dog is so desperate for and (2) creating more anxiety. A very large proportion of dogs have anxiety disorders and they are really best avoided.

So what do you do?

Manage the situation. If your sister can't be trusted to be on board with the training plan then she cannot be left alone with your dog. Keep the dog in your room when you can't watch the two of them. I promise this is the most humane option (a dog who can't stop barking is at the very least a very frustrated animal.)
IGNORE all barking. Leave the room, read a book, put on music. Ignoring him for a little while and then giving in will teach him to just be persistent... and you already have done some of that so you have a lot of waiting to do. There will be an "extinction burst" where he'll try harder (bark more intensely) before he gives up, don't give in!
This is step 2 again. I mean it. Leave the apartment if you need to. Yelling at him (his name, or "at-at") is attention. Even if it's aversive, when the dog is at his most frustrated he'll view it as a reward.
Read about calming signals (sidebar) and re-evaluate how stressed he is around your sister. It could just be that she gives in to him more often, but I suspect you'll see some more stressed behavior around her (even if it's not her fault.) If that's the case, reward him for lying on a dog bed in her presence. Supervise the two of them and keep the treats coming. (There are more complicated training methods - but if you can teach him to lie down on a doggy bed automatically in her presence for treats you are on your way to a calm relationship.)
Show him what to do. If you want him to lie down on a mat when your sister is in the room, teach him to do that. Manage him before he barks, and when he does bark remember that barking is an anxious behavior. Also, remember that dogs don't have the same concept of right and wrong as we do... they only learn that sometimes loud things come at them. Throwing loud cans at the dog or squirting him in the face to create calm reminds me of a Seinfeld episode. SERENITY NOW!!

nockt · 9 days

Honestly, it's a far better idea to work with him to counter condition noises because phobias are a real pain to deal with once they arise.

nockt · 9 days

Again, I know it does not sound like much, but pennies in a can really can cause noise phobia or fearfulness. Sure, the dog might not be bothered by them, but if the can is a deterrent then it is absolutely aversive enough to make the behavior worse.

In general - whether for attention or out of fear, barking is an aroused behavior. I have a suspicion that there is more than one reason he barks at your sister (one being she rewards him read trains him to bark), but the other being he is already in a more aroused state around her because she does things like hit him or yell.

nockt · 9 days

Please don't. Your sister has already started giving him negative associations with her, a spray bottle doesn't sound like much maybe but you really don't want to set him down a path towards fear/anxiety aggression. Assuming that this is not what this is.

Psychomyth · 13 days

Is your sister someone you can't confront about this?

Contact local shelters - and veterinarians. It's not unlikely that he was either surrendered to a shelter (likely a kill shelter so I'd contact ASAP) or euthanized at a vet clinic. Or if he was dumped by the freeway he may have been picked up. I'd ask your older sister first and let her know you are not going to cover for her. I can see how this could get her kicked out of the house... but I'm not sure that makes it your job to cover up this lie for her. I would not.

That said, your sister was likely scarred for the safety of her child and that's a serious issue. Even small dogs can seriously injure a child. If you get him back, he needs to be kept away from the baby and anyone else who he nips. Not most of the time, all of the time or until his issues can be otherwise managed. Management is the first part of any behavior treatment plan because biting is self reinforcing. If your family can afford a behaviorist that is a really good idea. They also should dog to a vet about the obsessive behavior (tail chasing), and the biting they might be a medical issues. Otherwise, strict management and here are some resources:

Bite prevention
fearfuldogs.com booklist. Of course I don't know that fear is his motive for biting, but not all those book are only applicable to fear Control Unleashed is a good book whatever it is.
/r/dogtraining (sidebar on calming signals especially)

If your stepdad loves the dog, preventing bites is a safety issue for the dog as well as for the 3 year old he lives with.

i_quit · 13 days

Take off the collar and stop with the baths. Some over the counter drugs for fleas are actually poison for dogs too and it would be really easy to make such a little dog very ill especially with the open wounds. Frontline is generally thought to be safe if dosed correctly, and is very effective. Within 24 hours there will be no more fleas on the dog and all the fleas who bite her for the next 4-6 weeks will drop dead. (So there may be some stray fleas around your house, but they'll die as they find the dog and bite.)

I'd call a vet and mention all those drugs over the phone and they will probably tell you what you need to watch for in case any of the shampoos were dangerous. (Some over the counter are dangerous, others are just not too effective.)

Also, vaccuum. Flea eggs fall off of the host and will hatch over the next 2 weeks. If the dog lives with you during that time they'll probably bite her and die, but if she goes away they'll hatch and bite you and may last a while.

llieaay · 13 days

I think most lacking are resources for special needs behavior dogs. I like to link to the booklist on fearfuldogs.com and the functional rewards website.. I obviously will put a disclaimer that no book can replace a professional :-)

siberianlocust · 13 days

A behaviorist and or trainer who works with behaviorist. The body language links in the sidebar are helpful, and I really like functional rewards as a training plan.

You will want to learn to read his stress levels and work with him when he is sub-threshold. From a distance you can use food as a reward to condition away the intense emotions. Distance is another good reward - if there is any sort of anxiety meeting another dog, you can teach him that calm behavior makes the situation better by rewarding it with the opportunity to walk away.

Make sure to reward calming signals (sidebar) as those are what you want the dog to do. Don't correct the dog, because you may overpower the bad behavior - but you will both intensify the negative emotion and leave the dog not knowing what to do. At that point you are hoping the dog becomes desensitized before the behavior comes back worse and without warning. (The great part about barking and freaking out at a distance is that your dog prevents you from getting close enough to bite... if you correct that you might end up with bigger problems.)

Any of these are great resources. I also really like Grisha Stewart's BAT book as a great training guide for aggression. Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed is really good too - it has the "look at that!" game, have your dog look look at the scary thing then back at you for a reward.

It's also worth it to keep careful notes of exactly what triggers the behavior. All other dogs? All contexts? Just on leash? Make sure she has a comfortable and safe harness for your peace of mind and to not further aggravate her. Behavior cases are tough, and note that she has suffered some really traumatic things - even a dog fight she started is scary. I'd recommend picking up a book and then finding a behaviorist or at least a trainer who uses methods consistent with the modern research.

HoWheelsWork · 14 days

It depends on how they are used, the slip feature should prevent the collar from falling off, if it jerked or constricted to cause discomfort any benefit that you saw was short term and likely to cause more problems in the long run. If you suspect the better reaction was due to increased comfort in the collar (perhaps the harness is uncomforable or she does not like it) then it's a good thing. If the reaction was due to being jerked or choked then it wasn't a good thing at all.

Leash aggression which seems pointless is almost universally an anxiety issue. Absolutely you can overpower the reaction, but emotions can't be overpowered only intensified. I highly recommend the resources at fearfuldogs.com, Control Unleashed and Click to Calm are great books, and also BAT by Grisha Stewart, who has some resources here.

Pat McConnell who you have been reading is a good resource. Classical conditioning is the right foundation, and you should get comfortable with that, and why it's important. There are some more helpful extensions to it, like the "look at that!" game where a calm look at the other animal or person gets a reward. I'm emphasizing this because whatever you do you are working to change a very basic emotion and you need a foundation of good management and a policy of positive experiences to prevent working against the progress you make. Change the emotion the behavior will follow.

Please remember, your dog isn't freaking out because she can get away with it. She is freaking out because she is actually freaking out.

lenaisastereotype · 26 days

A squirt bottle is actually a really bad idea.

You want to convince the dog of two things... 1 - the kittens are good things. If the dog does not like the kittens (and why would he if he gets sprayed in the face?) that's really bad. and 2- the kittens are not prey.

For 2, if the dog is used to chasing squirrels you want to introduce the kittens in a way which does not emulate anything which will set off his chase instinct. They should not be running away for one. the post by restractableclause is great. Work on getting the German shepherd to default to sitting on a mat or otherwise ignoring the kittens by reinforcing that. The book Control Unleashed is a really good idea too. One game from that book that might be really helpful is the "look at the kitten!" game where you have the dog look at the kitten then look away.

A general comment - not all dogs are safe with smaller animals. Prey drive is one concern, or you may have a dog who is clutzy or fearful of the kittens all of which could have bad outcomes. Prey drive, carelessness and fear can all be worked on, but none have overnight solutions if the emotion/behavior is advanced enough. It's worth a try, but constant supervision and caution is necessary at least until they've spent a few weeks or months living in peace. Attempts to suppress prey drive by punishing it won't stop the dog when you are not watching... and are likely to result in fear or the prey drive popping up when you aren't there to save the kitten.

llieaay

TROPHY CASE

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