|
Welcome to the YorkieTalk.com Forums Community - the community for Yorkshire Terriers. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. You will be able to chat with over 35,000 YorkieTalk members, read over 2,000,000 posted discussions, and view more than 15,000 Yorkie photos in the YorkieTalk Photo Gallery after you register. We would love to have you as a member! Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please click here to contact us. |
|
| LinkBack | Thread Tools |
07-11-2009, 06:09 AM | #1 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wilmington, NC
Posts: 2,120
| Public Screaming and Whining.... Oh My! I'm at my wits end. We just got home from our local Farmer's Market. Ginger does not know how to behave in public. At first she is so excited, she is pulling at the leash and barking at everyone and everything. Once she calms down a bit she quits barking at all the people but if she sees another dog she goes nuts. She barks and it is a screaming - injured type bark. It's so loud. Everyone is looking and I am truly embarrassed. Once I get her to quit the screaming bark she sits there and whines along with little yelps. It's just awful. I had another yorkie, Sunny, for 13 years. I took her every where and she never acted like this. How in the world do I train Ginger to behave in public? I want to take her with me but she made this morning so miserable we had to leave. Any advice would be appreciated. Ginger is 8 months old and is spayed. Her other animal companion at home is a cat, Pepper. What do I do????
__________________ ~ Melinda ~ Mom to Lindsey , Ginger & Pepper RIP Sunny:February 5,1995 to June 3,2008 |
Welcome Guest! | |
07-11-2009, 06:22 AM | #2 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Maryland
Posts: 237
| It sounds to me like she's nervous/scared. Sebastian had a very similar problem, and although it's gotten a lot better he still barks at people/dogs from time to time. Techniques that I tried... Turning around and walking in the opposite direction of the stimulus until she calms down, and then walk back towards what was making her bark. If she starts barking/yelping again repeat the process. I do find that this works, but it takes a lot of repetitions and a lot of patience on your part. Distract her with treats. Figure out how far away from the dogs/people she can be without freaking out. Then sit her down and get her to focus on you by giving her treats. Over time get her closer and closer to the dogs/people and repeat the process. The idea is that you are distracting her, but you are also getting her to associate the things that scare her, with something positive (the treats). This also works, but takes a lot of time and patience. I know it's embarrassing when your dog is making such a public display. But, your dog is very in tune to your emotions. Embarrassment usually goes hand in hand with anxiety and frustration (from my experience). It's very important that you stay very calm no matter what she is doing. If you feel calm and relaxed she will feel that and it will transfer to her. It took me a long time to get my emotions under control in these situations, but since I've learned to stay calm he does sooooo much better!
__________________ Kristina Mommy to Sebastian |
07-11-2009, 08:06 AM | #3 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wilmington, NC
Posts: 2,120
| Thanks for the reply, Kristina! I really want to be able to take her so I will definitely try your suggestions. You are right about the emotions too. The whole situation was tense. I had my DH and DD who is 4 years old with me too. My daughter kept asking why I was hurting Ginger because of all the yelping. Everyone was looking at us. I know if I had seen all of that I would have looked too. It sounded like Ginger was being tortured! I kept picking her up and putting her down but it didn't seem to make much difference. I shushed her and tried hiding behind things until the other dog passed. Of course with all the barking/yelping hiding didn't do much good. I looked like a fruit loop! Little dogs have a reputation for being yappy and Ginger is living up to it. I hate that. I heard a man say to his wife, "No way would I have a yapper like that." Ginger's general behavior is much more excited than my previous yorkie. My first yorkie was laid back and pretty mellow her whole life. Ginger is wide open. Every time we come home she gets so, so excited and yelps/barks for attention. She also has done the excite pee which is new to me too. She doesn't do that daily so that's a good thing. Ginger is more likely to do the excite pee for visitors or at the vet office when they start oohhhing and ahhinng her. She loves the receptionist and she pees for her every time. I just wish I could figure out how to get her to mellow out a little bit. I know she is still very young but is this just her personality? Will she mellow with age?
__________________ ~ Melinda ~ Mom to Lindsey , Ginger & Pepper RIP Sunny:February 5,1995 to June 3,2008 |
07-11-2009, 12:59 PM | #4 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: upstate ny
Posts: 5,847
| Maybe you could get her involved in some local meet ups or a training class. Sounds like she just needs some socializtion to me. |
07-11-2009, 01:31 PM | #5 |
www.yorkierescue.com Donating Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Las Vegas & Orange County
Posts: 17,408
| Oh man, this is Uni exactly!!! As soon as she sees her harness she goes nuts! It doesn't matter where we're going, but as soon as it comes out of my purse her crazy light turns on. Once we were going to do the Petco halloween contest, but she was yelping and whining so loud we had to leave! I know how embarrassed you are, i am the same way. People think you're hurting her, but it's really her frustration not being able to check out everything at once. I think the other problem is, even though you want to take her away from one thing that is a subject of interest, she'll just find somethng else interesting, you know? Uni is a greeter, and she will try to say hi to EVERYONE. If I take her away from one thing, she'll just want to go check something else out. The only thing that I have found to work is this: before entering any place, go around back (where they unload the trucks) and do a few laps with her, and have her run really fast and have her use up some of her pent up energy, then go inside. As for a farmers market, that is a lot of stimuli for her. But I think b/c she is so young, that is why, everything is still so new to her. Uni has settled down A LITTLE. Last time we went to petco she wasn't screaming and yelping, and we didn't even do any laps beforehand. The only thing is now she likes to mark I guess what I'm just trying to say in a long winded way, is that once she realizes she has experienced pretty much everything in her life she will calm down. It will be old news to her.
__________________ The T.U.B. Pack! Toto, Uni, & Bindi RIP Lord Scrappington Montgomery McLimpybottom aka El Lenguo the Handicapped Ninja 10-12-12 |
07-11-2009, 02:24 PM | #6 |
Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland
Posts: 17,814
| Great advice above. Take her to small dog meet ups or dog parks, introduce her to everyone and everything. Also, this may sound "cruel" to some but it totally is not... carry a little squirt bottle with you, and whenever she barks at a dog or a person, give a quick squirt to her face, usually dogs do NOT like this and they will stop. It works wonders for my dad's one dog who barks at everyone who is a stranger is out house nonstop.
__________________ ~ Brit & Lights! Camera! Jackson! CGC ETD TKP ~ Follow Jackson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacksontheterrier |
07-11-2009, 03:27 PM | #7 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wilmington, NC
Posts: 2,120
| Thanks so much for the replies tjdmom, capt_noonie and Britster! tjdmom : Ginger actually took a puppy training class at Petsmart and did pretty well. She was very young. Only 12 - 16 weeks old, I believe. We had 8 sessions. What we did notice is at the beginning, she was terrified - shaking. By the end, she was more interested in the other dogs and would get super excited as soon as we hit the door. Maybe I need to go another round. capt_noonie : You have some great advice. Thank you! I think doing some laps ahead a time is a great idea. The farmer's market may be too much so I will try some smaller venues. Maybe I will take her to the park after work. There are always alot of people and dogs out in early evening but not as many as the farmer's market. It could be good practice for her. I think I'm going to have to just start taking her more often. I really want to work on this. You're right, once she experiences this stuff, it will be old news. I hope! Britster : The water bottle is a great idea. I used one to train my cat so I don't have a problem using it on Ginger. I actually just hadn't thought of it. Thank you. I'm willing to try anything!
__________________ ~ Melinda ~ Mom to Lindsey , Ginger & Pepper RIP Sunny:February 5,1995 to June 3,2008 |
07-11-2009, 03:31 PM | #8 |
www.yorkierescue.com Donating Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Las Vegas & Orange County
Posts: 17,408
| Just be a little bit more on high alert when you take her to the park. There have been some scary stories on here from a few members. Good luck!
__________________ The T.U.B. Pack! Toto, Uni, & Bindi RIP Lord Scrappington Montgomery McLimpybottom aka El Lenguo the Handicapped Ninja 10-12-12 |
07-11-2009, 03:51 PM | #9 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wilmington, NC
Posts: 2,120
| Thanks Capt_noonie! I actually thought about that. We have a doggie park here in town but I won't go there. There is another park that is mostly people exercising and a few dogs sprinkled in. I will go there instead. I'm too leary of a actual doggie park. I've seen some scary stuff about them too.
__________________ ~ Melinda ~ Mom to Lindsey , Ginger & Pepper RIP Sunny:February 5,1995 to June 3,2008 |
Bookmarks |
|
|
Thread Tools | |
| |
|
|
SHOP NOW: Amazon :: eBay :: Buy.com :: Newegg :: PetStore :: Petco :: PetSmart