Need help on training/reinforcements

[PennyO]

Hi everyone, I am going to post again on my 7 month old Yorkie. She has been really timid and friendly since I have had her for the last 2 weeks. However, within this week I started seeing more and more aggressive traits. I don't know if she is now warming up to us and being more of a dog or I am just worrying to much.

Penny hasn't really growled or barked in my presence until yesterday I brought her to work. She fell asleep under my desk and a co worker came by and she woke up and growled and then the growling rumbled. She wasn't showing teeth and actually was still in her sleeping position. I then took her out and had my co worker give her a treat and he pet her no problem.

The same night I went to my mom's house to stay over night and when my mom came home, Penny growled at her too. Same routine I told her no and then really nothing more happened.

Today I brought her to work again and was good in her carrier bag when my boss approached she growled slightly and the barked. I told her NO and she barked...so I flipped her over. I then took her out of the bag and My boss said hi, she approached and she let him pet her. She then was biting her bag after I put her in and this time I said NOOOOO and she looked like she got sad and went in her bag and just slept and all curiosity of exploring the office stopped.

Problem (2 questions).
1. I am having problems with reinforcements, so when I say no to her and she obeys am I suppose to praise her for obeying me? Or leave her alone.
I just was told that they need a lot of positive reinforcements but so this last NO I prolonged the saying and it seemed to traumatize her. My "no's" has usually been just a stern no.

2. Is the barking at strangers normal? It's not non stop she eventually stops and then is friendly but I am scared it might turn aggressive (I had a Maltese that was put to sleep because she bit everyone in site and caused both my mom and I with numerous scars). Penny so far is gentle, I feed her treats and if I take it from her so far (knock on wood) she doesn't care. But I am scared of the growling and barking. Overall she is not a barker at all when we are around except when she is left home alone. But this new thing with her barking at strangers when I brought her to the office last week with no problem. I don't know if she is now familiarized with the territory and just protecting me?
Please help!

[Mommy2Ellie]

First of all let me start by saying I have no experience what so ever in training a yorkie, but I do have a lot of training on teaching "older" dogs new behaviors.

It sounds to me like you are doing the right thing. The only thing that I would suggest would be to use "ah, ah" not "no". That is more of a sound aversion than "no".

When you are going to take her to work, keep a small bag of treats with you...When someone comes into your office, treat her while saying "quiet"...eventually she will learn that strangers are not a bad thing. Something else that you may want to try is taking her with you to as many places as you can (Petco and Petsmart are my favorites because you have people and dogs of all shapes and sizes). Because of your pups age and breed they are going to draw a lot of attention. Keep your treats with you and when someone approaches give her a treat and allow them to give her one as well. Again, this is just another way to reinforce that when a stranger comes around good things happen to Penny.

If she starts to get “mouthy” with you (biting you or anyone else for that matter), make a high pitched, almost squeal “ouch”. You will be mimicking the sound her littermates would have made had she bit them too hard. If you see her start to lunge at people or the growling gets more aggressive when people come around you, put her down or move her out of the room…this is teaching her that you are the boss and you will decide who is allowed to greet you, not Penny.

I hope this helps! Just remember the biggest thing is consistency and treating! (small pieces of diced chicken breast are my favorite but in a pinch or with a difficult dog like my lab I have used diced pieces of warmed hot dot)!

[PennyO]

Thanks for the advice! Sure is hard work!

[JoeyP]

Hmmm ..... I have some advice for you and some things that you might want to look at when you interact with your pup in the future

First of all with the barking and growling at the office and at your Moms house
This sounds more like a dog who is insecure than a truly aggressive dog
But an insecure dog will snap at people out of fear too so this behavior must be stopped also
when you go to strange places bring lots of treats with you and tell your coworkers and your boss when ever you come to say hello to the puppy ... give her a treat
... pretty soon shell love strangers

1. Reinforcements .... it depends on the kind of behavior youre reinforcing
Sitting and tricks? Yes you alwways want to reinforce those at every chance you get
Curtailing Bad behavior though .... like biting ansd jumping up you say No!!! and curtail any further interaction
Barking youo say No Bark! and then Good boy! or Good Girl when they stop
So reinforcement will depend on what you are training them to do

2. The barking ... like I said before this is coming from her insecurity
The more you expose her to new things and new people and socialize her well the less this will happen