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Old 03-23-2005, 09:43 AM   #4
yorkipower
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: New York
Posts: 446
Tongue Help is on its way

Hi, I'm new to yorkietalk and I'd like to know if you guys can help me out with something. My yorkie is going to be 3 years old in June. I've taken him to couple of training classes and he did very well. But the problem we've been having with lil' Zoey is that he barks excessively. Anyone that comes in the house or that is around my MOM he growls and barks.
At times he snaps and does try to bite. If my mother is holding him and anybody gets near him, he growls with a vengince

There’s a good chance that your efforts have left an indelible impression on your dog that visitors are a “bad thing.” Funny thing is, I have a similar problem with my rescue Yorkie and I have a good hunch that many of the training techniques you’ve described using on your own dog, were used on him (for example, it took me a long time to convince him that the click of a clicker was a good thing because he responded to loud noises by slinking out of the room with his tail down).

It’s unfortunate that when we humans respond to signs of aggression in our dogs, our first and natural reactions (like tightening up on a leash when our dog lunges) actually can exacerbate the situation: “hmm . . . mom is worried, I guess I was right that that big dog is trouble! I better growl at him some more!”

Sounds like your little guy is a bit territorial. He did well in training class (was your mom there by the way?) but has problems at home because the training class is a “neutral” place – he shares it with other dogs and people and it’s not where he sleeps. Home is his den. Territoriality is completely normal for a terrier that was bred to guard homes and alert his owner of intruders. He may also be possessive of your mother and consider her part of his territory. His initial response to intruders was to warn them not to enter his “domain” and by punishing him with the coins in the can or the bark collar, you gave him a negative association with the intruders, reinforcing his association with the negative action (the entrance of the intruder) with the negative consequence (being punished). I also want to add here that growling isn’t such a bad thing. Growling is a dog’s warning that he doesn’t like something. If you take away a dog’s opportunity to growl, he has no way to display his protest other than to bite. Expecting a dog to never growl is like expecting a person to never loose his temper. Just like people, dogs have different tolerance “thresholds.” Some people get upset more easily than others and so do dogs. Personally, I’d rather be yelled at then punched though! What we need to do is increase your dog’s tolerance level to intruders by giving him positive associations with these interactions.

People who come to your door on a regular basis who aren’t family members are great guinea pigs. I’ve recruited my dry cleaner, mail carrier, UPS delivery person, etc. I recommend using adults or older children who will be gentle but not intimidated by your dog’s antics. (I also recommend teaching a non-compatible behavior which I’ve mentioned in other posts in more detail but that’s a topic of another long post so we’ll leave that for now.)

What you should start by doing is figure out how far away a stranger needs to be in order for your dog to remain calm. If that stranger is at the threshold of your house, but hasn’t entered does your dog go nuts then? What is the stranger is 20 feet in front of your house? Once you’ve got that figured out, then figure out at what point from the point where your dog is calm does your dog suddenly become alarmed, is it two feet more, 10 feet, opening the door? Entering the threshold? The point in which your dog gets agitated is his Conditioned Emotional Response “CER” You don’t want to work at this level, you want to keep him just below it and move slowly step by step, pushing that point further and further back until your dog is comfortable even with that stranger standing beside him in your house or next to your mom.

As people on this board already know, I am a clicker training fanatic. What I suggest you do once you’ve figured out how far away to have your “guinea pig” is arm yourself with a clicker (you’ll need to warm your dog up to a clicker before trying any of this by doing several sessions where you click your clicker and instantly hand him a hot dog slice – many many times until your dog understands that the sound of the clicker means food is coming). At first, you are going to click for even the slightest, CALM movement by your dog in the direction of the intruder. If your dog gets agitated at any point, move the intruder back but do not scold him or get upset. Stay calm and try again. Say, he calmly looks at the introducr, click and hotdog. Wait a minute, see what he does. He looks again, great, click and treat again. Next see if he will calmly turn toward the intruder. Be patient and wait it out. When he does, click and reward him again. I would stop at the first session when I could have my dog facing the intruder but not growling or barking or lunging. If my dog is exhibiting any of these aggressive signs, I would back my intruder up and wait until my dog calmed down, and then move back to asking that my dog only look at the intruder.

Keep these session short. Don’t do an hour of this. Read your dog. If five minutes is all he can handle than do just that. Keep it light and positive and control your own emotional state as best you can. As you can already see, this will take a long time but it is worth the effort if you can do it. You are fortunate, you’ve had your dog since he was a puppy and are therefore in a much better situation that I am with my dog! If you think this is too much for you to handle, having just one session with a dog behaviorist or clicker trainer at your home, may be truly worth whatever money your scrap together.

. He also chases my little sister which is 13, around the house and barks at the same time. He has a broken leg right now, and he still doesn't even care. He still jumps from the couch and runs on his cast like its a part of him.

This could be a very different problem – prey drive. Kids have a habit of hopping around the house and moving in such a way that triggers a dog’s prey drive (I have this problem too – with my dog and my six year old niece). Yorkies are ratters. They were meant to hunt and pounce on quick moving things that scamper to and fro. Sounds like a kid, doesn’t it? The best solution here is to have your sister modify her behavior. To walk slowly past the dog. To ask the dog to do a sit or a down before she enters the room. To make sure she is always in standing position when she confronts the dog. Having her help you with the obedience training is going to help too.

The hyper activity is another issue onto itself. You need to stop it before it starts. Please check my old posts. I responsed to someone regarding her dog’s over excitement my referring her to Turrid Rugas’s book “Calming Signals” it’s a short pamphlet book that is available at http://www.dogwise.com . Keeping your dog calm and learning to read his singals before he goes bonkers will go a long way to helping you with all his various issues. Please send me a message if you need more help.
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