Another excellent post. This is great stuff. I hadn't thought about the treat for calm behavior either.
Asking me politely to never hit again - that part really squeezed the heart. I already feel bad about it and that hit home much deeper than the typical responses read through the post. I promise to you, there will be no more swats - thank you for approaching this in such as positive way.
I did laugh when you mentioned yiping or yelping...I can't, for the life of me, make my voice crack and hit high notes...There is something with my voice that won't let that happen, so I'll do my best to get to a high note - but we haven't had a bit in over 6 months so hopefully I won't have to do this anyway.
Getting the dog to leave the toy/treat/chewy....I don't know where to start on this one... NOT FROM EXPERIENCE - but I think you could swing her around your head before she would break the death grip of the toy/treat while growling and showing teeth.
I really appreciate you taking time to post...especially so long. This is the help a person like me needs and exactly why I'm here. ( I think I've said that before )
Thanks again!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MyTrixie143  After reading through all of your posts I can see some reasons as to why you are having such difficulty with training her.
First she came from a puppymill and she has all the signs of one. Puppy mill dogs are often twice as hard to potty train as they are caged up all the time and taught to go there. Breaking that habit is hard.
In addition they many times end up with behavior issues due to lack of socialization.
You will have to treat the situation like you just got a new puppy as she needs totally retrained.
Like mentioned before you need to come up with a regular feeding and potty schedule.
When you are taking her out tell her "let's go potty" or something similar. Do this every time so she will catch on and will later recognize the phrase and know what is expected.
Don't keep her outside for a half hour. She will forget what she is out there for. Give her 10 minutes to go potty. If she doesn't go bring her back inside making sure you are watching her so there isn't an accident. Take her back outside to try again in 5 minutes. Repeat the process until she goes. When she does go praise her and reward her. Positive reinforcement goes a lot further than negative reinforcement.
As for her biting, it sounds like she is hand shy, atleast with men. Of course if you had someone 10 times bigger than you reaching down to you, you might do the same.
You need to win her trust over. Just like respect, trust is earned.
Sit on the floor and toss her treats every so often and talk to her gently. Start tossing the treat right by her than gradually work up to where she has to come close by you for the treat. Don't make her take the treat from your hand until she is ready as after all it is the hand she fears. Encourage her to come to you, don't go to her, you need to go at her pace not yours. It takes a lot of time and patience but that is how you win her trust over.
Please never hit her again. Dogs have a good memory and the fact that you have hit her in the past means it will take even longer for her to get over it and be able to trust you. If you feel you must absolutely punish her, put her in a short 5 minute time out. Time outs work wonders with dogs. It teaches them what they did wrong but unlike hitting would do, it doesn't make them fear you.
If she bites you, say "yipe" or "ouch" in a high pitched tone and walk away ignoring her. Don't correct her with any negative reinforcement as it will only encourage the behavior. She left her mother and siblings too early to be taught proper bite inhabitation.
Have you ever watched a litter of puppies play?
When one gets too rough the puppy yelps and stops playing with the other pup. This sends the message, either you be nice or I'm not going to pay any attention to you. Since dogs are pack animals they crave our affection and attention. They soon learn biting will get them nowhere.
For food guarding, this is also a sign of a puppy mill dog.
You need to teach her the "leave it" command. Give the command and lure her away from her chew or food with a toy, treat or distraction. Once she leaves it, pick it up, praise and reward her. And then give her the treat back in a few minutes. Kinda like a time out for the treat if that makes sense.
Practice this several times a day. She needs to learn that A) when she acts badly when she has a treat it will be taken away from her for awhile B) when she gives it up willingly she will be rewarded and will eventually get the treat back.
My cocker spaniel had severe food aggression when I got her. Today she has none and willingly shares her food and treats with the others.
She was the runt in the litter of several pups and I believe she had to fight for her food to get any.
This resulted in any time another dog so much as went by her bowl she would attack them.
I used the above method and she soon realized that when she behaved she got to enjoy her treat, when she didn't it was taken away for a time. And once she figured it out that she would always get the treat/food back (even if another took it) she was alright.
If you had to fight for your food you wouldn't want anyone near it either. But once you learned that no matter what you always got it back you wouldn't be so inclined to fight or be nasty for it.
And since she is inclined to sneak off to mess somewhere or get into something, again treat her like you would with a puppy. Until she is completely trained, don't let her out of your sight.
Make sure she is getting plenty of exercise, play and mental stimulation. A bored dog is likely to be destructive as they have nothing else to do.
Also the less crate time, the better. If she is too distracting for you when you are trying to study, give her something to occupy her such as a kong stuffed with peanut butter or a toy that challenges her. Something that will hold her interest for awhile.
I would also consider an exercise pen. They aren't expensive and it would give her more freedom than a crate but not enough to where she would be getting into things. If you had to lay in a small space all day you would probably be bored and destructive as well.
Yes you are wrong. You give dogs too much credit, they don't have vindictive minds like us humans.
Have you ever really considered why she would do this? What is the common factor?
That would be one of you leaves. She is showing signs of separation anxiety. Some dogs pace, some bark, some are destructive and others have accidents.
This one will take a lot of time to fix. First don't make a big deal out of leaving. Practice leaving for very short periods of time. Gradually increase the time you are gone. When you get back, don't make a huge deal out of it. Even if she had an accident, this will just increase her anxiety.
Ignore her for the first few minutes. When she is more calm and relaxed then you can pet her or give her a treat. This teaches her that a calm behavior gives her rewards while any negative behavior produces nothing.
I do believe your dog can be trained however you and your fiancee need to be on the same page. You both need to use the same techniques and consistency otherwise her training will take twice as long and just end up confusing her. You also both need to be completely dedicated to working with her on this so that all three of you can live a happy normal life.
Good luck with your training and remember to be consistent, patient and reward with treats and praise as positive reinforcement will get you a far better outcome. |