Great suggestions we will work on this. Definately willing to take the time. It's really not as serious as I make it sound, I just FEEL that it's serious. He doesn't do this every time, not even MOST of the time, and if he sees a treat he's always fine no matter what. I just am concerned if a kid or my mom or someone goes up to him and he freaks out on them. So I want to "fix" it now.
I cannot figure him out. I don't know if this is even his real issue. He does have a hard time giving things up but his "drop" is getting more and more reliable. It's 100% if I have a treat, about 25% when I don't. It's more like he is just freaking out temporarily and then it goes away. Like if we are watching TV and he is on his bed near us, and one of us gets up, he will sometimes get up and start barking at us. Then sometimes he will run OVER to a toy or something 5 feet away and pick it up like we're going to steal it. Maybe it's just his backwards way of trying to initiate play.
But then also, if he's on his bed with NO toys or anything and I get up and walk past him - most times he is FINE and ignores me or gets up and follows me. But then once a week or so he will just start fiercely barking at me (or my husband). This weekend we tried Joy's suggestion of approaching him by getting low. Sometimes with a treat but mostly not. He is fine with this and we did not have a problem.
Part of the problem is that totally randomly if we reach to pet him, especially if he thinks we are going to MOVE him, he will snap. And not bite, just open his mouth and do this growly bark snap thing. It's so wierd and does not happen often, just enough to make me concerned. Most times he's all over us and will roll over for a belly rub. Even if he is just being moody, this is NOT ok and I need to work with him to re-direct this. Is the answer just to always approach with treats? I am always calm with him, even when he "earns" a time out. I do always remind my husband to be extra calm and not get upset, and he is doing much better. They are best buds and it really bothers him when Loki acts out towards him. He thinks Loki doesn't like him, but even though I am "mommy" my husband is the fun one. He trains Loki more than I do and they are together all day. Loki loves him.
Also, even more randomly he did this to my mom in the car the other day. I was holding Loki (we were only going 2 blocks otherwise it's in the car seat) and my mom was driving. The whole way she was petting him, but the one time she reached over to pet him and he barked at her. He LOVES my mom. I say "Grandma" and he's running around the house, looking out the door, trying to find her. All she did was reach to pet him and he freaked! Then for the rest of the day he was a sweetie. Why???
Another thing he will do is if I do something like walk to the front door and ask him if he needs to go outside, he will RUN to his food bowl and start eating frantically and barking at me (similar to his alarm bark) and of course choking! I don't make any move to take his food away, and I typically leave it down until he eats it all. He has NO reason to do this, and it only happens maybe once every 2-3 weeks. I will walk over to him while he is barking at me, clip on his leash, and just walk to the door. The minute my hand hits the doorknob he is fine again like nothing happened, happily goes outside and does his thing, then comes back in. Sometimes he goes back to the bowl sometimes not. It's SO random. Is he just quirky?
Also, if it helps this is a fairly new issue that developed around his 1st bithday. So only about 3 months. He also has this same freak out bark reaction to a lot of dogs. When he was in puppy class he would wrestle and play with all the other dogs, now he just feels the need to bark at them. At training class we have to keep his contant attention and praise him for approaching another dog the proper way (sniffing, etc.) He will sniff a dog and then the dog will go to sniff him and he freaks! He also gets jealous if I pet the other dogs (so my husband gives him treats while I pet other dogs). Anyway, he is just not polite when it comes to other dogs. He goes to daycare every week and class once a week too. It is getting better but very slowly! I don't feel like he is being agressive or dominant though, since his posture when approaching the neighbor dog, for example, is a low, respectful pounce/play stance. He only freaks when the other dog "invades his space." He's like a toddler who won't share his sandbox.
Help! |