At Wit's End!

[StewiesMom]

Our first vet said is hearing is normal and our second vet was surprised at how great is hearing is for his age.

I think he thinks he's alpha dog. Just since yesterday when I posted this, I have made a couple of changes like making him sit and wait for me to do something, or making him sit and wait to go outside and I've noticed a change already. I allowed him to sleep with us, but I didn't accommodate him as much as I normally have for the last 9 years.
I "made him" sleep in a different spot than he normally does and he acclimated!

Today he has peed and poo'd outside and has only barked once at my husband when he was leaving for work. We both told him QUIET and to SIT and he did and stopped. We always do this, but he doesn't stop. Normally he jumps up on the couch and acts like Cujo for 10 minutes while we're leaving and won't hear anything we're saying to him. It must've been the other de-alpha changes that helped him listen.

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by StewiesMom

Our first vet said is hearing is normal and our second vet was surprised at how great is hearing is for his age.

I think he thinks he's alpha dog. Just since yesterday when I posted this, I have made a couple of changes like making him sit and wait for me to do something, or making him sit and wait to go outside and I've noticed a change already. I allowed him to sleep with us, but I didn't accommodate him as much as I normally have for the last 9 years.
I "made him" sleep in a different spot than he normally does and he acclimated!

Today he has peed and poo'd outside and has only barked once at my husband when he was leaving for work. We both told him QUIET and to SIT and he did and stopped. We always do this, but he doesn't stop. Normally he jumps up on the couch and acts like Cujo for 10 minutes while we're leaving and won't hear anything we're saying to him. It must've been the other de-alpha changes that helped him listen.

That's great news! I really believe that it's important for the dog to feel like you are the alpha. If you relinquish this position, the dog will assume it and become hypervigilant in protecting his surroundings. This can be exhausting for the dog, it easier if they believe that you are the pack leader. Another easy way to show you that you are the alpha is to make the dog sit before you give him his food.

[celstu1]

I am big on confinement training. I have a boy who wants ALL my attention when I'm home. He is friendly but if Im talking on the phone, or to a person standing up, he barks at me non-stop until I give him attention. This is just not acceptable behavior. I have started putting him in a gated room where he can see me and hear me, but cannot get to me. He sits quietly now and stares at me. I leave him there for 5 mins, then let him back out. If he does it again, I calmly w/o stopping talking to the person, pick him back up and put him back in confinement for another 5 mins to calm down.

This has helped SOOO much, you have no idea. Its literally sanity changing when you are busy and talking to 5 people in your house and the dog is barking and everyone is trying to talk over him. This works great. Make sure where you put him you can see him so you know he's not peeing there.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by StewiesMom

Our first vet said is hearing is normal and our second vet was surprised at how great is hearing is for his age.

I think he thinks he's alpha dog. Just since yesterday when I posted this, I have made a couple of changes like making him sit and wait for me to do something, or making him sit and wait to go outside and I've noticed a change already. I allowed him to sleep with us, but I didn't accommodate him as much as I normally have for the last 9 years.
I "made him" sleep in a different spot than he normally does and he acclimated!

Today he has peed and poo'd outside and has only barked once at my husband when he was leaving for work. We both told him QUIET and to SIT and he did and stopped. We always do this, but he doesn't stop. Normally he jumps up on the couch and acts like Cujo for 10 minutes while we're leaving and won't hear anything we're saying to him. It must've been the other de-alpha changes that helped him listen.

Here are some thoughts to consider, use what you want and toss the rest. I don't know you or your dog so I'm just going on your words and posting what seems to be the problem if the dog is not ill or suffering from some outward stress as yet unidentified. If I've totally missed it or read the situation wrong, discard it all. I'm just trying to help you and your dog with not much info so it's hard to be accurate, yet I will try and post what seems to be wrong and what might help.

Sounds like you can't blame him for his behavior but perhaps a lack of a positive, strong leader is what went wrong. Healthy dogs are just a reflection of the kind of training and boundaries they have had in their lives - nothing more. Years back I fostered a dog that I didn't train or give boundaries to or work with in any way just to see what would happen and in no time he was a scandal of an animal - doing most of the things you describe plus some you didn't. He was just 18 mos. or so in age and not an elder, his health was perfect so I knew he'd be a good one to test out. It took very little time for this rather submissive guy to become the total pack leader of me and acting out in every way possible in time. So my early theory back then that a dog left to his own devices and without strong leadership goes south quickly seemed to be right.

I hadn't heard of Nothing In Life Is Free method for teaching a dog how to come to see me as pack leader but I still did all of many of those kinds of things to start to fix him. He had to wait or perform a command to get his food or water(at first - after that water was freely available), go out or in a door, get a toy, treat or even his bed brought into the room.

We started 5 minutes of obedience training x3 daily and he quickly learned the joys of working and achieving, having a job and he loved the learning and bonding of it. Fifteen minutes a day but some days I had to skip due to working late.

We started loose leash training and the start and stop of that. He was one headstrong booger but in time, even he learned that a loose leash was what he preferred and that the minute he pulled or crossed in front of me and that leash went taut, all progress stopped and we just waited until he stopped pulling before we could ever go again. Once in a while when I saw him refrain from pulling or catch himself as he would start to cross in front and put himself back in the heel position, I'd give him a treat and a "Good boy". We kept it up once or twice a day until he walked at heel and rarely pulled. Being a dog, of course he occasionally forgot or his dogness got he better of him. I would stop and he'd remember, "Oh, I can't do that."

I started showing him things, toys, chewies, and saying their name, letting him sniff them, even dabbing a spot of peanut butter on them sometimes at first, letting him sniff and sniff that good, getting him excited, putting him in a down stay and hiding the item in the other room. Then I'd show him with my outstretched pointing finger which way to go, saying "Seek...." walking beside him to lead him to them and we'd celebrate when he "found" the item. And he'd get a treat sometimes. He'd lick and play with his find. Then, after showing him how to find it for a while, I'd let him go seek and find them himself and you could tell from the rumpus when he had. I'd run in and we'd celebrate, maybe a treat. I began to make the game harder, hiding them in high places, far under bed, behind furniture, etc. He worked like a little devil to sniff and hunt that thing down and start his celebrating with me, see my pride that he could "Seek" and find! We'd do it again and again - usually x3 in a row. Moved the game outside for a change at times. I challenged him with other such games after a while - we always were working a challenge.

I taught him to bark on command and then how to "Quiet" on command. He just loved that "game" we played. Thereafter, when he would begin to bark too much, it was "Quiet" and he was! But by this time, he was being trained to respond to me in the obedience training and walks, having fun seeking and finding, so he wanted to bark and quiet on command. He'd learned he liked learning and pleasing me and having me proud of him.

We had our play and cuddle sessions every day, too. He loved to lie stretched out lengthwise on me and stare in my eyes. Fine - it hurt my back but we did that. We never missed those special times.

Before long, with Nothing In Life Is Free type pack leader training, a good obedience program, good walks and lots of challenging games, this vagabond became a model canine citizen.

Once you see any dog is becoming a behavior problem and you are convinced via vet confirmation that he's not ill from disease/age/injury or suffering from outside stressed such as another dog or person bullying him, etc., look inward to oneself for any blaming, if you want to blame. But I wouldn't really do that. There's no blame necessary. People just get caught up in our daily lives sometimes and can't keep up the things we maybe should be doing with our dogs. It happens. Just recognize that all but the most submissive leaderless dogs usually do become behavior problems and all you have to do it just undertake a few little projects to bring them back into line, which most dogs are painfully eager to do. Good training and bonding, strong but loving leadership and boundary-setting together with keeping your dog's life fun, challenging and interesting, lots of loving and play sessions and you have your loving, well-behaved, happy pet back. I''ll bet you won't be hating this guy after a month of this kind of a program - you'll be thrilled at how hard your sweet elder guy works to please you and get it right. But if he's not eager or has problems, please do get another vet to check him out just to be sure something wasn't missed before. Best of luck to you - I think you can help him so much if I've even guessed only half right.

[StewiesMom]

Thanks, Jeanie, for the suggestions. As I look at myself, I think that I thought of him as more of an "adult" that I could just coexist with. I was a very strict puppy mom and have become more lenient with him over the years as he has gained more of my trust and has behaved very well (for a yorkie!). I guess I realized I have to keep up the "strong leader" attitude and not assume he's not going to regress.
You gave me some good ideas for challenging and fun games for us both.