Who is the boss?
Winston is my wife's dog, or maybe she is Winston's human. He follows her all day, often staying within a foot or so of her. Periodically he can't take it anymore and climbs halfway on her lap to get closer. When they get separated for more than a couple minutes he goes nuts when he sees her, as if she's been gone for hours. His going nuts is jumping and nipping, she is 5'7" and when he jumps his front paws come about shoulder high. She (we) have tried everything we can think of, have been told and have read, from kneeing him when he jumps, to being kind and gentle, to bribing him with treats, holding him down, turning your back to him (for her this only means he will jump up her back) or leashing him. He herds her by nipping (front teeth tiny nips) on the butt which infuriates her. He often ignores my commands to come but quickly responds to her. He adores her and spends a lot of time sitting in front of her just gazing at her (which always ends in an attempt to get in her lap). When people visit Dex gets excited to see them but Winston goes nuts, jumping and carrying on. His jumps are all 4 feet off the ground. Dex settles pretty quickly but Winston goes on and on. It's usually better to simply put them in another room when someone comes over. We want him to be social with people. We have tried almost everything and he seems to be getting worse rather than better. When exposed to people he escalates and loses control of himself, he often looks like he's saying "I know this is wrong but I just can't stop myself!" We tried to contact a dog behaviorist but the 2 we called are as reliable as residential general contractors in this area. Dexter was a handful between about 7 and 14 months but nothing like this. We both remarked a couple nights ago that is Dex had behaved like this we would have never gotten a second dog! His behavior sometimes gets picked up by Dexter though he quickly decides it is wrong and not much fun so stops. |
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| Txbart, hold your knee hen he jump. Tell it to your visiting people because reflex it's to hug him saying "no". It is paradoxical for him. The knee and a strict "no". Another solution it's to keep him away, this time he will calm himself and go with him visiting people, if he jump you'll be there to command him. |
| Who feeds him? Who walks him? You two need quality time where you are in control. Gentle but firm control.......just the two of you initially. Then walk as a foursome with you holding his leash at leat 50% of the time. Your wife has to cooperate here as well, not protecting her baby. She must anticipate his leaping and stop it before it starts. For him it's back to dog training 101. When people come over, it's fine to put them away for a bit until all the excitement is over and introduce them when company is sitting down. Leashed up and under control. Any quivering, pre jumping is to be stopped immediately with a yank on the leash and a NO. Then all sit and remain calm, continue your conversation, igoring them. As for the constant shadow, wife puts him in a down and stay, nearby-full view of her is OK. Jack was this way. When I was in the kitchen, he had 2 spots, away from the action that he could recline or sit and watch. Young males can take longer.......he's trying to become the pack leader and you are letting him. He's a completely different dog who needs more training and constant reinforcement. Do not think of him as a carbon copy of the other.....each is unique and you have to tailor your responses to fit each. |
| Vance & spouse, Here is one possible resource for you. It is a book called "Control Unleashed" and from the description on the website it is designed to help "dogs with issues" relax, focus and work reliably off leash in stressful exciting or over-stimulating circumstances. I have read it and highly recommend it. I have used some of the impulse control exercises to work with my formerly quite headstrong male. This book will show you ideas on how to work with Winston to introduce him to impulse control and many other issues. It is designed to be used with an accompanying 4 CD set of the same name, but I think you will find just the book alone will be very helpful. The cost of the book and CD's together is about $100, I think. You may want to consider at least looking at the reviews of the book while you wait to get together with a canine behaviorist. I have not viewed the CD's myself and I have absolutely no relationship with the book, author or the companies selling this. Just tossing out an idea you may want to investigate. I think you are right to be concerned. And in general, the longer this behavior continues the harder it is to solve. http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB943 I've recently come back to the forum so I don't know any background on Winston. How old is he? Is he neutered? Linda Z |
| My wife normally feeds and walks the dogs though I do on occasion. She walks both dogs together, both on her left side in a decent heal with Dexter on the outside. These are the positions Winston has to have when he walks and doesn’t do well when walked by someone else if Dexter isn't right next to him. He generally does well on a leash until a car comes along then loses control jumping and lunging like he's trying to get to the car. We have tried a Gentle Leader, a Halti, prong collar, Martingale collar and backpack and various combinations of all of them. He does best with a Halti and backpack though sometimes goes berserk with them also. He seems to recognize me as the Alpha Male just sometimes gets caught up in his teenage activity and decides he doesn’t need to come when I call. He is doing a lot better with it. Marc and Susan - We have tried everything you suggested without satisfactory results. He will eventually settle down until something sets him off again which may be someone getting up to walk to another room. An exhuberant grandchild will put him over the edge every time. Dexter had his moments and settled down almost like a swtich was flipped about a week after Winston arrived. We're hoping the same happens with Winston and will keep working with him (and us). |
| I know this might be a controversial response (not sure why honestly) but I really recommend getting the cesar milan dvd's, or just watching as many episodes of the show as you can... dog behavior problems are almost always fed by the humans, unknowingly in your attempts to correct him you may be either confusing him or strengthening the habits.... |
| Stacey - We agree, have gotten a couple of Cesar's books (and others) and are trying some of those techniques. We also agree that there are no bad dogs, only bad training. What worked with Dexter (and our previous dogs) doesn't work with Winston. However happy we are to see him he goes one better and is VERY happy to see us. We know that voice inflection, especially my wife's, really sets him off so we are cautious. |
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