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Post by billbessey on Dec 11, 2006 15:07:10 GMT -5
I'm new to this forum and I'm new to keeping dogs but i have had a lurcher for about 2 months now he is 4 months old and i love my boy dearly but i have a few problems with him and i would appreciate any help 1]when anyone apart from me goes near him whilst his eating he turns on them 2]when i leave him for any period of time he toilets at the dining room door as if out of spite 3]he gives no indication of when he needs to go 4]he has bitten [nipped mainly] but drew blood a couple of times on the children mainly when there backs are turned 5]he occasionally likes to eat his own Pooh i know this makes him sound like a devil dog but his not and i really dint want to lose him but my partner is getting really worried about him any help on any of these subjects would be really handy thank you very much p.s and also would you recommend crating a dog or not?
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Post by sibemom on Dec 12, 2006 7:58:50 GMT -5
To start with my first comments are CRATE CRATE CRATE CRATE CRATE You said your pup is only 4 months old and that means he is a BABY and need constant supervision. You would never leave a baby to run your home so the same thing goes for a dog. The food aggresion is not untypical but it is something that must be stopped now. I never surprises me when puppies snarl when they are eating if someone goes near thier food dish, their puppies and don't know the rules yet, so what you have to do is work on this with him. Include as many people in your household as you can. Set the food down get right in there while he is eating and if he growls TAKE THE FOOD AWAY and correct him. Right now a good verbal correction should work. Give the food back and keep repeating the excersise. As far as potty training, right now you are training yourself and eventually he will get the clue. When you can not supervise his every movement CRATE HIM. Take him out Hourly, especially after eating, drinking and playing and make is very upbeat, by saying in a very happy voice, LETS GO OUTSIDE, or POTTY TIME or whatever, just so he can associate going outside with going potty. Then when he goes praise him GOOD BOY, GOOD POTTY, and then go back in and put him in the crate for a few minutes then let him out and WATCH HIM. Teach him to go to the door and ask to go potty, by taking him to the door and getting all excited about it, and eventually he will get it, but you have to work on it. Biting the kids at this age to is again normal, but you have to stop it before it gets out of controll. I keep a short leash on my pups so that if they start this behavior I can give them a collar correction, I also teach my kids that if the get the puppy to excited and this starts they to must be involved in correcting this behavior. Eating poop again is a DOG THING and you could change his food but actually the best thing is to just make sure that everytime he goes potty to clean it up. Take him out on leash and after he poos if he trys to turn and eat it correct him, and clean it up ASAP. Like I said this is just a baby dog, and he has no idea what you want from him, so be very clear what the rules are. After you do this you can expect a long happy life with your four legged friend. What kind of dog is he???
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Post by willow on Dec 12, 2006 11:01:42 GMT -5
Just to add to what Sibemom said about potty training. It sounds to me like you are not taking your puppy out enough. Puppies have to go often. If your puppy has an accident in the crate or on the floor, never ever correct him "after the fact". The only time you verbally correct is if you catch him in the act. Then simply say, "NO", or "Ah,Ah!" and rush him outside. As we say around here, if your puppy/dog keeps having accidents in the house, what you need to do is take a newspaper, roll it up, and smack yourself up aside the head with it, because it is your fault, not his.
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Post by kaos on Dec 14, 2006 16:48:17 GMT -5
Good advice from Willow & Sibemom re potty training.
Personally, however, I would not advise removing the dog's food to address the resource guarding issue. In some cases this can actually teach your dog to resent a human presence when they are eating, thus making the guarding reaction worse, and may potentially even result in a bite. One alternative option would be to hand feed all of your dog's meals for a short period of time (a week may be enough with a young puppy). Have him earn his entire meal by performing easy behaviours that he already knows - eg a sit or a down work well but any behaviour he performs on cue is fine. When he makes a smart choice to cooperate, you feed him his dinner from your hand. Any snatching, jumping up or biting should result in you keeping hold of the food (bad choice). Smart choices earn food. When he is happily earning his dinner and eating politely from your hand you can reintroduce his bowl. Initially I would place his bowl on the floor empty. Have him perform a 'sit', then if he does as he was asked you can walk past his bowl and drop a handful of food in. Repeat until his dinner has been eaten. When this is easy, you can put his bowl down with a small amount of boring kibble in it. If he sits politely, allow him to start eating. Walk past as he is eating and throw a handful of really yummy roast chicken or similar. When he accepts this you can have other family members throw food into his bowl as he is eating. The end result is that you will have conditioned your dog to see your presence around his food as something really positive. He doesn't lose anything he has already been given, so there is no need for him to feel threatened, but he learns to associate that hands near his food bowl and people's presence actually mean that more food will appear - yipeeee.
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Post by Dom on Dec 15, 2006 16:59:22 GMT -5
Our dog was about the same age as yours when she started to resource guard. I did what Kaos suggested and it worked well. We also added leave it, drop it and a release to eat when she was around 5 months old that helped. The only thing that I did slightly different was I added a step between feeding by hand and putting food in the bowl. My transition step was placing my hand in the bowl with her food cupped in my palm. When she was eating from the bowl (after her release) we would do what Kaos said and drop pieces of treat in her bowl when we walked by or do a quick pet and good girl. Our dog is far from perfect but I can say, with 100% confidence, we never have to worry about anyone taking food from her now. Training to phase out her resource guarding was a daily ritual with us and it payed off. I really can't help you with the potty training. We have never had an issue (yet) training our dogs. I can recommend the crate. Just remember the crate doesn't guarantee success. It is a tool to help with training. You still have to train what behavior you want. It is also great to keep your dog from learning a FUN destructive habit when not supervised. A strict potty schedule and removing water a few hours before bedtime worked for us. I wouldn't buy a fabric crate for a puppy unless you don't mind spending $60 on a big chew toy. The metal fold down crates are convenient. Some come with a divider you can use to adjust the area for your dog as they grow. My dog never ate her own feces but she thought my mom's Pom's feces was caviar. We did what Sibemom suggestions and cleaned it up. No pooh on the ground = no eating of pooh. It is a good idea to clean up the feces anyway. I have yet to meet a puppy that has not had worms. Some worms (like hookworms) can migrate from the feces into the soil. You don't want to reinfect your pup or infect yourself with those nasty critters. He is just a pup so be patient. Good luck.
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Post by billbessey on Dec 23, 2006 8:50:58 GMT -5
thanks for your ideas i will try them out dom you said you take away his water a couple of hours b4 bedtime is it o.k for him to go around 9 hours without water? around what time would you give them there last feed? does anyone agree with smacking? once again thanks very much for your help and merry xmas
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Post by Dom on Dec 25, 2006 9:49:31 GMT -5
I do not agree with smacking a pup, dog, or any animal for that matter. Think of it this way, have you ever seen a dog smack another dog for bad behavior? It isn't something they understand. Dogs growl, bite, stare, position their bodies, show teeth, and change the tone of their vocalization. Those are just a few things they do to express themselves. Another reason I wouldn't smack a dog, especially in your situation, is that you could make them hand shy. That is something you are trying to avoid when phasing out the resource guarding. You do not want your dog fearful of you. That could trigger a stronger possessive response to their food. Fear can flip to a bite very quickly if a dog feels threatened. It is hard for me to remember the feeding/water schedule we used. Basically, it was feedings at 7am, 1pm, and 6pm. We now feed her at 7am and 6pm. Water was left out when either my husband and I was supervising. Water was removed at 10pm because we normally went to sleep around midnight. At around 4 months we let Sadie out every 3 hours. We would time the feedings so that 15-20 min after she ate she went out. The time can vary. After keeping Sadie on a schedule, we found that was the average time she waited to potty. We always praised her after she pottied outside. We slowly increased the time between potty breaks and soon she would let us know if she needed to go out. We didn't use a crate with Sadie but we decided to try it with Elsie. We had Sadie from a pup but Elsie we got when she was 2 years old and was strictly an outdoor dog before we got her. I must say the crate was a godsend. Elsie has only had one accident in the house but that was completely my fault because I wasn't watching her at the time. That one time I did what Willow said and hit myself over the head with a newspaper. There was no point correcting her after the deed. She wouldn't have known what I was correcting her for. If I would have caught her in the act, I would have just said a firm low EHH and led her outside. Too much freedom too quickly can lead to confusion and accidents. We confined Sadie to whatever room we were in by placing a baby gate up in that room. If we went to the bathroom, she had to come with us. It would have been much easier to crate her. Eventually, we moved the gate further and further out so she had more freedom. If she regressed, we went back a step and started over. I know that having a puppy can be tiring. We hardly got any sleep until Sadie was 6 months. Setting our alarm to wake up at 1am and 3am so we could let her out was not fun. The consistent schedule paid off though. I think a lot of people let their emotions get the better of them (I am guilty as well )and can hinder the potty training process by going on and on and being mad at the dog for awhile. If you stay mad the only thing the dog learns is they have an inconsistent and crazy owner that rants when they are around. You have to remind yourself that the pup is young. Every interaction is a learning process for them. They don't come out the womb knowing our schedule and our rules. It is our responsibility to teach them. I know for a fact that my mom had to train me for 18 years to follow the rules. Good thing our dogs don't NEED much training. Happy Holidays!
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