Hello,
I have an 8 yr old shepard/husky mix (or something along those lines)
who got aggressive with me over a squeaky toy last night. I'm not sure
if he grabbed my finger or if my finger was on the toy and he grabbed
the toy, but he just barely broke the skin -- one little tooth mark on
the top and a scratch on the bottom. Anyways, I'm wondering if you have
any suggestions for us. I was reading your posts about Sophie but
couldn't get your protocol to load onto the site. My dog an I have been
living alone for several years and we recently (October) moved in with
my financee and her dog (who is submissive for the most part -- other
than a bit of toy guarding behavior). Since then, my dog has been
struggling with issues of food aggression and this toy nonsense that I
thought we dealt with years ago (I haven't had these problems with him since
he was 1-2 years old). Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thank
you! Lindsay

My reply:

Hi Lindsay,

I wish this were a problem that could easily be fixed with an email. I
will try my best, but in the end, you may have to consult a behaviorist
inyour area (if you are in NYC, you are in luck!- It's my town!). If you
are in NYC, let me know and we'll set up and evaluation.

so here goes-

Your dog has a hierarchy problem. The addition of people and dogs in
the home creates this kind of thing, and in his brain he's lost in the pack
and he feels he has to prove his place all over again. The best thing
to do is to completely shun him and the other dog. All humans just ignore
the dogs and kind of "cut the cord". This is what dominant, confident
leader dogs do when another dog comes into their territory. Other dogs
recognize this as something a leader does, and they will understand it
right away. It brings the humans up in the hierarchy of things. You
should not be playing on the floor with the dogs and certainly not be
allowing the dogs on the furniture (allowing dogs on furniture skews
the hierarchy and makes some mid-ranking dogs feel more powerful than they
ought to feel). I recommend correcting calmly each time there is any
hint of aggression toward a human (stiffening of the body when approached, locked into a stare over a toy or food, etc), then shunning that dog completely, as if
they hadn't existed.

research this:

my old entry on this here.

and see if you're comfortable using one. You need a way to correct
these behaviors that is quick, effective, easy to administer, and can be done
without approaching the dog. The spray commander works from 250 ft.
away.

This is the most advice I can give you in a simple email without
actually evaluating your dog in person.

I hope it helps you, and may the force be with you,

Marlene

Ok, so you've got a dog who convulses with fear at the sight of ______(insert your dog's trigger here- i.e. Nail clippers, uncle Bob, the evil vacuum, women in hats, garbage trucks, car rides, the christmas tree, your father's harmonica, running water, your boyfriend's mother, being restrained by the vet, the wind-up snowman doll that sings "let it snow" and does the mechanical gyration dance, etc. ). He can't control himself, he tries to flee at all costs, clawing his way in the opposite direction.

You happen to really want to help your dog to overcome this fear, or at least be able to see this thing without throwing up. Here's what you do, in a nutshell:

Once you figure out what's setting them off,

Find what they love most in the world (usually food, sometimes toys, perhaps a certain favorite person, etc..)

Combine the two!

In other words, you get a hold of some liverwurst, roast beef, hot dog bits, olive loaf, squeaky tennis balls, gouda cheese, jarlsberg cheese, pecorino romano cheese, queso blanco cheese from the spanish section of the market, whatever your dog goes COMPLETELY NUTS OVER. And give them that thing ONLY when they see the nail clipper, the harmonica, the evil hairdryer, or whatever the trigger is.

If you do it consistently, every time your dog sees the bad, bad thing, he will begin to thing of gouda when he sees it. And THAT, my friends, is the magic of animal behavior!

Continue reading... "how this freaky site works..."

If you are curious about dog behavior, and YOUR dog's behavior specifically, check this guy out, sign up for his newsletter and peruse the catalog. He answers people's questions, which may serve you well.

Take a good look- .

Question:
My dog is a 16 month old Shih Tzu. Everytime I eat food she barks at me, and the only way she will stop is if I give in to her. So I end up giving her table food. Can anyone give me advice on how to stop her from barking when I eat?

Answer:
Unfortunately, your dog is barking because you have inadvertently rewarded her begging behavior and thus have TRAINED HER TO BARK FOR FOOD! I know you didn't mean to do this, but here's how it typically starts- one day she really wanted some of your chicken cacciatore. While you were watching an episode of the new riveting season of American Idol, you ignored her stares and blew her off as she cutely sat there, waiting. She tried jumping up on your leg to get it, whimpering. Then she barked once, because she didn't know what else to do to get your attention. You hit a commercial break at that moment and noticed her there, so you shared a bit of chicken chunk with her. BAM. It was all over for you at that second. From then on if she ever wanted your food again, she knew what method worked. The bark.

It's the equivalent of the kid at the grocery store with his mom. He wants Cheesy Poofs and he'll do anything to get them. He tries asking politely. No dice. He tries tapping his mom on the shoulder a few times. Nope. He finally grabs her by the bottom of her shirt and yanks her with all the strength he summons from the absolute NEED to have Cheesy Poofs. This works. His mother throws the coveted item into the cart, and unbeknownst to her, has just taught her dear son to yank shirts really hard if he ever wants something that desperately again.

So how do you fix this?...

Continue reading... "questions from readers: the barking, begging shih tzu"

If you're going to ask your dog to do anything, be it sit, lay down, come, stop eating the leaves off the houseplants; whatever, be ready to ENFORCE IT if the dog chooses to disobey you. Most people, for one reason or another, don't consistently enforce commands, which makes the dog think that commands are thus negotiable. Example:

you: "sit, remus."

remus: "she's bluffing. i don't HAVE to sit, she always says "sit" four or five times and even after that, there's a good chance she'll eventually give up and walk away to go curl her hair or something. therefore, i will pretend i can't hear her, even though my hearing is like 200% better than any human's, and i will just stare at this wall until this game is over."

So when you really need the dog to sit; say, for instance, when you have your terrified-of-dogs friend over and she's all dolled up in her new suede jumpsuit she got on ebay for $6, guess what? Your dog's not gonna sit; why should he? YOU've taught him to disobey you in every other situation, so why would this one be of such consequence?

And you're gonna be all embarrassed and you might have a slice of hatred for your Remus for a second but it was really your fault and you don't even realize it. And then your suede jumpsuit friend won't return your phone calls and when she does, she makes all these lame excuses why she can't come over, like she has to babysit her neighbor's vietnamese pot-bellied pig or she's got diarrhea or whatever. And you just became what 99% of dog owners are: ENSLAVED TO THE DOG. Now you don't have anybody over the house and when you absolutely have to have visitors, you shackle Remus outside to the oak tree in the dirt or you lock him in his crate that he's still using even though he's 9 years old.

Just get yourselves together and...

Continue reading... "training tip #2"

samantha semelrath- puppy to the max.

Question:

"Anyone have any good puppy books that they would recommend? For crate training, house breaking, basic obedience training... I would appreciate any advice!"

My answer:
Ian Dunbar has a sweet book, "after you get your puppy". I believe that if everyone read and applied this book when they got their puppy, I would more than most likely not have a job (dog trainer extraordinaire). Straight-up preventative measures. Definitely check it out.

amazon.com

And if bad behaviors surface later on, Bill Campbell's "behavior problems in dogs" is great to look into. He explains how a human should interact with a dog (most people will be surprised; to the degree that a large BIF (self-inflicted open-palmed slap) to the forehead area will be in order.). I also really dig the book for its simplicity; I am a true idiot when it comes to reading comprehension and I supplement this shortcoming with disdain for "pretentious" authors who use those big-gun words like "anathema", "surreptitious", "rammalammadingdong" and the like. Who's with me on this one?... Don't be shy to openly declare your stupidity; I do it constantly. And people still love me.

Do you still love me?

dogwise.com