However, this doesn't mean you can't teach many other breeds to protect your kids. The big thing you need to know is that there is a big difference between guard dogs and attack dogs. In this article, we are talking about guarding, not attacking. Just remember: training your dog to guard or protect your kids is going to take some time and patience.
As the puppy grows into a dog, he also experiences less interaction with his owners. Puppies require a lot of time and training. Housebreaking, walking on a leash and basic commands take time to learn. Gradually, however, as a dog grows older, his owners may spend less time working on exercises like this and simply expect the dog to behave. The dog still craves companionship and may act out to get it.
My Shiba is also very sensitive to the energy of the people around him. When he was young, I had a very difficult time with him, and it seemed that he would single me out for his bad behaviors. A big reason for this, was because of my own energy. I was frustrated with him, embarrassed by him, and also a bit afraid of him. He would pick up on these feelings, become stressed and fearful himself, and act even more crazy. This in turn made me feel even more frustrated and afraid, and it was not a good cycle.
Punishment is operationally defined as an event that lowers the probability of the behavior that it follows. It is not "punishment" in the common sense of the word,[40] and does not mean physical or psychological harm and most certainly does not mean abuse. Punishment simply involves the presentation of an undesired consequence (positive punishment) when the wrong behavior is performed, such as a snap of the leash, or the removal of a desired consequence (negative punishment) when the wrong behavior is performed, such as the trainer eating the cheese that would have been the reward.[41] A behavior that has previously been developed may cease if reinforcement stops; this is called extinction. A dog that paws its owner for attention will eventually stop if it no longer receives attention.[42]
Based on what you’ve said I do believe it’s separation anxiety because if I do the same thing and close her in a room without me she reacts the same way…but if a door is open in the room she will gladly be in the room without anyone around her for a while so I don’t really understand…also this dog has been through a few homes and we got her at 9 months untrained so I think it’s making it harder to do anything with her…she has yet to catch on to the potty training after a month and we take her out very frequently
I have a 7 month old Chinese Sharpei/Lab Mix who I adopted from PACC when he was 4 months old. We currently have him in obidience training and have been working closely with my dog trainer to prevent his severe seperation anxiety. We have tried natural herbal medication and dietary suppliments and recently went to our vet where they prescribed him Prozac. Unfortunately, the medication made everything worse so we took him off of it. Our vet had no other recommendations other than to see a behavioral trainer. Luke, my puppy, has torn up my carpet by the front door, has broken the wooden paneling surrounding the door, and has practically ripped our French doors off the walls. We have tried crating him while we work and he has made it a point that he doesn’t want to be in it by chewing on the crate door and bending it to no repair. Luke would rather be around you and follow around the house then play with his favorite toy. We have tried kong toys, long walks, leaving the house and coming back, locking him in his crate, and desensitizing him but nothing works. Mind you, we have been working hard at this since the first week we adopted him. We’re honestly at a total lose at this point and we need some solutions and answers! Please help us!!!
Moderate or severe cases of separation anxiety require a more complex desensitization and counterconditioning program. In these cases, it’s crucial to gradually accustom a dog to being alone by starting with many short separations that do not produce anxiety and then gradually increasing the duration of the separations over many weeks of daily sessions.
Owning a dog can be really rewarding, but also really scary! There is potential that you will have to deal with stresses and anxieties that your dog has. Anxiety in dogs is a tricky thing to navigate through. It is important for you to recognize if your dog has anxiety and what type. Dealing with it then becomes much easier. There are steps you can take to help and we’ve put together a guide for you to find out how.
In considering the natural behaviours of specific breeds of dogs, it is possible to train them to perform specialised, highly useful, tasks. For example, Labrador retrievers are the favoured breed for the detection of explosives. This is because of a combination of factors including their food drive which enables them to keep focused on a task despite noise and other distractions. Most working breeds of dogs are able to be trained to find people with their sense of smell (as opposed to their sense of sight). Cocker Spaniels are able to be trained as part of a termite detection team. Their relatively small size enables them to fit into small spaces, and their light weight allows them to walk on areas of ceiling which would be dangerous to anything heavier. In fact, although unusual, termite detection dogs are much more reliable at detecting termites than humans who rely on a basic system of tapping and listening. Because of their ability to learn signals by sight and for their energetic and athletic natures, German Shepherds are able to be trained for work alongside search and rescue teams and human apprehension teams.[79]
AKC Tracking is a canine sport that demonstrates a dog’s natural ability to recognize and follow the scent of a person's scent. In tracking, the dog is in charge, because only he knows how to use his nose to find and follow the track. The handler plays a supporting role, including knowing how to help the dog that has overshot the corner, helping the dog over obstacles and keeping the line from tangling. For many, the greatest pleasure of tracking are the hours spent outside, training and interacting with their dogs.
You must judge when your dog is able to tolerate an increase in the length of separation. Each dog reacts differently, so there are no standard timelines. Deciding when to increase the time that your dog is alone can be very difficult, and many pet parents make errors. They want treatment to progress quickly, so they expose their dogs to durations that are too long, which provokes anxiety and worsens the problem. To prevent this kind of mistake, watch for signs of stress in your dog. These signs might include dilated pupils, panting, yawning, salivating, trembling, pacing and exuberant greeting. If you detect stress, you should back up and shorten the length of your departures to a point where your dog can relax again. Then start again at that level and progress more slowly.
If your dog exhibits a behavior you don’t like, there is a strong likelihood that it’s something that has been reinforced before. A great example is when your dog brings you a toy and barks to entice you to throw it. You throw the toy. Your dog has just learned that barking gets you to do what he wants. You say “no,” and he barks even more. Heaven forbid you give in and throw the toy now! Why? Because you will have taught him persistence pays off. Before you know it you’ll have a dog that barks and barks every time he wants something. The solution? Ignore his barking or ask him to do something for you (like “sit”) before you throw his toy.
Your dog is already a valuable member of your family, but when you train him to protect your children, he becomes literally indispensable. He will work hard and do his best to protect the rest of his pack (aka your family, especially the kids, who he sees as cubs in the pack). Training your dog to guard your children can take a few weeks of hard work or longer. To a certain degree, it depends on the breed as some like German shepherds, Doberman pinschers, and Rottweilers are more suited to being guard dogs.
Both conventional and holistic veterinarians treat social dog anxiety with desensitization techniques. The holistic approach differs in that it recommended a decrease in the frequency of vaccinations or at least a delay of giving any vaccines until the patient is behaving more normally. The rabies vaccination may especially exacerbate an aggressive personality.
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Always remember that you are dealing with a very immature young animal. Be realistic, flexible, patient and always fair during puppy training sessions. Your puppy doesn't just automatically know this stuff! It's all new to him and he is bound to have the odd slip up and mistake along the way. Don't worry about these mistakes, just move on and do your best to prevent them in the future.
Frequently provide food puzzle toys. You can feed your dog his meals in these toys or stuff them with a little peanut butter, cheese or yogurt. Also give your dog a variety of attractive edible and inedible chew things. Puzzle toys and chew items encourage chewing and licking, which have been shown to have a calming effect on dogs. Be sure to provide them whenever you leave your dog alone.
You can also lure a down from a sit or stand by holding a treat in your hand to the dog’s nose and slowly bringing it to the floor. Give the treat when the dog’s elbows touch the floor to start. After a few practices, begin bringing your empty hand to the floor and giving the treat AFTER he lies down. When he can reliably follow your hand signal, begin saying “down” as you move your hand.
If you are not able to stay at home with your puppy, you should make every effort to return home to take your puppy out to the bathroom every few hours or hire a dog walker who can do this for you. When you are not home, you should crate your puppy to prevent accidents throughout the house. As a general rule, any dog will be reluctant to relieve itself in the area where it sleeps, but this should not be used as an excuse to make your puppy hold it. The bladder of an 8-week old puppy is large enough to “hold it” for only three hours at a time.
If your dog exhibits a behavior you don’t like, there is a strong likelihood that it’s something that has been reinforced before. A great example is when your dog brings you a toy and barks to entice you to throw it. You throw the toy. Your dog has just learned that barking gets you to do what he wants. You say “no,” and he barks even more. Heaven forbid you give in and throw the toy now! Why? Because you will have taught him persistence pays off. Before you know it you’ll have a dog that barks and barks every time he wants something. The solution? Ignore his barking or ask him to do something for you (like “sit”) before you throw his toy.
BASIC & ADVANCED OBEDIENCE: $950 – Would you like to unleash the bond between you and your K9? The Basic/Advanced Obedience Package will take your dog’s obedience to the next level! This program includes training equipment and 8 private lessons. The first 4 lessons will cover our Basic Obedience curriculum, and the last 4 lessons will cover advanced commands. Your dog will learn “Extended Distance Sit”, “Extended Distance Down”, and your choice of the following: “Touch”, “Through”, “Come to Heel”, “Watch”, “Stand”, “Send Aways” and more. Basic/Advanced Obedience is ideal for owners who enjoy working with their dogs on a consistent basis. ***Be prepared to practice daily for at least 30 minutes and schedule lessons 1 week apart.***
Hi Caitlin, Kimberly recently had a baby and thus, is not currently responding to comments, but I wanted to thank you. We read through your thoughts and agree with many of them. So, we made some minor updates to our content based on your feedback and agree that this makes for a much stronger and more encouraging article. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts so we could make our content even better for our readers.
This class will set you on the path to a great working relationship with your dog. We will teach you the mechanics that make you a great trainer and will cover a variety of basic cues and life skills that will make life with your dog more enjoyable. We will show you how to effectively use positive reinforcement to improve your dog's behavior in all situations. The foundational training you and your dog will receive will continue to help you throughout your dog’s life.
We’ve had our German shepherd mix rescue since she was a puppy; she will be 11 years old in March, and has been the joy of our lives. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, she has started displaying signs we think are anxiety, and we aren’t sure how to proceed. Although she was never afraid of storms, in the last year she began trembling and panting during storms so much so that we purchased a thundershirt at the recommendation of our vet, with minimal improvement. We then noticed she would go up and down into the basement almost compulsively, recently staying in the dark in the basement for long periods of time. Now, she is climbing on furniture in a back room, which she has never ever done before, or she is hiding in a spare bathroom in a part of the house she was never allowed in formerly. She is panting and trembling almost constantly for no apparent reason, and we just don’t seem to know how to console her, or figure out what is wrong. She does seem to sleep at night, and seems relaxed when we awake in the morning, but before very long, she is panting and tembling again, and seems tormented. Do you think medication is needed or would help, or do you have other ideas? This all seems so sudden, and I am now starting to wonder if this is an inevitable part of her aging. Would sincerely appreciate any feedback you might be able to provide.
I have two toy poodles who are brother and sister(both neutered), and the boy poodle(Keanu) is very very super attached to me. I just thought he was really affectionate, but it’s gotten to a point where all he does is follow me around, stare at me all day with sad yearning eyes, whine in a tiny tiny voice endlessly untill I hug him, and when I do hold him he is really nervous and agitated and doesn’t really enjoy the hug but just frets around, or licks me so intensely, which goes on forever untill I have to stop him. My husband loves both dogs but since Keanu is absolutely just obssessed with me my hubby thinks Keanu wants me all for himself and is even jealous of my hubby. Another thing that kind of creeps me out now that I think about it is when I open my eyes in the morning, his face is right in front of me, like he has been watching me all morning…This weird behaviour was not evident when they were puppies, and I think it was so gradual that at first I didn’t realize it was odd.
Dogs have become closely associated with humans through domestication and have also become sensitive to human communicative signals. Generally, they have a lot of exposure to human speech, especially during play, and are believed to have a good ability to recognize human speech. Two studies investigated the ability of a single dog that was believed to be exceptional in its understanding of language. Both studies revealed the potential for at least some dogs to develop an understanding of a large number of simple commands on the basis of just the sounds emitted by their owners. However the studies suggested that visual cues from the owner may be important for the understanding of more complex spoken commands.[77]
Step 1: Have your dog lay down. Wait for him to stand up. When he stands up, click and treat. Repeat this action several times until he learns that he has to stand up in order to get his treat. Standing is so natural that it is likely that the dog won't immediately understand why he is being rewarded, so it may take more repetition than usual. (Initially, it's okay to click even if.............................................
I applaud the author for finding creative ways to improve her dog’s life, but I am sure she could re-write this in a way that wouldn’t misinform and turn off novice dog owners. For example, she might say “I found that looking for other ways to connect with Sally, such as using play, life rewards, and affection in our day-to-day training, deepened our relationship. I also found that thinking about Sally’s behavior and our quality of life more holistically, outside of simple obedience cues, helped me address some overwhelming issues that I wasn’t sure how to tackle at first, such as getting and keeping her attention in distracting situations. While food treats are the easiest way to train a dog, they might not work for every dog and every situation. Even dogs that aren’t food-motivated can be trained.”
One possibility that sounds interesting is the “safe area” idea. If the forecast predicts thunderstorm, then we can try keeping our dog in a low-stimulus (no windows/few windows), sound proof area, before the storm begins and *before* our dog starts to panic or becomes overly anxious. We can try masking out the sounds from outside with calming music, or a calm t.v. channel. At the same time, we distract our dog by giving him something interesting to do that he loves, for example playing a game, chewing on his favorite chews, playing with his favorite interactive food toy, etc.
To update: our German Shepherd’s sudden onset anxiety did not improve, so we took her to the vet who said this is not an uncommon development in senior dogs, and it can develop seemingly from out of nowhere. The vet said it sounds like separation anxiety, which can be triggered even if there is no separation! In our situation, it definitely seems as if bells or buzzers or ringers are a trigger…even the microwave or sports on tv! The vet also said it sounds like our dog is developing signs of canine cognitive dysfunction. She has been placed on a low dosage of Prozac, with plenty of room to increase the dosage if we don’t notice any improvement. So far, behaviors have not improved, but they have not gotten worse either. I will update after she has been on the medication for a longer period of time.
Amy grew up in England and in the early 1990's moved to North Carolina where she completed a bachelors degree in Psychology in 2001. Amy's personal interest in writing was sparked by her love of reading fiction and her creative writing hobby. Amy is currently self employed as a freelance writer and web designer. When she is not working Amy can be found curled up with a good book and her black Labrador, Jet.
We can show our puppies how to behave in our homes without ever scaring or hurting them. It’s actually much easier to focus on teaching your puppy what to do rather than what not to do. You don’t have to back up your requests with threats. In fact, your puppy will bond with you and listen better if he’s not scared of getting it wrong (and what you’ll do if he does).
Some cases of anxiety are so severe that your veterinarian may recommend medications or natural therapies. SSRIs and antidepressants are occasionally prescribed for dogs with anxiety, including fluoxetine and clomipramine. For predictable anxiety-producing events like thunderstorms, fireworks, or car rides, your vet might prescribe a medication such as benzodiazepine in conjunction with an antidepressant to help your dog cope with the stress.
STARTER PACKAGE: $375 – Want to get a feel for our training before purchasing a full obedience package? If so, The Starter Package is for you! This program includes training equipment and 1 private lesson covering the following commands: “Come”, “Sit”, “Break”, and “Off”. The Starter Package is ideal for dogs who just lack a recall (do not come when called), or dogs who are generally obedient but display some unwanted behavior such as counter-surfing, jumping, excessive barking, etc. ***Be prepared to practice daily for at least 30 minutes.***
