rescue dog problem

Re: rescue dog problem

Tracy Windler RVN — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:19:10 GMT

I have a similar problem with a foster dog I have at the moment, she is very needy and wants attention all the time. If I ignore her, she gets on the sofa, so I have to get her off the sofa - giving her the attention she wants! Aaaah! But I might try the clicker training. She's 8 years old and has so many bad habits, alongside her neediness it seems like a constant uphill struggle!

She is lovely, though, so if anyone is interested in a Lab x neutered bitch, let me know! (I've really sold her well, there!)

Re: rescue dog problem

A-J — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:16:25 GMT

thanks :-)

a better day today as i found a stern 'off!' to be effective and no grumbling. The lady i got her from said that i wouldn't reward my toddler with sweets every time he climbed on then off the kitchen surfaces and i guess no i wouldn't. So hopefully this habit will be broken. I think that she was a dog who was left alone all day and was played with at night and allowed on furniture but not upstairs as she hasn't ventured there at all.

She is lovely but i am slightly twitchy because of the kids and they all need to learn to respect each other for what they are. Also my old dog was 14 when she was pts last year (a whole year on 13th March :( ) and her with the kids was more 'organic' because as they grew so she grew to know what they were like.

Well she has her 2nd vacc on saturday then she can have some proper exercise which should help as well.

Thanks again

Re: rescue dog problem

sally whitehead — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:56:56 GMT

Hi,

I would always be wary of a rescue dog with children as you can never know 100% although i guess thi is the case with any dog.

Having said that it would appear that the problems you are having are just puppy problems, aside from the sofa hogging.... which it is important to combat now if she is grumbling.

It's brilliant you have got her into the clicker and i would use this to get her off the sofa, if she is conditioned to the clicker properly she will understand that if the clicker is clicked, a reward will come, so she is likely to listen more to this than anything else.

I would try a few different angles and see what works the best, so,

1. stand away from the sofa, have everyone on the sofa completely ignore her(if anyone has managed to be on there with her lol) and call her, make your voice really exciting and do lots of smiling as they really recognise facial movements, lots of hand signals so pat your legs, maybe wave her favourite toy or show her a treat, then reward her with a click and treat each time she gets off the sofa, do this lots.

2. teach her lay with a clicker, and when she looks like she is heading for the sofa, ask her to lay down on the floor instead. reward for this.

It is a case of being really repetative with her. i'm not sure doing stuff such as training lead and pulling her off will work as it will prbably just make her really cross lol.

Let me know what you think about this