Q: Hi,
I live in Ohio, and I stumbled across your website and would
like your thoughts on a problem with one of my dogs. I have
a female husky mix, about 2 years old who has been getting
progressively worse with barking at other dogs & people
walking by our house who have dogs. She had been abandoned
on the streets when she was a puppy and I rescued her 2
summers ago. From the very beginning, she seemed to be a
very dominant dog & we had quite a power struggle until
I gained the "top dog" position. She went through
puppy kindergarten & basic obedience classes and did
well with the other dogs in the class, no aggressive
behavior towards them.
Last summer, I acquired another puppy (lab mix) who gets
along well with my husky and who is pretty laid back. They
play together, they do a lot of wrestling around &
chasing each other. The husky also plays with other dogs who
might be over to our house although a lot of her time is
spent hiding behind something so she can stalk the other
dogs.
Sometime within the last 6 months, whenever we are out in
the car, or on walks, if my husky sees another dog - she
will start this frenzied barking and jumping towards them.
This also happens in the house if she sees someone out the
window. I'm not sure if its because she is trying to get at
them and if she thinks she will do something to them or if
its just her way of telling them to back off and stay off
her property. She is very strong on walks, and is constantly
wanting to pull ahead of me, it's a constant struggle to
have her walk next to me. She does wear a prong collar and
it is sometimes difficult to control her because I walk both
dogs together. And I find myself tensing up when we get
close to another dog, no doubt I am communicating that
tenseness to her through the leash.
From the very beginning, when I had the dominance problems
with her, I would put her in a down every night for ½ hour
and although she didn't like it, she would do it. I have
been getting lax with discipline and wonder if I should go
back to this.
Both my dogs are confined to crates during the working day
with an hour out during lunch. They also sleep in their
crates or occasionally in my room. Other than this
aggressive behavior towards other dogs - things are great.
Is this something I should be worried about escalating? I am
just afraid that she could go through a window screen if she
badly wants to get at the other dogs.
Thank you.
Mary G
Sandusky, OH
A: Good day
1) Make sure the pinch collar is fitted properly.
It should fit snug but tight. Don't be afraid to use it as needed. Make the
dog ouch when using the pinch.
2) Stop the dog from looking out the window.
This is increasing the dogs aggression. The dog barks and then
the other dog runs away.
Your dog thinks she's scaring the other dog.
3) Keep the training collar and the leash on when your home
with the dog. Now when she doesn't listen you can discipline the dog
properly.
4) Use your obedience in the house. Remember if you
can't control your dog in the house, you certainly can't control the dog outside of
the house. DON'T LET HER WANDER AROUND THE HOUSE.
5) Try walking one dog at a time until you master your
obedience and
handling of the dog.
Doug Morrison
Q:
Hi Doug. We adopted an Australian Cattle dog a year ago
March. She is about 3 years old and we don't know her
history except that she was in a fight with the foster
home's female cattle dog shortly before we got her.
Since we got her, we have been taking her for obedience
twice a week (in different locations but with the same
trainer), and off leash trail walks with a group of dogs
twice a week (all from the same trainer). She is
obedient, gets along with the all the dogs, and always
comes to us when we call her etc. Here is the problem. I
can't take her by ourselves for a walk on the street or
in the park because she is dog aggressive on leash if
she comes near a dog she doesn't know. She came to us
with this problem. She is a dominant female, but I think
it's a fear aggression, because she is fine with dogs
she knows. She is fine on leash when we are with dogs
she knows. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Marcia S
A: Good day Marcia,
it's always nice to hear from new people, and new problems.
Lets look at your problem. First you say she is obedient,
but still wants to fight with other dogs. There is more to
obedience than walking down a path, and calling your dog
back.
From your email, I know who
your trainer is, because I'm very familiar with all the
trainers in BC, especially on the Island. #1, is that your
not disciplining your dog for the bad behaviour. #2, don't
use food anymore. It doesn't work. #3, if the trainer your
using can't help you, why are you going there? Hellooooo
1) Does your dog look out the
window in your house. Is there any barking at people or
dogs. Even showing a lot of interest. Stop the dog from
looking out the window. Its increasing the aggression.
2) Does your dog bark
outside. Stop the dog from doing this.
3) Take more freedom away
from your dog in the house. Lets remember this. If you cant
control your dog inside the house, you certainly cant
control the dog outside of the house. I know, I know, your
saying right now, well my dog is good in the house. Well no
she isn't. Lets do this exercise. Put your dog in a sit in
the middle of the kitchen floor while the rest of the family
is in the living room, watching TV. How long can your dog
sit there. One, two, three, or five minutes is not the right
answer.
Next, take your dog outside
and put the dog in a down position in the middle of the yard
and you come inside and have lunch. How long does the dog
stay in that position. One, two, three or five minutes is
not the right answer.
The more problems you have
with your dog, the more obedient your dog must be.
I am forwarding this email to
my trainer in Victoria and she will email if you need any
help
Please keep in touch with me
and let me know how things are coming along.
Doug Morrison
Dog Master
Q: Hi
I have a one year old Aussie Shepard male he has a few
problems first is I do daycare out of my home and there
certain kids he doesn't like. Another is that he moans
when my kids pet him I had my trainer over and she said
that he is talking but sometimes it's hard to tell. He
listens to my kids training that is. But he really gets
excited and I'm afraid that he might bite my kids we
don't want to give up on him he's been through lots of
dog training and he's also in fly my trainer said that
that is what he needs a job to do. She said we are
letting him have too much freedom in the house. He plays
with a puppy in the morning from 7:30 until 12:30 then
we put him in the cage until the kids come home from
school. My daughter is working on a program with him
training sessions when she comes home from school he is
not allowed out when other kids are around. He stays in
his cage from 12:30 until 3:30 out for a pee and back in
until the kids go home. My trainer says that he needs to
be told who is the boss around here and nothing is for
free he gets feed at night before he goes to bed and
sleeps in than crate in my daughters room. He has never
bit me or my husband but I watch him around my kids I
hope that things will get better not worse. Any
suggestions would be great, thanks.
Lisa from Hamilton Ontario
A: First
of all, your dog isn't moaning. Humans moan. Your dog is
showing signs of aggression. It's starting now. Are you
training with treats and clickers. I bet you
are................
Your breed of
dog is different from a lot of others. It's a working dog
and you must do things differently. I agree that nothing in
this world is free and your dog has to learn who is in
charge.
There is no
sense in a trainer telling you things if he or she cant show
you what they mean.
Your situation,
a day care, is very serious and these things have to be
corrected ASAP. Obedience, obedience, obedience. Your idea
of obedience and my idea of obedience is very different.
Ask yourself
these two questions: 1) how long can I put my dog in a sit?
The answer is not a couple of minutes The answer is until
you give the dog another command 2) How long can you put
your dog in a down position? The answer is not a few
minutes. The answer is until you give the dog another
command.
If your
instructor cant help you with this , find a new one who
DOESN'T use food as a reward.
Doug
Q: Hello, I was
doing some searching online and came across your web
site. I realize that you are located in Ontario and I am
currently located in Rochester MN. USA. While reading
your site I was amazed by the content. We are currently
having issues with our 7 month old Beagle. He seems to
be barking during the day while we are at work and we
have received a complaint. We need to get our dog
trained ASAP so that we are not kicked out of our town
house. I have been doing some research about the barking
collars and wonder if they are worth while or not. Also
what would you suggest? Do you know of any good trainers
located in Rochester MN or in the surrounding areas?
Thank you for your time. We are pretty desperate and
don't want to have find a new home. I look forward and
hope to hear back from you.
Thanks again!!!
Jamie
A: Good morning,
always nice to hear from new people and to be able to
help people out. Yes you have a problem. Because
you already have received one complaint, you don't have
much choice but to buy a bark collar. Do I like
them,,,,NO, but any more complaints and you're gone. Get an electric one and make
sure it's fits snug enough. Put in on him and go for a
walk or better yet put the dog in your car, no one can
hear the barking. It
is a misunderstanding that beagles are very hard to
train. This is not true. I own a beagle, see www.moldalertdogs.com.
In addition to the collar I would suggest you get help
ASAP. Don't use a trainer that uses food or clickers. I
know several trainers in your area but none that I would
recommend.
Please keep in touch and
let me know how things are going.
Q: Hi,
I am having trouble with the marking problem. My 1 1/2
yr old German Shepherd is marking everything outside
(he's in a fenced yard). Inside he is good. But he comes
on my open covered patio and wets on the hot tub, table,
car in garage, etc. He is not altered as he is
registered with good bloodlines and we hope to breed
him. Any ideas. Everything I have read says neutering
may help. He is not around any females. Thanks for any
help.
Lynnette
A: Good day. It's always nice to hear from new
people. It is normal that your GS is marking outside but
certain things can be done. Altering your dog will not
make a difference, no matter what people say. He is
still a male. Being left unattended outside in the yard
is very difficult to correct any problem, but when he
comes inside you have to use your obedience. Its hard to
mark in the house when the dog is lying down on its
mat...
You are going to have to
take more of his freedom away from him. He is having to
much. In other words he is wandering around the house or
the sundeck and you have to stop that. Once you breed
him the problem is only going to get worse.
In my opinion the most
important command a dog should learn is DOWN. It will
solve many house problems.
Hi again Doug
Q: We are the
people from Kosovo that emailed you about our dog. The
advice you gave is helping. We are using a crate now. He
really likes it. We are now starting to socialize the
dog. Taking him to areas where there are not to many
people. We had a person pat him on the head the other
day. Just wanted to say thanks and we will keep in
touch, and let you know how the training is coming
along.
By the way, what type of
collar should we use. I'm using a normal nylon one.
A: Great to hear
from you. I'm glad your starting to see some progress.
Just don't try and rush the process. Take your time.
Keep on doing just what your doing and you can now start
to increase the amount of distractions.
Keep using a nylon
collar. By the sounds of things it working and why
change your tire if you don't have a flat. I think that
is the last of our worries.
Q: I own a 2 year
old miniature poodle. She is very spoiled and yes I know
it's all my fault. The problem is that she is growling
when we move her from the bed. I know that I shouldn't
have her on the bed, my dog trainer told me that. I love
her so much. what is your opinion?
Lori Kingston, Ontario
A: I agree with
your trainer, the dog should not be on the bed. The
problem is only going to get worse. Love has nothing to
do with this. If your not going to listen to your
trainer, there's no sense asking for help, is there?
Q:
You're not going to believe this but my dog ate my
phone. I'm calling you from my girl friends house.
HELP
Marg, Montreal
A:
Get a cell phone. Just kidding. Well you certainly
didn't give me much to go on. I hope you have tried
crate training for starters. Email
me for further problems, etc.
Q: We have a year
and a half old female rottweiler. We're considering
adding another dog to the family, maybe a puppy. We've
had several male dogs over the years but the marking,
leg lifting, on everything in the yard is very annoying,
and now my husband is dead set against a male for that
reason.
I've read that two
females may fight a lot. What do you think?
Carrie Grande Prairie, Alberta
A: Yes, your
general rule of thumb is that somewhere down the way,
two males or two females will have a fight. This is not
always the case. My suggestion is to get a
male and have him altered at an early age. As far as the
leg lifting etc. in your yard, all that is training.
There is absolutely no reason in the world for a male
dog to be marking all over the yard.
Q: I was looking
at your site and saw that you spent some time here in
Kosovo. My wife an I are from the New York area but
doing some work here. My wife, not me, decided to adopt
a dog here in this country. They have a shelter here for
a lot of the dogs.
My problem is that the
dog is very shy around all people. Is there any hope? I
don't know what breed it is but he is about 5 months
old.
thank you sir
A: Good to hear
from you. I lived in an area called Prizren, and the
problem with dogs there is the same no matter where you
live in Kosovo. There are so many wild dogs running
loose, not only in the country side but in the towns and
cities also.
The dogs do not receive
the proper socialization when young and of course that's
the main reason for this behaviour.
The other problem is, you
are aware of how the dogs are treated by the locals. Not
very good. Its very common to see children playing
football with puppies (the dog is the football). So from
an early age they don't trust people.
What can be done. Start
crating the pup. Use the crate as an artificial way of
controlling your dog. Very similar to a woman using a
play pen for the baby. Next, take the dog for walks in
areas that there are not many people. Gradually take the
pup to areas with more and more people. This is going to
take a long time before you start getting any results.
Try what I have said and keep in touch with me. As you
know there are not any dog obedience schools where you
are.
Once you start getting
results, email me for further instructions.
Q: My dog is very
shy around other dogs, but great with people. I think he
was in a fight at the dog friendly part, and now he is
really weird. Do you think you could help me? Maybe
group classes would help.
Lori Peterborough, Ontario
A: Do I think I
could help you? Yes.
I thought you said it was
a dog friendly park?????
You say you think your
dog was in a dog fight.......don't you know? If he was
in a fight, it certainly wont help the problem. First,
my views are different with regards to dog free parks. I
have no problem with the concept, but people forget one
very important thing. You must have control over your
dog. How many times have you seen someone calling their
dog and chasing it in order to go home. Hellooooo
Next is, just because
your dog is friendly to other dogs, doesn't mean the
other dog is friendly to yours. Most people take their
dogs to parks in order to socialize with other dogs.
This is not socializing, its called playing. There is a
difference.
Group classes. I'm not a
big believer in group classes when dogs have certain
problems. The dog gets so programmed working and being
with the same dogs every week, and used to the same 20
ft X 40 ft building, that as soon as you go home and go
for a walk in the real environment, the real world, this
is when problems arise.
You didn't tell me the
age of the dog, so I cant give out some information. My
suggestion is to contact a trainer and do a lot of work
in the downtown core of the city.
I can't help you without
further information.
Q: I am presently enrolled in a puppy class and
my husband and myself are using a haultie to train our 5 month old black lab.
He walks wonderful, but we are having problems with aggression towards our 5
year old son. Its mainly around food.
Any suggestion?
Don and Maureen
Calgary, Alberta
A: It's funny you said that your using a head
harness. A recent study has found that dogs are now starting to have medical
problems as a result of these training devises. Your trainer should know this.
Aggression is something you have to do
something abut NOW. You didn't say if your trainer was helping you out with
these problems, so I am assuming he or she isn't.
My suggestion is that you look for an experienced trainer that can help out.
same person
Q: My trainer has told us to feed the dog away
from the child. Keep them separated. Is he right.
Don and Maureen
Calgary, Alberta
A: Like I said before, get a new
trainer/instructor
Q: Hello Mr. Morrison. I'm so glad to see that
you have this web site up. I really enjoyed reading your main web site. You trained my golden several years ago called Cody. that's right, he was the
one who kept jumping in the bath tub with me.
Well he is not the problem. Cody is old now and just lays around. My husband
and I now have a bouncing female German Shepherd. Dixie is 3 months old and I
would like to kill her. ( just kidding ) Everything we were taught by you is
not working. She isn't even house trained yet. HELP
Linda
Ottawa, Ontario
A: What a great surprise. I have told your
story so many times about Cody the bath tub dog.
Every breed is different, and every dog with in the breed is different. What
works good for one dog, doesn't mean it will work for the other dog. If I
know you, you are NOT following all past instructions. (sorry)
My suggestion is to look for a trainer in the Ottawa area that can take you
from start to finish again. Don't forget, you're married now and maybe so
children, it makes it that much harder to follow through. Lets face it, Cody
was a mellow type of dog.
Start using your crate for one.
Call me and I will give you a couple of names in the Ottawa area to help you.
Q: I live in the Toronto area, and have a 2
year old lab X that I got from the humane society. I have Jake enrolled in an
obedience class right now and my trainer put a prong collar on my dog the
other night. I sure don't like the looks of them. Anyway, Jake started heeling
great, and I can see a difference in him in 3 lessons.
I have noticed that there is a scratch or cut on his neck where the collar
rides. I didn't think they were suppose to hurt the dog.
Joanne and Jake
Toronto, Ontario
A: There is nothing wrong with a pinch or prong
collar. as long as you are taught to use it properly, and the dog or you
really need it. Many times, the dog doesn't need this type of training devise
but the handler does. He or she just are not mentally strong enough to
discipline their dog.
Ya, they do look ugly , don't they?
If the collar is to loose on the neck, it will rub and could cause a scratch
or even a cut. the collar must be snug, but not tight. You can adjust the size
by taking out one or more links. When on the dog , make sure the part that you
hook your leash on to is by his right ear.
I have never had a problem with the pinch
collar, so I think that maybe the collar is not fitted properly.
Q: My dog snapped at my 4 year old daughter
last week. After a lot of thought and many calls to vets etc., we decided to
put PAL to sleep. I cant help thinking, did we do the right thing.
Dave and Cindy
Vancouver, BC
A: No you didn't put PAL to sleep, You killed
him. There is a difference. It would be very easy for me to say, yes, you did
the right thing, and then of course it would make you feel good.
SORRY, I'm not like that. Many dogs can be helped with aggression problems
through proper consultation and training.
I would be unfair for me to make any further comment, because you didn't tell
me the whole story All I can say is that in 40 years of training and approx.
30,000 dogs, I have only recommended that 6 dogs be destroyed.
You can read into that anything you like.
Q: My cocker spaniel ate my paycheck the other
day. How can I stop him from chewing things?
Phillis
Oshawa, Ontario
A: Try on line banking.
Q: My name is Skippy, a 1 year old lapso, I
have completed my 1st phase of training. I wont stay. I like to run and get
into mischief. Is there any help for me.
Skippy
Kingston
A: I don't answer questions from dogs. I think
your owner needs the help.
