Dog Information

The past few weeks have been a very busy period where I have been working with a wide variety of dogs, I think the two Huskies were very special. A two-year old male and a younger female were presenting problems, the male in particular was really scaring his owners with his aggression. His aggression had escalated to the point he had bitten members of the family as he now wore a muzzle as a preventative measure, but his aggression was getting worse and his family had to consider their options. When everything they can think of had been tried and nothing has worked and even the boarding kennels they use have refused to take him because they cannot get near him to remove his muzzle because he gets so aggressive. If they can’t take his muzzle off, they can’t walk or feed him and they are genuinely scared of him.

It was the boarding kennels owner who recommended me as I have another client whose dog is aggressive who could only stay at the kennels if I visited every day to feed and walk him, I did and when the dog was with me, he was fine.

When I spoke with the owner on the phone, it was clear this problem had got them at breaking point and of the behaviour could not be changed, and then the dog was not going to live very long. I made the appointment and I was told the dog would be muzzled when I arrived.

The appointment arrived and when I walked into the house, both the dogs were outside so I asked for them to be left out there so I could assess their reaction to the appearance of a stranger. I approached the patio doors and it was the female who was the most reactive and stressed. The male was more scared at this point but the tension in his body was tangible, even on the other side of the patio door. If they were let in to the house in this frame of mind, it was clear to see why he had bitten people.

The first change I made was with the door, I opened and closed it several times in quick succession which created uncertainty in the dogs and as they backed away from the door, I spoke to them to reward the change in behaviour. I kept this up until they were calmer and then I let them in and there was no barking or attempts to bite. The male came in had a good sniff, stood next to me as stiff as a board and then slowly walked away and as he did so, I spoke to him. This continued for only 30 minutes and by then he was relaxed enough to lie down with his back to me. He was responding very well to the changes.

The female on the other hand was where the problem stemmed from as she was constantly pestering the male, jumping on him and generally bothering him to the point he would have to be assertive with her. The whole environment was full of stress.

By interrupting the female from bothering the male and then speaking to her for calming down, by the end of the hour, they were both much more relaxed and the owners were very happy.

During a follow-up phone call, the owners told me the transformation in the male was amazing and it was the female who was persisting with the stressed and challenging behaviour, which came as a surprise, even though I had mentioned this to them at the start of the visit. I gave then more advice on how to deal with her behaviour and this advice is helping improve her behaviour. The advice involves a time out for barking and pestering visitors and increasing the duration of the time out until she has genuinely calmed down and then they can speak to her to reward the calmer behaviour.

This article was written by Steven Havers, a professional dog behaviour expert who specialises in training dogs not accepted by mainstream training clubs, centres or trainers. You can visit his website at http://www.haversspecialiseddogtraining.co.uk for more articles and training information.

Dog Information

A dog scratching at the door can be viewed as a behaviour problem if it regularly causes damage, or you don’t like the noise of claws scraping across paintwork. They can do it for a number of reasons including asking to be let out for a wee, trying to grab your attention, or because they are suffering from separation anxiety. Whatever the reason, it can make an unsightly mess and if you don’t like the continual costs of having it repainted, here are some ways to stop it.

To start, you need to find out why your dog is scratching the door. If they want to be let out or want some attention they will obviously be scratching the door while you are in the house, whereas with separation anxiety the damage is likely to happen while you’re out. In extreme cases of anxiety they can start the scratching the moment you close a door between you and them because they are so desperate to get to you.

Is It Mindless Destruction?

Some owners believe their dogs cause the damage out of boredom, or worse, on purpose, almost like getting their own back for being left alone, and fail to see it as a symptom of separation anxiety in dogs. And while the destruction is on purpose, an anxious dog will be panicking about where you have disappeared to and are literally trying to scratch their way right through the door so they can come and find you.

Separation anxiety can be a difficult problem to solve, but with a dog separation anxiety training programme and some patience and persistence from you, the anxiety should disappear and the door scratching should stop.

Dog Scratching to be Let Out

If your dog only scratches the door when they want to be let out there are two approaches you can take to stopping it. You will still need a signal that they need to be let out, otherwise that will create a different kind of mess, but presumably don’t want the damage.

The first approach is to let them out regularly yourself, before they get to the stage when they start scratching and that way you avoid accidents and the damage to the door.

The second approach is to teach them another way to show you they want to go out. Use plenty of treats and praise to do this and select an easy signal for them to learn.

Scratching the Door for Attention

Once a dog has learnt to scratch the door to be let out, they can also use it to get your attention. Have you ever gone to let your dog out, but then found they weren’t really interested, maybe they just looked at you, or wandered outside aimlessly and then back in?

This kind of attention seeking behaviour is at best a time waster for you if you are constantly getting up to let the dog out when they don’t need it and at worst a way of your dog establishing themselves as ‘top dog’ as they feel like they can get your attention whenever they want it.

To ensure your dog gets to go out when they need to, but doesn’t use it for attention, here’s what to do.

When they scratch to be let out, go to the door and open it without paying any attention to the dog. That means not looking at your dog, speaking to them or touching them. If they just sit there because they didn’t really want to go out and just wanted your attention, simply close the door and walk away, again without paying any attention to your dog.

It’s a simple technique, but very effective, because dogs will only carry on doing what works for them and if it doesn’t get the attention they want they won’t carry on doing it for much longer.

The Author Venice Marriott is a writer, dog owner and runs a website which provides help and information for dog owners dealing with the behaviour problems created by anxiety in dogs. Get more information on dog behaviour problems, plus our free help sheet about the major symptoms of dog separation anxiety, when you visit the site.

Dog Training Information

This is a rare example of a real problem and that problem is a dog that will bite people. The dog in question is a rescue and one of three dogs and, I was told, was the only one that needed help as the other two, an older terrier mix and a younger Border terrier, were fine. Add to the mix a mother and a recently-returned-home daughter and you have a lively mix.

The dog I was asked to come and see is a young Staffordshire bull terrier mix that has developed serious problems with visitors to the house and these problems have reached the point that she will bite the visitors if allowed to get close enough. When entering a house, you often encounter dogs who will try and convince you they will bite you but will stop short but this dog would not stop short and any attempt to counter her assertion with any of my own only served to raise her belief she had to fight me.

Having read this thus far, you could be forgiven for thinking everything you have heard about this breed of dog is true and the media reports are also true and if that is the case, then please do read on. I had the owner put the dog on a lead so the owners could stop shouting at her and give her a chance to learn and to stop arguing and trying to blame each other for the dogs behaviour.

Once she was on the lead, they could both relax and let the dog start to realise there was quiet and calm behind her instead of the usual stress, tension and noise. I didn’t move, I just stood, relaxed and calm and kept talking to the owner and her Mum and the dog slowly started to relax and return to her owner which earned her attention. By this time, I was getting a bit warm so I took my jacket off and gently waved it towards and away from the dog’s face so I could see how she would react. I had already guessed she was calming so would not bite my jacket and that proved to be the case so I presented my shoe within range to see what she would do. She opened her mouth and lunged for the toe of my shoe and almost put my whole foot in her mouth but did not close her mouth at all. She had calmed enough not to bite so, even after three years of stress, she was learning a brand new behaviour.

During all of this, the young Border terrier remained calm, relaxed and oblivious to all of the noise and tension, the older terrier mix however, was quite the opposite. He was outside and barking. I will come back to him a little later.

The Staffordshire bull terrier mix had now calmed down enough for us to take her lead off. She came quickly over to me, bumped me with her nose and then proceeded to have a good sniff. She went outside to the older Terrier and then came back in, barked at me again and went to her owner and relaxed. I went and sat down in a chair and she came over to me, licked my hand and had a stroke. Her owners were amazed at the transformation in their dog.

When you look for the reason for a dogs behaviour, you have to look at the owners but when there is more than one dog involved, it is essential you look at all of the other dogs and find out when they arrived, how they have behaved and what they do in the house because it is there you will find yet more answers.

In this case, the older Terrier had been getting attention on demand for years but had not really caused any real problems the owners couldn’t live with so they put up with them. Then Staffordshire bull terrier mix arrived, saw how the older dog got attention, realised this is how dogs behave in her new house and took it to a whole new level.

I explained this to the owners and to prove it, we put leads on the dogs so they thought they were going for a walk and it was the older dog that got the most stressed. As the owner walked towards the door, it was the Terrier who went first and remained by the back door convinced that everyone followed him out of the door. The Staffordshire bull terrier was a superstar and quickly learned to come back into the lounge when her owner walked back into the lounge.

The Terrier did relent and was soon working in the same way and then we had real calm, to the point all three dogs lay down and really relaxed, laying down on their side. This took three hours to achieve and the most stubborn dog was the Terrier so the owners now know where to focus their attention in order to regain the calm relaxed behaviour we created today. There will be a revisit to continue this work and I will blog on how they are getting on.

This article was written by Steven Havers, a full time Dog Behaviourist who specialises in training dogs not accepted by mainstream training clubs, centres or trainers. You can visit his website at http://www.haversspecialiseddogtraining.co.uk for more articles and training information.

Dog Information

Dog Agility is a sport where both the owner and the pet benefit. This is a very special time for both the dog and the owner. It is one of the very few times when both, the pet and the owner, rely on each other to complete a course, under time and with as few errors as possible. It consists of a course, laid out with Agility obstacles. Agility obstacles are in the form of an A-frame, dog walk, weave poles, Agility Jumps, a table, teeter, tire and tunnels. This can be done in competition or in your own backyard. It is a very good form of exercise, which it is aerobic (from running) and mentally because of the thought of how best to perform the course with the least possible errors. It also is a good way to train your dog to listen to you and to get them to socialize.

The Agility obstacles are a challenge. When performing an A-Frame, the dog must approach it straight on, climb the apex and manage to walk all the way down without ‘flying off’ (jumping prior the yellow painted area at the bottom, called contacts) on the opposite side. The dog walk is similar to the A-frame, because you climb up and down two sides (with the yellow painted area, contacts), but with this Agility Obstacle the dog must walk along a plank that connects the two ends. Agility jumps take many forms, from a spread jump which can be from 4″ to 24″ long to single bar agility jumps that are from 4″ to 24″ in height( some venues may jump longer or higher.) Agility obstacles can also be in the form of double bar and triple bar jumps which, for lack of a better way to put it, combine both the spread and single bar type agility jumps.The weave poles are made up of 6 to 12 poles which your dog must weave in and out of each pole. This is the hardest obstacle for some dogs to master. The teeter is an Agility obstacle that is similar to a human teeter-totter, except the dog walks across the teeter from a downed end and as it is walking to the middle causes the teeter to go down on the opposite end. This also has the yellow Contacts at the end. The Agility Tunnel, is much like a child’s play tunnel, except that they are made of sturdier material so that the dog does not break through the agility Obstacle while running through the course. The tire, is another form of agility jump, where the dog jumps through a tire, instead of over a jump. This also is raised or lowered to the height for the dog. The table is the one time on an Agility Obstacle course in which the dog comes to a stop. These tables are generally referred to as a pause table. The name is derived from the use, the dog is to pause on the table prior to moving on to the next obstacle. It is also used for stopping the time at the end of a run.

My border collie dog, Skye, runs in agility trials. We began classes for her when she was about four years old, she will be eight in September, 2011. There are some agility obstacles that have been more trouble than others. Skye is very fast and in the early days had a bad habit of attempting all agility obstacles as if they were merely there to slow her down. Skye had flying off the A-Frame and dog walk to a science, but after a lot of hard work and hours of practice, she now completes these agility obstacles with precision. Agility Jumps are another story, When we first started out she had no trouble with jumps, completing them like a champion hurdler. As she ages Agility Jumps have become more of a challenge. She still maintains her speed, but she was having difficulty completing jumps without knocking the bars down. To assist her, we changed her status from regular to veteran (Canine Performance Events (CPE), the venue in which she participates), which enables her to jump at 12″ instead of her 16″ height requirement. This has helped her out a great deal. The bonding experience with her is one that will not be forgotten, it is our time alone.

Dog agility is a sport in which both the owner and pet participate in Agility Obstacle Courses. This can be beneficial to your relationship with your pet, but both of you will get exercise and time to form a wonderful bond over Agility obstacles and an Agility course. Enjoy your time with your pet, whether it is on an agility course, a walk in the park or just sharing a quiet time together.

If you are interested in Agility Obstacles to bond with your dog or to maybe just have fun in your own backyard or even to compete go to skyebirdpetsupplies.com for all your agility and pet supply needs.

My name is Rachel Dohran.