Almost 7 month old Pup

[Lotsaquestions]

I'll watch out for that and try to make sure I don't make him more frustrated. Should I have a time window where I should just walk away? It took him about 30 seconds for him to sit down on his own today. With a dog I want him to pass by, should I reward him when he's passed even if he has been pulling and barking the entire time?

His recall is terrible now and I DO call him when I know, really, it is only a slim chance of him listening. I'll stop that now and go back to square one. We're off on holiday to the Lake District next week with him where, hopefully, we'll have alot of quiet dogless walks to really get some practise in with his longline and liver cake.

[JudyN]

Should I have a time window where I should just walk away?

I've no idea, to be honest - I'm not an expert, BTW, but have been hanging around this forum a long time, and my dog has certainly given me first-hand experience of several issues See if you can work out what works best for you. But remember it's better for him to think 'Meh, it's a dog' (or 'It's a dog! I get a treat from Mum/Dad!') than 'I really want to play rough-stuff with that dog but I must be good.' Or maybe with your dog you're aiming for 'Meh, it's a dog but right now isn't one of the times I get to play so it's no big deal.'

After he's been lunging or barking at another dog, I'd treat him as soon as he's calmed down and you're walking on. You don't have to see all treats as 'rewards'. They can work very well if your dog simply knows that if he sees a dog, he gets a treat. Jasper still looks at me for a treat when we walk past any dog, even when he had no intention of responding to it in the first place, but that's OK. It's only kibble, and it makes him feel good. I do draw the line when he tries to extend it to people as well, just in case it works

Have a lovely holiday!

[Lotsaquestions]

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[JudyN]

knowing my luck we'll do a short hike somewhere quiet and run into a dog walking event with twenty spaniels all play bowing at him. I think we'll see the first documented case of spontaneous combustion in dogs if that happened.

He's gorgeous! I can't believe he can ever be any less than perfect!

You're doing just great and your diligence and awareness of his feelings will really pay off even if it takes a while to see the signs, and some days everything seems to go wrong. If possible, try to avoid pulling him away from other dogs but to wait him out, unless the alternative is him going completely postal. I say this because Jasper is too big to pull away by force and when younger this could have triggered a tantrum directed at me because of his levels of frustration (though in this case this would be in response a dog he wanted to duff up, or possibly a crust of bread just out of reach he wanted to eat).

[Lotsaquestions]

Just before I go away, I wondered what the best way is to help him with scary things. He is definately in some sort of fear period, and got very frightened by another plastic bag under a car, and a couple coming up behind us with some shopping. Normally he's oblivious to these things. I tend to just click when he looks at it then give him something tasty, which normally works, but didn't work with the bag under the car and he was really growling at it. Because we're going to stay in a new house, in a new place, I want to make sure I look after him during his fear period.

[JudyN]

Again, I'm not an expert... but what I tend to do is let Jasper think about the scary trigger, and move away if he chooses to. Normally, it's a dustbin lorry, though it's happened with a helium balloon. Sometimes we'll choose to walk in the other direction, occasionally he will choose to walk past it rapidly, but it's his decision - and things are always less scary when you're in control.

So I think you're doing the right thing by letting him look at it, but also walk him away from it if he's happier with that. Have a read-up on behaviour adjustment therapy (BAT): http://www.training-your-dog-and-you.co ... ining.html

One caveat - I was searching the forum for information on BAT and found a post by Nettle in which she said:

I'd like to underline that we need to be driven by what the dog thinks is safe or unsafe if it is to trust us. It's no good taking a 'don't be silly,that's a nice dog/child/python' attitude. If the dog says it is scared, we need to listen, and take it to a Safe Place, which is the distance at which the dog feels safe. That's why I don't use LAT or BAT. In the right hands these are great but there is too much scope for someone less perceptive to keep the dog too close to trigger. If a dog is too close and gets scared then faith in the handler is seriously affected.

So err on the side of moving away!

I assume you'll be taking Merlin's bed, which should help him settle. I would guess that the more familiar items you take (toys, blankets, food bowls, etc.), and the more you can stick to his usual routines the better.

[Lotsaquestions]

Oh god, I didn't know that! He still comes back to me when he's really frightened so I hope I haven't lost that trust. His 'safe space' is between my legs, and I've taught him 'peekaboo' and 'hide' and made them really nice places to be. I use it if he's getting over excited or stressed, or just in a new environment (on a bus, for example) that he might get worried about. A few times now he's sprant back to me and hid there when off lead. I'll be very careful with LAT in future to take him away first, then look at a distance.

[JudyN]

His 'safe space' is between my legs, and I've taught him 'peekaboo' and 'hide' and made them really nice places to be. I use it if he's getting over excited or stressed, or just in a new environment (on a bus, for example) that he might get worried about. A few times now he's sprant back to me and hid there when off lead.

Oh that's brilliant - both that you have 'made' a safe place which will always be available, and that he chooses to come back to you if something's scary. You are way ahead of most new dog owners. And most long-time owners, come to that.

Remember - follow your instincts rather than following advice to the letter. If you're pretty sure he's comfortable looking at the scary thing from a distance, you probably don't need to insist on moving away. It may well be enough if he knows that he can move away if he needs to.

[Lotsaquestions]

He did fantastic in a new place generally speaking. His barking in general is getting a little worse. He now consistently barks at nothing when he's just really excited. No pulling or lunging just strolling along barking.

We also ended up getting ALOT of practise with dogs whilst on holiday. Our village was dog heaven, they were everywhere in every shop and cafe and behind every corner. Then on the walks, in the middle of nowhere, he still managed to find some. After all the practise, he now barks at dogs as he passes them and whines, but looks at me after he passes waiting for a treat. He's also getting a little better at being able to break away from a dog after a greeting, and we've always followed a '3 second rule' that our IMDT trainer told us to do. 3 seconds of greeting on a lead if it comes to it then lead them away and reward. So he does understand passing dogs = reward, but just can't contain himself whilst passing them. I assume this is very much an age thing and I hope him looking at me for a treat is a sign I am doing the right thing, and I'm not accidently rewarding his display!

Unfortunately his mouthing on my OH is getting worse. We've been trying the time outs, shoving toys in his face, and praising when he does something instead of mouths, but it doesn't seem to be sinking in in regards to my OH. He is mouthing harder and harder, to the point where he's also applying pressure (he has fantastic bite inhibition usually with people and dogs). There has been no bruising or anything yet, but he really chomps his jeans (and so his legs), and play growls / attention barks. My OH plays zero rough games with him, always flirt pole or fetch. It generally happens when Merlin is tired but is struggling to settle, or when he needs a poo. Does it generally get worse before it gets better?

[JudyN]

I assume this is very much an age thing and I hope him looking at me for a treat is a sign I am doing the right thing

Yes, I'm sure it is just his age. He's getting the idea of what you want him to do, but hasn't yet got the self-control to do it much of the time, like a toddler left alone with a chocolate cake.

Does it generally get worse before it gets better?

Yes, you'll be glad to hear it does It's called an extinction burst - if you search the forum (actually I've just done one for you: search.php?keywords=extinction+burst&te ... mit=Search) there's a lot of mentions. Basically, he's thinking 'That didn't have the result I wanted - I'll have to try harder.' And the fact that he's doing it at specific times again suggests that it's a developmental thing where he's not quite in control of his behaviour yet.

Also, after a change of scene, his arousal levels will be a little high. Jasper used to have relapses on holiday and took a week or so to get back to 'normal' when we got home.

[Lotsaquestions]

The mouthing WAS especially worse when we got back, so I assume that was his higher arousal levels playing a part too. He just couldn't settle at all even when exhausted, we had to put him in his playpen just to force downtime so he could relax which we've never had to do before. When he was a pup he would go in his crate on his own whenever he needed a nap. He also hates the car and gets very travel sick so the long journey along winding roads took alot out of him, so we've been doing everything low-key for a few days since being back incase the stress from the car was still inside of him.

We'll keep on doing what we've been doing with the barking, and I hope in a few months time I can come back here and say it worked! At the moment people joke they can hear us coming, because he just walks along merrily barking when we get close to somewhere he likes Luckily he's small and cute and its very obvious he's just excited so most people just laugh, only a handful of scorning 'control your dog' glances.

[Shalista]

oh those "control your dog" glances =P i get them all the time. Bax lunges at the end of his leash to get pets and snuggles. he used to be super shy so i never trained him to be polite because i never thought it would be an issue now i'm just so happy to see him being social i cant bear to teach him manners

[Lotsaquestions]

@Shalista I feel like I should tattoo 'Sorry, I'm trying!' onto my forehead sometimes lol. Luckily for me with people Merlin decides he has to meet he just sits down and looks too cute for them to pass him by. If they still walk past him he just goes all wiggly and waggy and sniffs the general air around them lol. He learnt pretty quick barking at people made them go away, unfortunately barking at dogs has often got them to play!

I know its not been long since I last posted, but this week I've seen a huge turnaround in him. He is barking at dogs alot less (passed five dogs today without barking), and is also more polite in how he greets the ones he does get to meet. However, the barking has been replaced by... Sitting down and waiting! He stares at the dogs, sitting down (since he learnt pretty quickly this is how I let him greet dogs in the park), and won't budge until they've either gone out of range, or he gets a sniff. Progress?

He is still humping though, and no matter how much I interrupt that he doesn't seem to be getting the message. Please tell me he will eventually get the message! He's takes corrections well from dogs, and I make sure the owners know he's a humper before hand just incase he tries it on, but he is pretty persistant. If a dog he's playing with should dare lay or sit down, he's in there like lightning. I've never actually let it get to thrusting, but he's got the 'throw paws on quickly before mummy sees' down to an art form. If I manage to catch him with just one paw a simple 'Merlin... No' seems to work then he gets chicken when he 'dismounts' but if he gets two paws on he's staying put and gets a bit growly (frustrated) when I pull him off. The growl isn't directed at me, sometimes its at the humpee (redirected frustration, but they never seen to take it as anything aggressive and come back for more as I'm 'time outing' Merlin ). Generally I take it as a 'BUT MUUUM' growl and he has only ever done it when I interrupt humping and it isn't teeth baring or deep. He's immediately fine afterwards, and frankly a bit relieved he's snapped out of, what I call, his 'hump trance'.

Is there anything else I can do to slow down his mounting? I'm worried it might end up in a fight what with him growling when I take him away. I have noticed he's more prone to it with unknown girl dogs (ones he knows he doesn't try it on) or when he's clearly tired so I am preventing it as much as possible. He doesn't seem to be aggressive about it, as when he was corrected by his friend the other day he immediately dropped into a play bow and they had a blast.

[JudyN]

He really is a quick learner, isn't he? I haven't any advice for the humping other than what you're doing but just wanted to share that I did consider getting a t shirt that said, 'I'm sorry, he's only a puppy'

[Lotsaquestions]

Oh god yeah, or a learner badge strapped to his harness!

He learns too quickly for his(our) own good sometimes. He learnt that he got more chicken when he did a poo on a walk, so he started to just hold it in until he was so insufferable (biting, barking, inability to settle) we took him on a 'poo walk'. So then we stopped giving him chicken for walk poos, but he decided the idea of a walk is valuable enough to kick up a fuss about needing a poo. We've tried everything to break the habit, but he will literally hold it in the entire day and will not sleep or relax until he has a poo walk. So now he has up to four walks a day, two normal ones appropriate for his age, and two really short poo walks to the end of our street if he still needs to go. I guess it keeps the garden nicer