Crazy Adolescent Collie/Staffy

[jamisond]

Hello all,

I adopted Violet almost one year ago (it will be exactly one year in April) and she was very sweet and mellow. A few days after being acclimated to our home, she turned into her true self - an energetic, jumping, tugging, sweet but emotionally trying puppy. She was seven months then, or so everyone guessed, so she's over a year now. When she's not interested in playing, she's a very good dog. But when she suddenly decided that it's time to play, she jumps at you, grabs your clothes, tugs and rips fabric, and sometimes gums your arms. She has bitten down a few times, when she's extremely excited. It's hard to engage her in play without exciting her too much. She's especially rough with my younger sister, I suspect because she's not at home as often as I am and it's more of a novelty.

As she is partially border collie, she obviously has a lot of energy to burn off. I'm afraid that her rough play is telling me that she's not getting enough of that energy burned during the day, and she might be more gentle otherwise. What do you think? My clothes have suffered enough holes.

Her daily routine has switched up a bit, now that I've found myself laid off for a while. In the morning she is let outside to do her business. Sometimes she wishes to stay outside for a bit and watch the squirrels. Then she receives about a cup of dry food for breakfast. We were using Orijen, but that became too expensive for my budget, so now we use Taste of the Wild. She receives a second cup later on in the day, between lunch and dinner. She also gets treats in her Kong. Since I have the time now, she gets to spend more time outside to run around the yard and explore. (Unfortunately, that also means that her feet are perpetually muddy.) She doesn't get as many walks as she should, mainly because I am more tired than she is after we're done. She is distracted by everything, and will pull for almost the entire 30 minutes that we are out. Despite her energy, she will take a few naps on the couch throughout the day. And, whenever I have errands, I take her with me. She adores car rides.

Violet knows general commands like sit, stay, come, etc. She even knows that 'bathtub' means to jump in so I can wash her feet off. If I could harness her energy, I might be able to convince my family that she actually is the good dog I profess her to be.

[Sarah83]

What exercise does she get other than out in the garden? A 30 minute leash walk is NOTHING to a collie Mine would have just been getting warmed up at that point. Staffies tend to have a lot of energy too in my experience. What about mental stimulation?

I've just taken on a 9 month old Lab and I can really sympathise with the pulling. Spencer is a nightmare! I'm sure my arms are 3 times longer than they were Thursday morning. Take a look at the loose leash walking thread here
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=858
I had great success with the method described in the first post with my last dog and am intending to start it with Spencer tomorrow.

For the biting I'm redirecting Spencer to a toy when he does it, this works 100% of the time with him so far but he's a Lab so naturally inclined to hold things apparently. With Rupert this sometimes worked and sometimes I had to leave the room for 10 seconds, go back in and try again. The problem is EVERYONE needs to be doing the same thing and it needs to be done EVERY time otherwise all you teach is that the behaviour sometimes works and sometimes doesn't which actually results to it increasing.

[JudyN]

Unfortunately, just having access to a large garden does little to tire out a dog, particulary one with collie in. As well as longer walks, she probably needs more mental stimulation. Have a look at the useful links thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11503 for threads on clicker training, impulse training, and exercising your dog's mind. For the biting, this thread on timeouts may help viewtopic.php?f=20&t=13934

How long will you be off work for, or is it indefinite? When you go back you may need to consider a dog walker during the day to help give her the stimulation she needs.

[Ari_RR]

Garden... back yard.. or in my case a fairly large fenced in area in the woods behind the house - those areas are good for toilet breaks, and excellent when you actually play games with the dog (fetching tennis balls, frisbee, flirt pole, etc).

But simply being there, I am afraid, is rather boring, and letting the dog out into the back yard cannot be viewed as an alternative to walks.
Walks give a lot more "food for thought", scents to explore, things to see.. not to mention the physical part of the walk... not to mention training that happens during the walk - simply (or not so simply) walking on leash, crossing streets, meeting other 4 and 2 legged creatures outside, learning commands in outdoors environment, recall...

I think she needs to get out a lot more, and burn her energy, rather then you looking for ways to harness it.
There is no magic here, she is a high energy girl, she needs those walks, physical and mental exercise. But the good thing is that you will have immediate results. This is not like dealing with behavioral issues or personality problems, which may take months or years. Start exercising her, and I suspect that you will see a remarkable change within just a couple of days.

Good luck!

[Horace's Mum]

I would agree that she needs more exercise, but be careful not to overstimulate her physically but not mentally - ohterwise it is easy to end up with a really fit bored dog instead of an unfit bored dog!! Try to combine the two, make her work during your walks, do lots of bits of training with her throughout the day - not just in training sessions, but every time you interact with her. Dogs learn constantly, so every single thing you do with her is a training opportunity. Use it - ask her to sit to have her lead on, ask her to sit while you open the door, ask her to wait for a few secs while you put her food down and then release her on your command - but I stress that none of this is to do with dominance, it is purely manners and oportunities to use "life rewards", ie rewards that aren't food or play, but things she wants to do anyway.

Make sure when you play with her that it is always under control, so you can stop and start when you ask her to, especially with tuggy - again, NOT because you need to dominate her, but because it helps to teach her to work with you and helps to prevent her getting more and more hyper. Tugging is a fantastic form of exercise and play, I do an awful lot of it with my dog (who is collie/whippet/??staffy) but we do lots of stopping and starting, and also things like stays and recalls using the tug as his reward.

Think up some other games to play, tricks to teach, have a look at clicker training for some fun stuff to do. Collies and staffies both thrive on using their brains, so engage that at home and you will find out on walks it is much easier to get her focus and will help towards stopping her pulling. The loose lead thread is fab, but you can break up your walks with little bits of other training too, to make it interesting and challenge her mind. Teaching her to come to heel, do close heelwork, spins, position changing, all of that can be used on walks to engage her brain and gain her focus - teach them all at home first until sh knows them well, and then start doing a couple of things every 5mins on a walk.

She is still young, collies take 3-4 years to fully mature, and I don't think staffies are an especially mature breed either! So playful behaviour will be there for a long time to come - mine is 7 now and still has his mad moments.

[jamisond]

Thank you all for your thoughts!

Usually I let her out in the back because it’s the best place for her to run. We don’t have any dog parks here, or large spaces where I can trust her to be safe running around, so I use the yard for that. Obviously, it shouldn’t be the main source of physical activity, but a two hour walk at her pace and pull might leave me without arms or legs. I’m attempting to construct my own agility equipment, because I think she might enjoy that.

I have tried clicker training, but she ended up being more interested in the clicker. And she chewed it to bits. When I give her treats I will set them on my leg, or somewhere near her, like on her foot, and have her wait until I give her the ‘ok’. I do the same thing every time I feed her. I have also tried having her sit and stay while I leave the room or walk around a corner, before giving her the command to come to me. She also likes hide and seek, with me or with treats that I’ve placed around the house.

Tugging is actually the only game she ever initiates. She’ll fetch a ball sometimes, but I think the only fun part for her is when I want her to drop it. She’d prefer that I try to pry it out of her mouth. I think that’s why she tugs on our clothes, because she wants to play. The only way to get her to stop is to lose that article of clothing and quickly leave the room (very difficult when it’s your pants) or swap for another tug-like toy. As with your dog, Horace’s Mum, I should probably use tug more often (with stopping and starting).

I would definitely have to start any heel work in doors, because once she’s outside her mind is completely invested in those horrible squirrels invading our property. Or the birds flying overhead.

SO - overall, she needs A LOT more walking and mental stimulation. I'll try a few things and keep everyone updated on her progress.

[Erica]

Stopping and starting tug is actually a great reward. Opal will do anything for a quick round of tug on her rope. It's pretty useful training. To start, you ask for a sit (or down or whatever; something easy that they know well). After that, you give verbal praise and show them the rope in a way that they know they're allowed to play with it. Tug for a bit, then ask for them to drop the rope.* Ask for a behavior, then repeat. It's great because the dog learns that "drop" doesn't mean the game is over, and they work hard for the fun game! Opal and Zeus love this game a lot.

*The way I taught my dogs "drop" was to be playing tug, then say "drop" and take a hold of the rope right on either side of their mouth, so they can't adjust without grabbing my hands instead. I then just follow their heads, so I'm not tugging but I'm not letting go. They learn pretty quickly that I get boring after I say "drop," so they drop the rope. Another way to do this would be to stop tugging, just drop the rope, then pull out another tug toy and make that one more interesting by jiggling it etc, then asking for a behavior before you tug with it. Other members here might have a technique that works better for you if these aren't effective!

You could probably find some good videos on YouTube...I'll have a look and put any good ones I find here.

Edit: Oh, misread your post! Still, I may as well leave this here. x3

[jamisond]

I'm glad there are some people who don't see tug as a horrible game to play with your dog. I wen to a Pet Smart when I was visiting my mother in the city, and a one of their trainers was handling a young boxer. We started talking about dogs in general and I told her about Violet. She asked what kind of games I played with her, and when I mentioned tug, she looked at me as if I had shot someone.

I will have to try dropping the tug and pulling out another one when I want to teach her how to "drop" the toy. She sometimes resembles a great white shark when she's tugging, so it might be best to just keep my fingers out of the way for the time being.

[wvvdiup1]

The next time your dog nips, gums, or whatever, you need to make two quick, high-pitched, one-syllable words such as "Uh Uh", such as when puppies play and one gets rough, the other puppy will make a similar sound or noise.

The other thing you must do is when your dog comes at you to jump on you is to use two words the same and none high-pitched, both one syllable, then fold your arms and turn your body two the side, but keeping your dog in your peripheral vision (don't give it attention), and wait until all four feet are on the floor or its butt on the floor. You're doing this to make yourself not interesting to the dog. If you don't, you will keep having problems with guests being jumped on when they come through your door.

Remember, keep one command consistent for one behavior. Therefore, you will have one different command for each different behavior. If you don't, it will confuse your dog.

[Ari_RR]

... a two hour walk at her pace and pull might leave me without arms or legs. I’m attempting to construct my own agility equipment, because I think she might enjoy that.

Agility equipment - great idea, i've been thinking about this too, but haven't gotten to it yet, plz share what you come up with.

Pulling - well, things like "no pull" harness (leash attached in the front) might be of help. But in addition, when I take my boy for a walk in the park, I have him on a 30 ft training leash.. Allows him freedom to run left, right, forward, backward without me having to follow his every step, or to constantly correct him. It should be fun for the dog, it's her walk after all.
And too many "Stop! No pulling! Come back here! Oh, my arm!!!" - that spoils the fun, I can testify to this..
Your arms hurt, you get frustrated, she senses that, and before you know it walk adds to stress (dog's and yours) instead of being a hour or so of enjoyment for both of you.

There are more then a few threads here on pulling...

[Sarah83]

I'm glad there are some people who don't see tug as a horrible game to play with your dog. I wen to a Pet Smart when I was visiting my mother in the city, and a one of their trainers was handling a young boxer. We started talking about dogs in general and I told her about Violet. She asked what kind of games I played with her, and when I mentioned tug, she looked at me as if I had shot someone.

According to some people tugging causes every behavioural problem known to man You wanna see their faces when I say I actually let my dog win!

Have you tried anything to help with the pulling? A headcollar or a harness where the leash attaches to the front might make her a lot easier to walk.

[jamisond]

The next time your dog nips, gums, or whatever, you need to make two quick, high-pitched, one-syllable words such as "Uh Uh", such as when puppies play and one gets rough, the other puppy will make a similar sound or noise.

The other thing you must do is when your dog comes at you to jump on you is to use two words the same and none high-pitched, both one syllable, then fold your arms and turn your body two the side, but keeping your dog in your peripheral vision (don't give it attention), and wait until all four feet are on the floor or its butt on the floor. You're doing this to make yourself not interesting to the dog. If you don't, you will keep having problems with guests being jumped on when they come through your door.

Remember, keep one command consistent for one behavior. Therefore, you will have one different command for each different behavior. If you don't, it will confuse your dog.

Oh goodness. I've tried the high pitched noise, but it makes her crazy! Any high pitched sound at all makes her even more excited, as if she thinks you're encouraging the behavior.

But in addition, when I take my boy for a walk in the park, I have him on a 30 ft training leash.. Allows him freedom to run left, right, forward, backward without me having to follow his every step, or to constantly correct him. It should be fun for the dog, it's her walk after all.

I recently took her to my father's house, because he lives on the edge of a field with a nice grassy boarder. I took the longest lead I had, about 20 ft, and walked up and down that with her. She'd never been back there before, so there were a lot of exciting smells. And of course dogs in their own fenced in yards. I swear she almost pulled my arm completely off when she spotted them. Not too many were excited to see her, but she was hoping to lure them into a game up 'run up and down the fence'. The long lead was more relaxing, but I'll still have to work on a shorter lead when we're walking on the road.

According to some people tugging causes every behavioural problem known to man You wanna see their faces when I say I actually let my dog win!

Have you tried anything to help with the pulling? A headcollar or a harness where the leash attaches to the front might make her a lot easier to walk.

I had a harness for her initially, but finding the right size is pretty difficult. She had a large chest but a small neck, sort of like a grey hound, so I haven't found once that adjusts correctly and looks comfortable yet.

IN OTHER NEWS: She's been getting more exercise, and she's starting to like playing fetch more in the yard. She'll actually let me have the ball half of the time. The other half, she'll bring it to me, take it away, and run circles around the yard with it in her mouth. To teach her to release the tug on command, I have been switching the toys up. Although, there are times when she's only interested in one and ignores the other completely.

Sometimes I wonder if she hijacks my computer when I'm sleeping, finds this forum, reads what people are suggesting I do, and purposely makes it her mission to sabotage my efforts. Silly pup.

[Ari_RR]

Sometimes I wonder if she hijacks my computer when I'm sleeping, finds this forum, reads what people are suggesting I do, and purposely makes it her mission to sabotage my efforts. Silly pup.

And who do you think types all the suggestions here? Oh, those poor, naive, trusting humans...

[Horace's Mum]

If she likes to play ball but won't give it up, then just have more than one ball and keep swapping them!!

I made some really simple jumps out of plumbing pipe - the 1" white stuff you can get in any DIY store. A few lengths of that and a couple of T junctions make a great base and then you just need to work out a way of attaching poles. I made some little jumps cups out of end caps cut in half lengthways screwed on to a clip (don't know what the clips are called, but they're for attaching the pipe to walls normally), so 2 clips and one end cap makes a pair of cups that can be moved up and down.

My bases are a metre wide, have 2 feet each made of 6"pipe connected with a T, the middle T is joined to a short (2") length of upright and then another T, with a bar connecting the two uprights. Then I have a longer upright on each side coming out of that T. Jump pole are just under a metre wide too, but cut a metre and squeeze them in, it's easier!!

Just remember jumping in a structured fashion is hard work and can be quite stressful on dogs' bodies, so start small and work up very gradually, and never jump dogs higher than they are easily comfortable with - just because they can jump a 6ft fence doesn't mean they should be jumping that regularly!! Keep sessions short and high reward and keep the dog calm and listening - don't let it get hyper just because it is jumping, work on control before and after the jumps.