hi guys,
i know, first thing you are going to say...puppies are excitable!
one of my problems is that my puppy (8 1/2 months) gets very excitable when we go for walks. he is also very afraid of lots of things, mainly motorcycles and any kind of different noise or change along the walk. iorek will stare and stare and STARE at any kind of change. the other day a man was in the bus shelter and he never saw any one in the shelter before so he stared at him all down one side of the street, across the street, and down the bus shelter side of the street. he even turned around stared at the poor man while i tried to get him to walk down the street. iorek will also drop his head and stare and dogs as they approach. there is no aggression in his behaviour at all, but i am afraid that another dog might not see this. iorek is actually afraid of a lot of dogs until he warms up to them. he will scoot his tail under his bum and scoot around me but then he will realize that there is nothing to be afraid of and invite play with the other dog. iorek will get very afraid when something goes by, like a person on a bike or rollerblades, or a motorcycle. he gets very jumpy and will try to bolt away. also, when we cross the street he will jump up and almost trip me every time. he grabs the leash and jumps all around like a lunatic. it was so bad that a man stuck his head out the window of his truck the other day and told me that ritalin will help him! as soon as we are on the other sidewalk he stops. sometimes he will get excited in a playful way, not scared, and jump up and nip at my arms and the leash and my hands. i do not invite play at these times, he just seems to think that it is time to play.
so...
here is what i have tried so far...
when we first got him he was completely under socialized, he was 4 1/2 months and not even outside before we took him home.
he was afraid of everything! walking him was so difficult. we wanted to get him out as much as we possibly could, get him exposed to as much as we could. all of the things that i had heard about a scared dog was that you had to ignore the behaviour or you would reinforce it. so, i tried to walk him down the street almost dragging him behind me, trying so hard to ignore him. it really hurt me to do this. we did it for about a week, and he got worse and worse, so bad that we couldn't walk him at all. then we went to obedience, which we thought would benefit everyone since he is the first dog for my husband and i since we have been on our own. my obedience trainer told me that there is new thinking about ignoring this kind of behaviour. she said that now they think that you have to calm the fear and make the doggie more confident. we switched it up completely and calmed his fears and it turned around completely. with our trainer we have come so far. we have really helped his confidence. we used clicker training and lots of rewards, food and real world rewards.
i try to get iorek to do some work for my when i know that scary things are coming. i will get him to go through the things that he has learned in obedience. i thought that if he had a job to do it would keep his mind off what is coming. this sometimes works, but for the most part he will stop paying attention to me and just stare at what scared or he will try to bolt. when he is like this he is gone, he can't come back to me. i read bones would rain from the sky and decided to try one thing she mentioned in the book. when he is gone i will wiggle the leash, say his name, ruffle his fur, whatever, until he puts his attention back to me. then i will reward him, usually with play or a treat. it takes a long time sometimes...
as for the play on the walk that is not invited. i hold his harness so he can't jump like a nutcase and tell him no firmly. we walk like this for about 10 feet and by then he is fine to go back to walking like a normal doggie.
i just don't know what to do about the nervousness. and the walking across the street. it is so embarrassing for me! it doesn't help that i look much younger than i am so people look at me like i shouldn't probably have the dog. one woman even invited us in her house so my dog could play with her dog!! her dog who approached iorek with a stiff tail and stiff legs and his hackles raised and then growled at iorek. i told her that i don't think that her dog likes iorek and she said, no, he wants to play!!
i was thinking i would try tellington ttouch and see if that helps to calm him. i am planning on getting a book.
does anyone else deal with these sort of problems? what did you do to help solve it? i would love any advice.
oh, i should also mention that iorek is afraid of people, i am not sure if i mentioned it above. we also put him in daycare about once a week to help get him used to being around other people and other dogs. he is so scared when we first bring him there that he has to be carried in the door. then i have to go with the people there to the gate so he will go with them. but they say that after about 5 minutes he is having a blast with the other dogs. but he is still nervous of the people, it is the same people all the time and after about 4 months he is still nervous. he is also still afraid of our trainer!
thank you all! sorry for the extremely LONG post!
