My husband and I adopted a 10 month old female puppy 3 weeks ago from a young couple who did not have time for her. We are retired and lost our beloved dog last year and decided it was time for a new pet. She is part Husky, Cocker Spaniel, Australian Cattle plus a mix. The former owner had a DNA done on her. The good qualities about her, she is house-trained, sleep well (with us) and is eating. The negative items is she goes into a what call a "snit"....when we are eating or at the table she barks at us, jumps on us, growls and tries to bite us. We have tried to sweet talk her, tried harsh voice with her, try to pet her and calm her, put her in the bathroom for 5 minutes, put her outside....nothing is working. She is hyper and loves to run around. We have a fenced in yard, built her a dog house, walk her every day (not very good on the leash and doesn't like other dogs), play ball with her and then every now and then she goes into this "snit". At this time, professional training is not available (because of the crisis), and my husband feels we can get control, it will just take time. When she's not in her "snit", she's lovable and funny. Any suggestions?
Firstly give it time. 3 weeks is nothing.
We adopted George last year. For his entire 18 months he had been fed kitchen scraps plus dry kibble to make up the weight,
He had a long line in the garden which allowed him to do what he wanted including running to the fence and barking to get attention.
One point is that trying lots of different training methods wont help it will just confuse your dog so choose one method and stick to it.
To avoid the barking we chose 'look at me' if we saw another dog or person we asked George to 'look at me'holding a small treat at face level, of course he would look at the treat and the other person or dog would walk by and then we would treat. Gradually he learned to look at me without being cued and now as long as he doesnt bark when passing another dog/person he gets a treat. Also when greeting another dog as long as he doesnt bark he is allowed interaction ( not now with covid19 of course) if he barks we walk away if he does well ie; no barking he gets a treat.
The food issue; because he had been used to human food any movement in the kitchen triggered him. He assumed any movement or activity in the kitchen meant he might get food so we made sure that the kitchen was closed to him except when he was getting food. and giving human food treats stopped the moment he came through our door. He gets dog food (we feed raw) and dog treats. NO scraps.
At first he would pester us at the table. But sheer persistance in saying NO and sending him away from the table has worked and he will now just lie on his bed or the chair and sleep while we eat. OH made food last week and panicked because when he looked round George was no where to be seen... He thought George had escaped but he was still sleeping in his bed as he now knows that food prep is nothing to do with him and there is no point in begging. But every time you give in you take 10 steps back.
A good online trainer on youtube is kikopup all positive and very clear, Dog Training by Kikopup
Firstly give it time. 3 weeks is nothing.
We adopted George last year. For his entire 18 months he had been fed kitchen scraps plus dry kibble to make up the weight,
He had a long line in the garden which allowed him to do what he wanted including running to the fence and barking to get attention.
One point is that trying lots of different training methods wont help it will just confuse your dog so choose one method and stick to it.
To avoid the barking we chose 'look at me' if we saw another dog or person we asked George to 'look at me'holding a small treat at face level, of course he would look at the treat and the other person or dog would walk by and then we would treat. Gradually he learned to look at me without being cued and now as long as he doesnt bark when passing another dog/person he gets a treat. Also when greeting another dog as long as he doesnt bark he is allowed interaction ( not now with covid19 of course) if he barks we walk away if he does well ie; no barking he gets a treat.
The food issue; because he had been used to human food any movement in the kitchen triggered him. He assumed any movement or activity in the kitchen meant he might get food so we made sure that the kitchen was closed to him except when he was getting food. and giving human food treats stopped the moment he came through our door. He gets dog food (we feed raw) and dog treats. NO scraps.
At first he would pester us at the table. But sheer persistance in saying NO and sending him away from the table has worked and he will now just lie on his bed or the chair and sleep while we eat. OH made food last week and panicked because when he looked round George was no where to be seen... He thought George had escaped but he was still sleeping in his bed as he now knows that food prep is nothing to do with him and there is no point in begging. But every time you give in you take 10 steps back.
A good online trainer on youtube is kikopup all positive and very clear, Dog Training by Kikopup
Thank you so much for your advice. I will watch the video on You Tube. My husband keeps telling me to be patience. So I will try harder. Actually, she is very lovable except the barking and biting. Today she was better, I hope everyday it will get better. Thank you for your words of encouragement.
@JoEllen Im glad it helped...
Another thing that helps (not essential but helpful) is understanding why your dog does something, so we understood that Georges barking wasnt agression but attention seeking , he was lonely in that garden all alone..
His food fetish is never knowing how many calories he will get or what kind of food but just knowing that kitchen= food and the more he begged the more likely he was to get something. Seeing things from his point of view helps you tackle them and I know that yelling shut up doesnt work...
Once you understand the drive you can really understand how to deal with it which is not to say its easy and if anyone can work out the magic word to stop George pulling like a train Id love to hear it. His prey drive is unlike anything Ive ever seen so we are still working on that!
Just trying to say many of us have been where you are with rescues and we have got through it learned to adapt or re-train and found that we have wonderful dogs.. This is a photo of my last three..All rescues, all had baggage and yet all turned into wonderful family dogs.
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