Readers Respond: How Have You Dealt With Dog Behavior Issues?

Note: This is a place to share your own stories (hopefully successful) to help others learn. If you need help with your own dog's behavior problems, this is not the best place for it. Visit The Dog Park, a forum where you can ask hundreds of dog lovers for opinions and assistance.

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Barking Irish Setter

I watch a 3 year old boy and a 1 1/2 year old Irish Setter...his name is Chester...I love them both dearly. When I arrive to watch them Chester starts barking, non stop, the owner tells me he only does this with me. I have been doing it all wrong. I was the yelling maniac, until it hurt my throat.....then realizes he was talking to me, but the problem is I don't understand dog and seems he doesn't know the English language.... It is driving me crazy....but now I have some good advise from this website.....he does this because he knows I will play with him, throw the ball, yell run Chester run...he does the basic commands for me.....so he needs more excercise when I am not here....I am only here two days a week. So I am going to try to reassure him that I will play and be his friend but only if he doesn't try to talk to me about it all the time.....He is a beautiful dog and very smart....so now with some knowledge why he barks I hope that I am on my way to finding the answer.

—grandmacarol24

barking dog

we moved house in april to a nice quite cul-de-sac, our dog had been quite loud at our last address, however there were 3 dogs very close to us that were much more louder than our dog, this set our dog off. We knew that he would be quieter at our new address however he was not quite enough for one neighbour who reported us, the council came to see us about it and we said we would sort out the problem. firstly we had him castrated, then we purchased a training collar to quite him down even more, we have built a fence in the back garden at a cost of £600 so he has lots of room to run and play, he now barks on average 4 times per day when somebody comes to the door etc, ie postman, this barking lasts on average 15 seconds each time, he never barks at night, i was shocked and angry recently to get a letter from the council saying our dog had been reported again, what can i do in my defence and defence of the dog, the person reporting our dog is now lying but how can we prove this.

—Guest john

separation anxiety

When I get home from work my dog lets me know he wants to play. He goes and gets his ball (a old flat basketball) and brings it to me. He also jumps up and sometimes even grabs my hand in his mouth without biting down. I usually tell him to let me put up my stuff . He stands at the door and waits for me to put my laptop up then I go outside and play with him. When we are done playing we sit on a bench on the porch and he pushes his head under my arm and tries to get me to pet him . I usually do and if I stop he will use his paw and pull my hand back to him. So I keep petting him. I do this because I love him and he seems to love me. If we go for a walk he stays close enough to keep me in sight. I have gone about a quarter mile from the house before and could hear him howling, he is part siberian husky, and I would howl back to let him know I haven't gone too far. My wife gets mad at me for doing this but can see we have a bond. He protects her as well when she is outside.

—Guest David Bean

Misbehavior While Driving

If my dog misbehaves in the car while I'm driving, I squirt her with water as soon as possible given the driving conditions. I keep a plant sprayer handy in a cup holder. If she goes through a period of lots of VERY bad behavior, I'll add a small amount of vinegar to the mixture (about 1 tsp. / quart). It's safe (or so I've read many places online) and the smell of the vinegar remains on her for awhile reminding her to be good. Note that I tried a bunch of squirt guns, however they all leaked. :-( Now my dog rarely makes a ruckus in the backseat when we're going to new places and in about a month I hope to be able to take the squirt bottle out of the car.

—LauraAndRiver

Trying my best

I became aware that my dog was barking excessively when a neighbor left a note on my garage containing very foul language. Prior to that, it had been nearly a year since I had any sort of complaint. I immediately purchased 2 ultrasonic bark deterrents as a first step. Several months pass, I think these are working, even asked a couple neighbors if there was a problem. Just received a notice in the mail from township that there have been several dog barking complaints and that neighbors have tried contacting and sending letters. Ummm, no.....I have heard nothing but since that disrespectful note. So I am going to try a spray collar. Hopefully I will avoid fines since now I have very few days to try and correct this problem that I thought was fixed. So, if you have a problem with your neighbors dogs, don't be a COWARD. Go tell them and be nice about it. I am willing to do what it takes to remedy the problem but I need to know that it exists to do so.

—Guest Cme

OOOMMMGGG!!!!!!

just wanted to say, speaking dog language is easier to adapt to then turning your life into a corprol control exitence.i can make your choice but i say this. i am so roaring with bittersweet laughter when i recall the day my not quite mature irish setter, i named him doobie, well in1978 it had multiple definitions. his name was given to me when i considered a myraid of information. no i did not name hime after a rock band, or in any reference to what at the time were using to talk about marijuana wrapped in a rolling paper, every generation calls it something different.. the day DOOBIE ate an entire room.i , not knowing any better, left him in a 12X12 bedroom, my reasoning was for his own safety, my dog my responsibility, not my roommates. so i thought i came up with the master plan for he and i as i needed to be at work. it was a basic room 2 windows , sliding closet doorwarm shag carpeting.he destroyed every item, but he was not hurt. he chewed up a bed, mattress and box spring,

—Guest bunny robin

Home Alone Puppies

I owned 2 cocker puppies - 6 months apart. I had scheduled a day and time for a tree to be cut down. They came early - at a time I was at work. The dogs went ballistic and ate a sofa and love seat. Yep. Right down to the frame. I got mad a them. I should have gotten mad at me. I've learned alot since those first two dogs.

—Guest Maureen M

Barking Dog

Congratulations on doing something proactive to stop your dog barking. We live next to a reserve and there is a fire track behind our home which walkers and dog owners use frequently. Residents who work leave their dogs in the yard all day. The dogs bark at every person who walks on the track. So it is not one dog barking but many, spoiling our quality of life. It is a no-win situation if we try to bring up the problem with the owners. In our experience, dog owners are completely selfish. The Council regulations for the track behind us clearly state all dogs must be on a leash. Yet on average 1 in 100 are leashed, because dog owners do what they want. If we point our politely the ruling, we are subjected to abuse. I believe that Councils should require all dog owners to use bark collars where there is a proven complaint.

—Guest Jenny

Barking Dog

There is few things that are more irritating than having to listen to your neighbors Dog Barking for hours on end. Wanting to be a good neighbor, I bought a bark collar after much debate with my better half. Even he had to admit he wished we would have done so long ago. It worked better than I even anticipated.

—Guest Mrs Boisblanc

Good dog turned bad

My normally good shepard/bloodhound & our very meek Australian Shepard, who always seemed to enjoy being with our 3 little dogs suddenly mauled & killed the eldest, weakest little dog. They had all been inside/outside dogs, but we recently fenced in our back yard. Didn't see the attack happen, so don't know the details. Just found him dead. The little dog sometimes growled and chased the big dog, but had no teeth and the big dog seemed to see it as a game. The big dog was prone to jumping a lot. The little dog's back was broken, but he had been chewed on quite a bit. The little dog had been rescued from the woods, while we raised the big dog from a puppy and he had a very gentle nature normally. The little dog had been thrown up against the skirting of our home at one point. We euthanized the 2 big dogs as we have the other 2 little dogs to protect. It has left a big hole in our little family.

—Guest D. Gray

dog aggression

My Border Collie was bred and produced puppies of which I kept one. This puppy, unlike her mom, did not like to chase toys, balls, fetch, tug, etc. and was content to be inside enjoying whatever attention she could get. Only thing she enjoys is herding. Mom passed. Noticed this pup started giving 'the look' and curling her lip at LGD. He refused to engage her. Then fence fought with neighbors GS until one day was attacked needing vet care. LGD (Pyrenees) passed. Got 6 mo. Anatolian. BC threatens her all the time. When I am playing with AS she snaps at her. I began to tell her to sit each time she threatened AS then ignore her for a few seconds while praising AS. Then releasing her. If she behaved for a bit, praise, praise, praise her. If threatens again, command sit & repeat. I am seeing improvement. Thankfully my AS refuses to engage most of time as 85 pounds to 35 pounds is not much of a contest. I do despair that the BC will never be 100% trustworthy.

—Guest annette

Nervous Aggression

I rehomed my german shepherd bitch at 2yrs and she was ok with dogs but could get aggressive with some ppl dependent on how they approached her (especially men). It was a steep learing curve for me but i found some basic training put her at ease straight away and slowly afterwards we got her under control until she is now a big softy and a lovely family pet. The basics were as follows. Always be the first to walk through thresholds, gates, doors etc (if excitable make sit and wait then go through and call). Always walk to heal never let her pull. When i stop walking she should sit and wait patiently. Never feed her titbits or off yr plate ONLY out of her own dish. She sleeps in her bed NOT MINE and not my furniture. Her toys are MY TOYS and i can have them when i want. Ignore bad behavior and praise good behaviour. if she became anxious she would rub up to me (or jump up) for a stroke/guidance. I would hold her on her lead firmly until we passed the object of anxiety and then praise.

—Guest chix

Get Professional Help

My Staffy was out of control. He hated visitors, growled at us if we went near him if he was on his bed, we were hostages in our own house and were on the verge of getting rid of him. We had a professional in to help us. Actually we tried a few people and one large franchise, but got nowhere. Eventually we stumbled on James Conroy. He was a behaviourist, not a dog trainer. He told us a lot of info we needed to know, but more importantly, he showed us in a hands on was what to do and how to do it. We saw him a couple of times and can happily report that we are now in charge, pack leaders, and have what was missing from Harley...respect. We learned we can love him just as much, but at the right time and for the right behaviour. We know about pack structure and how dogs think, and what they need from us to be happy and balanced. We also know this has nothing to do with dog training and obedience! Harley was very well trained! He was just the boss! My advice is get a professional in.

—Guest LT Online

cameron

My dog is a border collie and is 3. We have had her since 6weeks old. When she was 3 months old she broke her leg and had to keep her in a dog cage. Since then she seem to be aggressive. You can not touch her paws without her turning round and trying to nip you. If we take her to the vets. She has to be sedate before the vet can get near her. If she gets socks and goes under the bed you cannot get them back. She becomes very aggressive and will go for you if you try. You sometimes don't know when you can tickle her on the stomach. We feel she does not trust us. She is very insecure. She does not like the tumble dryer or the cooker. We have come to the point where we don't know what to do for the best. She does seem to getting more aggressive. She is extremely clever and can be very loving. When she goes to nip she then goes into a corner. She know's it is wrong

—Guest michelle

barking dog

Remove the dog to another room, from the situation only if he or another is in danger...a child, etc. A firm " - not loud - "NO" from you and distraction should be enough, but may need repeating...

—Guest prince-gray