Hi there My elderly mother is coming on holiday with us and our bouncy 11 month old Bonnie. One week in an open plan house. Bonnie is lovely when calm, but gets very excited still, and tends to jump up and go hyper with her mouth open, she’s not actually biting, but in her crazy moments when people fuss her, she can and does get you with her teeth. There will be lots of visitors and family coming and going, so the potential for a stressful holiday is starting to really concern me. So my question is really about managing the whole situation. Would it be a good idea to attach a short house line to her collar, and putting a muzzle strap or halti or head collar around her for those moments. I’ve heard that Haltis can rise up and hurt their face/eyes. Is there something else that I can use for hyper situations so that no one gets upset. What do you think? Bonnie is being spayed 2 weeks before we go, will she be back in full craziness by then? I need to keep her as calm and managed as I can. Thanks all
Bonnie should, indeed, be back to full craziness 2 weeks after her spay. Attaching a house line to her collar is a good idea, it will help you manage her, but you'll still have to be on top of things all the time. I certainly wouldn't use a head collar in this situation - I can't see that would help at all. They can be useful on a walk if your dog is a puller AND you cannot risk jolting/injury to yourself, but otherwise, no - I wouldn't use a head collar. I'd just resign myself to it perhaps not being a very relaxing holiday for you this time.
When we go to visit our parents with the pup we keep a house line on him because they both have open plan houses and he can wander all over the place... especially at the in-laws massive house. He usually ends up in the kitchen supervising though.
I would work on boundary training ASAP, rewarding her for going to a designated area, such as a dog bed, AND for being calm and disengaged when there. This all takes time though, and with the upheaval of her spay operation, maybe crate training would be something to work on in the meantime. A houseline is a good idea, attached to a collar or preferably a harness, where you can take hold of the harness, not trying to grab a collar if lunging.
Thank you, yes I might need a holiday afterwards ha ha! I’ve bought a houseline this afternoon, I will have to watch her with it because left with any lead she chews through them, but it will give me something to stamp in if she tries to jump up. I’m going to have to make sure she gets lots of excersise and get the kids to play structured games with her. Thanks for your help
Thanks, we have been doing boundary games for a while, using a mat, this seems to work well, but all breaks down with visitors and excitement, she just can’t stay settled with distractions, I guess I mean it’s not proofed. We are taking her crate with us, but so far I’ve only used it as a sleeping spot, just for bedtime and when we go out. Maybe I need to re-invent this as a boundary too? So that the big gate on the crate is always open during the day and reward her for using that as a boundary as well as bed? Do you think it can be both? I don’t usually give her food/kongs /treats in her bed, just to keep it clean really. Thanks for your help, look forward to hearing what you think.
Has Bonnie ever been around an elderly person? You may be surprised (hopefully) that she gets it and does not jump on them. All of our dogs seemed to have picked up on this, though perhaps at a little more than 11 months old.
She sees my Mum quite regularly, but is always so excited that she’s a bit boisterous, it’s quite stressful, she does calm down when the novelty wears off. I’m hoping that when we are all in the same house, Bonnie forgets the “visitor excitement” and just gets on with her, like normal family life. My Mums quite old Skool in regards to her approach to dog training, she raises her voice at her if she misbehaves, so that ramps Bonnie up even more, it’s difficult. You may say why on earth are we taking them both on holiday together, it’s complicated, family.... wish me luck!
Yikes! And good luck! I agree that the head collar won't do anything to help - it's not a muzzle so wouldn't prevent the nipping anyway. I really like @Beanwood 's idea of a designated area. I've had great results with my more hyper fosters and crates. Even as a 10 minute time out to have a calming down period is really helpful. For the cleanliness issue, I use vet bed in the base of the crate and then old large beach towels for the messy stuff (I feed raw bones in the crate for my foster). The towel goes in for messy meals and as soon as the food is gone, I just pop the towel in the wash and leave the vet bed. It's been working really well.
