Oakley is just now 10 mo old. He has really become a great puppy. We have overcome a lot of hurdles but we are still struggling with a few. One of them is is jumping up. When he gets very excited he will jump up like a kangaroo, for instance when we get home and come in the door. We always ignore him but he just jumps up on us. We don't really know how to get him to quit. He is no longer in a crate. Any suggestions on how to keep him from doing this?
Hi @mom2labs If you teach your to stay in a sit while you come in, then he can't jump up. Sitting is incompatible with being a kangaroo. You will need to do it in small steps. Get him to sit and stay when only one of you is coming in after being away for some time. The handler will be there to reward the sit for duration. Stop the rewards if he gets up. Then try it with two individuals. Then three? I don't know how many are in your family! But you get the idea. The real test will be when you are all arriving, and there is no one there to give the reinforcement. My suggestion is to do it gradually. Don't expect him to sit for very long. Give the cue to sit as one of you walks in. Grab the harness and prevent him from jumping if he too over-aroused to listen to your cue. Reward him while he sits. Have treats up high but near your front door.
Ok we will try that although I just don't know if we will be able to get him into a sit at that moment as he is so hyper when we come in but we will try that. We have been ignoring and not making our coming home a big deal.
I thought from your initial post that that technique wasn't working. And that is what had prompted you starting the thread. I understand that the dog is over-aroused when you come home. That's understandable. He is excited to see you. That is why I had suggested you initially make your departure very, very short--say 15 seconds. You can try what I suggested. Cue him to sit when you enter. Or just ignore him but change the way you are doing it. Don't try to implement the technique without gradually working up to the long departure. If the latter and he remained calm make it it 30 seconds. Then 45 seconds. So gradually increase the amount of time you are away so that he becomes relaxed about you coming home. When you leave are you giving him lots of things to do? Food stuffed Kongs? Other puzzle toys? Have you filmed your dog to see what he does when you depart for some length of time? It would be extremely interesting to know how he is behaving for the first 30 to 60 minutes after your departure. Is he anxious when you are about to depart?
Ok I understand what you mean now. Actually he we have left toys for him but he is here with out older 12 year old black lab who has always had high anxiety when we leave. When we come home, nothing has been touched, no toy, or kong. We did video record them a couple of times and he mostly just laid in one spot while our other dog paced on occasion. He got up and say by the door once for about 5 min then went and laid back down. We were gone about 1 1/2 hours. I don't know if he feels our other dogs anxiety and that's why he is mellow and wont play or eat kong.
Thanks once again for the reply @mom2labs. Since dogs are empathetic I'm sure he is picking up on the other dog's anxiety. Have you videoed the dogs' behaviours very recently? Will your younger dog play with a Kong when you are at home?
Try to calm down your dog by positive reinforcement such as using commands (such as"sit", or "down")and rewarding him with some treats if he is good at performance. Make sure your boy has fully gone through basic obedience training under commands. Don't show your excitement when you come back. Once he jumps up again, ignore his passion. If he continues to jump all over you, use the "down" or "sit" commands calmly. Don't reward him until he sits down or lies on the floor or other actions you don't like. When you reward his good performance, it's time to express your happiness, giving him lots of treats, praise, and petting. Repeat this process several times a day. Gradually your dog will associate treats with these commands. What's more, don't blame his bad behavior by putting in the crate, which could make him struggle for escape and impact on the further crate training.
@mom2labs it sounds like your dog has separation anxiety - one symptom of which, is over-excited greetings when owners return. Another symptom of which is not eating food items or chews, when owners are away. Addressing just the greeting part of this, is just papering over the cracks - the greeting isn't the source of anxiety and stress for him - it's the time whilst you are absent, which is. If he were less anxious when you were absent, he would be less excited, when you return... Recent research shows that dogs who don't show many external signs of stress when left, can have cortisol levels AS HIGH as dogs doing all kinds of more typical SA - like urinating or defecating, being destructive of furniture or doors, howling etc etc. That is: Looking at the intensity of behaviour as a sign of the level of stress in the dog, doesn't work with SA. A quiet dog just lying down by the door, can have cortisol levels as high as a dog carrying out all those more extreme behaviours. If your older dog also has high anxiety when you leave, it is possible the pup has learnt to be afraid as a result of that - but it's also possible that you are not 'alone training' your dogs properly to prevent the development of SA in the first place. Labradors are not *especially* known to develop SA, as compared to some other breeds, so to have two with it now, you might want to think about what you are doing (or not doing) to teach dogs to cope with being left. The best book on SA is 'Treating Separation Anxiety in Dogs' by Malena de Martini-Price: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Treating-S...swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1548761199&sr=8-1 You will also find a lot of help on her website: https://malenademartini.com And you might want to follow one of her online courses there or work with a trainer listed on her site if there is one in your area.
@mom2labs and @Jo Laurens I am still trying to decide what we have here. The younger dog may have separation anxiety. Or is the younger dog concerned about the emotional state of the older dog. I am wondering whether you can perform the following experiment. Take the older dog with you. Leave the younger dog at home for an hour. Film him. And report on his behaviour. Since the younger dog may have been reinforced by the older dog, you would need to do the departure several times. What I am interested in is whether the younger dog's behavioural problems lessen over the departures. I haven't worked out what are the implications for treatment. Maybe Jo's suggested treatment will still go through. I'd like to know what is the problem that is being treated?
I will look into the separation anxiety link. However, I do not feel as though our puppy has anxiety issues. He doesn't display the symptoms our other dog has so I'm led to think that he's just following our other dogs cue's while gone. I mean our puppy gets excited like that when he knows he's going to go outside and play too so I just feel he's just very excited. Yes he will play with a kong and anything when we are at home.
If you leave food behind, which the dogs would usually eat in your presence - and they don't touch it until you return - that's SA.... You don't really need to think further than that: There is a behaviour which the dog usually enjoys and which is usually reinforcing, which he is not doing because you are away - that means his anxiety is such that he isn't doing it. I know of no other reason why a dog would leave a food puzzle or Kong they would usually keenly eat when their owner is away, other than SA... As I said, SA does not manifest always in obvious behavioural changes - but the cortisol levels in dogs without much behavioural change can be as extreme as dogs who are very clearly distressed. Of course dogs will get excited at other times - all dogs do. But the extreme excitement on your return, is frequently about relief from the end of being alone. That doesn't mean they won't also get excited at other times.
A dog will not eat if he satiated. I don't know when he eats his meal. Is it just before they leave? I admit it's unusual but it can happen even with a Lab. I don't know what the kong is snuffed with. Is it something special or just the kibble he normally gets? Not really a case of hunches or feelings. Just film your dog and observe the behaviour. The guess work will be taken out of the equation. Anxiety results in high cortisol levels which will harm your dogs' health. On your own admission, the older dog has SA. So training needs to be undertaken for the older dog. What I don't know is whether the younger dog would settle if he was put in a separate room away from the older dog. If he does not eat the kong, and he is hungry when the owners have left, then he needs a program too.
I agree with Michael it would be good to film again a few more times. Filming once some time ago, may not give you a good idea of where things are currently at. When you did film, you said he was lying by the door... again - his mind is on you and where you've gone...
