(Sorry, this is epic!) Burke is 7yo. I previously thought of him as a "very dominant" dog, but really, he's just always been high energy, bouncy, and intense. He was a service dog in training for my autistic son, but we realized he was too reactive (to other dogs on-leash) and prey-driven (see below). He did amazing in public settings, but I realize now that a lot of that was that his typical reaction to stress is "freeze." I was reading it as "wow, he's so calm," but in training him, I even had incidences of total shutdown, where he wouldn't move at all. So, I live out in the country, tons and tons of wildlife right outside the door. E.g.: let Burke out last week after dark and he got skunked within about two minutes. I have 25 acres, but there is a road right nearby. It isn't often that someone drives down it, but they're usually going quite fast. Burke has in the past chased cars down the road, so of course I don't want him running down it. Previously, I had an "invisible" electric fence - the kind with the wire and the dog wears a collar and it beeps/vibrates and/or shocks (I only ever used the beep/vibrate function!) when they get near the boundary. You put up flags and teach them not to go over the boundary. Burke did quite well with this, but a couple times, he chased something out of the fence area and wouldn't come back in. And the area I have fenced is small, so I noticed he wasn't playing much with Bessie outside. Especially since she didn't have a collar so had no clue about the boundaries. I think he didn't want to get excited and chase her out of the fence zone. So when my fence got run over when someone was mowing for me a while back, I didn't fix it. Took off his collar and decided to see how he'd do off-leash with supervision. He has a very good recall, turns on a dime most of the time. For a while, everything went great. I took treats, practiced recall and then would release him to play again, etc. Bessie's developing a great off-leash recall! She's more glued to me than he is. However, at times, he goes NUTS with sniffing stuff. It's only sometimes. This morning is one example. Nose to ground, completely oblivious, just moving really quickly, almost running, sometimes actually running. He took off down the road after whatever he smelled today and I freaked out. He didn't come to recall but I threw Bessie in the car and started it to go get him, and he came running when he heard the engine. But he has issues with the car - he hates being left, so if I were to have put him in the car, he wouldn't come out for hours, and if I reached in for his collar or to clip on a leash, he will growl and yes, will bite me if I continue to push it. So I ran inside, grabbed a hot dog, did a recall, both came running. Went to grab Burke's harness and he bit me. Not super hard, but hard enough to hurt at the time (no marks) and to hurt my feelings badly. He was really that charged up. Instead he happily followed me into the house. So, he may need more exercise - I used to take him on hour-long walks, but Bessie's arrival has made that difficult. And he's been on a bit of lockdown since the skunk incident, so the substitute I had, which was letting them out supervised off-leash and letting them run around and play and sniff for a while, hasn't happened. But this is indicative of his general issues: he can be really good and responsive, but then at times he's just unreachable and out of control. His other big issue is barking at the door - he will launch himself at the door, put his paws up on the window part and bark like mad any time anyone comes to it - even if it's me coming home. Once the person (known) is inside, he's a little bouncy, but fine. But if it's UPS or FedEx and I don't "catch" him before he loses it, he will bite at the coats/bags that live on hooks near the door. He tore the hood off my rain jacket last week; he's ripped the hooks out of the walls, bitten holes in coats, etc. My strategy has been to say "go to the bedroom" and put him in there anytime I hear UPS or he starts barking at them. I had a trainer out who said to throw treats on the ground when UPS came, but he wouldn't even eat the treats. I did start treating him in the bedroom and that works somewhat...in the moment at least. Can't say I've noticed a difference next time. Confession time: he was so bad with this earlier in life that I used a shock collar. On the lowest possible setting, but the poor guy, basically he learned to associate UPS with a shock. I'm completely against shock collars now; I was desperate and overwhelmed and got some bad advice. I also used a citronella and shock bark collar in the past. He would bark right through the citronella, sneezing in between barks. Sigh. And the shock bark collar was horrible, just horrible; I didn't use it for long. But that's important history to have; I'm not proud of it, but there it is. He is also so bad in the car that if another dog is walking outside, even on leash, nearby, he will bark and paw at the windows. He's put marks in my door interiors from his nails. Oh and nail trimming? Forget it. He would try to bite me. However, I take him to a groomer now who has no problem doing it. He buries his head between one person's legs and gets petted and will let them trim just fine (I told them his history). So, that's my Burke, and yeah, I thought, hey, let's get another! I had him on Prozac for a couple of years, after working with the trainer. I just took him off it about a month after Bessie arrived. I skipped it one day and noticed he seemed more puppy-like and playful. And yeah, his energy is back. He was definitely lethargic on it. His reactivity is absolutely no different. Any advice on where to start with this guy? I do have Control Unleashed: The Puppy Program, and am going to implement that with both of them. I also found Dr. Overall's Relaxation Protocol and was thinking about working that with him, with the goal of getting him to relax for UPS, people arriving, etc.
Wow, that's a lot of information and a lot to deal with at once! The first thing I want to say, to anyone else reading, is that there is a big problem with "invisible" fences, and you found it yourself. They work by being aversive - as the dog approaches, they get a shock, or a buzz in your case. This is unpleasant (or painful) for the dog, so they avoid it, learning to stay away from the visual markers. That is the general principle. If it wasn't unpleasant for the dog, it wouldn't work. The problem is that, when highly aroused, such as when chasing something, the pain threshold of the dog can go through the roof. So, they run across the boundary without a second thought. They have a wonderful chase and then, sometime later, it's time to come home. Except, adrenalin levels lowered, they're no longer impervious to that pain, so they're stuck outside the boundary. Marvellous. Needless to say, I think very little of these devices. So, what to do instead? Needless to say, it's training. That means, working on your recall, and your engagement so that he doesn't choose to run off in the first place. Whilst the risk of him running off remains, keep him on a long line, if it's not possible to fence in your property. Alternatively, fence in a smaller area that is big enough to be interesting, but still economically viable. He may or may not need more exercise. I'd say an hour a day for an adult Labrador is the minimum, yes. Arguably more important, though, is mental stimulation. So, if you don't have the time to walk your dogs separately until Bessie is old enough to join in, then put that hour that you would have been walking him to good use and spend it training him. Do lots of fun and interactive games to work on your bond. For the barking at visitors. The best way to deal with this is to set up scenarios. The problem with "real" people is that they come to the door, the dog barks, the person goes away again. The dog thinks it was the barking that did that, so they are rewarded for it. Instead, you need to put some real time aside to train him that it doesn't work like that (and why you need a stooge). Distance is your friend, so maybe start him off at the back of the house, clicking and treating (with very high value treats) for calmness. If he still can't cope, move farther back. If he barks at, for example, someone "knocking" on a tea tray, then that's great, because you can take it outside and work at a really big distance. If he's not taking treats, you're too close, so move farther back. The exact same principle will work for when he's in the car. Look in Control Unleashed for the Look At That! game. That's what you want to be using. There's an accompanying DVD (still don't have my copy yet, sigh) that is supposed to be very good at showing you how it works, if the book is a bit confusing. As for nail trimming, my two took a serious disliking to it - I started off with one person distracting them while the other trimmed, but they got smart to that and it ended up where I would have had to physically restrain them, which I wasn't prepared to do. So, I started a programme of desensitisation, which took a very long time, but I now have two dogs who are happy to have me trim their nails (with clippers for Shadow and a Dremel for Willow). You just have to go right back to the beginning and start with treating for having your hand next to the paw. Then run your hand down his leg and click when you get to the paw. Working in tiny, tiny steps. Here's a very long thread which contains some videos of my two learning: http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/clippng-nalls.11315/
Thanks, Fiona. All great advice and I will read this through again and begin to implement the training. Sorry for the information overwhelm, just felt it was important to have the context, history, etc, out there. I'm debating on fencing. It is so expensive to do the entire area (several acres) that is regularly mowed, but I might be able to fence in a smaller area. And yes, he barks at me saying "Hi," me saying, "Uh-oh," or "oops!" or "Look who's there!" or me setting down my coffee cup loudly, someone knocking on the wall, etc. One of the issues is that I am the only adult for all the training stuff. I don't have a helper to distract while I trim, help with scenarios, etc.
It's tough when you're the only one - I don't have a helper for the most part, either. I didn't need one for the desensitisation to nail trimming, though; I did that alone. It will be harder with the door scenario - could you get a friend to come round for coffee and cake on the proviso they help out for half an hour with training first? Alternatively, how about recording your door bell and putting it onto a sound system you can play at a distance with a remote control?
Well, every single morning someone comes to pick up my son, and stays for about 20 minutes. Every afternoon they come back and stay for about an hour. I put him in the bedroom for their initial arrival, then let him out. It works okay. He barks a ton but he will go in the bedroom for me. I have to be careful now though because he gets overly aroused when the person is near the door and the puppy is out too. He is jealous and wants the attention for himself so he gets growly and it makes me nervous. So I usually crate her, or alternate who gets to greet the person (he can stay in the bedroom sometimes). No door bell! He barks at a car pulling in the driveway or someone appearing at the door.
Yup, that's it. I didn't do the "practice" with the toy first, and I don't use a cue personally, but I think most people do.
