So, Burke has improved on a lot of fronts in the past few months - I think having Bessie to play with has helped him chill out a bit, as I could never really get him enough exercise and stimulation consistently before. But he is sooooo reactive to noises (and sights, to a lesser degree). I have to have a curtain over the window that looks onto the driveway/road or he'll constantly scan it. At night, a sound machine in the bedroom helps. We live in the country, so there are maybe 10-20 cars that pass a day, and lots and lots of animals. He barks and looks out the window at every little noise. Anything that sounds like a knock, even me setting a glass down on the counter too hard. When UPS, the mail, propane truck, or any other delivery comes, he goes NUTS. Bites at all the coats on the wall near the driveway-window, jumps around, runs back and forth, barks and howls, basically loses his mind. Right now my best solution is to tell him "in the bedroom" and shut him in there with the noise machine for the duration (while he barks like crazy). I had a trainer come who told me to throw treats on the ground when deliveries happen, but he goes over threshold so fast I can't always do that and I've had him literally choke on treats because he's trying to bark and eat at the same time. I am so tired of him barking at nothing 20 times a day! He is also territorial of the car and if a dog comes too close to where we're parked he will jump and scratch at the door/window. He's made a mess of the door panels in the back. He's pretty overexcited about visitors, too. Every morning someone comes to pick up my son at a set time. He will start looking out the windows and barking 15 minutes before that time. Certain phrases I say every day, or if I shut my laptop, will trigger him to bark because he thinks the person is here. I put him in the bedroom for visitor arrival because he's so barky and overwhelming when they first come in the door or if they're standing by the door. Once they're inside, I let him out and he's like, "Oh hi, pet me." Excited but not crazy. It's the arrival, the door area, that is triggering to him. And the car pulling in the driveway. He barks when it is ME, even. Any better ideas for me to help him calm down? I had him on Prozac for a couple of years, in addition to the professional trainer and following her rec's (Prozac was one), but it just seemed to make him lethargic without really helping the behaviors. Oh, and he's seven and a half years old. Sigh. This has been going on since age 2 or 3.
It's hard when you have a dog that barks at something you can't predict. You're not always near the dog to throw treats on the floor. I would suggest changing those noises into a cue to "go to place". A really effective way to do this would be with a Treat & Train, so you can treat him remotely. It's on my "to do" list with my two
Ooh, good idea! Do you think it's okay for two dogs to share a Treat & Train, or how do you deal with that? I have had a Treat & Train on my list for Bessie because I think it would help a lot w/the separation issues she has (improving, but still a strong tendency).
I don't think you could train them together with it - Willow would definitely get all the treats in this house! So, either get two devices (there are cheaper similar things that would work), or train them one at a time.
So...the Treat & Train would be at his mat or place and then I'd say "go to place" and treat when he gets there? That would work with him as he's the one who gets all the treats here. The problem I would run into is using it for separation anxiety with her, unless I separated them. I have literally one room I can block off with a baby gate, as the rest is an "open floor plan," ha. (It's tiny, a 20x32 footprint.)
I'd train the separation anxiety with her completely alone, so there's no issue over the treats. For example, when you take Burke for a walk without Bessie.
