He attacks a towel when I try to dry him. When I try to peak at his gums he moves and when I try to brush his teeth he tries to kill the toothbrush. Vaccuuming/Sweeping = Kill it. Blow drying his fur = Kill it. Paper in sight means he needs to pounce on it and then rip it into 1,000,000 perfectly shaped pieces. Doesn't eat it, just rips it up. How can I alleviate some of these? Should do things like turn on the vacuum and treat him while it's on? Or start with it off? I'm afraid of reinforcing bad behaviors like attacking it when it's on. Thanks!
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? Stop your behavior. What you have been doing is not working for the dog so stop doing what is not working. Use treats at your peril you could be reinforcing the wrong behavior.
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? This is exactly the kind of thing you can do You want to de-sensitise him to the noises and also teach him that a different behaviour is more worthwhile (that is, gets rewarded). With the noisy stuff, I'd start with the vacuum on but in another room at the other end of the house. However far he needs it to be so he's aware of it but able to sit or lie quietly. Give him lots of praise and treats for being calm. Then move the vacuum a bit closer (or move him a bit closer to the vacuum). Keep working at that margin where he's aware of it but calm. Gradually, this margin will be close and closer to the vacuum. Eventually you're aiming for him to be able to ignore it when he's beside it. Don't rush it - just go by his reactions. Don't move too close too fast. If you need to vacuum the whole house before you've achieved a relaxed doggie state then take him for a walk while someone else does the vacuuming. Same procedure with the hair dryer. With the towel and toothbrush you can use the same principles. Make a list in your head of all the steps ranging from the least exciting thing involving a towel (whatever he can tolerate without reacting - might be seeing a towel come out of the cupboard or it might be someone approaching him with a towel) up to the most stimulating (being vigorously towelled). Your list might be: - getting towel from cupboard - approaching him with the towel - bending down with the towel - touching the towel to his chest for a millisecond - touching the towel to his tummy - moving the towel while it's on him ....etc One person should be operating the towel while another should be holding your dog on lead and delivering awesome treats for tolerating the towel. If you go too fast and he wants to grab at it, go back a few steps and proceed more slowly. Same principle with the toothbrush (just work on getting him happy to have the outside of his front teeth brushed as you lift his lips before you try actually sticking it in his mouth). Anyway, hope that makes sense
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? With the toothbrush. I'd throw it in the bin and thats one problem solved.
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? Really useful to read this. Teeth cleaning is super slow progress for us here (despite Angela's heroic efforts in coaching me) and we're finding the hair dryer difficult too.
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? Perfect description of how to desensitise your dog to things it finds scary ir over exciting
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? Can't add anything more! Other than to say......yep!......got the T-shirt for all of those (apart from the teeth cleaning one - doesn't happen in our house ) We have a couple of little videos of Lilly both attacking a sweeping brush, and barking very aggressively at the hoover when she was a pup. She quickly grew out of those behaviours without any special effort - although she is very wary of hoovers and even when its off will carefully skirt around it and avoid it if she can : Hairdryers she doesn't much like in the house, but actually gets BLOW-DRIED after her swimming and loves it now. Started out she freaked but pretty much our Doggie Paddles lady followed the regime as per Rachael and now its a doddle. Good luck - but don't worry! Step by step it will get easier.
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? I could have done with Rachael's coaching a while back..you are always so thorough and clear Rachael x I wash Dexter's feet after every walk because he gets so sandy,I bet your guys all get muddy in the winter?drying was a bit of a towel tussle but never enough to actually not be able to do it......I used to shut the gate so we were both in his little room and basically corner him that sounds dreadful but it wasn't uncomfortable for him he seemed to like having the protection of the walls around him,I'd tell him to lie down and them dry his feet,he's have a bit of a mess around but by doing the same thing everyday he's got used to it,now he lies down in the corner when we come in from the hose ,let's me dry his feet,he gets a right good cuddle at the same time and then he rolls over to have his tummy rubbed ,even if it's not wet..... ;D Teethbrushing,can evoke very differing opinions I've found but I've stuck with it as Dexter is exclusively kibble fed and will probably remain that way all his life : so no teeth cleaning bones for my young man :-[ I've got the toothbrush down to a fine art by just getting good advice from a friend.....day one when you get your dog( Dex wasn't a little puppy with maybe a tender mouth though,he was 5 months and had most of his big teeth) expose him to the tooth brush.it was hit and miss and a bit fidgety at first but again,doing the same thing every day,in the same order has really helped me.he goes and lies on his bed now when he sees the toothbrush come out.i bulk buy toothbrushes and my method involves 2 toothbrushes....(Julie has seen it in action..... It's a bit more efficient now I know him better ;D) he has one toothbrush to chew on ,and in the early days keep him occupied and not chewing the brush I was using,while he's doing that I work round his mouth .you have to be careful,you do get a couple of nips at times but Practice will give you confidence ,He doesn't catch me now.......hardly !ha ha ha!I asked the vet to scale and polish his teeth last week while he was under the an aesthetic and they said they hardly had to do anything.....it's another one of those perseverance things....keep,trying and exposing him to the toothbrush and he'll get more comfortable..... Good luck,I bet you are a bit frustrated but your post did make me smile......your lovely Labrador killing machine ! ;D
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? Great advice Rachael , agree 100% , slowly slowly is always the best way . Sam used to be terrifed of the lawnmower, would run indoors when the monster machine came out and no way I couldnt cut the grass . I would just leave the back door open and carry on until eventually he would peep round the door to look at his nemisis , then step outside, then a little closer until he realised it was nothing to be afraid of , he now doesnt bat an eyelid .
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? As always Rachael lays it out in a great way and very thoroughly . This is the first post that I can honestly say I DON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH - yeah, yippee, whooo hooo! The only thing that slightly bothers Charlie is he doesn't like tea towels but only when a male is holding one, he looks quite scared and skulks off. I suspect in his previous home(s) someone maybe hit him with one :'(. No idea how to overcome that, poor love. Good luck with sorting these little issues out with all this great advice. Helen x
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? Thank you for all the advice! I'll definitely start slow and hopefully make good progress I have to say I am a bit frustrated, but sometimes it's just hard not to laugh at the things he does. Oh the joys of owning a lab.
Re: How do I stop these behaviours? All I would add is that by the time they are 3 years old or so they calm down and the towel/toothbrush/hoover excitement is very much reduced anyway. De-sensitising as suggested will improve this no end as well of course.
