Hello everyone, I’m new here and also a newer dog owner. My dogs name is daisy and she’s close to 3 months old now. So here’s my main issue with miss daisy everytime my girlfriend and I go to eat anything our dog barks, growls and “air” bites at us excessively. This has been happening for about 2 weeks now. She’s never been fed human food. She’s driving us crazy! She’s such a perfect puppy but this habit has to stop. We’re willing to try anything at this point! Any help is appreciated
Hi @Mandy-daisytheblacklab, time for a bit of reflection. When she acts so, what do you do? How is her undesirable behaviour being reinforced by you? It could be as little as looking in her direction, when she starts barking. Or telling her to stop. Try to ignore whatever behaviour is reinforcing her behaviour.
hey @Michael A Brooks we have been using the ignore method for about a week now and that seems to have only made the problem worse. She’s even louder and is pushing it even farther. After getting some advice from a breeder friend we are going to try and crate her while we eat, hopefully this settles her down a bit and can curve the issues. Any thoughts on that? Good or bad idea?
Hi @Mandy-daisytheblacklab, think about how some children react when one says you cannot have a chocolate after they display a mild tantrum in the supermarket. Sometimes their behaviour gets worse. It's called extinction burst. Dogs are subject to the same emotional forces. It's not always a bad thing. We dog owners can utilise it to get an improvement in drive when we move from continuous to intermittent reinforcement. The problem here is that the behaviour is something you don't want. Accordingly, ignoring her will work but you may have to weather the storm. I would video the interaction. Review the video and see whether you are completely ignoring her behaviour. Sometimes we don't realise we are giving subtle reinforcement. Time out is okay but just be wary that you don't create in the dog's mind that the crate is an aversive. I would be inclined to put your dog in another room or outside. If she starts barking, ignore her. I had thought you ultimately wanted to eat in peace in her presence-- without her barking at you. For that you will need to completely ignore her. Alternatively, you could try giving her a bone/hard biscuit to gnaw on while you are eating--if she is chewing, then she can't bark at the same time. But for her to get it she must be quiet for say 2 seconds. Otherwise she will learn to bark in order to get the bone/treat.Next time she must be quiet for 4 seconds. Progressively build up the duration she must be quiet before getting a reward. Impulse control is tricky to teach a 3 month old dog. But it can be done. Try a number of different things. Dogs are individuals. Assess which method is working for you.
