High Prey/Pack Drive - How to? - Page 2

Sitasmom,

It is pack mentality/separation anxiety at work.  Your dog is simply saying you are the boss with this greeting.  I agree with the rest but I know from experience that even getting him to down calmly doesn't mean he won't go ballistic as soon as he has the chance.  My 9mo girl acts like this when I come home from work.  She isn't crated because my husband is home so she hits me the minute I walk in the door.  It is very difficult to ignore such an onslaught but that's what I try to do.  Do not push him away, this is interpreted by your dog as an invitation to play.  I do not make eye contact, I don't speak to her.  I come in and put my purse down and when she jumps at me I turn my back.  If you can ignore him, he will sit down and calm down in a few minutes.  I dread coming home from work because of the commotion.  I'm weary, I want to put my feet up and relax but that isn't gonna happen for a while.  It is wonderful to have someone who is so happy to see me when I come home but give me a break!  I have tried to tell her to down or sit and stay but she is so wound up it doesn't last and if I try to make her she just rolls over and paws at me and play bites at me.  I've had to alpha roll her a couple of times as she tends to correct me when I am correcting her and I won' t have it.  She's pretty good any other time but I sympathize with you, homecoming isn't what it ought to be.  I'm hoping it's a phase she is going through.  For a while there if I left for even just a minute it was chaos, yipping, crying, raising hell.  We have just graduated to being left alone, uncrated for short periods of time.  She has figured out that we will be back so the separation anxiety thing has passed.  Now if I can just convince her a simple tail wag will do...  

Funny story...last night when I came home she was in another part of the house and came on the run.  She hit that laminate floor and it was like watching the ice capades.  She didn't fall but she sure did skate across that floor to get to me.  Hard to ignore that!  LMAO.  I'm thinking of having my husband put her in the crate before I get home so I can at least get in the door and can try TessJ10's idea of down and calm before I let her out.

Good luck!
Deb

 

Thank you for so many suggestions.......

The problem is just as described by DebiSue..........I will work on this pack mentality/separation anxiety best I can......

I do wait a few minutes before letting them out, and I do require all of my dogs to lay and stay in their crates before letting them out. If they get up before I tell them, I shut the crate in their faces and we start over.....

Once he gets out of his crate he explodes in joyfully over-exuberance.....

"Once he gets out of his crate he explodes in joyfully over-exuberance....."

Like me when I get out of work....

Has anyone ever heard of "correcting" a dog for unwanted behavior? good grief people!

I've choked him, I've downed him, I've screamed at him, I've done just about everything even I've kicked him  ...........consistant corrections have been made.

Today I put him in a down stay, and required him to be still. I opened the crate and after the count of 10  (as always)' I gave a release comand. As he was dashing out of the crate I stuffed a tug into his mouth. and it worked !

He grabbed the tug with a surprised look in his eye and ran around in circles a few times then made a B-line for outside to do his business............I can live with this! He didn't jump on me, he didn't attack the other dogs............he was still very excited, but he wans't a bully.

I hope it works tomorrow too

"""""""Today I put him in a down stay, and required him to be still. I opened the crate and after the count of 10 (as always)' I gave a release comand. As he was dashing out of the crate I stuffed a tug into his mouth. and it worked !""""""


Yeah and it WILL continue to work as it has on mine for many many months.     It is great when something works isn't it?!?!


It can become a crutch though so just be careful in the coming days to require obedience.

Thanks for the tip. I hope this is just a phase and he matures out of it.......

We will continue to work with him and hopefully he will be able to exit his crate without such a display.

Sitasmom, I have another idea that might help as well:  Spend less time posting OT threads and actually work with your dogs.  You'll see a huge improvement in behavior, I guarantee it.

Jim

Slamdunc - funny.....

I spend 20 minutes per dog before going to work. 20 minutes when I get home and another 20 minutes per dog just before bed time......that's an hour a day per dog.......how much time do you spend per dog?

Sitasmom, I have another idea that might help as well: Spend less time posting OT threads and actually work with your dogs. You'll see a huge improvement in behavior, I guarantee it.

Jim


omygosh, best response EVER.  Jim, you're the best!  And honestly, it's the absolute truth.

SitasMom, I'll second what Jim says, although I'll also add that it's good to see you start an ON-topic thread.  I admit I was surprised that you did, as really, most of us on the board think you have no interest in/knowledge of dogs at all, which is why you only start bashing OT threads.  Well, hey, every one of us had to START learning about training sometime, right?  Welcome to the training discussion!  And much luck, fun, and happiness with your dog.

I've choked him, I've downed him, I've screamed at him, I've done just about everything even I've kicked him ...........consistant corrections have been made.

Ok, these are not consistent corrections.  

I'm at work now and can't concentrate on this - maybe someone can chime in with info on taking the emotion out of corrections.  Just simple, effective, firm corrections for misbehavior.