Unruly behaviour

[arefem]

Hi, I'm new hear, so I hope this is the right place.
To set the scene, we are a married couple in our 50's, with no children and we live in a semi-detached house with a moderate sized garden.
We adopted a rescue dog about 10 months ago. He was found as a stray, and we have no background on him. He is a mixed breed (some Whippet, some whippet, some terrier and probably others in there too)
He is about 18-20 months old. We have taken him to puppy training and re-inforced the training since the course ended. He gets plenty of exercise, with 2 walks a day and he is played with a lot at home. Overall he is a medium sized dog, weighing about 13 Kilo. He can be a caring and loving dog, and we haev grown very attached to him, but he has recently started to exhibit some disturbing behaviour.

Problem 1
He tunes us out when walking on the lead. We've tried treats, clickers and whistles, stones in a bottle or can, but to no avail. He also pulls alot, and yes we have tried a number of so called Non-Pull harnesses without success. He will often pick up a scent, and then he is oblivious to everything else. We cannot let him off the lead as his recall is awful (except in the house or garden, where it is is just poor). There are no 'safe' areas in our neighbourhood, other than a local tennis court, where we could let him off.

Problem 2
He cannot be left alone at home. He becomes moderatly destructive and barks continuously. He can open all the internal doors in the house and we have to take the handles off to stop him. We have not been able to go out for an evening together since we got him, and shopping takes twice as long as one of us has to stay with him - once he eat his way through a car seat belt so we can't leave him in the car either.

Problem 3
Recently he has become very disobediant. Last night whilst in a pet store he jumped up a three other people and grabbed thier clothing - that's something he has not done for months. He is also very keen on meeting other dogs, but again last night after sniffing a dog in the store he barked very agressively at it. Sometimes out walking, if he sees another dog he will drop t the ground and refuse to move until either the other dog has said 'hello' or gone out of sight.

Problem 4
On some occaisions he will grab my feet or trouser leg, and when I go to remove him he gets aggressive towards me (I am the male of the household). I think it is usually over excitement, but it sounds awful. Ther does not seem to be a patern to this behaviour and he can turn in an instant.

The problem has got so bad, we are considering returning him to the rescue centre as it is causing us some considerable stress. Any useful suggestions would be welcomed as we are getting near to our wits end.

[Karen]

Is he crate-trained? That is something I'd consider, especially because of what you labeled Problem #2. That's actually called Seperation Anxiety, if you do a search for that here, there are numerous threads on the matter.

Has he been neutered? Just curious.

When he misbehaves, how do you react?

When he tugs on the leash, what do you do?

[Giselle]

How did you use the clicker and can you specifically go over how you tried each training method? Have you had anybody show you how to use the clicker to shape behaviors? A clicker is simply a reward marker, so when people tell me it doesn't "work", that probably means they're using it incorrectly. For what it's worth, a verbal "Yes!" or "Good!" is just as good as a clicker, so if the clicker didn't work for you, it just means that you probably aren't using it appropriately.

Outside is a very distracting place. For a relatively unsocialized dog, especially, it is *extremely* distracting. Since your pup's background is pretty unknown, we don't have any clue how socialized he is. However, I've found that unsocialized dogs tend to "tune out" much more rapidly than well socialized dogs. If so, this could be the case for your dog. Thus, you have to work in small increments, and you must always set the dog up for success.

For example, if you KNOW for certain that your dog will tune out as soon as you walk down the block - don't do it. Stay within your dog's comfort zone and increase your rate of reinforcement (in other words, keep rewarding him for giving you attention - I usually use the clicker for this). Once your dog is ready and rearing to give you all of his attention, take a few steps forward while treating him for focusing on you. You want to do this in small, positive increments. Eventually, those small increments will combine into a long walk down the block.

How do you 'remove' him from your pant leg, and what do you mean by aggressive? Remember, dogs play with growls and barks and even nips. He may be experiencing rude puppy behavior, but it probably isn't aggression :)

[arefem]

Hi Karen and Giselle, thanks to both of you for your replies.

In reply to your questions, in no particular order:

Yes he has been neutered.

Misbehaviour is treated by isolating him for a while, or sending him to a specific place and telling him to stay. we leave him there until he calms down.

When he pulls on the lead, we either stop and encourage him to come to our side, or turn and go in the opposite direction. The latter usually just causes him to pull in the new direction. Often his pulling is because he has picked up a scent and has tuned out everything else.

He is not crate trained, yet. We have jsut got the crate and intend to start by leaving it around with the door open so he can get used to it. We'll also put his bedding in it and feed him there too. Once he is used to it, we will try closing the door and going out for a few minutes at a time, gradually increasing the length of time.

Clicker training was shown by the puppy trainer and worked well for a while, but once we started to click and not reward every time he quickly started ignoring it.

Dog socialisation classes would be good, but there do not seem to be any in our area. He is usually a friendly dog, and gets very excited when meeting other dogs.

Removing him from my leg. Originally I got quite annoyed, grabbed his collar, and tried to isolate him, sometimes this proved impossible because of his snarling, snapping and general aggressivness. I realised this was not the best option, as I am meeting aggression with aggresion, so recently I've changed tactic. I take hold of his legs, unwrap them from mine and get him to stand on all fours, still holding his legs. Then tell him calmly but assertively to sit, until he calms down. Once he is calm, I give him a bit of a gentle fussing. This seems to be having an effect.

We have also identified that we (I) may have been giving him food with too much energy content. Originally we were told he may be hyper-active, and to give him a hypoallergenic diet. We use Natures Diet, Natures Menu, Autarky and Winalot mixer. The mixer ran out and I used Autarky as a substitute. He's back on te Winalot mixer now, and although it's only been a couple of days he seems a little less hyper. I think Autarky is designed for 'working dogs' and he may only have been trying to burn off some of that pent up energy. Unfortunately, as his recall is so poor we can't let him off th elead for a good run as we have been unable to find safe places nearby, and in any case if he picked up a scent or saw another dog he would be off!

Despite all the negatives, he can be a loving and fun dog, it's just that after 10 months of some very hard work we are getting weary, especially when we cannot go out a a couple without worrying about what we will come home to or if his barking will upset the neighbours.

[Giselle]

Clicker training was shown by the puppy trainer and worked well for a while, but once we started to click and not reward every time he quickly started ignoring it.

Bingo. Would you go to work if you received nothing in return? Same concept. The click is not a reward. The click is a marker, a cue. If you don't reward after you click, it becomes meaningless jibber jabber. I highly suggest you take up clickering again, but use it appropriately (and always follow up with a reward when you click :) ).

I'll be honest, it sounds like you would benefit greatly from one-on-one work with a good trainer. At this point, it just sounds like you and the pup aren't quite on the same page, and I think a good, respectable trainer who uses positive reinforcement methods will help you sort things out.

However, this is my opinion on what you can do in the meantime:

Pulling on lead: I use the same method you wrote - dog pulls, quickly change directions, and keep walking. If dog pulls again, keep changing directions. If you can do this quickly and at a fast pace, the dog will eventually start pulling with less and less intensity. It would also help to reward the dog the minute he comes to your side. At that point, I click and treat. Repeat repeat repeat. With some very strong, persistent pullers, it could take a week of such training, but it will work if you can be consistent and persistent.

Him jumping and grabbing at you: Sounds very much like an adolescent dog :D There is usually some pattern right before the dog gets into that "mode". It could be staring into his eyes, it could be a slight stiffening of the body, it could be a tense crouch, etc. You usually know, though. As soon as you see him getting into this mode, LEAVE. Just walk into another room and close the door. It sounds like he's doing this to solicit play and attention, so what you have to do is remove what he wants. Give it a few minutes, come back out, get a Sit or a Down, and *then* praise him.

Odd behavior towards other dogs: According to those two situations, it sounds like he's fearful of other dogs. In the store, he was on lead and in an enclosed place, so he could not diffuse his fear and resorted to barking. Out in the open, he goes into a Down to show submission. That's what it sounds like to me based solely on these two situations, but I don't personally know him so I really can't be definitive. However, if it is fear and you've never dealt with a fearful dog before, I would definitely contact a behaviorist. Fear can deteriorate without proper management.

I don't know if I really buy the argument that the foods are making him hyperactive because they're too high in energy. Remember, energy is calories, and the side of the bag tells you how many Kcals are in a cup. If you feed him too many calories, it seems like he should get fat, not hyperactive. Or maybe I'm thinking differently :p He *is* a young adult/puppy still, so he should be hyperactive, and, believe me, I feel your pain. I have a 14 month old Dobe/Lab. Talk about high energy!! =)