Training Tips please - Marlin

We had Marlin as a foster for 5 months, adopted him and January, and we are making little and NO progress in adapting his annoying behaviours. So I need some input, please.

Background: Marlin is a woman's dog. Spent his first 9 years as an only dog, living with a single female. Marlin is not typical of bichons, as he does NOT like to sit in your lap. And I think he must have been trained NOT to go on the furniture as he is never on the sofa, or a chair, like the others.

1. Marlin IS house trained, and he lets us know when he has to go out. He barks. At ME. Doesn't matter if Dad gets up, goes to the door, opens it, calls him, I can either ignore or tell Marlin "go outie side." In Marlin's eyes, Dad is not capable of letting him out and letting him in. :rolleyes: Dad can even let the OTHER dogs out at this time, wait and bring them in, Marlin just keeps on barking until I get up and take HIM out. On VERY rare occasions, Marlin will go out with Dad during all this barking and we haven't figured out when this works for Marlin.

2. Marlin sleeps on Dad's bed. Dad is a morning person, I am a night owl. Dad gets up, lets Marlin out in the back yard (notice Marlin is not barking to go out, and this is all contrary to the above item but that is Marlin for ya!), brings him in, they go out the front door and get the newspaper together, come back in. Next Marlin comes into MY bedroom and barks until I get up. Whether I want to or not, it seems I MUST get up. Another :rolleyes: For over 6 months, I have not been permitted to awaken on my own, I have been woken up by Marlin barking. I am TIRED of it!! Grr. I have tried closing my door; he just barks on the other side. Dad tries calling him away; he ignores Dad. I have tried ignoring him for a week; telling him to go lie down for a week. He will not accept anything but my getting UP. So I get up, sit for about 10 minutes, then return to bed. (Meanwhile the other 3 dogs are all still snoozing on my nice warm bed!)

3. We bought a set of sturdy steps for Marlin to get up and down from Dad's bed himself. Within 3 days Marlin was able to come down them himself whenever he wants to get down. Within a week, he was going up them himself. EXCEPT: he needs a cheerleading squad to do it. This has not been 9 weeks. Any time, day or night, that Marlin wants to go up on Dad's bed, he barks. At the steps, at us, doesn't matter. One of us has to go in and stand about a foot from the stairs, and he will go up and settle on the bed. In the night, Marlin may get down to get a drink of water. He returns to Dad's bed and stands there barking. Sometimes I get up and go in and up he goes. Other times, Dad says he has to get on his knees on the bed and cheer Marlin on for him to go up the steps. (81 year old man on his knees in bed in the middle of the night for a dog; nope, these pups aren't spoiled!) And what is this cheering? All we need to say is, "Marlin, go uppie!" and up he goes! Dad has tried saying it while still lying in bed. I have tried saying it from the bedroom door. Nope we have to be about a foot away from him. During the day time, Marlin may want to go sit on the bed rather than a pet bed. It is FINE with us. Just go UP without bothering us to cheer you ON! And if we don't go over there? He barks and barks. Here is is 10:15 AM. Marlin has just barked non stop for 45 minutes until Dad got up and walked over next to the stairs for him to go up and settle on the bed. We were both urging him up from here in the Family Room, about 7 feet from the stairs (Dad's bedroom is off this room). No way, he needs us closer.

It is not stairs. Marlin will bound up and down the cellar stairs at will. And I made certain these are heavy, sturdy, rugged stairs, as Marlin is 20 pounds. They do not shake or wobble at all when he is using them, up or down.

So if you have any suggestions for these issues, we are ready to try!

Honestly, it sounds like Marlin needs a dose of "My way or the highway". Because his bad behaviors sound so ingrained, it will take a lot of ignoring to do the trick and he'll likely go through an "extinction burst" where he will bark to the dickens to get your attention because it has worked in the past. However, you have to ignore him and let him go through his extinction burst. Once you "win" the battle at least once, the idea will sink in very rapidly.

He sounds perfectly capable of going outside without you getting up and he is certainly capable of going up and down the dog stairs, so let him do it by himself.

Have you considered doing NILIF with Marlin, as well?

I don't know a thing about training dogs, and I can tell that you are frustrated, and rightly so. Reading your problem and Giselle's reply made me think of Super Nanny. Some of those kid fight that naughty chair for hours and hours. But once the parents outlast them, it seems much easier for the kids to get the point. Of course that is on edited television. But from your description, it seems that Marlin has trained you, and as hard as Giselle's advice is to you, it might just work. Investing in some earplugs for you and your Dad may not be a bad idea.

Part of teaching Marlin that you are the boss is start wherever you can. It may sound weird to do these things that are not related, but overall, Marlin will start to get the message that you are boss. No need for punishing or negative reinforcement. Here's a start. For one, start having him earn everything. If he wants a treat, make him sit (or anything like lie down, speak, sit up, etc). If he want to be petted, ask him to do something first. Marlin follows the command, he gets what he wants. Make him sit before you put his food down. You get the idea - he has to earn what he wants.

My collie has a habit sometimes of barking to wake me up, too. But he has learned that until he lies down and is quiet, I won't get up. So at first you may have to sit up in bed and tell him to lie down. As soon as he lies down, immediately jump up and give him what he wants. This is very important because you are retraining him. Do it again and again until he gets the idea. As soon as he's figured out that lying down will get you up, you can start increasing the time between when he lies down and when you get up. With my collie, he will come lie next to the bed patiently now until I get up. Sometimes he will be try barking again, but for the most part he is a patient boy now.

Here is some more stuff about being the boss: http://loveyourdog.com/boss.html

Good luck!