My Dog is Hard to Handle
Question:
My 5 month old standard poodle is hard to handle. He growls and barks at every person he sees when we walk, I walk him 2x a day for about an hour each time so there is a lot of barking an growling. He jumps on us all the time despite never being rewarded for it, sometimes it takes me 20 minutes to get him out the door for a walk because he will not stop jumping on me and sit, and I won’t put his leash on till he sits. He also cannot be free (not tied to the door or in his crate) in the house even when we are home watching him, because he will not stop trying to chew on the furniture, jump on the furniture or us, eat any papers or plants he can reach, chase the cat, and on and on, its exhausting and he never stops. After a half hour of this I have to tie him up or put him in his crate, just so I can have some peace. I have had standard poodles before, but none that acted like this, anyone have any advice? And yes, he was just neutered, didn’t slow him down at all.
ANSWER:
I have seen a movement in the dog training industry over the last decade that I believe has influenced your training methods. That movement is this concept where ignoring negative behaviors and only rewarding positive behaviors will get your dog trained. I have seen some positive results from such a method but, truth be told, a vast majority of dogs are like yours. They try to jump, the owner ignores them, and the dog says to himself, “Who cares if they are ignoring me? I love jumping!” So the jumping continues. Or perhaps the scenario sees the dog going wild at walk time while the owner attempts to wait out the negative behavior. The owner believes he is teaching a lesson by delaying a walk until the desired behavior occurs, all the while the dog is saying to himself, “I don’t care that we aren’t going on a walk yet! Just running around like crazy is reward enough for me!”
What proponents of this ignoring method don’t realize is the act of ignoring a bad behavior does very little, if anything, to establish structure, discipline, and rules; all things that dogs crave and need.
It’s time to start showing leadership and establishing order, not simply ignoring disorder with the hopes that order will be the collateral result. With such a young dog the best way to start this is with leash training. You can’t have off leash control until your dog has on leash understanding of behaviors. If your dog jumps, won’t sit, runs around like a madman, etc. take control with the leash. Just because I’m advocating taking control doesn’t mean you need to be harsh. NO! Simply be firm but fair and stop being the door mat for this dog.
Take control and you’ll find that your dog loves you more for it.
Ty Brown is an expert dog trainer, author, and speaker who specializes in obedience training, behavior modification, protection dog training, and narcotics dogs. To learn more about Ty and the dog training services he offers, visit www.dogbehavioronline.com
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Your dog needs EXERCISE! Two one hour walks a day for a growing poodle is barely a warm up. Take him for runs or bike rides not walks. When I was 5 months old my Mommy (who can neither run nor bike due to disability) took me for two 2 hour walks a day followed by an hour of ball play. After our evening exercise we did an hour of intense obedience/trick training. Yeah, it meant she was waking up at 4 a.m. and exhausted by 8:30 p.m., and television was a thing of the past, but she signed up to have a high-energy dog and she knew that sacrifices needed to made.
He’s leaping around at the door because A. He is a poodle (read dog on springs) and B. He is overexcited about the tiny bit of exercise he will finally get. Also, don’t crate or tie him when you are home. He can’t learn how to behave correctly if he is never allowed to try. Tether him to your waist, grab your bait bag, and have him follow you around the house while you do things. Treat him when he is being good even if it is for 2 seconds at first. This will allow you to know exactly what he is doing, allow him to stretch his legs and explore, and teach him that being with you is the best thing in the world. Finally, how many appropriate chew toys does he have? Chewing helps us dogs relieve stress and it also expends excess energy. If he doesn’t have enough chew toys the furniture will always look like a good option.
What a cute and adorable pet. To show love to your pet why not join and register at PETtell, it’s a free social network for pet owners. You’ll gonna luv it :D
Or, you could reward ANY instance of all four paws on the ground. Not jumping is a behavior in and of itself which can be rewarded to increase the likelihood of its occurring again.
I think Ty might be using this to upset people who were upset by his suggestion of using a prong collar a few weeks ago.
The only thing that upsets me is that this individual has written in looking for advice to solve a serious problem and is just getting, “don’t use positives they’re silly” and “be a leader.”
The person asking the question is saying that s/he can’t even GET the leash on the dog!
I seriously hope this person finds a trainer to work with privately who can assist him/her and this dog in straightening out their lives!
There are so many training scenarios that could help this dog (impulse control games, classical conditioning). Sadly, Ty’s answer is overly simplistic and dismissive of proven techniques in favor of what sounds like old-fashioned training ideas that often lead to harsh methods … which true behaviorists in the veterinary world have recently denounced.
This dog need intervention now while he is young, but just being a “leader” doesn’t cut it.
There is so much to respond to that I’m not sure where to begin. First, Ty apparently doesn’t understand how extinguishing a behavior by ignoring it works. If, and only if, a behavior is NOT self-reinforcing, will the behavior be extinguished by ignoring it. And, even if the behavior is not self-reinforcing there might be a brief escalation of the behavior before it stops even when being ignored. It seems jumping is self-reinforcing for this pup. Second, I have a standard poodle pup who at 7 months began barking and lunging at things she was wary of. I won’t go into all the details here, but you can read on my blog some of the positive things I did with our trainer that helped enormously. Third, I want to underscore what Barrie said in the first comment. Reward everything the dog dogs that you like. The dog is not in the air all the time. When all 4 are on the floor ever, reward it. And, the guardian must ask herself “What do I want my dog to do” not just “What don’t I want my dog to do?” Reward every little thing your dog does that you like. What you cannot train for right away, manage. I could go on. I hope this dog’s guardian finds an excellent positive trainer. I know lots of standard poodles. A friend of my has one that sounds just like this one. She went to two trainers that used “take control of your dog” techniques, including using a so-called e-collar. She darn near ruined the dog. Finally, I helped her to find an exceptionally skilled positive trainer. It’s taken a lot of work, but her crazy boy is becoming a lovely gentleman. Finally, I have to agree with the second comment as well. Roxanne is right on.
There is so much to respond to that I’m not sure where to begin. First, Ty apparently doesn’t understand how extinguishing a behavior by ignoring it works. If, and only if, a behavior is NOT self-reinforcing, will the behavior be extinguished by ignoring it. And, even if the behavior is not self-reinforcing there might be a brief escalation of the behavior before it stops even when being ignored. It seems jumping is self-reinforcing for this pup. Second, I have a standard poodle pup who at 7 months began barking and lunging at things she was wary of. I won’t go into all the details here, but you can read on my blog some of the positive things I did with our trainer that helped enormously. Third, I want to underscore what Barrie said in the first comment. Reward everything the dog dogs that you like. The dog is not in the air all the time. When all 4 are on the floor ever, reward it. And, the guardian must ask herself “What do I want my dog to do” not just “What don’t I want my dog to do?” Reward every little thing your dog does that you like. What you cannot train for right away, manage. I could go on. I hope this dog’s guardian finds an excellent positive trainer. I know lots of standard poodles. A friend of my has one that sounds just like this one. She went to two trainers that used “take control of your dog” techniques, including using a so-called e-collar. She darn near ruined the dog. Finally, I helped her to find an exceptionally skilled positive trainer. It’s taken a lot of work, but her crazy boy is becoming a lovely gentleman. Finally, I have to agree with the second comment as well. Roxanne is right on.
There are two types of issues here. One is the growling at other people on walks and the other is jumping. Neither, however, should be solved with the dominance approach.
The growling is a big issue that you should hire a positive trainer for right away. It could turn out to be play growling, but it is probably not just for fun. The second, jumping, is a very common puppy issue and can be trained easily with positive reinforcement. The growling concerns me the most because it’s something that’s most fixable now, but will probably only get worse with time, otherwise. Most aggression is based in fear and studies show that being ‘dominated’ only tends to make it worse.
You can find a trainer on the Association of Pet Dog Trainers website. Keep these guidelines in mind when you look for a trainer: American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior’s Position Statement on Dominance.
It saddens me that the blog author uses a dog owner’s overwhelming experience with her dog to bad mouth humane training technologies, the application of which he (Ty) clearly does not understand. This dog owner and dog need immediate assistance, not a methodology lecture!
It is not necessary or useful for the owner to “establish rules and order” (i.e. bully the dog until he complies or shuts down in fear) to get good behavior from her dog. This owner needs a qualified behavior consultant to learn: 1. how to safely and successfully manage her challenging older puppy/budding adolescent behavior so that bad behaviors cannot be practiced when she is not actively training but just living her life 2. how to meet her dog’s needs for physical exercise and mental stimulation so that the dog’s anxiety is kept to a bare minimum and he does not feel the need to bark and growl, and 3. how to train in a way that reduces frustration and arousal.
Exerting dominance has no place in this training scenario and including it will only stress the dog – and by extension the owner – out more.
I suggest the dog owner hire a qualified dog trainer or behavior consultant via the CCPDT (ccpdt.org) the IAABC (iaabc.org) or AABP (associationofanimalbehaviorprofessionals.com).
Wow, sounds like Ty really needs to learn about what positive reinforcement training ‘movement’ really is. It is most definitely not about ‘ignoring negative behaviors’. I can understand this misunderstanding when voiced by someone who doesn’t earn their living training dogs, but when it comes from an ‘expert’ trainer, it’s actually a bit scary.
I’d get to a vet to eliminate any physical or medical reasons for your dog’s behavior and then I’d take the advise of other trainers who have commented and recommended that you find a trainer who truly understands what this ‘positive reinforcement training movement’ is really about.
BTW the ‘training movement’ that Ty refers to is also the one used by top trainers of both domestic and exotic animals around the world. But again, besides trashing it for something it is not, he seems to still be stuck in 19th century training practices. The centuries and the art and science of dog training have moved on!
My first question would be “what is the dog being fed?” there are a lot of cheaper pet feeds that contain colourings, and we all know what they can do to children, they do the same to dogs. Change to a premuim diet with no colouring.
I would advocate rewarding any calm behaviour. It does work! That’s why I can have 6 dogs all sitting at my feet waiting for positive reinforcement, this includes a very small terrier pup as well as 3 working sheepdogs and 2 working cocker spaniels. The reinforcement may be that they are invited to jump for a fuss. How did I do it, easy – I can’t see dogs that are jumping and pawing at me.
The growling and barking on leash needs to be something that a properly qualified behaviourist looks at as the whole picture needs to be looked at. Is it frustration barking or excited barking or is it the dreaded “I’m going to eat you” barking?
How sad that the answer from the expert does not even detail what the owner should do. The idea of “Being the Leader” is so vague and really does little to tell the owner what to do.
Leash manners are important, but it is also important to remember that this is a 5 moth old puppy.
For leash manners, one could get out the leash at odd times of the day without intending to clip it on. Carry the leash around, wait for calm behavior, click and reinforce it with something wonderful, then put it away again.
Repeat that until the leash loses it’s mystic, then move to simply moving the leash near the dog, waiting for calm and clicking (and reinforcing). Step by baby step, work that up to actually attaching the leash. At that point, just practice clipping and unclipping it.
As to the pulling and lunging, a no pull harness can work wonders for that. So can step by step training on loose leash walking, starting in a low distraction area, working one single step at a time, slowly upping the distractions and distance.
For growling, a behaviorist should be consulted. I would never suggest correcting a dog for growling. With that method, it is possible to create a dog that foregoes the growl or snap and goes straight to the bite with no overt warning.
So sad that in this day and age, there are still ignorant trainers who insist, in spite of the eveidence to the contrary, that positive reinforcement based training is synonomous with permissiveness. The author of this blog would do well to investigate what positive reinforcement based training is really about rather than bashing something about which he is so obviously clueless.
Wait….this guy is supposed to be an expert? An expert it what exactly? It certainly is NOT dog training or behavior.
Kim responded quite nicely as did several other posters (sorry i forgot everyone)…..
If you have this problem, do ignore this “expert’s” advice… it’s not worth it.
Chances are, what you have here is not a “dominant dog” but an adolescent Standard Poodle puppy!
The chewing behavior may be a result of teething. Make sure that you have lots of safe and appropriate chew toys on hand, that you always replace something you don’t want him to chew on with something you do want to chew on. He is going to chew, you pick what he chews on.
At what age did you get the dog? How long has the growling and lunging behavior been presenting? How far away does the dog need to be before he starts reacting?
What kind of collar is the dog currently on? Does the dog growl and bark at men, kids, women? People with hats? Sunglasses? Puffy coats? Identify the triggers carefully, and then get in touch with a qualified trainer or behaviorist to work out a desensitization and counter conditioning program.
With jumping, I definitely advise training what’s called an alternative incompatible behavior (the sciencespeak for this is DRI – Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior). Your dog cannot jump if he’s sitting. Practice sit ten times per session, three sessions per day. That is thirty reps a day, 900 in a month! You will certainly see an increased reliability in the behavior if you make the training fun and reinforcing for the dog.
Kim gave you some great tips for desensitizing him to the leash being picked up and carried toward him.
If you check in the B & T forum, you will find lots of good advice for teaching loose leash walking.
Good luck with your Standard. They can be a handful in adolescence, but this too shall pass.
As an aside, I really wish dogster would bring a positive trainer on board at the GDB, to balance out the “traditional” training methods put forth on the GDB. I understand dogster’s desire to remain neutral, as the large membership of this site represents a diverse training spectrum.
To dogster’s B & T faithful, it just seems a little less-than-neutral that there is a GDB contributing author who pushes shock collars and dominance theory (http://www.dogbehavioronline.com/public/department57.cfm) , and yet nobody who represents the many dogsters that choose to use clickers, treats, operant and classical conditioning minus the dominancy theory.
Sorry about the typo. “Dominancy”? Yikes!