Post by tank on Feb 28, 2009 19:56:26 GMT -5
Okay, I have been putting in endless hours of reading, training, patience and frustration over the past month about this and I can't figure it out.
Background, most of which I have posted here before. Lucy is 11 months. She is well socialized in public, with both people and dogs. She has had bad experiences (scary experiences for her) here in the house. These include being teased, confused and having sketchy people in the house, nothing major, but obviously major for her. She is fearful, and always has been. I work hard at helping her with this and she has been a lot better in all areas (almost 100%) but people coming near her house.
Okay, Lucy is becoming protective of her house. She barks like crazy when someone is at the door and doesn't stop when the person comes in unless it is someone she knows. (This is recent as of 2 months I'd say) This has even happened while I was at work with her, when someone came in late at night unexpectedly to deliver something while she was loose in the store. (My boss requires me to have her with me if I am working after dark so I lock the door and keep her loose unless someone is on their way in, then I put her out back and let them in.)
When this problem began I had some treats and a toy by the door so that when people came over she could get treats from them so she would see it as a positive experience. That backfired when the person loomed over her and shoved a treat in her face only to frighten her even more and elevate the problem. She is not human aggressive or anything, she is more scared that they are "invading her house" it seems.
Like I have said before she excited/submissively pees when people pat her right away or talk baby talk to her when they first arrive at the house until she calms down. This is something we have solved by ignoring her when we come home and having guests ignore her when they come over until she has calmed down. I have tried to get her to "go lay down" but nothing known to man can make her do that, she gets too excited. She won't even do it for the most delicious treat in the world even though she is very food motivated.
She is doing better with not barking at people walking/biking by the house, but if someone catches her off guard she barks to no end at them until they are gone. Should I be ignoring her or just bringing her into the house right away? Or correcting her or giving her treats when I see people coming? I don't think any of these have worked on her.
When she is in the house and hears something, she barks, but usually not more than one or 2 short barks, and the new rule is to just ignore her completely so that nothing comes from her barking, good or bad. I believe it's called the extinction method. This has been working wonderfully. She still barks when she is startled, but it doesn't carry on anymore.
I really think at this point she is just nervous around people she doesn't know, even though we bring her around people all the time. The problem is, she isn't a cute little puppy anymore and no one stops to gawk or pat her anymore unless they know her. So she gets constant exposure, just not positive attention from strangers.
People who know her think she is a really well trained dog, an advocate for the breed, but I feel awful for letting this get out of hand and not being able to come up with a clear answer on how to solve the problem. She has done really well with positive clicker training in the past few weeks, is there a way using this method that could help us?
P.S. Feel free to be harsh on me, I can deal with it
Background, most of which I have posted here before. Lucy is 11 months. She is well socialized in public, with both people and dogs. She has had bad experiences (scary experiences for her) here in the house. These include being teased, confused and having sketchy people in the house, nothing major, but obviously major for her. She is fearful, and always has been. I work hard at helping her with this and she has been a lot better in all areas (almost 100%) but people coming near her house.
Okay, Lucy is becoming protective of her house. She barks like crazy when someone is at the door and doesn't stop when the person comes in unless it is someone she knows. (This is recent as of 2 months I'd say) This has even happened while I was at work with her, when someone came in late at night unexpectedly to deliver something while she was loose in the store. (My boss requires me to have her with me if I am working after dark so I lock the door and keep her loose unless someone is on their way in, then I put her out back and let them in.)
When this problem began I had some treats and a toy by the door so that when people came over she could get treats from them so she would see it as a positive experience. That backfired when the person loomed over her and shoved a treat in her face only to frighten her even more and elevate the problem. She is not human aggressive or anything, she is more scared that they are "invading her house" it seems.
Like I have said before she excited/submissively pees when people pat her right away or talk baby talk to her when they first arrive at the house until she calms down. This is something we have solved by ignoring her when we come home and having guests ignore her when they come over until she has calmed down. I have tried to get her to "go lay down" but nothing known to man can make her do that, she gets too excited. She won't even do it for the most delicious treat in the world even though she is very food motivated.
She is doing better with not barking at people walking/biking by the house, but if someone catches her off guard she barks to no end at them until they are gone. Should I be ignoring her or just bringing her into the house right away? Or correcting her or giving her treats when I see people coming? I don't think any of these have worked on her.
When she is in the house and hears something, she barks, but usually not more than one or 2 short barks, and the new rule is to just ignore her completely so that nothing comes from her barking, good or bad. I believe it's called the extinction method. This has been working wonderfully. She still barks when she is startled, but it doesn't carry on anymore.
I really think at this point she is just nervous around people she doesn't know, even though we bring her around people all the time. The problem is, she isn't a cute little puppy anymore and no one stops to gawk or pat her anymore unless they know her. So she gets constant exposure, just not positive attention from strangers.
People who know her think she is a really well trained dog, an advocate for the breed, but I feel awful for letting this get out of hand and not being able to come up with a clear answer on how to solve the problem. She has done really well with positive clicker training in the past few weeks, is there a way using this method that could help us?
P.S. Feel free to be harsh on me, I can deal with it