Howling Farmer

Tucker is just a little over two now. He has had some interesting (ahem…) issues, to the point where a vet behaviorist is involved. I have done a lot of work with him, and a TON of impulse control work, and he was gradually improving. Finally got him neutered at two. Didn't expect much, since none of his issues seemed "male" related. Well, six or so weeks after the neutering, he suddenly turned over a new leaf and is considerably mellower. His overall arousal level is much, much lower, and it seems like he is able to hold it together better. Like I said, I've done a ton of work with him, and maybe it's a coincidence and maturity is just (FINALLY) setting in, but there was such a palpable difference, I really do think the neutering had something to do with it. Leslie

I actually know the woman in the video that Jen mentioned, with the deaf Akita (who, before we moved, was one of my reactive BC's best friends.) She also uses "getting to play in the stream" and "getting to greet your favorite people" as rewards to get her dog interested in working. Sometimes you have to be really creative to find what actually is a reinforcer! Leslie

I really like Dr. Pachel too. Not only is he a good vet behaviorist, but he so nice and down to earth and supportive. I was at my wits end when I took Tucker to see him, and I left the appointment feeling sooo much better! Leslie

The new study must be prompting interest. My BC, who has had issues with chasing his shadow, was just featured in a Portland article http://www.oregonlive.com/pets/index.ssf/2014/03/pet_talk_canines_are_also_pron.html Leslie

As I think someone else said above, resource guarding is really normal behavior for dogs. Of course, that doesn't make it acceptable! Good suggestions above about trading games. You also might want to check out Jean Donaldson's "Mine." My BC stares at me all the time. Sometimes I think he's going go bore holes through my head. Leslie

I also have a BC that doesn't sleep a lot during the day. He has a great off switch and has been highly reinforced for calm behavior, so he's completely calm in the house. But not sleeping. To get him to actually nap, sometimes I have to stick him in his crate, on the porch, to keep him sequestered from anything that might possibly disturb his very light slumber. If he doesn't get his naps, he gets over stimulated and on edge. And he's much more likely to be reactive. He'll still be acting calm, but his eyes will have a certain wild look about them. Then I'll know it's time to put him in his crate for a nap. Leslie

When my fence guy put in my high-tensile fence, some of the strands were ground wires, the idea being what you describe. This kept the goats in, but I did have one sheep that kept getting out (wool is such a great insulator....) Once I put in another hot wire so that the space between the wires was smaller, then he stayed in. I don't live there anymore, but I'm guessing the space between the strands was 4-6 inches where the fence was "sheep height." I would think you'd want the wires close enough together so the head would touch both at once. Leslie

Mine both got zapped as youngsters. The Mini Aussie came trotting back to the house, shaking his head and looking surprised and indignant. Thirty seconds later he'd forgotten about it. My poor BC was wet when he touched it, and came running back to the house, screaming bloody murder. He barked at inanimate objects for half an hour afterwards. Later, when he touched it as an adult, there was a lot less drama. Leslie

In my (limited) experience, it's been the marrow that caused the problem. Scooping some of it out seems to work. My small dog seems particularly susceptible to "the problem" and gets the bones that my BC has already eaten most if not all of the marrow out of. Leslie

I can't remember the dose per pound, but the dose for my 36 lb. guy was 100 mg, twice a day. I may be remembering this wrong, but I think you have to be careful to select a brand that doesn't have something bad in it for dogs. I got mine from Swansons -- Suntheanine. A lot of folks seem to have had good success with it, but I didn't really notice a difference with Tucker. I actually questioned whether it made him barkier, but I can't say for sure. Best of luck. Leslie

When I was looking for a pup, Dee Woessner was highly recommended by the Open level trial handler I was taking lessons from. I didn't end up getting a pup from her, just because of timing, but I did communicate with her quite a bit and was very impressed. She did do the ENS with her pups, and it sounded like they were extensively socialized. No breeding contract as I recall. I can't remember if she did any testing. And I don't remember exactly where she is, but I'm sure you can find her -- on the East Coast somewhere. Best of luck. Leslie

We have had problems with Tucker chasing his shadow and obsessing over his reflection (weirdly, it never generalized to other shadows and reflections...) We have pretty much extinguished the behavior in the house (last winter we had a huge problem when he discovered his reflection in the chrome on our wood stove.) With Tucker, it's related to anxiety and arousal, so we worked on decreasing his arousal around the shadow/reflection. Every time he went to "jump" on the reflection, we told him in the most bored voice we could manage "go lie down." If he kept popping up to jump on it, we would put him in his crate for a time out, or put a calming cap on him (so he couldn't see the reflection). We were also feeding him his dinner in front of the stove -- marking with a "yes" and feeding him a bit of his raw meat dinner every time he looked away from the reflection. If he started to obsess, we would say "too bad" and back him away and stop feeding for a few seconds. After a couple of weeks, we started to see a behavior chain "start to jump on the stove then go lie down." After another couple of weeks, he stopped looking at the stove at all. A year later, he's still sometimes too interested in his shadow and reflection outside, but it's gotten much better. Good luck and let us know how things are going! Leslie

Hi Amy, You might have to drive somewhere to do the training. I live in the country too, and it seems like I am always having to drive somewhere to get the right training set up! It's a huge pain, but it's worth it. Is there someplace you could go where you could get far enough away from the cars to be under threshold (she's noticing cars but not trying to chase them)? Ideally, this is someplace where a car passes every minute or two (this way she won't be overwhelmed, but you won't have to wait forever to see one.) It sounds like this won't work so well at your property because you'd be waiting too long between cars. Wait until she sees the approaching car, then feed her while she is looking at the car (it's really important that she sees the car before you start feeding. The car has to predict food.) As soon as the car is out of view, stop feeding. No food until she sees the next car. Keep repeating. Gradually move closer to the road as she becomes more comfortable. After a bit, she will hopefully start to look to you for a treat when she sees a car, instead of chasing. If she starts to react to a car, it means you're too close, so back up. You could also try the same thing at your property, but have your husband drive back and forth as you gradually work closer to the road. We're doing this with bikes and runners right now, having my daughter bike/run across the road as I work Tucker on the driveway, gradually getting closer. This method has worked well for us. Our Mini Aussie also used to try to chase cars, and now he doesn't. If he's worried about a car, he looks to me for a treat instead. Sometimes he doesn't even notice the cars anymore. Best, Leslie

Emily Larlham has a wonderful new dvd called "Harnessing the Hunter," which is all about lowering arousal and building reliability around prey. Exactly the squirrel issue! I bought it and it is super user-friendly, with lots of creative exercises that are helpful in everyday life as well. The dvd is also really encouraging because she has two hunting-breed dogs that were NUTS about prey (it's on the video) and now are calm around prey. The dvd is available at Tawzerdog.com. Leslie

Our cat was actually the first one to figure out the dog door!