Dog sitting - HELP!

Auslander

Auslander

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 November 2010
Messages
12,806
Location
Berkshire
Visit site
Anyone got any bright ideas?

I'm a long term dog owner, mainly gundogs of various shapes and sizes, and my dogs have all been very well behaved - maybe just lucky. I haven't embraced clicker training, positive reinforcement or any such tactics with any of mine, and they've been great.

I'm dog sitting this weekend, for an 11 month old English Bull Terrier. She's never been told off in her life, just praised for good behaviour. They ignore her bad behaviour (which is legendary), and she is absolutely spoilt rotten - sleeps on their bed, they move if she decides she wants to slep on thebit of sofa they are sitting on, and is stuffed with treats for doing things that any civilised dog should do as standard!

I've been here 3 hours, and she hasn't stopped barking, jumping up, nipping, taking flying leaps onto the furniture - ripping chunks out of me and my son with her nails as she does so - and I am at my wits end. I've tried all the tactics laid out in the 4 pages of A4 that have been left, and she simply ignores all of them.

I know she's a young, active dog, but she's had several hours of exercise today, has free access to a large garden - yet she's is still being a nightmare. It's all attention seeking - which she knows works for her, so I can completely understand why it's happening - but its driving me nuts. I can't even go to the loo without her trying to break the door down!

It's the jumping up that's really bugging me - she's just flying facewards - and it hurts - if I push her off, she just keeps coming at me like a crocodile until I stand up and walk away, at which point she jumps up and bites at my legs/hands/bum. The barking is pretty maddening - if she isn't getting attention the whole time, she barks her head off!

Anyone have any bright ideas about managing this behaviour? I feel like a complete pleb who's never handled a dog in her life before! Dreading breaking it to her that she is NOT sleeping on my bed tonight - apparently she does sleep downstairs sometimes, but I have my doubts about how well it's going to go down!
 
Ok - well firstly, if you've ever used the words 'good dog' then you've used positive reinforcement... When used correctly the techniques you mention produce well behaved dogs. I have to get that off my chest.

If you turn your back on her when she jumps up, how does she react? And how does she react to 'no'?

Do you have anywhere you can remove her to if she gets OTT? I would leave her lead on and if she gets silly, calmly take it, take her to the kitchen and close the door. OTT = the canine naughty step.
 
I would be putting her out in the garden and shutting the door for periods of time until she calms down:o

I take it there isn't a crate you can put her in?:confused: or out her on her bed in the kitchen and shut the door for a while. She is a bright dog - I am sure she will realise when you mean it ie no attention she will calm down and catch on:)

Good luck though - it sounds like any good work you do will be undone within minutes of the owners returning home:o
 
I'd agree with Slinky (no surprise there then ;))

Crate/garden/locked in a room as naughty step, back in, then straight back out as soon as she misbehaves again
 
Spudlet said:
Ok - well firstly, if you've ever used the words 'good dog' then you've used positive reinforcement... When used correctly the techniques you mention produce well behaved dogs. I have to get that off my chest.

If you turn your back on her when she jumps up, how does she react? And how does she react to 'no'?

Do you have anywhere you can remove her to if she gets OTT? I would leave her lead on and if she gets silly, calmly take it, take her to the kitchen and close the door. OTT = the canine naughty step.
Click to expand...

I agree that when it's going well, it probably does work - I guess I need to get over the old school "bellow at first, and wallop if bellow is ignored" for bad behaviour that I've been brought up! I'm positive reinforcing as hard as I can - honest!

If I turn my back - 8/10 times, she jumps up and bites my arse. The other two times, she shuts up and listens.

No doesn't appear to be in her vocabulary...

Shutting her away doesn't appear to be terribly effective - she just finds something else to entertain herself whilst banished - and if nothing else is available, chasing and biting her tail is her idea of fun. I've been told not to banish her for more than a minute or two because of the tail biting!
 
Slinkyunicorn said:
I would be putting her out in the garden and shutting the door for periods of time until she calms down:o

I take it there isn't a crate you can put her in?:confused: or out her on her bed in the kitchen and shut the door for a while. She is a bright dog - I am sure she will realise when you mean it ie no attention she will calm down and catch on:)

Good luck though - it sounds like any good work you do will be undone within minutes of the owners returning home:o
Click to expand...

That is exactly what common sense tells me to do - but as you will see from post above - she doesn't really care, and it's not "allowed"!!
 
Slinkyunicorn said:
Whether it was allowed or not I would be doing it!:o How are they going to know?:confused: is she going to tell them?:confused: I am sorry but if they have such a bad mannered dog they should be grateful anyone will look after it:o
Click to expand...

Apparently the tail chasing, if allowed to continue, turns into large chunks of tail missing!!

Have shut her up temporarily with a rawhide chew - apparently this will keep her quiet for at least half and hour!
 
Agreed with Slinky. Distraction sounds key. Not much point in you trying to retrain her, you just need to manage her.
 
Slinkyunicorn said:
Go to a butchers tomoorw and get some fresh bones and chuck her out in the garden with one - will keep her quiet and wear her out. Get some vet wrap etc and bind the tail up:D
Click to expand...

I was looking thoughtfully at the duct tape I've just found in a drawer!

I have a feeling that the person who was dog sitting from Wed-this morning has been allowing her to get away with murder! She's staying with their dog trainer all next week, then I have her again next weekend. It will be interesting to see how she behaves after a week of bootcamp!
 
I'm no expert with dogs but mine have always had their own place i.e a dog bed or space to which they are sent , not a shared space like the settee (although when behaving correctly are allowed on it) If the owners haven't established a place where the dog can be sent away from you , then i'm not sure you are going to be able to train the dog differently in the time you've got , it's such a shame that they've let this get this far and not established the boundaries , we all know that a well behaved dog is a joy to own , and is also a happy dog ... good luck.
 
Paddy Irish said:
I'm no expert with dogs but mine have always had their own place i.e a dog bed or space to which they are sent , not a shared space like the settee (although when behaving correctly are allowed on it) If the owners haven't established a place where the dog can be sent away from you , then i'm not sure you are going to be able to train the dog differently in the time you've got , it's such a shame that they've let this get this far and not established the boundaries , we all know that a well behaved dog is a joy to own , and is also a happy dog ... good luck.
Click to expand...


Absolutely agree. Mine understood "Bed" and were perfectly happy to go and lie down if required.
 
Slinkyunicorn said:
On the bright side at least its not fed Bakers!:D
Click to expand...

Nope - raw chicken wings for dinner, porridge for breakfast, homemade soup for lunch, and her own bodyweight in organic dog treats!!

I'm not a great fan of bullies, but she's in fantastic condition - very fit. She's also very happy and friendly. Just a big PITA that she's such a brat!
 
Auslander said:
Nope - raw chicken wings for dinner, porridge for breakfast, homemade soup for lunch, and her own bodyweight in organic dog treats!!

I'm not a great fan of bullies, but she's in fantastic condition - very fit. She's also very happy and friendly. Just a big PITA that she's such a brat!
Click to expand...

That dog eats better than I do;)
 
I doubt her owners would like it, but you could cut down on her food - hungry puppies are puppies that focus on doing as they're told to get the food...;)
 
Spudlet said:
I doubt her owners would like it, but you could cut down on her food - hungry puppies are puppies that focus on doing as they're told to get the food...;)
Click to expand...

I don't think it would help - she's not really very food motivated (except for the treats!) She rarely eats a meal when it s given to her - unless she is egged on!
I'm not treating her unless she responds to an instruction - don't think it'll kill her not to get treated every time she wags her tail or looks at you in a certain way!

My labs and spaniels were SO much easier - total foodies!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top