The Jack Russell growls at the boy. It’s a sad situation and I feel so sorry for Eddie (not his real name). He is thirteen years old and their rescue Jack Russell, Ted, ‘doesn’t like’ him.
What makes it even more sad is that Eddie was the one family member not particularly interested in getting a dog until Ted chose him at the rescue. He settled on his lap. For Eddie it was love.
In a week or two everything had changed.
Continue reading…
The dog thought I was leaving. She changed in a flash into a snarling, barking, biting dervish.
The lady met me at the door with Polly on lead — this being the only way she could open it without her dog running out. As I walked in, Polly bounced off the floor, barking at me, leaping up at me and biting my clothes.
This frenzy didn’t last too long once the lady gave me the tiny bits of chicken I’d asked her to prepare for me. Polly soon got the idea that staying on the floor was a lot more fulfilling than jumping up and barking at me.
Her extreme arousal levels result in poor Polly being super-reactive and constantly on high alert. Stress levels have fallout in other areas. They are a large part of the reason she goes mental when people leave.
The vet has prescribed all sorts of things to no avail. I guess most dogs are stressed at the vet so it would be harder to tell, but watching her in her home environment, it was obvious stress was involved to large degree.
As soon as she had got over a bout of barking or there was any pressure on her, Polly scratched.
The lady tries to stop her with a command or a distraction — or by holding her foot to restrain her. As Polly only scratches to try to relieve her stress. stopping her without providing an alternative only adds to it.
I suggested a dog T-shirt with sleeves. She could then scratch without harming himself and the lady could relax about it while working to help relieve Polly’s stress.
Bearing in mind that the lady is so upset by the situation, anything that helps her will help Polly, and visa versa. Our own emotions can have a big effect on our dog.
I was sure that as she worked on everything else, the scratching would reduce or even stop altogether. I was right.
The next problem is constant barking at every sound. How can someone stop a dog like this from barking?
A previous trainer had suggested spraying water at her. She’s already in a panic. How can scaring an already aroused and panicking dog not make her even more frantic?
There are predictable triggers. They live by a school. For half an hour each morning and half an hour each evening Polly goes mental in the garden.
She goes mental with barking when letters drop through the front door.
There is a public car park out the front and she reacts to every car door she hears shutting. She runs back and forth from kitchen to front door and then into the garden, barking.
While I was there she barely barked at all — and that is because I worked on it.
At every sound, even before she could bark if possible, I reassured her with ‘Okay’, called her and dropped her a bit of chicken.
Car doors slammed outside and the lady couldn’t believe — Polly wasn’t reacting. On the occasions when she rushed out into the garden I called her in immediately. I called her before she had time to get stuck in — and rewarded her. We shut the door.
If the lady keeps her eye on the ball and cuts down on all barking opportunities, she will find things very different. It will be hard work and every little bit helps.
She will immediately install an outside letterbox. She will keep Polly shut away from the front of the house at school-run times.
I also advised her not to give Polly free access to the garden unless she is at hand to help her out.
When she goes out and leaves Polly alone, it should in the quietest place — the sitting room — well away from the front of the house, passing people and slamming doors.
The third big issue I discovered towards the end of my visit. Having been sitting down for a while, I stood up.
Polly thought I was leaving. She changed in a flash from this little dog who was doing so well with me, into a dervish.
She barked ferociously — even worse than at the start when I arrived. The little dog flew at me, grabbing my clothes. She was in total panic.
Standing still and using my original technique, I eventually calmed her down again. All was well for a while until, still seated, I slowly picked up my keys to see what she would do. That was enough. She went frantic once more.
The lady understandably wanted to know why her dog does this whenever someone gets up to go. Why is she so aggressive when people leave? What memory might it trigger?
Who knows what the rescued dog’s previous life had been like.
In her panic, Polly has bitten the lady several times at the gate or at the front door. She had gone to move Polly during one of her ‘mad sessions’.
(Many years ago I inherited an old Labrador when we had bought a house from an elderly lady who went into a home. Her dog stayed. I used to say that Angus would rather kill someone than let them leave).
Back then I didn’t know what I know now.
So, all in all, just by reducing the barking alone the lady will cut down a lot of Polly’s stress.
Cutting down on her stress will contribute to her not being aggressive when people leave.
Polly needs more exercise and freedom to be a terrier — away from the confines of a small bungalow. Her walks aren’t daily. They are currently along the roads on a short, tight lead attached to her collar.
She will feel a lot better when the lady gets her a comfortable harness and a long training line and takes her somewhere more open. She will have thirty or more feet of freedom to sniff and to explore. This way she won’t escape whilst having some enrichment in her life.
I visited this dog two months before writing this article. Polly now is a lot less excitable when someone comes to the house. She still barks but it lacks the panic and the lady, who has worked very hard, can reassure her so she stops. She seldom scratches.
Best of all, when a friend visits and they get up to go, Polly is chilled. She has learnt to associate people leaving with two good things — play and food.
NB. For the sake of the story and for confidentiality also, this isn’t a complete report. If you listen to ‘other people’ or find instructions on the internet or TV that are not tailored to your own dog, you can do more harm than good. Click here for help
I totally fell in love with scruffy ten-month-old Jack Russell mix Max yesterday. I had the perfect evening with him and his humans.
It began with just me and the daughter who is in her late teens. Then mum arrived followed by tw
o male school friends of the girl’s and later a man – all people closely involved in the dog’s life. Lucky little dog!
As each person joined us I was working with Max. He had jumped up at me in a madly friendly fashion as I walked in the door and I immediately showed him that this didn’t work with me if it was my attention he wanted. More importantly, I concentrated on showing him what did work.
As more people arrived and as I worked with him, instead of jumping up at them, becoming increasingly excited and silly as would normally be the case, he was becoming more and more settled.
When finally the man joined us, he said Max must be another dog.
It won’t take much of this to build up a new habit when people arrive, so long as everyone is consistent. They have a lot of people coming and going so training the humans is the main problem here!
All I did was to consistently reinforce the behaviour I wanted. As you can see from the photo, Max became FOCUSED! He was sitting looking up at me as we all chatted. From time to time I reinforced the continued calm behaviour with Yes or a click and the tiniest bit of food.
Now he can develop a new habit, that of sitting at someone’s feet looking adorable in order to get his attention fix!
I then tried him on an antler chew. Chewing is such a great and natural way for a dog to relieve stress and to occupy himself. Max worked away at it for maybe an hour after which he simply lay down and settled.
Just like so many dogs I go to, Max generates nearly all his own attention with tactics like constantly asking to be let out and then back in again, jumping up behind people, mouthing, digging the sofa – anything he can think of.
If instead his humans initiate frequent short activities that he finds rewarding and that exercise his brain, he will no longer be driven into goading them for the attention and action he craves.
The small dog has fantastic humans in his life who have put time and effort into teaching him training tricks. Now they need to incorporate work on keeping him a bit calmer and making the desirable habits the rewarding ones.
At last he settles
Here are a few examples where his bad habit can be changed into a good habit.
Before bed and before they go to work, like so many dogs Max will refuse to come in from the garden. With a bit of management by way of a long lead so he can no longer rehearse the behaviour and food so that he’s motivated, this habit can soon be changed to him running in as soon as they call him.
While they eat their dinner, he has a habit of sitting on the back of the sofa behind them and trying to get their food! This habit can be changed with a mix of management and training. So he can no longer rehearse this behaviour he can be put somewhere else while they eat. He can then be taught a much better habit instead.
Whenever he sees a person out on a walk he will jump up at them. This habit can be changed through a mix of management and teaching him something better that earns him fuss.
Even pulling on lead is a habit. He is forced to walk beside them and the short lead is tight so that pulling against it is constantly rehearsed on every daily walk. A new habit can be established using management – better equipment – and a loose leash that is repeatedly reinforced by earning him forward progress along with plenty of encouragement, attention and reward.
Near the end of our session yesterday I put one of my Perfect Fit harnesses on Max and attached a training lead. Within a few minutes the now calm Max was walking beautifully for me and then for the daughter outside the front of the house.
Already a new and much better walking habit has been born.
It was quite touching how he was with me by the time I was ready to leave and we had removed the harness. He lay beside me, his head on my foot. What had I done to him?
We had a mutual understanding. Max felt quietly understood.
When I arrived he was very frightened though, unusually when someone new comes to his house, he didn’t bark at me. I had choreographed my entrance carefully.
These first two photos show his anxiety. One with the lifted leg. The other in the way he is lying, kind of hugging himself.
Feels unsafe
Looking at me anxiously
Little Jack Russell Jasper, age two, has been in his new home for six months. One half of the couple he lives with is off work just now but goes back in a month.
Being left alone terrifies Jasper. Continue reading…
Nine years ago Banjo came to live with their other Jack Russell, Daisy. She was four years old at the time and all his life Badger lived with her and relied upon her. Daisy was the in charge.
Badger never before had been left all alone.
His young couple have to go out to work and Badger howls and cries. The young lady sneaked up to the window and looked in when he was quiet. He was sitting on the rug, shaking. This was the rug where he had last seen Daisy when the vet came to put her to sleep a couple of weeks previously.
His life has been torn apart in more ways than just being all alone when his humans go out. Daisy was the dominant dog of the pair. All Badger’s life he has been used to following her and now he’s alone. It has left a big void with both her humans and with Badger and I’m sure he feels insecure without her. The separation problem is part of the bigger picture.
Without Daisy beside him, the previously calm dog is now on alert when out on walks.
Without this strong influence, Badger is lost. He is, in his way, grieving.
He is now on window guard-duty alone. He has to deal with the invasion of post through the letterbox alone. They will block his view, put up an outside mailbox and help him out when he becomes alarmed.
The lower his stress levels are in general (I keep banging on about stress levels don’t I), the better he will be able to cope with this huge change in his life.
You might think now that they take him out everywhere with them – something they couldn’t do with Daisy – it would compensate for life without her.
Banjo needs time.
Introducing him to activities that suit his brain should help to enrich his new life without his strong-willed companion to control him – things to do with sniffing, foraging. He doesn’t play.
Helping to get him used to being all alone is tricky when they both work. They have arranged cover for the next couple of weeks and after that will take him to doggy daycare twice a week. He can then be without Daisy but somewhere he’s never had her with him – he loves other dogs.
A slowly slowly plan involving desensitising him to the triggers that precede their going out is fundamental. They will repeatedly go through each thing individually, coats on, checking the house, lifting keys etc. and then the whole sequence without actually going out of the door to begin with. Then they will add going out of the door – for one minute only initially. They will use food.
They can watch him from through a camera and an app their phones. This will enable them to time their returns, to be back before he panics.
When they are gone they can leave Badger a stuffed Kong and a chew, though it’s likely in his state he won’t yet be interested in food when all alone. Departures should be associated with good things and returns fairly boring.
There are other things things they can try that may help to comfort him when left:
We can review the situation in a couple of weeks. We may need to get the vet involved. The fact Badger will still have to be left all alone for several hours some days will unfortunately slow things down, but it is what it is.
Beautiful Jack Russell Jojo is nine years old and the friendliest, easiest little dog you could hope to meet.
Unfortunately she has developed a fear of the vet. She was taken for her regular yearly check and vaccinations but went into a flat panic.
Why, after all these years?
She has never enjoyed being at the vet but has tolerated it. The previous year she saw a different vet who, seeing she was uneasy, got down on the floor with her and all was well.
That previous time the waiting room had been full and busy. Sociable Jess was very happy with that.
This most recent time the waiting room was empty and quiet.
The vet came out of his room and walked directly towards Jojo. She immediately went and hid under the lady’s chair. Most unusual.
I see two things here. The appearance of the vet into the quiet room may have been a bit sudden. The direct approach towards Jojo will have scared her.
Then, when carried into the vet’s room, Jojo struggled frantically to get out of the lady’s arms as she was lifted her onto the table. They couldn’t hold her sufficiently still to do anything and had to give up.
It looks like she was sensitised to the actual vet himself by the manner and suddenness of his approach. It’s very likely, however, that in addition to fear of the vet she will also now be sensitised to the whole premises.
Maybe another time he can be asked to stay in his room and maybe the receptionist can send them in – or maybe just put his head around the door instead?
Direct advance can be intimidating. See this – the Pulse Project.
A dog can be a lot more confident if a person is already in a room, seated even, when the dog enters.
The lady will now be working on getting Jojo not to have fear of the vet but to positively like him instead.
They will break a vet visit down into the smallest increments. This is a framework:
What led to Jojo’s fear of the vet can be diagnosed fairly accurately, so we know exactly what it is that needs to be reversed. It’s not what a vet does with her that scares Jojo but the vet himself. With some work and with the help of the vet, little Jojo should go back to tolerating him again – maybe even liking him.
Odd behaviour. Another puzzle.
The four-year-old Jack Russell had been in rescue kennels for months. Then he had been adopted for just four days before the odd behaviour landed him back in the kennels. My clients have endured it for three months now.
Normally when a dog does something regularly we can get some clue as to why from what happens (in his mind) as a result of the behaviour. It does something for him.
In this case, the obvious consequence, losing the person, can’t surely be what’s ‘in it’ for Max. He’s not happy to be left all alone.
The odd behaviour happens when someone is walking out of the room. He barks frantically and leaps at the the door. It slams shut. Usually the person is therefore shut out of the room.
As the door always closes after the person is gone, so his aim is unlikely to be to keep the person in.
He suddenly becomes extremely anxious when someone approaches the door. It makes no difference if someone else is still in the room with him, so it’s unlikely to be fear of being left all alone.
He did the same thing when I left the room too, so it’s unlikely to be about the fear of losing someone he cares about.
What if Max went through the door with them? We tried the lady going through the door whilst inviting him to go with her. He wouldn’t go. He just barked and leapt at the door, slamming it. We tried the same thing with the man.
The door was beside a chair and Max leapt onto the arm in order to fly at the door.
If the door is held open so he can’t slam it shut, he will jump down and bark at the open doorway as the person disappears around the corner. If the door is too far away from a chair for him to jump at and close, he will get behind the door to slam it shut after the person.
Lady leaving the room
He acts like there is an invisible barrier in the doorway and that there may be danger beyond that could be triggered by someone going out of the room.
He only does this on downstairs doors, never upstairs.
It’s never good to use guesswork – we should stick to the facts we actually can see. I do however wonder whether in his past life someone has used an electric shock barrier on him. Electric shock punishment that can come out of the blue to the dog can result in unexplained, odd behaviour.
With most behaviours it is easy to see what the dog gets out of it – what drives the behaviour. Not so in this case.
How can we make Max feel better about people walking out through doors? One way to get him to feel better is to associate it with something especially nice.
I devised a game (I might also use clicker, but not appropriate in this case).
You want to go out of the room? Stand up and drop chicken or throw him the ball. Take a couple of steps towards the door. Drop more chicken or throw the ball. Get to the door. Sprinkle some bits of food or throw him the ball. As you walk through the door, drop food or throw the ball.
If things aren’t showing significant improvement in a couple of weeks we will try a different tack.
The consequence of the odd behaviour is always a person walking out of the room. Maybe they can do the opposite and walk back in again instead? The trigger for the odd behaviour is someone walking directly towards the door. They will already have tried changing this be throwing food or the ball on the way to the door. They can try walking away from the door and around the room before approaching it – maybe even walk backwards!
There must be a way of cracking this odd behaviour.
One of their little dogs bites a friend entering the house. Everything changes.
He is now muzzled when people come and when he’s out.
The whole situation is very stressful for everyone in the family. The first goal, before doing anything else, is to see how much we can calm things down.
Luka
With calmer little dogs should come a less stressed lady. She and her husband have a lot on their plate with a teenage daughter who needs round the clock care.
The dogs help the girl to feel happy. Some alarm barking makes her feel safe. Unfortunately the barking is uncontrollable.
We sat at the kitchen table and the two dogs rushed into the room, barking. Luka, a 21-month-old Jack Russell Chihuahua mix, was muzzled. Jack Russell Sasha, 5, was friendly and soon stopped her barking.
Luka’s muzzle was removed. He seemed okay with me for a while and then began to bark again. The muzzle was put back on – they are understandably nervous.
The muzzle actually seemed to calm him right down as I have found can sometimes be the case with a certain kind of muzzle. It may work like a calming band. When it came off he was friendly and chilled for a while.
I took my photos when the dogs were being held – the only time they were sufficiently still!
The dogs barked at the slightest sound. They leapt all over us, springing up from the floor, even onto the table itself.
Because the lovely daughter is unable to pick them up, it’s necessary that they jump. They jump onto her lap when she’s in her wheelchair and they leap onto her bed where she spends quite a lot of time. They slee
p on her bed with her.
When highly aroused, Luka may also redirect onto Sasha.
This is a case of picking our battles. We will forget about the jumping up as working on that could cause even more stress for all concerned.
My first goal is to calm everything down. A stressed owner creates stressed dogs and visa versa.
One can imagine how distressing it is when our much-loved dog bites someone. A lady friend was walking into the house. The dogs somehow got out of the kitchen.
It is absolutely certain that this would not have happened were it not for stress. Stress builds up to the point where all self control goes out of the window and one final, sometimes minor, trigger is the last straw.
They have had building work for the past few weeks which has led to constant barking. The highly aroused dogs somehow got out of the kitchen. The person was carrying food. They were jumping all over her – Luka barking. She fussed them. The lady owner will have been extremely anxious. The jumping up may have aggravated Luka’s knee problem.
The lady takes a step forward.
Luka goes for her.
He bites the lady – twice.
They will now gate the kitchen doorway so they have a bit more control over where the dogs go.
The dogs can be helped to calm down with something to chew or do, marrow bones or a stuffed Kong each, for instance. To avoid trouble between them they will be one each side of the gate.
The family has so much on their plate just now that simply calming things down has to be the place to start. After all, arousal and stress is at the bottom of both the barking and bites.
I feel exasperated.
Yet again I have been to a dog that has been attacked not once, but three times in as many weeks, by off lead dogs that are not under control.
Their dogs, as always, are just being dogs.
Dear Little Jack Russell Annie, now nine, was re-homed with my young lady client about ten weeks ago. There was no history of trouble with other dogs.
The lady walked her without incident for a week and she interacted fine with other dogs.
Then everything changed.
Annie was being walked on lead in the nearby field as usual – the lady didn’t trust her to come back yet. There were several off-lead dogs about.
A dog went for her.
Two weeks later, in the same field, another dog attacked her. The injuries to her face required a visit to the vet. As if that wasn’t enough, a third went for her a few days later causing another injury.
They were walking down the street, approaching a dog. She tightened the lead. This time Annie had a pop at the dog on the way past.
The lady was now given advice, ‘let her off lead and she will be fine’. This demonstrates the danger of giving advice with insufficient research.
In the same field, there were several dogs running around. The girl removed Annie’s lead.
Annie straight away went for another dog, presumably on the defensive, getting it before it could get her. With no lead, she couldn’t be caught.
Those three irresponsible dog owners’ dogs that have ‘infected’ Annie with reactivity, themselves may well have had similar things happening to them in the past. Other dogs may well have scared them or injured them.
Responsible owners only let their dogs off lead if their recall is good. They don’t to let them off at all if they can’t be trusted with other dogs.
There has been recent uproar where my local council has ruled that all dogs must be kept on lead in a large popular country park. I think it’s a good thing. There must be somewhere that dogs like Annie can be walked, on lead, in safety.
The young lady is distraught. She feels guilty for letting it happen although there was no way a novice dog owner could have prevented it.
She homed Annie dreaming of long walks and cottage holidays with her rescue dog. Instead she has work to do.
She will have to be very selective where she walks while she works on it. I wrote this blog on the subject.
Of course, in my local park with the off-lead ban, there are still those irresponsible dog owners who ignore it.
They love to see their dog running free. Isn’t it his right?
I’m Alright Jack
It is also the right of other dogs to enjoy the countryside unmolested and not intimidated or, worse still, injured.
What is wrong with a long line on a harness? It may be inconvenient, but managing a long line is an art. People can learn to be a sort of human flexilead and not get into a tangle.
Not contaminating another generation of dogs with dog to dog reactivity is a moral duty.
I no doubt will continue to bang on about this and nothing will change.
Chip was licking the baby’s face as she sat on the floor. Now that baby is becoming mobile, Chip is becoming increasingly troubled by her when she moves or makes a noise.
When baby is sitting on the floor at the same level as Chip, the dog simply can’t relax or leave her alone. There is no stillness or growling, simply concern. She keeps licking her face.
It doesn’t take a dog expert to read Chip’s worry in the photo as she watches the baby from the sofa.
Each time she started licking baby’s face
, mum or dad told her ‘No!’. They are understandably on edge all the time the two are together. Chip is a very well-loved dog and it’s hard.
A calm dog licking the baby in passing is very different to a seriously aroused dog repeatedly licking the baby on the face.
I’m sure the couple’s anxiety and constant necessary ‘nagging’ of Chip is contributing to the situation.
I immediately began calling Chip away from the baby, rewarding her for coming. Soon we introduced the clicker.
After a while Chip was just looking at the baby and voluntarily turning away – which we marked with a click and food.
However, stress builds up and Chip’s arousal level became such that she became increasingly slow in responding to being called away. She was snatching the food when she did come.
Well before things are able to get to this stage the two should be separated, but how?
There was nowhere to put dear little Chip apart from excluding her from the room behind a door.
Before the baby arrived, the four-year-old Jack Russell went everywhere with them. Their jobs involve touring and staying in different places. They always took Chip. She was given plenty of attention by all the people they met and loves people – if not so good with other dogs.
With the arrival of the baby a year ago, Chip’s life has been turned upside down. The couple are unable to enjoy her in the way they did and her own life is very different.
One simple thing can change Chip’s compulsively licking the baby. It will change everything. They will all be able to relax.
Chip has been used to a pen from an early age when they travelled. They can put all her toys in it along with other special things for her to do and to chew. They can sprinkle her food in there.
Within the safety of the pen, they can build up strong and positive associations with the baby. Chip won’t have to be excluded.
It seems she feels possessive or protective of the baby. This is born out when other dogs approach the buggy – she does tend to guard things form other dogs.
Possibly some of the licking is about covering the frequently washed baby’s face with her own scent? That’s just a guess.
As baby gets even more mobile it’s important she’s unable to corner Chip who must always have a baby-proof bolt-hole. A pen can be opened out and adapted.
Baby was upstairs for a while and her crying came through the baby monitor. Chip licked her lips. Uneasy. Worried. This is an opportunity to give her a little bit of food. Every time she looks at the baby or hears her, they can pair it with food. She need not eat all her meals in bowls – her food can be used for something more useful for now.
Though they are able to give her quality time when the baby is in bed, Chip’s walks aren’t what they used to be. It’s hard to negotiate some of the best walks pushing a buggy and it’s also hard to beat a hasty retreat if a bouncy young dog comes running up, jumping all over her and around the buggy. Chip never has liked her space invaded by other dogs.
A positive approach by the couple, replacing scolding and anxiety when Chip is near the baby with reward and encouragement, should transform things.
Physical management is vital – the pen. I also suggest a soft harness and longish lead for when they are somewhere else. This way Chip can be comfortably restrained, called away from the baby, rewarded – and then gently kept away instead of constantly being watched.
With management in place they will be able to work on getting Chip happier and more relaxed around the baby. She should then also become less stressed in general.
Chip can get some of her old life back.
