Overcoming barking at the door bell.

I have had good results with engrained habits by changing the doorbell device and tone altogether and to set up a new training schedule that gets the dog going to its bed (or a set location such as a mat) and being rewarded for doing so until it becomes second nature, or until you at least have a good degree of control and the dog is no longer reactive. If you’re using a clicker this would complement this approach well. If not, just read on below.

The doorbell devices I suggest are wireless and this will allow you to practice throughout the day at random times whilst you have the buzzer in your pocket out of sight. By the way, I do this with new pups to the house, preventing the habit from forming in the first place!

Disable the existing doorbell, and for the next 2 weeks or so you’ll be without a bell so a sticker on the door letting people know may help.

Your method would be something like this:

Press the new doorbell buzzer in your pocket and say ‘On your bed!’ in a positive bright voice as it chimes. Ignore any barking and direct your dog to the bed area (allowing the dog to drag a lead may assist in directing the dog as you can stand on and then lift this to initially control your dog) and once your dog is sitting nicely on the chosen spot, immediately treat with high value food. This food could be chicken, ham or liver cake as examples. Once quiet and calm, reward your dog and stay calm in your voice so as not to excite. Use of the ‘Stay’ command here will be useful, and combine the command with a flat open hand to enforce the verbal command.

Steadily and constantly feed your dog whilst on the bed. Keep your dog on the bed for 30 seconds to start with and then with each practice aim to extend the bed stay periods gradually each day by a further 10 seconds or less if progress is slower.

Once the time is up on the bed for that session, use a clear ‘OK!’ release command and then walk away putting the food away ready for use next time round. A few of these each day assuming you’re there to practice, will be ideal. Aim for 3-4 short sessions per day.

Later on, once the above is looking good, you could walk your dog to a location near the front door and ask it to sit and stay on a mat (you could clip your dog onto a lead set up there in advance which is fixed to a banister for example) and then go to answer the door having activated the doorbell first. This can be done with your ‘invisible guest’ to begin with, and then to use family members as trials and then arrange to move on to real visitors with the excitement that brings. Really go for it with the ‘invisible guest’ and talk to them at the door as you would a real person whilst keeping a close eye on your dog. Immediately go back and reset the dogs should he move off the location mat.

Hopefully you can see how I very gradually increase the scenario in keeping with improvement in the dog’s behaviour. Always look upon it as baby steps along the chain until you achieve what it is you want.

At the final stage you can fix the buzzer to the front door as your training will be ready to cope with real callers. A second buzzer that you can use inside the home during this settling in or transition phase will allow controlled practice sessions and should further help your efforts.

A simple approach, but it works and has been developed by me over the years based on experience alongside trial and error.

Good luck and get buzzing!

Nick Jones MA. MCFBA

www.alphadogbehaviour.co.uk

Alpha Dog Behaviour

01299 404356

0775 9093394

Dog exercise!

Exercise that dog!

Not all dogs require a daily flogging until they come back wet and exhausted. I think it's just as easy to do too much as it is to do too little.

About 18 months is in my mind the best age to start opening the throttle more and exposing the dog to longer and more strenuous exercise. By this time the muscular and skeletal systems are well established, and able to take the strain.

How much is enough then? Well this really is something that I advise you to think about and to develop a routine that suits you and your dog. Our dogs need to fit in with our lifestyle of course, and ideally your choice of dog would compliment your lifestyle, rather than find yourself with a dog that is constantly in need of fresh air and big runs. This will only leave you feeling guilty, and your dog's behaviour may reflect the lack of exercise if this happens to be the case for you.

The other thing to consider should you be looking at a new dog is the fact that your lifestyle may change later on. Maybe you become a new parent, retire, or start back to work? These things can work for the better in many cases, so no need for a pessimistic forecast on the above, but they are all changes that the dog will need to handle.

Off lead exercise is hugely different from on lead exercise. I would like to see a little diagram that enables me to analyse the distance covered by the dog in a field in comparison to the route I walk. My guess is that depending on the breed and the activities undertaken, it could be anywhere from 5-100 times more than me!

A few of the activities I enjoy with Pip are:

* Ball flinger (what a neat invention!) This really works her hard and involves nose-work when done in longer grass.
* Frisbee (Whilst not quite comp. standard, I'm quite good at this now...and so is Pip. Amber used to be the past master however!)
* Cycling. (View the link at the bottom of this post for some amusement).
* Treadmill. I have placed her on the treadmill a few times, but I don't think it's her favourite activity. One should be very careful in the way that this is introduced, due to the potential danger.
* Freeform agility. This is using natural obstacles that one might find in nature. Log jumps/limbo you name it! Rather like dog Parkour! Video clip here
* Running between us as a family. Great to develop the recall, especially if you have a little food to reward her efforts ;)

I do see some dogs that are over stimulated, and seem overly hyped. Some collie owners do this as they think that the dog needs to do 100 miles every day. Not so. Any dog should look pretty content once home, and be able to settle within a reasonable time. I have seen good improvements in a number of dogs once the obsessive element of exercise has been prevented for a couple of weeks, and we work on a more relaxing aspect to help bring the dog into a more balanced state. During that time we can look at improving the dog's behaviour by implementing a modification programme.

Obsessive exercise? What's that? It's when the dog changes from seeing a ball (for example) as a really enjoyable means to play, to it then not being able to drop it, pushing it into you in the home, and never being able to relax. This may then connect back (believe it or not) to other areas of concern such as dog to dog aggression due to the dog's general level of stress. This is remember all in my experience and opinion. All play items should be either left outside in an enclosed area or shed/car. The house should be a place to relax...for you and the dog :)

So somehow we have gone from exercise to obsessive behaviour! Enjoy your dog doing what feels good to you and yours. Try to keep control of the game with a decent recall and give (if fetching is involved) and look out for over-exercise. You'll be in a minority if you do, as most dogs are under exercised...rather like us to be utterly honest.

Moderate exercise is the way to go at first, and then build things up gradually for both the dog and your own sake.

As always, feel free to contact me or comment here should you wish to discuss this further.

Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?hzjmmyzrkjz 2/3 minute download


Nick Jones MCFBA

www.alphadogbehaviour.co.uk