Howdy! I adopted Samwise & Sonmi right before and during the 2020 Covid19 shutdowns. Samwise was six months old. Sonmi was approximately ten months old. Both had behavioral issues. While they each came reasonably house trained, Samwise was the bitey-est puppy and Sonmi was remarkably reactive, to the point where I had strangers stopping me on walks to comment. One guy in particular felt the need to say dogs are a reflection of their owner after one such outburst, when I'd literally had her for a week. Samwise had mild toy aggression. Once, he reacted to Sonmi being handed a toy by going to the corner, making eye contact with me as he lifted a leg, and spite-peeing. Sonmi chewed anything made of wood, as well as shoes, etc. You get the idea. I followed the Free 30 Day Perfect Pup Training Course, or as I call it: The Zak George Method, for each dog. I trained Samwise solo, and him & Sonmi in tandem after we brought her home.

The Zak George Method takes between 30min to 1hr per day for 30 days so it's not a huge commitment. Basically, it insists on giving positive attention & rewards for good behaviors, which is great. But for unwanted behaviors, the emphasis is on distracting the pup from whatever is triggering their negative reaction, or removing them from the situation. Consistency being key. And while I tried to abide by that, and suppose I still do, I have found that some behaviors are so ingrained in these dogs that they do require a punishment to curb, or perhaps to curb it quickly. Refusing to play with Samwise when he puppy-nipped me, and removing him from the dog park, didn't curb the nipping right away. Scolding and using a squirt bottle also failed to curb his impulse. What finally worked, after weeks of trying over this issue, was he bit me so I made eye contact and, lightly, bit his leg, like parents used to do with babies. Not exactly admirable behavior on my part, but it was effective. Samwise does not bite. Now, our issue is the opposite problem. He doesn't defend himself at the dog park, so I intervene on his behalf, generally just carrying him away from the troublesome dog, or blocking that dog from reaching him until their owner steps in. There are many unwanted nuisance behaviors dog owners work to curb, and I think we all allow a little wiggle room much of the time. There is no wiggle room for biting. I do not allow it.

With Sonmi's chewing, we succeeded at redirecting the impulse by providing ample chew toys, spritzing wood furniture with anti-dog sprays that don't hurt them but smell and taste awful, and relocating the shoes. This was anxious behavior as she adjusted to a new home and she no longer chews what she shouldn't be. If I am leaving her with a sitter, I advise that she has engaged in such behavior in the past, and that they may want to hide their shoes for the duration of her visit.

For Samwise' mild toy aggression, we did discourage his reactions via scolding, the squirt bottle, air jail, but mostly he seems to have outgrown the impulse as he realized he likes other dogs, especially Sonmi, more than toys. Nowadays, he only plays with toys when they're new, he's anxious, or another dog is playing with the toy. Their wanting it means he wants it, and while he will whine and bark over not having the toy, he goes no farther with his reaction than that. If they drop it and walk away from the toy, then he will take and nibble at it for a few minutes before growing bored.

Sonmi remains reactive on leash but not to nearly the extent of when we first brought her home. Then, she barked and snarled, lunging at anything that moved. I tried distracting her by having her do tricks for treats while on walks but that didn't succeed at capturing her attention. Mostly I learned to stick to paths where there was less for her to react to, quieter roads or trails, and to be alert to triggers so I could intervene first. With a lot of practice, she learned not to lunge at cars, even loud ones, though sometimes she slips up. She learned not to bark and snarl at human passersby, and as long as they aren't being super loud, she pulls towards them now only to ask for pets. She remains wary at night, hopping backwards to keep an eye on anyone walking behind us. She is also pretty familiar with the other regulars on our walk, and if that regular has a history of erratic behavior, she will snarl and bark at them, but it's hard to blame her. Mostly if I see them coming, I pull her aside and talk her down to prevent the outburst.

Sonmi is still very reactive to dogs behind fences, and she's more reactive when they're behind privacy fences. She and I are familiar with which fences almost always have dogs behind them and I've learned to have her on a short leash for those spans of our walk, because her instinct is to lunge, snarl, and bark at them. I guess she feels safe with her antics since they can't reach her. Regardless, this is very unwanted behavior and I try to talk her down as we pass these spaces, and I keep her leash short enough where she cannot lunge at the fence.

With a lot of practice, I've mostly succeeded at training both of my dogs not to cross behind my legs while on leash. If they try to cross behind my legs, I gently pull them back into position while stating, "No behind." I'm sure they don't understand why, but they know what's going one when they're being corrected. When I petsit, I've observed that none of the other dogs I walk have learned this tendency, and I have to be extra alert so they don't become little tripping hazards.

Mostly, we strive to minimize barking indoors. That's one of those behaviors I don't think the Zak George Method does much to fix. Yes, I can attempt to distract the dogs from barking by asking that they do tricks in return for treats but that's when I can get their attention, which is a solid if. Instead I scold, and if they don't comply, I pick them up and carry them away. Air jail works as a mild punishment with my dogs because they generally don't want to be lifted, unless Samwise is very tired on a long walk, or Sonmi is feeling uncomfortable with the dogs near her. We actually gave up on using the spray bottle because it had the unforeseen consequence of teaching our dogs to hate water. It doesn't matter how hot it is, they act like water is magma and want nothing to do with ponds, streams, etc. I have literally brought them to a puppy pool party, went swimming myself, and still they wouldn't go in. Treats did not sway them. Anyway, when they launch themselves from the bedroom, sprint-barking all the way to the front windows, I close the bedroom door and they, without fail, stop barking. I wait a few minutes before letting them back in. This only works when their tantrum began in the bedroom though. I don't mind a bark to sound the alert but a barking fit isn't ideal. We have neighbors.

There is also the jumping. I'm the bad guy here. My husband and I think it's cute so we haven't consistently tried to curb this behavior. Others have, turning when our dogs jump, but the dogs follow them. The more someone acts like they don't like Samwise, the more he will jump on them, and the more he'll bark. He demands to be liked. I wish there was a way to teach the dogs that it's okay to jump on me and their dad and nobody else, but mostly, we are just careful about where we bring them, and who they interact with. I helicopter parent at the dog park. Families bring very small children into the large dog side. I've even seen parents try to cure their children's phobias this way. It is inevitable those kids are getting jumped on, but I'm around to make sure it's not by my dogs. If my dogs were bigger, we would be much stricter about this behavior. But they're 35 pounds and short.

My dogs don't have great recall. They do if they think I have a treat and, like toddlers, they will follow me if they believe I'm leaving without them. Otherwise, they'll come when they're ready and not before. For this reason I do not risk their being off-leash outside of fenced in areas. It's crazy to me how many folks have off-leash dogs around here, off-leash dogs with poor recall. But, this is also a town, and state really, of non-working outside dogs, despite the summers that go above 110° F. Reason vary, but essentially, I've heard many pet owners state that their dogs are better entertained outdoors than inside, that they're used to the weather. Also, folks don't want to dirty their nice home interiors. I'm getting better at biting my tongue. When I see off-leash dogs in leash-only parks or other leash-only spaces, I give them a large berth, because if the owner is failing to abide by that simple standard, where else have they failed in training their pets? It's my job to protect the dogs under my care. I have yet to call Animal Control over an off-leash dog with the owner in sight, but I have called many times about those whose owners I couldn't find, as much for the dog's safety as everyone else's.

I know a family where their dog still isn't potty trained at about a year and a half old. I suspect it's because the dog was an outside dog for the first year, with a small yard. Dogs instinctively don't want to potty at home, and home is where they eat and sleep. Leaving them no choice but to potty where they eat and sleep overrides that instinct with practice and it makes training later, more difficult. This owner is about to get their dog fixed, which should help, but they've resorted to diapers in the meantime. There's only a brief window after the dog has engaged in unwanted behavior, wherein they'll connect the scolding or punishment to their actions, so unless it's caught immediately, punishing them isn't teaching them anything. Rather than rubbing their nose in the carpet and scolding, providing ample opportunities to go potty outside, then rewarding for that behavior, is a more effective training method. Which is the Zak George Method.

I have seen folks using electric collars, instead of investing in escape-proof fencing, to keep their dog from running off property. Anecdotal, but a friend had a graduation party at her parents' house. It didn't occur to the parents that their guests would be picking up and carrying the dogs on and off all night. They're little dogs and while they're cute, I'd bet half the folks picked them up so they weren't getting stepped on. It's the carrying that sparked the issue. Folks didn't know the boundaries of their collars, but the dogs were crying out when they crossed the boundary. I don't know if those were zap or whistle collars but regardless, I'm of the opinion that electric collars are not a good substitute for a fence, and that they should be a last resort when training a dog, really only to curb aggression after everything else has failed. As an aside, in my limited experience, escape artist dogs are so because they aren't receiving adequate exercise and stimuli. It is a lot to commit to walking a dog every day. Especially twice a day. But if the pet owner can't commit to that, there is the option to hire a dog walker. It is unwise to adopt or purchase high energy dogs if the owner doesn't have space enough for them to work that energy off safely.

Because I'm always walking my dogs, or those I sit, and because the dog park is where I have 90% of my human-based social interactions, I've observed that those with larger dogs appear less likely to pick up after their pups, than those with smaller. My theory is that the majority of those at the dog park or who I see on walks, are renters who don't have a big yard for their pups to exercise in. And renters with large, or high energy breeds, are more impulsive, poorer planners, than the alternative, not as a rule but as a general tendency. It takes a poor planner to adopt or purchase a high energy breed when they lack the means to provide space for adequate exercise. Apartment complexes also limit which breeds tenants can possess, meaning those adopting those breeds risks the owner having to choose between housing or their pet, down the line. Meanwhile those with the smaller breeds are more likely to have chosen such while taking into account the size of their apartment as well as how high-energy their life style is when making the choice. I propose that those who did not get their pets impulsively also took into account their responsibility to pick up after their pets, and do so. But I digress.

We lucked out with humping. Samwise tried to hump Sonmi the day we brought her home which was about two days after she got fixed. She was high on painkillers and constipated, on top of recovering from surgery. Between her aggressively checking him, and my scolding him, removing him from her, he got the message. Nowadays Sonmi is more likely than Samwise to hump, and only when she is away from home and surrounded by a crowd of people, so basically just on Christmas. It's very obviously an anxiety response. We do what we can to mitigate it by bringing her and Samwise to a quiet room without other people and taking turns visiting them there. They are provided with toys and treats and it's only for when the house we're guests in, is very crowded. They whine and howl but only for a bit. Mostly they sleep. At home, we very rarely have guests so they're not accustomed to many people inside at once. Many of the dogs around here aren't fixed and I'll stay off my soap box today because that's a rant long enough for it's own blogpost. But yes, the worst humpers at the dog park are not fixed. That is a factor. And more than once, I've left over humpers harassing Samwise. Sonmi is capable of setting those boundaries herself, though we also intervene on her behalf, mostly in case a misbehaving dog reacts aggressively to her stance. Thus far none have but a dog that still humps likely also engages in other unwanted behaviors.

I watch my dogs like a hawk whenever they're interacting with small children. I also watch the children to make sure they're not behaving in such a way as to trigger a reaction from my dogs. I remember my childhood dog bit one of my little cousins when she pulled on his stomach hair. My supervising prevents that, though by now, my dogs have been poked and prodded all over by my young niblings, so they are pretty used to the antics of small children. It's still good to be watchful. As Zak George says, never trust a puppy. And in that spirit, never trust a toddler.

With the dogs I petsit, I will scold during barking outbursts, but mostly I have just been putting them in air jail and carrying them to a less triggering space. I am debating if I should remove puppies from which dogs I'll sit for. Right now I limit the list to small and medium dogs for the safety of my pups, and already, I've last-minute babysat for two dogs, from different owners, whose sizes were misrepresented in the app. Both were puppies. Both were very nippy. So on top of watching for the usual puppy behaviors, I had to play referee to keep them from nipping Samwise all day. I encourage meetups before I do long sits for pets but I understand last minute sitters are sometimes needed, and I've accommodated that in the past. I am less likely to in the future, as I wouldn't have sat for either dogs had I met them first and seen how big they were. Let alone the nipping.

Anywho, that's my thoughts on curbing unwanted dog behavior at the moment. My dogs are five years old so they're fairly well behaved at this point. I don't know if I would ever adopt a puppy again. I honestly wasn't aiming to with them either but my husband picked Samwise after seeing a picture, and we were confident he wouldn't get much bigger. I suppose the upside of being the one to train them from such a young age is ensuring they learn right from the get-go, as opposed to being house trained but having a whole host of other problems instilled by someone incapable or ill-meaning. Thanks for stopping by. I drop a new blog post every Monday. Toodles!

Newsletter:

Howdy! I've been working on my NaNoWriMo novel manuscript, a YA dark fantasy retelling of Hansel & Gretal featuring Baba Yaga. Right now it's set in a vague pre-Christian, pre-industrialization Slavic culture. Slavic fairy tales tend to happen in a place "far-far away," but of Slavic culture, and I'm keeping to that. I have been researching throughout. It's borderline impossible to find easily phonetically pronounceable, for English speakers, names that have no Christian influence, so I've made allowances there.

There's also a social hierarchy to names and titles that I'm mostly leaving out for simplicity's sake. Basically, everyone has their real name and their shorthand version. Shorthands are for private use when referring to those of lesser standing. Full names are utilized elsewhere, and titles are afforded to those of higher standing, which in and of itself, isn't so dissimilar to most English-speaking, or Western European, current cultures. It's not like student call their teacher by their first name, and a boy is generally going to be called Frank, not Francis or Franklin. However, this real-world tendency is not seen much in fairytales where the protagonist usually goes by the shorthand name. And, most of the names already being unfamiliar to English speaking audiences, I feel abiding by that standard would confuse them. Then, that it's set in a time long before present day Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc, the negation thereof isn't so big a deal as to offend Eastern European readers, assuming there ever are any. It's not like I expect the book to be translated abroad. Knowing me though, I'll change my mind about this in a future draft.

My first several days were spent outlining and taking notes on anything I might need to refer back to. Since then, I've been building the novel up along the plot-outline, making changes as I go. I actually took Friday off from writing, wanting to finish a handful of art projects, and Saturday, I cut out about 4K words from the outline portion of the manuscript file, as those chunks no longer held relevance. Then I wrote another 3K that same day. I'm at 32,166 words so far, but I still need to write today.

As for those art projects, I finished the two Koroks and two Kodamas, replacing those that sold. I would like to make a Nutcracker, and perhaps some other holiday themed painted woodburnings in time for December. I hear back on whether I got into First Friday on 11/20, so I'm keeping an eye out for that email.

I haven't purchased the materials for learning leather craft yet. My household is on a light spending freeze. I've been harvesting the garden to stretch our pantry, but really, we're very well stocked, food wise, and could probably hold off on groceries even going into next month, if not for my husband wanting to make specific dishes. And what with Thanksgiving coming up, it's probably for the best that we haven't fully cut off grocery shopping. Also, Haruki Murakami's new book drops tomorrow so obviously I'm buying that ASAP. I do wish for a non-large print, paperback option, but that's alright. It's been a while since his last release.

Thanks for stopping by! I drop a Newsletter every Monday! Toodles!