Kinda home related-training new pet

[rooster222]

On a whim, we adopted a rescue yesterday. He's great but he has a few behaviors we'd like to work on. We've always adopted older dogs in the past and they were pretty set in their ways. This guy has lots of potential. Any recs for training books/methods that use positive reinforcement? Yesterday, he escaped the kennel area and marked in several places so I want to address that behavior stat.

[cmeon]

Is this about a puppy? I'm not 100% sure. If it's a pup/dog, I strongly recommend a good group obedience class- through a local obedience/training club, the local AKC chapter (doesn't have to be a purebred dog or registered, IME), a vet- many of these actually offer them free for rescue adoptions! They are great bonding experiences (I have trained a long line of pups/dogs, but, still take newbies through at least one) and socialization, and they're a good place to learn about ways to deal with challenges.

For the time being, I'd work on crate training (or at least finding a better containment area) and maybe a belly band. Sometimes it really does go away on its own (especially if he was recently neutered)- sometimes it takes more work- but, band him when you can't keep an eye/he's not securely restrained, or keep him on a leash so he can't wander far.

If you list other issues, I'm happy to discuss what I'd do. Congrats on the new family member!

[rooster222]

Jun 4, 2017 12:34:57 GMT -5 cmeon said:

Is this about a puppy? I'm not 100% sure. If it's a pup/dog, I strongly recommend a good group obedience class- through a local obedience/training club, the local AKC chapter (doesn't have to be a purebred dog or registered, IME), a vet- many of these actually offer them free for rescue adoptions! They are great bonding experiences (I have trained a long line of pups/dogs, but, still take newbies through at least one) and socialization, and they're a good place to learn about ways to deal with challenges.

For the time being, I'd work on crate training (or at least finding a better containment area) and maybe a belly band. Sometimes it really does go away on its own (especially if he was recently neutered)- sometimes it takes more work- but, band him when you can't keep an eye/he's not securely restrained, or keep him on a leash so he can't wander far.

If you list other issues, I'm happy to discuss what I'd do. Congrats on the new family member!

Thanks for the info. He's estimated to be about 1.5 years old. He was neutered a week ago. He only marked once today so hopefully we are headed in the right direction. We're not letting him upstairs at all unless it's bedtime. I do have a belly band for him. We also have a coupon for a free training session so we'll start with that. He's really been so good and we all love him, especially my 12 y/o dd.. He seemed exhausted today so I'm guessing the excitement of being adopted yesterday caught up with him.

Any tips for separation anxiety? When anyone leaves he gets upset. Today he was never totally alone though. I'm off school for the summer so we'll have lots of together time but I want him to be able to be calm when we leave.

[mrsukyankee]

Hand feeding. If you can find it, the book by Dima Yeremenko - he's our trainer/dog walker/dog sitter and he's amazing. He also has some great videos on Youtube you can look at.

As for separation anxiety - there's some good resources online, but my favourite trainer is Victoria Stilwell: positively.com/dog-behavior/behavior-problems/separation-anxiety/

[cmeon]

Hand feeding is definitely a good plan- for at least one meal. I use that time to work on simple obedience things- puppy push-ups*, touch, leave-it/take-it are what we're doing with our 3mo pup. If you have a really food motivated dog, you can work on come/stay and leash work during a meal.

Separation anxiety can be tricky, I don't think there's an easy answer for every dog. I've only had a single dog once- for 2 months! And while I've dealt with some anxious dogs, I've never had true separation anxiety- at least not the levels of stress others report. We do keep good-byes quick and unemotional- everyone gets a treat (we just do cookies now- but, have done frozen black [much safer than current red] stuffed Kongs, too) and we go.

Two of my current three I would have coined "anxious" as puppies/very young dogs- but, they're both much more relaxed, calm creatures as adults (one is 2.5, one is 3.5). I can't say we ever worked on their anxiety specifically, but, we do a lot of obedience training, a lot of exercise, and a lot of play. It's a good recipe for tired dogs- and dogs who are tired can't get as worked up.

Kids are a big help with all of this, btw- both of mine (7 and almost 10) are great at playing fetch and tug and just running around the backyard with them.

*Sit/Down/Stand in various order

[mrs.jacinthe]

Second signing up for obedience. It just makes them more confident and an overall better member of the family. We will likely be pursuing classes this week with our new girl.