Foster dog mostly good, but doesn't listen

[Gina Coman]

I'm fostering a 2-year old med-sized, terrier cross named Brandy, from our local SPCA. I have had her just 2 weeks now, and am helping determine and care for her skin problem w/ a private vet now. Skin problems are quite common here in our Singapore muggy climate: she has a paw-nibbling/overall itching condition, treated as fungal before and may actually be allergy-related. Anyways, she came from a friend who fostered her before moving away...she is already housetrained, has no separation anxiety issues, doesn't bark for no reason, learns various commands easily, and sleeps outside bedroom until invited back in. She has a great personality, gets on well with all dogs, big & small.

However, she does display bouts of dominant aggressive play with us (and prior carer), always tries to play tug-of-war with towels, sometimes "play-growling" with it, etc. she also jumps and playbites a lot (sometimes hard, which can hurt - I felt like a pin cushion during my first week.) She doesn't respond to deep vocals of "NO!", pushing off, nor ignoring. It does seem to help to quickly separate her from me, by closing door in whatever room I'm in. She doesn't bark when that happens, it does seem to be an effective "time-out" method. However, I would prefer her to respond to NO. I reward and praise her when she is good. Plus, I've organized a few doggie playdates, hoping she'll learn better by playing with them. After speaking to former foster friend's ex-boyfriend, turns out he actually encouraged her rough-housing with him, so she may be confused now.

She gets lots of excercise and social interaction every day, :dogrun:but occasionally on walks, when someone races by on bicycles/rollerblades/jogging, she'll bark at them and want to chase after them, though I hold and prevent her by shortening the leash tight, when I see them approach or have her sit w/ treat and wait til they pass. Again, she only does that occasionally, so not sure why or if it's just sometimes startling to her. I just don't want those passer-bys to feel startled as well.

Do you have some tips, as I know she like other female dogs that I volunteer with at SPCA, has some dominant tendancies (like marking outside), not heeling, sometimes tugging on leash, and holding onto our legs when she's playing. I'm trying to teach her what positions are play-type for me, standing vs. kneeling on floor, but perhaps it just takes time?

[Melissa Brunoehler]

Hi Gina!

Thank you for fostering!
I'm fostering a 2-year old med-sized, terrier cross named Brandy, from our local SPCA. I have had her just 2 weeks now, and am helping determine and care for her skin problem w/ a private vet now. Skin problems are quite common here in our Singapore muggy climate: she has a paw-nibbling/overall itching condition, treated as fungal before and may actually be allergy-related.
Sounds like allergies!

Anyways, she came from a friend who fostered her before moving away...she is already housetrained, has no separation anxiety issues, doesn't bark for no reason, learns various commands easily, and sleeps outside bedroom until invited back in. She has a great personality, gets on well with all dogs, big & small.
Great so far so good :D

However she does display bouts of dominant aggressive play with us (and prior carer), always tries to play tug-of-war with towels, sometimes "play-growling" with it, etc. she also jumps and playbites a lot (sometimes hard, which can hurt - I felt like a pin cushion during my first week.) Although her nipping certainly sounds painful' she is not diplaying "dominant aggression". She simply has not learned how to play in a way that is acceptable to humans.
She doesn't respond to deep vocals of "NO!", pushing off,

Yelling, pushing ect. will only serve to entice her & her playing more. Instead every single time her mouth makes contact with you cross your arms over your chest, turn away from her & ignore her until she settles down. Don't say anything or make eye contact- simply turn away & ingnore- every single time. Be consistent with ignoring, it will work.
nor ignoring. It does seem to help to quickly separate her from me, by closing door in whatever room I'm in. She doesn't bark when that happens, it does seem to be an effective "time-out" method. However, I would prefer her to respond to NO. I reward and praise her when she is good.

Plus, I've organized a few doggie playdates, hoping she'll learn better by playing with them. Great how fun for her!


After speaking to former foster friend's ex-boyfriend, turns out he actually encouraged her rough-housing with him, so she may be confused now.
Oh definitely she's confused! Even more reason to turn away & ignore her. This will send a very clear message that her behavior is not appropriate. She gets lots of excercise and social interaction every day, :dogrun:but occasionally on walks, when someone races by on bicycles/rollerblades/jogging, she'll bark at them and want to chase after them
Although undesirable this is a common doggy behavior :rolleyes: How is her sit? Is it 100% (will she sit anytime anywhere)? If so when you see a biker, etc. walk her to the side as much as possible, have her sit & feed her yummy treats until the thing on wheels passes. Do this everytime you see a bike, jogger, etc. If she does not have a reliable sit, no problem, just walk her to the side & feed yummy treats until the object has passed. Be sure to do this the second you see the rollerblader, bike, etc.

, though I hold and prevent her by shortening the leash tight, when I see them approach or have her sit w/ treat and wait til they pass. Again, she only does that occasionally, so not sure why or if it's just sometimes startling to her. Oh maybe I should read the entire post before I start replying :rolleyes: Basically keep doing this, but with a slight revision. Have her sit before she's reacting & feed her treats the entire time. What kind of collar is she on? You might want to switch to a harness or head collar.


Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any other questions.

I just don't want those passer-bys to feel startled as well.

Do you have some tips, as I know she like other female dogs that I volunteer with at SPCA, has some dominant tendancies (like marking outside), not heeling, sometimes tugging on leash, and holding onto our legs when she's playing.


I'm trying to teach her what positions are play-type for me, standing vs. kneeling on floor, but perhaps it just takes time?[/QUOTE]

[heathea]

Good for you for fostering. and it does take time.

I would start her on NILIF as soon as possible as well as all of the great things you are doing. the Nothing In Life Is Free program is a great way to train a dog. You can find it under the articles section.

Good luck and you sound like you are doing great!
Heather

[Renee Premaza]

Hi Gina,

One suggestion I'd make to you is to teach her how to pay attention to you. Go into the articles pages here on this site and read the one called, How to Teach Your Dog to Pay Attention (I think that's the title). Concentrate on getting her to respond instantly to hearing her name! Then teach her to look at you when she hears, "Look!" Believe me, this is very helpful when you have situations come up that you don't want your dog to focus on.

Hope this helps!


I'm fostering a 2-year old med-sized, terrier cross named Brandy, from our local SPCA. I have had her just 2 weeks now, and am helping determine and care for her skin problem w/ a private vet now. Skin problems are quite common here in our Singapore muggy climate: she has a paw-nibbling/overall itching condition, treated as fungal before and may actually be allergy-related. Anyways, she came from a friend who fostered her before moving away...she is already housetrained, has no separation anxiety issues, doesn't bark for no reason, learns various commands easily, and sleeps outside bedroom until invited back in. She has a great personality, gets on well with all dogs, big & small.

However, she does display bouts of dominant aggressive play with us (and prior carer), always tries to play tug-of-war with towels, sometimes "play-growling" with it, etc. she also jumps and playbites a lot (sometimes hard, which can hurt - I felt like a pin cushion during my first week.) She doesn't respond to deep vocals of "NO!", pushing off, nor ignoring. It does seem to help to quickly separate her from me, by closing door in whatever room I'm in. She doesn't bark when that happens, it does seem to be an effective "time-out" method. However, I would prefer her to respond to NO. I reward and praise her when she is good. Plus, I've organized a few doggie playdates, hoping she'll learn better by playing with them. After speaking to former foster friend's ex-boyfriend, turns out he actually encouraged her rough-housing with him, so she may be confused now.

She gets lots of excercise and social interaction every day, :dogrun:but occasionally on walks, when someone races by on bicycles/rollerblades/jogging, she'll bark at them and want to chase after them, though I hold and prevent her by shortening the leash tight, when I see them approach or have her sit w/ treat and wait til they pass. Again, she only does that occasionally, so not sure why or if it's just sometimes startling to her. I just don't want those passer-bys to feel startled as well.

Do you have some tips, as I know she like other female dogs that I volunteer with at SPCA, has some dominant tendancies (like marking outside), not heeling, sometimes tugging on leash, and holding onto our legs when she's playing. I'm trying to teach her what positions are play-type for me, standing vs. kneeling on floor, but perhaps it just takes time?

[Monique Shimm]

Hi there,

Just some words of encouragement... be patient with the biting thing. We were not patient and the things we did seemed to intensify the mouthing. Some dogs get it fast, others don't. It took our dog at least a month to get it. I recently fostered a puppy who got it after the first few "ignores" or my "yelping" in pain. (interestingly, it was a pitbull puppy). My dog, who didn't get it, was a Shepherd mix.

Keep at it and she'll get it! Good luck.

[Gina Coman]

Thank you all so much for your very insightful tips and encouragement... which happens to be in line with what my SPCA volunteer coordinator has also suggested. I'm a dogwalker there as well.

At first when I used the turn around/ignore her approach, she would nip me at my shirt or behind, as I'm fairly short. However, it is now getting better. I do need to really work on her focus as you mentioned - as she doesn't have very good recall or attention span when around distractions. I always carry treats for positive reinforcement, which seems to help eventually. I'm glad to hear that it will improve with consistency and time.

Again, I truly appreciate your assistance, and am looking forward to studying those articles you referred me to.

p.s. BTW, when my volunteer coordinator came to visit Brandy to see how she was doing and her condition was improving...she couldn't believe she was the same dog!! It's amazing what love, better nutrition, socialization & proper care can do for any dog. And it turns out, she may have just an allergy to ticks - which are so prevelant here - so that is very good, as that is very controllable or preventable!! Her hair is filling back in nicely, and she looks so much better after being shaved but leaving some cute fluffy bits on her face and tail!

[Kendall Aliza]

Like someone mentioned, try a sudden loud yelp, "ouch!", as soon as she nips and then do the ignore. I found with my dog that the yelp seemed to help him understand better what he was doing wrong/getting ignored for. Good luck!

[Marsha]

We got a terrier mix from the pound, and nipping was quite a problem. We were told it is more prevalent in terriers. At any rate, we also were impatient and exacerbated the problem, I think. We tried everything but nothing long enough. When we finally decided to do the ignoring thing and stuck with it, it really diminished the nipping. I think we had confused the poor puppy with all the things we were trying. Of course, he got more persistent initially since nipping always got our attention before. I guess he figured he needed to put a little more into it since we weren't responding. But we toughed it out, and he quit. He just seemed to calm down so much after that. I really do think he was confused, and it was adding to the problem. We finally stuck with one method, and he got the message. That, in turn, let us enjoy him better, and the relationships between he and the family got to be SO much better.