Dorie is an 'elder' dog that makes sure the others respect her -which is quite comical. She's hillarious to have around, but, like most dogs, she needed to be put in her place pretty quickly. -This is my house, my rules, and it's my way or the highway.
So it was yesterday (before I got stung by a wasp on our morning walk :S) when Dorie decided to test the boundaries. We have a sliding glass door, and Dorie decided she wanted to bark her head off/possibly tell off Sam, our upstairs dog who always comes to the door for us to let Beckett (his bestest friend in the whole world!) out.
Now, I have a system for these things.
1) I call-off. Call "Dorie" once, twice, three times. No response, moved to.
2) A "This is Mine" stomp out of the second bedroom and towards the door. IE: move away
from the door or I'm going to do something about it you're not going to like. Still barking/charging the window. Moved to.
3) Firm tap on the butt. Nothing. Did a second one to see if I just didn't get a sensitive enough spot. Nothing. Moved to.
4) Pressure. This is non-physical gestures that get a dog to back away from you -with the end being direct eye contact in a submissive position. Some effect (usually there's at least some effect if you're doing it right). Got her away from the window/stop charging. Less barking, but in no way respectful. So, move to
5) Repeat pressure 2-3 times when she returns to the window. Repetition is the key to training anything. You let the pressure off when she does what you want: IE: in this case, pay no attention to Sam whose outside (and whose probably run away with his tail between his legs at this point). (in a situation where there isn't a barrier and two dogs start something, don't repeat it if its not working.)
6) Add voice to the pressure. A stern "Hey" or even growling yourself. Save 'the voice' for when you really need it, or it loses its validity VERY quickly.
7) When heavy pressure + "the voice" is not working as you want it to, move to the "I mean business" which is usually, for me, a "Scruff", pulling on the scruff of her neck until the front paws lift off the ground. None of my foster dogs so far have gotten to a "Scruff", but if you mean business, you go to it -providing you know how to do one without getting bitten.
So, I grabbed Dorie's scruff and pulled, but not enough to hurt her by any means. A squeak (don't drop right when they squeak as this means next time they know they can get out of it just by squeaking), suddenly direct eye contact. Held for about 2 seconds and let her go. She redirected a snap at Beckett -normal of dogs that are used to getting their way- but with one "hey" instant recognition -submissive body position with head low, direct, non-wavering eye-contact.
So, I beat Dorie at her own door game. I didn't shut her down, I didn't 'break her spirit', I just said "You're not going to do that" and backed it up.
Dorie is obviously still happy, just acknowledging she's not the biggest bitch anymore.
(This is a submissive posture. Head in line with the back, tail in the middle, good eye contact.)
Since then, Sam has come near the door a few times, and she'll go up to the door, but not bark/charge. This is the behaviour I wanted to get rid of. I don't really care if she's by the door -I just had to claim that area before I could stop the behaviour-. And when Sam isn't out there, she's no where near the sliding door anyway. Luckily, most dogs who you go through the steps with and get to 'the scruff' they understand it very fast. I highly doubt I'll have to do it again with Dorie. She's a tough old bird set in her ways, but I'm also a tough young bird who rents this place out.
For anyone who wants to know a little bit more about the process:
If a scruff doesn't work -which usually means you're not doing it properly- this is when the 'down' eventually comes in. I've NEVER had to go as far as downing a dog physically. (I've downed Beckett a few times for being a complete retard, but never in this approach.)
With heavy pressure, a dog who knows you mean business will usually sit or down themselves into a submissive pose. This is true 'dominance' anyway. The truly dominant dogs don't need to touch another dog to get them to submit. Beckett's told a few teenagers off over the last few months, and he's never made direct contact, but left them in a down position going "What now?". This is the response you want anyway. Realization that their current behaviour is unacceptable.
For example: all of a sudden, Sadie, a one year old black lab who likes to side-tackle dogs when they aren't looking, won't do that anymore (at least to any older dog, and most definitely not to Beckett). Now she'll only practice that behaviour with dogs who do the same to her. IE: when the other dogs says. "Sure, lets play like that."
In one tell-off a dog gets the message across crystal clear "DON'T DO THAT!" We can do it too, but sometimes you were you were a dog to get them to just 'stop'. Now if only Beckett could teach all those teens some manners. He either completely tolerates it, or goes into complete tell-off. So much for him doing my job for me :S
But I get off the point. After the first tell off, with the "checklist" in place, they'll remember the order. So now, when they start the unacceptable behaviour again, they'll stop sooner because they remember the signs. Ideally, you get to the point where you can call the dog's name and the behaviour stops (what we strive for in daycare). At daycare, we are trained to never go past heavy pressure unless someone is actually starting a fight -and then they get kenneled for a few minutes to destress. Stubborn/too-smart for their own good dogs will usually continue until the point before their 'breaking point'. Collies are notorious for nudging the line but not crossing it.
But in Dorie's case, if she starts at the window again, I don't go directly to a scruff. I start the process over again, in that EXACT order. Most likely, she'll stop 2-3 steps before the scruffing. This is similiar to the process I used to off-leash train Beckett. He isn't 'motivated' by food, toys, treats, people, but he is motivated by freedom (to be off-leash) and he is motivated to NOT get shit by his mother. Its kind of a case of parenting "You be good, or ELSE". Pressure works great on him as well.
Some things that I've done a similiar process with, with regards to foster dogs.
Tucker: liked to bark at the birds outside. By the time "Firm Tap" (I had voice with that too -the process is flexible for individual dog) came around he was at his "I really don't like this" point. So, with only a few tries, when I said "Tucker" he understood he should stop (and come to me if he wanted some petting or a treat). He'd still bark at birds, but he would stop when I asked. Any kind of heavy pressure would make Tucker shut down -this is not what you want. You're don't want the dog scared of the process, you want them to understand to stop behaviour when you ask "nicely".
Xena: Liked to be grumpy over her toys. Pressure made her drop them. From the first time chasing her around the yard with her toy and using lots of pressure, we got to the point where stepping towards her after she snarked/growled with the toy in her mouth, she'd drop it. IE: if you're not going to share, you don't get it.
Tine (the husky): Tine was a needy, needy boy. Its a little bit different when you are asking behaviour to stop when they're craving attention -because how effectively do you reward without giving them what they wanted in the first place. So with Tine, I NEVER used his name and skipped step one altogether. Then, when the desired behaviour (IE: out of the room for a bit, or go lay down on your bed for awhile) happened, I would call his name and he would get what he wanted -AFTER I achieved what I wanted.
***If there aren't many -or any- steps between when a dog will stop the behaviour you modify. For example, at daycare we had a few dogs that would get themselves into trouble so that we would call their name -cause coming to your name usually means you get a cookie. These 'smart cookie' dogs don't get step one in their "I mean business" program.
So, Dorie knows I'm the boss, which is good, but she's still funny and a little on the snarky side with Beckett. He's mostly blind, and he gives her a WIDE birth, but she's decided his dog bed is the comfiest one, so Beckett's been shafted to wherever I am -he has a hard time finding the other dog beds on a permenant basis :S.
Either way, Dorie is an awesome dog, she's just your typical grandma. She also means business, is in no way aggressive, but likes to have her way -she has her fosters siblings wrapped around her paw :P She's going to make someone a great companion though -and she's the best sort of dog for teaching unruly teenagers boundaries!
Anyone want to adopt a cool, hip, Grandma dog that doesn't think she's a grandma?
Dorie on Beckett's bed -and NOT sharing :P
One thing's for sure, she definitely knows how to make you smile :)
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