[pawzaddict]

So I am sure most of you already know that Harvick has issues. He is a nervous wreck sometimes.

Simple background, Harvick was born March of last year, we have had him since he was just 7 weeks old. My brother has lived with us since we got Harvick. Harvick BARKS and GROWLS everytime my brother comes home and when he comes out of his room. I have tried having my brother give him treats and tell him to sit but he gets annoyed with it all which I can understand considering it hasn't changed AT ALL and my brother is 20, so he doesn't really care about anything Also it doesn't just happen like once a day...its numorous times a day, anytime my brother appears. He even starts in when we call for my brother...he also continues to growl until he is gone out of site. He has never tried to snap at my brother and is even friendly with him when he actually comes and sits down in the living room with us, when we go in his room, or when he is dog sitting for us. Besides asking my brother to get treats out all the time what can I have him do? or what can I do?

Harvick also goes crazy when he hears a car door (I wouldn't say hes afraid, I would say hes being too overprotective of us and the house), hears people, hears a knock, hears the doorbell, etc. Right now we try and call him over and have him sit or shake or down or whatever, sometimes he comes and sits and lies down but still growls, also I can't give him treats all the time because he gets diarrhea and every dog wants one lol. :eyeroll:

 

[Criosphynx]

can you get a vid of this?

I think its time to start playing "look at that" and change the underlying emotion, I know you've made good progress with him asking for behaviors to distract him, but I think you might be nearing the peak of success with that techique...its great for som' dogs, but only a bandaid for others... perhaps with Harvick its a bandaid.

will he eat his regular kibble? I almost never use treats, just kibble.



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[pawzaddict]

can you get a vid of this?

I think its time to start playing "look at that" and change the underlying emotion, I know you've made good progress with him asking for behaviors to distract him, but I think you might be nearing the peak of success with that techique...its great for som' dogs, but only a bandaid for others... perhaps with Harvick its a bandaid.

will he eat his regular kibble? I almost never use treats, just kibble.

Yea he will, I told the bf I want to get zip lock bags of their regular food and hide them in the livingroom LOL

so "look at that" would be done exactly how?

 

[Criosphynx]

Yea he will, I told the bf I want to get zip lock bags of their regular food and hide them in the livingroom LOL

so "look at that" would be done exactly how?

instead of asking the dog to ignore the boogeyman, you ask him to look at the boogeyman and then reward him for doing so.

start at a level just under where the dog reacts...maybe have harvick hear your bro in another room, but not see him, or see him from far away etc etc...keep him under threshold, he is allowed to fixate and stare but should respond if you say his name. Everytime he fixates( but before the bark) you click treat.

Over time this changes his actual emotion about the person/sound/object whatever so that they learn that that person is a predictor of food, and not scary.

Chili after playing this game for a month...keep in mind he was so "aggressive" he could not leave the house before this.
YouTube - Chili Playing "look at that"

If you watch, you will see him freeze like hes going to bark, but doesn't, thats because the freeze/look is now a "trick" and not genuine.

Yoshi before
YouTube - Yoshi Before Control Unleashed

Yoshi after
YouTube - Yoshi Plays Look At That (using a clicker)



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[pawzaddict]

Just an fyi he is doing a low growl at times but you can't hear it. We tried having my brother come out of his room but the bf was in the hallway so he didn't react... he will ALWAYS react when someone comes through the front door.

Also my bf thinks its an issue with pent up energy because he notices Harvick is more calm when he is worn out. But I can't take him for a walk in the middle of the day right now. Would this make sense since he has border collie in him? Maybe we need to come with another activity as well as "look at that".

Oh he is also growling at him down the hallway

 

[Criosphynx]

hahahah....hes excited to see him!!!


I think its a mixture of herding/territorial and excitement...which dog is barking? is that him, it didn't look like it, but its hard to tell. I actually think he likes your bro in a twisted way and this is how hes expressing it.

what would happen if your bro tried to touch him or play with him in that context?



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[pawzaddict]

The deep bark is him yes, wendy barked once in the very beginning.

If he tried to touch him he would still bark and allow it, if he tried to play with him he would probably do the same thing? Should I have him do it again? LOL this time come in and be excited to see Harvick and try to play? I think we had him do it once and Harvick kind of stepped back for a second then played.

So this just excitement?

 

[Criosphynx]

The deep bark is him yes, wendy barked once in the very beginning.

If he tried to touch him he would still bark and allow it, if he tried to play with him he would probably do the same thing? Should I have him do it again? LOL this time come in and be excited to see Harvick and try to play? I think we had him do it once and Harvick kind of stepped back for a second then played.

So this just excitement?

Thats my impression, he looked happy to see him to me , maybe slightly frustrated too, for whatever reason...Scooter used to act similar, even the growly noise, but no barking.

sniffing, head low, following him...all good things If you watch, peyton and harvick have the same loose body language from :25 on

Yeah see if he'll play with him, I bet he gets all happy and plays back.

That or he gets eaten...try it anyway...lol



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[pawzaddict]

Oh he would play back. Do you think he is initially guarding but then realizing its my brother his excitement just gets mixed into his original emotion of guarding? Frickin nutzo dog! lol

 

[pawzaddict]

Harvick does get loud and obnoxious when he plays too, both with the other dogs and with us...so I am thinking his initial reaction is "GUARD GUARD GUARD" then "JAMESON JAMESON JAMESON!" lol

 

[Criosphynx]

Oh he would play back. Do you think he is initially guarding but then realizing its my brother his excitement just gets mixed into his original emotion of guarding? Frickin nutzo dog! lol

I think the door opening is a trigger for him... he has a surge of emotion at the door opening. I think it just takes a while for that surge to die down, perhaps accidentally he began to associate your bro with a bunch of mixed emotions, scary door opening, and IloveuIloveuIlovethatyourhome.

will he do this to strangers who come over too? If so I would just work on desensitizing him to the door...have som'one open/close it a zillion times and click/treat for not reacting to it.

He also may be feeding off the excitement of the other dogs, I used to have trouble with Scooter getting all worked up and then I realized it was Tippy who was the problem even though she wasn't making noise, she would get excited and trigger him. I adressed her instead and he stopped.

Harvick does get loud and obnoxious when he plays too, both with the other dogs and with us...so I am thinking his initial reaction is "GUARD GUARD GUARD" then "JAMESON JAMESON JAMESON!" lol

lol I think this is very close to what is going on...

that following thing is a herding breed thing...Emma stalks me too.



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[pawzaddict]

I think the door opening is a trigger for him... he has a surge of emotion at the door opening. I think it just takes a while for that surge to die down, perhaps accidentally he began to associate your bro with a bunch of mixed emotions, scary door opening, and IloveuIloveuIlovethatyourhome.

will he do this to strangers who come over too? If so I would just work on desensitizing him to the door...have som'one open/close it a zillion times and click/treat for not reacting to it.

He also may be feeding off the excitement of the other dogs, I used to have trouble with Scooter getting all worked up and then I realized it was Tippy who was the problem even though she wasn't making noise, she would get excited and trigger him. I adressed her instead and he stopped.



lol I think this is very close to what is going on...

that following thing is a herding breed thing...Emma stalks me too.

Actually Wendy starts it most the time, she starts whining or barking most the time before ANYBODY even touches the doorway. I need to focus on her as well as him then. He does not get to be around strangers when they come over if its in big groups, he has been around my friends when it was just them and even around my other younger brother. Harvick does the same growling and stalking to them as well... So my best bet will be to work on Wendy with reacting when people come home, working on Harvick with the door, and working on Harvick with "look at that" so hopefully we can have people over and he can be out.

 

[Criosphynx]

Actually Wendy starts it most the time, she starts whining or barking most the time before ANYBODY even touches the doorway. I need to focus on her as well as him then. He does not get to be around strangers when they come over if its in big groups, he has been around my friends when it was just them and even around my other younger brother. Harvick does the same growling and stalking to them as well... So my best bet will be to work on Wendy with reacting when people come home, working on Harvick with the door, and working on Harvick with "look at that" so hopefully we can have people over and he can be out.

sounds like a plan to me...

The chis always start drama ..I know mine are the instigators...chis used to be used as alert dogs, and man does it show.



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[pawzaddict]

sounds like a plan to me...

The chis always start drama ..I know mine are the instigators...chis used to be used as alert dogs, and man does it show.

yea she is annoying :eyeroll: her whining annoys the heck out of me more than anything. And Tinkerbell hides under the dumb furniture and barks...:eyeroll: I was not a small dog person by any means LOL I do love my girls tho, honestly...haha

 

[fawkese1]

instead of asking the dog to ignore the boogeyman, you ask him to look at the boogeyman and then reward him for doing so.

start at a level just under where the dog reacts...maybe have harvick hear your bro in another room, but not see him, or see him from far away etc etc...keep him under threshold, he is allowed to fixate and stare but should respond if you say his name. Everytime he fixates( but before the bark) you click treat.

Over time this changes his actual emotion about the person/sound/object whatever so that they learn that that person is a predictor of food, and not scary.

Chili after playing this game for a month...keep in mind he was so "aggressive" he could not leave the house before this.
YouTube - Chili Playing "look at that"

If you watch, you will see him freeze like hes going to bark, but doesn't, thats because the freeze/look is now a "trick" and not genuine.

Yoshi before
YouTube - Yoshi Before Control Unleashed

Yoshi after
YouTube - Yoshi Plays Look At That (using a clicker)

was that the first time you played look at that w chili?



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[Mikey]

But I can't take him for a walk in the middle of the day right now

Can you talk your brother into walking her? I think not only would that make them both calmer and more comfortable with each other, but wear her out at the same time?

 

[Criosphynx]

@Fawkese that was about a months practice. I wish I had taken a "before" video. Trust me, he was a monster.

@mikey...Pawz lives on the surface of the sun, too hot to walk mid day.



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[pawzaddict]

Can you talk your brother into walking her? I think not only would that make them both calmer and more comfortable with each other, but wear her out at the same time?

Too hot during the daytime

I could ask him to accompany us on walks (I would NEVER let him take the dog alone because he has no clue how to control him lol).

 

[fawkese1]

]@Fawkese that was about a months practice. I wish I had taken a "before" video. Trust me, he was a monster.[/B]

@mikey...Pawz lives on the surface of the sun, too hot to walk mid day.

i thought so, from your description of him. that is really great though.



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[Mikey]

LOL The surface of the sun!! I wish! IT's already getting fall like here-and that means winter is like two days away