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Hey, Katie K-9!
We have an 11-year-old Lab, Soda. She's always been a little intense, in that she will fetch a ball until she is "squeaking" from exertion, and will still keep pestering her human ballthrowers to keep tossing it. After supper she can have ten episodes of barking impatiently at us. If we feed her a little bit more, she shuts up. Many mornings she will wake us up at 4 a.m. to go out. On weekends this is not good. Any ideas on how to get her to settle down?Desperate
Hey, Desperate!
Who is running the show here? I would say Soda gets her way and what she wants when SHE wants it. And who has the opposable thumbs here? NO dog should get anything by asking for it.
Examples: barking to go outside, barking for your attention, putting a paw on your knee, or pushing their head between your elbow and side to get you to pet them on THEIR demand. Dropping the ball in front of you over and over again so you WILL throw it over and over again. They are saying, "Look at me! Look at me! ME! ME! ME!"
Even negative attention is better than no attention. Two-legged kids do it to their parents all the time. If it becomes a problem over time, it is because of how you handled it.
Soda has been conditioning you to do what she wants, when she wants it, for eleven years now. Patience is one of life's hardest lessons for humans and animals.
You need to teach it to Soda.
When she asks for anything she does NOT get it. If she barks, leave the room. Now, her barking gets her nothing but your absence. Try a different feeding place, like in the laundry room; a different feeding schedule. When she finishes eating, you are not around; you might be watching TV. When you throw the ball, sometimes stop after only throwing it a few times and put the ball away.
Practice the "Invisible Dog" technique when you are reading a book, watching TV, talking on the phone or working on the computer: put a leash on Soda and sit on the bulk of the leash.
Only give her enough leash so if she lies, down it is not tight.
Give her too much leash, and she will wrap you both up. Now TOTALLY ignore her. Do not even look at her: even eye contact is attention. Look to the side or the ceiling if she looks at you.
Do not tell her anything. If she tries to get into your lap or puts a paw up, cross your arms, look to the side, and bump her with your arms and give her a deep "AHHH!" growl. If she barks at you, just ignore her. If that does not work, try blasting her in the face with a spray bottle filled with water, accompanied by a deep "AHHH!" growl. You want her to get so bored that she will eventually lie down. Still, do not say anything. You want to be able to sit on the leash for any length of time where she will just be still. It is called "patiently waiting to see what is coming next." This works well when company comes over, too.
Take the bull by the horns and become a good leader. Here's to a calmer Soda.
Katie K-9Katie announces a NEW day and time for the Katie K-9 radio show! She is now on every Sunday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. on FM107.1 Send in your dog questions to "Hey, Katie K-9!" by mailing them to The Citizen, P. O. Box 393, Hugo, MN 55038 or e-mailing them to Katie at KatieK-9@ ReadTheCitizen.com. PLEASE