Dog Community

Suggestions please on generally nervous dog.

Posted : 10/9/2010 1:40:17 PM

Related info: I have 5 dogs, in order of entering the household: Baby , Shep, Josie, Arlo, Daisy.(see my sig for breeds) Arlo is the dog that is annoying me beyond belief. He has a heart of gold, he is a Golden Retriever that was picked up as a stray, adopted out of a shelter, only to then be given away after 3 months to me through Craig's List. I was told he was 4 years old, the vet said more like 2 years old, I have had him for one year so he is possibly 3 yrs old now. I have never had a dog so nervous. He jumps to his feet at every sound, follows me incessantly, frequently running into me if I stop walking, or crossing in front of me/blocking me, just all around under foot. My other dogs, including my newest girl Daisy, do not do this. They watch me but will stay laying down unless I actually leave the room. Some of them wait for me to come right back in, and wont get up unless I'm out of sight for quite some time. I love that. My living room, dining room, kitchen are all one big open area so I can move about in all those areas and they wont move an inch. (no command to stay, they are just relaxed dogs)
He paces around the house if I'm sitting at the computer. Not fast, not in circles, just wanders and wanders and sniffing and wandering around and around the different areas of the house, rustling things, etc. The other dogs lay at my feet or nearby. He drools at the sight of any small animals and was extremely obsessive of our turtle when I had her in a pen outside so I brought her indoors. He made me that afraid with his obsession.
Long walks: Good on Gentle Leader, never tires, and continues nervous-following-pacing behavior as if never exercised the rest of the day. Does not swim. Tried on a bike with him, he was terribly fearful of the bike. (no longer have the bike setup)
Rough-housing: loves to rough-house with other dogs and this does appear to wear him out but once again, jumps to his feet and paces if we get up or move.
Does not whine. Barks at strangers but no constant barking, in fact is quieter than my smaller dogs. If Arlo barks, it means something is up. "Go Lay Down" is repeated a million times in our house because we are so sick of him and his pacing, incessant following of us. He leaps to his feet but can put him back in a "lay down" and he will obey. He will do it, but OH MY STARS, I am so sick of constantly telling him this!! He does not fetch, I have tried to teach him, he is disinterested. He plays tug-of-war but I have yet to wear him out and he has played it with our other Golden, they appear to be tired until I move, or my daughter moves, then he jumps to his feet again.
I know I probably sound like a horrible dog-parent but I am just so tired of this nervous energy of his. Oh, another thing he does is that NONE of the dogs are allowed in the kitchen. There is a clear line of Linoleum vs. Carpet right at the edge of the kitchen. All the dogs are banned from the kitchen for safety reasons and for whatever reason he is the ONLY dog that will NOT obey this rule without being constantly yelled at to GET OUT. Why??? Why out of all the dogs wont he GET A CLUE.
I'm sorry I am really so tired of this. :(

spiritdogs

Posted : 10/9/2010 2:33:07 PM

Goldens as a breed are generally very bonded to their people, and it sounds as though this may be a dog who was horrified at losing his family and has some concerns about losing you. If he is also a naturally anxious dog, that compounds the problem. This kind of dog likes other dogs, but his real focus is you. If you scold him for things, you may be accidentally contributing to his anxiety level, which of course makes it all the more likely that he will be jumpy. If you Google "clicker boundary training" you'll find an article on how to keep your dog in the yard using clicker training. The same training can be used to keep the dog in the room you want him in. However, you should train the dog alone, without the other dogs present, at first. I hate to say it, because I'm sure you love him, but he might belong in a home where people aren't that concerned about being followed around. It appears that having him stay out of the kitchen is important to you, but to him you are his security and he wants to be near you, so he's probably more willing to be yelled at just to gain that security - which is sad really. A good clicker class might help him understand how you want him to behave, since he obviously isn't getting it from your usual training methods. Maybe just seeing that he is capable of learning will give you some hope. These are dogs bred to please humans - there's a key somewhere that you just need to find and turn;-)

Just a humorous aside --- come live at my house. I have two Aussies and a hound up my a&& all the time:-))) But, I have managed to train a good "go to mat" anyway. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVGaslyGaGE

CoBuHe

Posted : 10/9/2010 2:42:10 PM

Every dog is different, just like every person is different. Its unfair to compare Arlo to the other dogs...because he is an individual with individual characteristics, just like the other ones.

If you are interested in helping Arlo, you might want to get some books to proactively and productively help him. But, you have to make the decision first if you even want to. The biggest message that comes across from your post is that you are sick of his behavior. This saddens me for Arlo.

Patience is crucial. Commitment to Arlo is crucial. Are you commited to him?

If so, you might want to start off by readimg Patricia McConnell's book The Cautious Canine, How to Help Dogs Conquer Their Fears. There are other books. Also, search on this forum for relative posts.

I, too, have a scaredy dog. He is very velcro and is frightened by noises. I love this dog and he is a part of my family, so we deal with it accordingly. We work through the fright at the time without coddling him. Read about Calms Forte which is a relaxant or Valerian Root, another relaxant. Valerian Root helps my Bruder during thunderstorms and fireworks.

I also have a high energy dog, one that requires a lot of exercise. We deal with her needs accordingly.

I also have an elderly dog who requires his own set of needs and care.

I wish you luck, I wish Arlo peace and good luck. If you don't want to work through his issues, then perhaps you rehome him to a family that can work with him. But, I do hope that you don't give up on him.

krbshappy71

Posted : 10/9/2010 2:55:31 PM

Thank you for the suggestions and particularly for the video. It looks so easy, that is something I can manage. I've noticed he tends to sleep at the front door, there's a square of linoleum (not adjoined to the kitchen) with a small mat on it. Since the other dogs don't lay there I could designate that as "his mat" or his spot. It also still gives him a full view of the living room, dining room, part of the kitchen for when I'm trying to get things done.
I hate that our days have progressed to this. He has such a heart of gold and wants to please yet is so nervous and impulsive. I just kept trying to get him out of the way instead of facing it head-on to solve it. Poor dog! Thank you both.

CoBuHe

Posted : 10/9/2010 3:01:39 PM

Great idea...make that spot his. And, remember not to give off "you poor dog" energy. They feed off our energy. Be confident, be loving and customize a "needs package/training routine" specifically for him.

Good luck!

krbshappy71

Posted : 10/9/2010 3:45:05 PM

I put the dogs in the backyard and took Arlo for a long solo-walk with me. It was a very stimulating area, a huge greenbelt that is near our house, he had a great time and I'll confess, had not been out lately for a walk which I'm sure isn't helping things. I thought that would help with his energy level before training. We did one session of "On your Mat" (with small food rewards) and he did amazingly well for me just introducing the topic for the first time, WOW. He was eager to please and I rewarded the "come" as well when I called him to me. We did it about...10 times? Just a short session to introduce the words. This is something I can commit to, a walk and then a training session with him, no other dogs. Since I can't food-treat him with the other dogs, I'll do a verbal-or-petting reward other times but then do a food-treat session each day with the other dogs outside. Thank you for getting us on track, I want to enjoy my dogs, not be exasperated with them.

krbshappy71

Posted : 11/13/2010 12:53:23 PM

Another update on Arlo and I: Since the kitchen was really bugging me (he was the only dog that truly would not stay out of the kitchen!) I put up tall cardboard as a barrier into it for a week. He didn't try to push past the barrier, he could see us over the barrier, but I thought it would give him a clear visual of a "NO" area.
Then, I strung rope across the border of the kitchen, several rope lines back and forth across the line between carpet/linoleum, suspended in air from 2 inches to 6 inches off the ground. AMAZING, he has not crossed the rope once, not even when we are in the kitchen. I praised him when he would approach, then walk away. He can easily cross the line, he does not. Even when we are not in the room. I still praise him randomly when he looks into the area and walks away.

I have purchased a long 50 ft lead each for him and Daisy and I take them out to the greenbelt where they can be safely tied but have room to run and play with each other. He doesn't play much out there, he wants to wander and sniff but its still stimulation and he seems calmer on the days he gets to do this.
Go to the Mat is working for the days that he is really being edgy and getting on my nerves and I have also been slipping him treats (unbeknownst to the other dogs) when he is randomly laying down, in the house, being calm. I just quietly walk up and slip him a treat, now he doesn't even leap to his feet when I do this.

Thank you for the suggestion to accept him for who he is. It really made me think about him as an individual and made me ask myself what I was willing to do to keep him, or would he be better off rehomed. I really had to think about whether or not I was willing to step up and be the owner he needed or take the easy way out of rehoming him.

Jewlieee

Posted : 11/13/2010 1:11:17 PM

One thing that jumps out at me from your original post is that he gets a lot of physical exercise but that does not tire him out. It sounds to me like he really needs something to focus his brain on. Right now his brain is focused on being worried about everything. If you start free shaping training exercises it will build his confidence and tire him out mentally. Google 100 things to do with a box (or something like that) and free shaping for dogs. With the number of dogs that you have I know it is hard to set aside time for one dog but doing stuff like this with him will have huge pay offs.

krbshappy71

Posted : 11/14/2010 9:54:19 AM

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll look into it!
I have lots of time on my hands, my dogs are pretty much my entertainment. The dogs that play fetch are definitely easier (in my opinion) because that's their thing. Its what they love, I change how I throw it, where I throw it, whether I make them sit or not before I throw it, I guess I just wasn't applying those thoughts to the other dog of wearing him out mentally as well. I wish he would play fetch! I've taught him, he's done it, it just isn't "his thing".
I'm sure my other dogs would enjoy a 1-on-1 session of mental games as well. I have crates and baby-gates and a backyard so rotating dogs through sessions wont be a problem.

krbshappy71

Posted : 11/19/2010 9:50:11 PM

We did a training session tonight! On another post someone suggested having other dogs watch while you train one dog, as a visual example. So I took my three best dogs, one at a time, ran them through their basics of sit, stay, down, come about 2 times each, lots of food rewarding. Then Arlo amazed me, I didn't know he knew the basics!! I knew he did sit and "go lay down" but he can do a sit-stay and a down-stay! I was really impressed and he was glowing with all the attention. My bloodhound apparently only knows "sit" and was doing a quick-butt-jump-up type, so we will work on her doing actual sits and I introduced "stay", she did a full 2 seconds.