Dealing with a dog that is a bit of a drama queen.... Have you been here?

Yeah, I had a foster like that in fact.  Not so much a drama queen, as it simply is the dog is smart enough to know IMMEDIATELY what's gonna get them the attention they want.  They watch for any extra display and capitalize on it.

This particular dog (in fact, her name was Luna, but not MY present Luna) had a foster mom who called me in a panic 'She's hurt her paw -- she can't WALK on it!' -- so David and I went tearing back down there 'cos she'd been fine earlier. 

Got there -- had her walk around - she was FINE with us.  But the second that foster mom walked back in the room, that paw came up, she toppled over and played pitiful.  The foster mom looked at us with tears in her eyes "Isn't it AWFUL ... poooooooooooooor bay-beeeee, her paw is HURTED!!!!"

David and I just looked at each other -- whatta CUE!!!

I said ... "show me where your crates are?" and winked at my husband.  I took the woman around the corner to the next room and motioned her to be quiet.  David got up and walked across the room, and said in a normal David tone "Luna ... come!"   Ms. Completely-Incapacitated-A-Moment-Ago jumped up and RAN to David.

He put her thru a couple of obedience moves we'd taught her -- NO "maimed" paw. 

The woman was absolutely CHOKING behind me -- HOW???????? I motioned for her to come back in the other room and Luna literally laid down with the "hurt" paw in the air and half rolled over for a belly rub!

I literally called Luna on her "fib".  I said "Luna -- you were FINE with David ... go see David"  He produced a treat out of his pocket and had her do a down and some heeling.  No hurt paw. 

Luna literally MARKED behavior that somehow occurred probably by accident.  She was playing with another dog and they were being a bit rough and the woman, being the sensitive, caring type THOT she'd hurt a paw and went rushing to her side to "see".  Luna recognized ATTENTION when she got it and repeated the behavior.

SO what do you do with a dog like this?  TRAIN THEM. 

In fact, this particular Luna wound up getting adopted by a young teenaged girl who wanted a 4-H project.  Luna became STATE OBEDIENCE CHAMP!!!

All it took was a clicker!  A dog  this alert will simply note what behavior she was doing when someone went "awwwww" and repeat it when she wants attention. 

Either your dog saw another dog get a "cuddle" when it got picked up by doing that behavior ... or at the groomer she picked up on your reticence (or worry -- maybe about something completely different) so she thinks the "nasty" response is the one you expect or want.  If you act at all sympathetic -- "Aww girl, why are you all upset" ... she's going to take that as reinforcement of her nasty attitude.  When you then walk away, she reverts to the behavior that she knows will get her strokes from the groomer and staff.

In short, be careful with a dog like this -- any "sympathy" can wind up reinforcing exactly what you don't *want* to reinforce. 

The whole family needs to take a clicker-training class and "mark" all the latest and greatest behaviors.  I'd bet this dog could be an absolute champion at Rally!!

Again I don't want to change her.

She doesn't need training.  She is perfectly trained and she gets a refresher at home daily.

We don't do clicker training because the clicker messes her up and it gets on my nerves.   She is perfectly trained using the method we were taught.

She obeys her commands when we ask her to.   She rarely does stuff like this.

The groomer thing.  The muzzle her, because a few visits ago, they cut her so deep in the quick that she bled and was in a lot of pain.   I just leave when she gets groomed (we don't use the place that cut it so close)

She is great with kids, which is good because we are about to have a baby.   

She is right where we want her.

And she has more training than any dog I know.  (Which most of the other dogs I know don't even know the command sit.)

she graduated top of her obedience class.

Again as I said originally I don't want to change her or stop it.

I find it cute, a little annoying at times.

And wanted to hear stories of other dogs that do cute things like this.   (I'm not refering to the nail trimming thing as cute, thats embarassing)

Here's one - every once in a while, my Nikon throws an absolute fit!  Imagine a tired toddler who is throwing a tantrum over not getting the candy he wants at the grocery store.  This usually happens when, just like a human toddler, the dog is tired and overstimulated at the same time.  For example, last weekend we were at the dog beach.  My friends came with their male GSD who is a few months older than Nikon.  They don't really play together, but they are used to training with each other and riding together for shows that they can be around each other.  After Nikon had already spent hours swimming, running, digging, fetching, etc and had paid no mind to his "friend", this black lab comes charging over to my friend's dog, they greet, and then they kind of play bow and wrestle for a few seconds (nice play) until the black lab owners move on.  Nikon just goes nuts, like how DARE this strange dog play with HIS friend, even though he himself has no interest in playing with his friend.  Nikon sat there in a sit next to DH howling and chattering his teeth at the same time, sounded like some safari animal that was being taken down by lions or something, we were all laughing at him while he sat their throwing his tantrum for a minute.  Then he curled up and slept.

 Mine throw fits, too. It is bad behavior, but I do indulge them, on certain things.

That is kind of funny especially since he has no interest in his friend as it is.   I have one like that.  Zack he is a poodle.  He could care less about playing with his sister dog Sasha but the moment another dog comes around to play with her, its on.   He competes it seems for her affections until the other dog leaves and then he walks away as soon as she wants to play with him.

As far as the laughing about it, like the instance at the park we had, thats all you can do really.  

Nope.  None of mine do things like that, nor would they get away with it.  I'm not much of a fan of poor behavior.

 Rascal is a drama queen by nature, and I'm sure it was indulged to an extreme degree when he was a puppy, before I got him. However, it drives ME crazy - I see it as no different than a whiny, obnoxious kid. I do my best to curtail it, but again, he is a drama queen by nature and that is his "go-to response."

Examples:

At the vet. The vet/tech holds him firmly, to prepare to give him a shot. Rascal sees the needle and starts alternately yelping/howling and growling. ("Oh poor me, let me go, mom, look how they're hurting me!";) Vet looks momentarily concerned, I tell vet that Rascal is doing it for dramatic effect, vet gives him the shot anyway. Rascal is so busy howling he doesn't even notice when the actual shot is given. And (good boy) doesn't try to bite anybody, just makes a lot of noise.

Shivering. When we first moved from CA to CT, I was very concerned that Rascal would get too cold in the winter, so every time he looked cold I would give him blankets or hold him near the fire. Well, duh, he likes being cuddled and held. So, he started shaking every time he wanted attention. ("Pooooor me, for I am sooooo cold and helpless!";) Now he even does it in the middle of the summer.  Yeah, I don't think so... now every time he starts "shaking" I walk away and ignore him until he stops trying to manipulate me.

"Crying." When Rascal is ignored, he gets very upset, and will start whimpering/"crying." It is REALLY annoying. So I ignore him until he's quiet. But.... guests fall for it every time, and it's REALLY hard to get them to avoid reinforcing it by paying attention to him, so.... behavior persists. At least, he usually knows better than to pull it with me!

The one thing I do let him get away with is begging for attention by quietly putting his paws on my chair and wagging his tail. I know I "shouldn't" allow it, but as long as he's quiet and unobtrusive, I let it slide.

I general, I try to curb his dramatic tendencies as much as possible. In horses, "dramatic" behavior can be dangerous and even deadly. In dogs, it's a bit less dangerous, but I still don't think that poor manners should be encouraged.

JMO of course 

BEVOLASVEGAS

Nope.  None of mine do things like that, nor would they get away with it.  I'm not much of a fan of poor behavior.

Aww Lighten up.  This stuff isn't bad behavior.   Bad behavior is continuing to poop or pee on the floor after being trained, bad behavior is barking continuously, bad behavior is a dog acting out agressively being a threat to people.   Bad behavior is when you have a dog that you can't control at all in public.   Bad behavior is tearing up the furniture. (Also lack of training)

  What my dog is doing isn't bad behavior.  Infact I love it when she does that whole thing for attention in a crowd (only in a crowd.   We don't walk in a very busy area usually we stay near home)

I mean we have a poodle and every one stops to greet him and no one ever gives my terrier a second look.    So one day she got tired of it and she just plopped down and was like "Look at me, I'm so pitiful"   I think its quite funny.   She got herself a belly rub our poodle got no attention and she was happy.

 Typically if she does that I don't let her get away with it if we are out on a trail or something where people ride bikes and such and I just simply tell her "Sasha Up" and she gets up and comes.     But if we are just at the park and she does that and she isn't anywhere she is in the way, i laugh and let her get away with it.

Again I just leave the grooming room when she gets her nails done.  And she is fine.

The event with the spay, well that only happened once (you don't get spayed more than once) and she was 5 months old.

As far as what kind of kids she is good with.  So far all ages.  I have worked very hard with her on this because as a puppy some kids threw rocks at her becuase they didn't like the way she looked at them.   That was pretty traumatic for her.   She was on my patio when this happened sunning and I went out there and believe me all of those kids parents were informed of their childs behavior, some cared some didn't.

Since then she has been exposed to kids all ages.   I love how tolerant she is.   SHe had a toddler pull her tail and ears and didn't even flinch though the toddler was told not to do that (but you know how toddlers can be) she actually turned around and licked him.     I'll be honest she prefers kids in the age group of 4 to 12.   After they hit 13 I guess they are just not as fun anymore.  Don't want to play as much.   And being a terrier she loves to play.   She loves active kids that will get out and run with her and play ball with her.

As far as graduating ahead of the class, the trainer gave us the curiculum to work on the intermediate stuff.   Sasha was one of those dogs that during the break in the middle of class she would not want to stop working, in fact she looked at the trainer like "why are you sitting down"  There were 3 dogs in the class but the other dogs only made it it seems every other week.   So she had a few private classes as well.   But then in her next class she was way ahead of everyone (but we had already been working on the intermediate curriculum so maybe it was cheating a bit)   

 She knows all her commands sit, stay, come, down, up (that is one I added), roll over,  shake, No Bark, Get Your Brother (What is that you may ask)

We can get our poodle leashed up to go out and he will go under the bed or behind the couch where we cant get to him and we say "Get your brother" and she goes in gets the leash and walks him  out to us.

 Get your brother has been one of my favorites especially since I've been pregnant and things have been difficult.

She has a pretty good recall but being a terrier I don't know that I would ever trust her off leash outside of a fence.

So she may not be to the point other people would want her, but she is right where we want her.

We do give her a refresher course every few months (In class) and we go over commands every day.

I'm proud to say she is very well trained (it helps that she is a rather submissive dog).  Again she is where we want her.     I mean she is never going to be a champion anything.  She is a family pet, an important member of the family.     But I can honestly say she is good dog, she isn't agressive, she has never met anyone she really didn't like, she isn't yappy or barky.   She is very good with kids of all ages.   Loves the elderly, she can just sense when she walks into a room with elderly people that she has to be very calm.

I'm not saying my dogs perfect, but to me she is right where I want her.  

And a few drama queen moments that are harmless don't seem to be a big deal to me, its part of her personality.   she is a very smart dog.

Aww Lighten up.  This stuff isn't bad behavior.   Bad behavior is continuing to poop or pee on the floor after being trained, bad behavior is barking continuously, bad behavior is a dog acting out agressively being a threat to people.   Bad behavior is when you have a dog that you can't control at all in public.   Bad behavior is tearing up the furniture. (Also lack of training)

Umm that's an individual thing; it's not your place to be telling people what they should or should not consider "bad behavior".  I'm one of those people that put up with some "cute" things, but not all.  Some of what you describe would be an absolute no-no in my house because it drives me nutty, but that doesn't mean I think you should change your dog's behavior, just that it wouldn't fly in my home.  Everyone has different definitions for "well trained", "polite", "cute", etc.

I honestly can't stand the drama queen thing and so my dogs are all taught that certain manners will work while behavior like getting all upset about nail trimming or similar, or barking while we're eating, or not walking with me when I'm hiking gets them nothing.  I, too, am happy with where my dogs are currently, though we have had to do some remedial training on not begging recently lol.

Cute stuff my dogs get away with is asking for things (Z runs back and forth between me and what she wants), sitting on my feet while I eat, playwrestling with me or my husband, stealing spots on the couch (Z has perfected the "don't look at the spot stealing, look at the cute" look lol), and bouncing around and barking when I get home from work.

stardog85

Aww Lighten up.  This stuff isn't bad behavior.   Bad behavior is continuing to poop or pee on the floor after being trained, bad behavior is barking continuously, bad behavior is a dog acting out agressively being a threat to people.   Bad behavior is when you have a dog that you can't control at all in public.   Bad behavior is tearing up the furniture. (Also lack of training)

Umm that's an individual thing; it's not your place to be telling people what they should or should not consider "bad behavior".  I'm one of those people that put up with some "cute" things, but not all.  Some of what you describe would be an absolute no-no in my house because it drives me nutty, but that doesn't mean I think you should change your dog's behavior, just that it wouldn't fly in my home.  Everyone has different definitions for "well trained", "polite", "cute", etc.

and the comments about "I don't tolerate bad behavior"   That wasn't telling me what I should or should not consider bad behavior.   Saying what I thought was cute was bad behavior

BEVOLASVEGAS

Nope.  None of mine do things like that, nor would they get away with it.  I'm not much of a fan of poor behavior.

Thats not telling me what to consider bad behavior?  (referring to previous post)

I wanted to talk about my dogs cute antics and hear about others and get told that my dog is acting out

 And no one said you couldn't - but I think telling someone to lighten up is a little uncalled for.

Uh no its not.  This isn't one of those serious Help my dog needs training threads    this was a cutesy my dog does this what does your dog do thread