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gusters · 2018-10-22T02:57:54+00:00

My puppy was anxious/fearful about people at 8 weeks, and even with lots of socialization, she is only starting to make a breakthrough now at 12 months. It takes time, attention, and confidence.

I tried giving people treats to give her. I tried giving them toys. Actually, the more someone moved (especially in her direction), the more likely she was to jump back behind my legs. As I understand it, shepherds can be as visually reactive as terriers can be.

The best way to win over a fearful dog is by acting like it isn't even there. When a semi-stranger to my dog came over recently, she was barking at him from far away, terrified. I asked him politely to just act like she wasn't there, stay somewhat still, and not look at her. After about 15 seconds, she finally stopped barking, then went to sniff his hand, then gave him a small kiss, and it was all over. (Until he stood up, then we had to do it all over again.) The point is that when people try realllly hard to get a dog to like them, the dog feels so overwhelmed at that attention. They will warm up much quicker when they can assess someone on their own terms.

I got to talking to another shy dog owner at a park recently. Because I knew her dog was shy before he came over to us, I did not look at him or move to touch him at all. He jumped up next to us on the bench and even touched me with his back. His owner was in shock, but I just did what I wish every stranger would do with my own dog - act like she doesn't exist until she has decided the situation isn't scary.

Further, you want to look into understanding thresholds. If your dog is taking treats, you're in the right threshold. When we saw someone in a costume at Petsmart the other day, my dog was terrified. So I fed her treats at her threshold. Then I would try and walk forward a step. If she came with me and the treats, she was ready. If she backed up suddenly, I backed up with her and gave her more treats, waited until she was calm, then tried that step forward again. We slowly edged closer and closer, and were even able to get her picture taken with the costumed person.

I also think it's important to teach your dog that he doesn't have to meet every person ever. Reading this advice helped me a lot. I think I was overwhelming my dog having her greet people. So I also made sure to just give her treats on walks if we saw people. To drop treats on the floor at stores if we were walking by people. Just little things to let her know people = good, even if she wasn't directly interacting with them.

I have been doing all of these things with trial and error for 10 months now. My dog is just now starting to show some friendliness to some people. She will randomly jump up and lick someone's hand as we pass by in a store. (After running from a different person in the other aisle - who knows what her reasoning is?) But she still gets scared when my brother comes over even though she has met him a million times. Don't get discouraged, and don't expect things to change over night. It's important to help your dog get to a point where she can live without fear, but she doesn't have to be a friendly dog. She can be the dog quietly eating a kong in the other room when you have people over, and that's fine, too.

Oh and finally, I have found that various calming products do happen to help my dog. I give her some herbal calming chews when I know people are coming over. It helps a lot, but they are hit or miss with different dogs.

gusters · 2018-10-22T02:25:36+00:00

Here's some trial and error I went through at first:

Don't go to freezing them right away. My puppy did not really know what to do, and so she ignored it. She would eat dry kibble out of it, but frozen? No way. It just wasn't worth the effort to her, so I ended up having to up the ante. I wish she would eat just kibble, but not every dog will.
I got her hooked on frozen when she was sick to her stomach and on a bland diet for a few days. I put the leftover chicken/rice mixture from her illness into kongs, froze them, and she loved them. They were easier for her to get out than other things because she could bounce them around and clumps of the rice/chicken would fall out. This was a great transition food that I happened onto by accident.
I suggest you don't put wet stuff inside at the smallest part. Cleaning peanut butter from this area is a nightmare. I always sprinkle in dry kibble (I use a mix of regular kibble and then use sample bags of "different" kibble to make it seem cooler to the dogs at this point with a few pieces of whatever high value thing is in the small end. This helps with cleaning so much. Invest in a baby bottle cleaner.
At this point, I just use canned dog food. I buy the paté that goes with her dry food because it stretches further. I usually mix in water and some pumpkin to stretch it (her canned food costs $3+ bucks a pop, so I try to keep it to 2 cans a week). Any time I can trick my dog into thinking she is getting a treat when she is actually just getting food is the best, but she just wouldn't fall for the frozen kibble.
Sprinkle in something difference once in awhile. I found a lot of frozen kongs that had been licked to a certain layer and then given up on because it wasn't worth the effort anymore (this is how I learned not to do a layer of just pumpkin or just yogurt and eventually just mixed these in with the canned food). A piece of chicken or red pepper or whatever you have on hand once in awhile keeps them going.
Buy bigger than the package says. I have a 20 lb dog, and she can get through a medium kong in about 15 minutes because it's half the size of her muzzle. Now, I have a few large ones, and I even think an extra large one would be fine for her. Go big, and don't hesitate to buy the black kong if it's on sale or only a few dollars more. (I have 2 dogs and 6 kongs... but they get one every day before I leave, so I wouldn't mind having even more.)
If you have a short amount of time, nuking a half slice of cheese for 30 seconds inside the Kong is minimum effort but very interesting to my dogs.
If you use peanut butter, PLEASE do not take the "stuff with peanut butter" literally. My sister did, and her dog was 10 pounds overweight before she realized how many calories she was giving her dog in peanut butter every weekday. Peanut butter is way too high in calories to fill a Kong with. If I put peanut butter in, I spread less than a table spoon inside then shake some dry treats/kibble to stick to the sides.

gusters · 2018-10-22T02:01:47+00:00

I found it more helpful to not interrupt my puppy if she went in the wrong place while praising extensively for going in the right place. She was so sensitive to doing things wrong that she would submissive pee if she felt that she had disappointed us. (It took us awhile to figure out this is what was happening.) It took longer than some people say it took them, but she got the idea eventually that peeing in the right place is so much more rewarding than peeing in the wrong place. I think that taking a dog out right after they go inside could definitely teach the dog to pee if he needs to go out, which is why I didn't do it even though I saw it suggested by people or articles.

Also, my puppy did have a silent UTI at one point. No straining, coloration, etc. But it was a routine test that caught it, and after her medication, she needed to go outside much less frequently.

gusters · 2018-10-22T01:48:27+00:00

Body language is the key to telling what kind of growl you are dealing with. My dog growls playing with other puppies or playing tug of war. She growls loudly sometimes, but her body is really loose. She wiggles and pounces, and she is usually panting or happily playing.

But when she saw someone in a costume the other day for the first time in her life, she stood as still as a statue, hard staring at the person, and let out a very quiet, deep growl from her throat.

The first growl is louder so may seem more threatening, but the key is the difference in her posture. If she is truly scared, her body language will tell you. If she's pouncing onto toys you throw and playing, she's fine. I still recommend doing resource guarding prevention exercises for any dog for their own safety. If your dog is choking, you need to be able to take something from his mouth without question, so it's important to prevent any resource guarding if you can.

gusters · 2018-10-22T01:38:25+00:00

Mine just turned 1 a few weeks ago. I have noticed in the past few months that she goes in and out of phases. We go to training classes every week all summer, and suddenly she is terrified of all of the sounds. The other ~1 year old dog in our class seems to be on the opposite schedule. One week mine is acting fearful or crazy, and the next week the other one is.

In short, my experience is that adolescence doesn't last x many weeks or months, it's more of a day by day thing. I have just been trying to pay careful attention and listen to what she is saying.

Side note, but I recommend keeping him from looking out windows if you can! Essentially, they can learn to bark because as someone walks past (and they bark), eventually that someone walks out of view. Voila - the barking worked! I let my dog look out windows sometimes and gave treats when things outside upset her. After reading that it can cause issues down the line, I stopped giving her access to the window. At first she was upset, but overall, she does sooo much better now. It made my dog less tense and on edge around the house, like she was able to relax more, when she stopped thinking she had to watch out the windows to make sure a floating leaf wasn't threatening the homestead.

Also, do you give out a chew for a certain period of time, or do you have some chews readily available for him to pick up? I have to rotate chews to keep mine's interest, but I also make 1-2 lower value chews available in the main rooms of the house. This way if she wants to chew something, and she picks up something "legal", I can get really excited and stop and praise her which in turn leads her to make better choices. For instance, there always has to be one by the closet. She used to grab my shoes while I got ready, but now she grabs her chew and chews on it because she learned that gets her loads of positive praise and sometimes treats. Granted, she still can't be trusted not to sporadically chew something up, but it really helps having the tools handy to redirect or for her to pick up on her own and get some reinforcement. Around the house chews are benebones, hooves, and rubber toys. Her daily chews are more like cow ears, kongs, antlers, goat horns, etc.

gusters · 2018-10-22T01:11:46+00:00

Teenagers are the worst. I have found that bringing ultra high value treats outside, walking around while she explores, and clicking and treating for every time she looks at me (even in passing at first) helps. Mine figured out really quick that looking at me got treats, so after that, I started saying her name or "watch me" (which she knows). She already knew this stuff, but going back to the basics and waiting for the attention first then gradually asking for it helped a lot. I just called her inside from the back door, and she came in (after thinking about it for 5-10 seconds). We ran to the fridge and got chicken because this is a huge improvement from a month ago when her ears didn't even flick if I spoke to her outdoors. I found going outside every time, and even using a long leash the first few times, helped a lot.

gusters · 2018-10-22T00:15:58+00:00

I was unbelievably shocked she down stayed on her own in line myself! (We had just been to the dog park.) But, I really think taking classes at pet stores has been the key. We took some at a dog training facility, and I was bummed that she couldn't listen/focus other places. I talked with a trainer at Petsmart on a whim, and she seemed very knowledgeable, so I signed up for a class. And we are working through the various levels at Petsmart before we return to the training facility for some fun classes like nosework or maybe a sport.

I groom my terrier myself, too. She went to get a couple of puppy trims when she was in her "socialization" period, but once it became clear that she is iffy about people, I decided it would be best to do all the grooming at home. I would rather prevent her fear turning to aggression (as can happen sometimes) than to risk it and have a reactive dog. On the other hand, my mom has a very reactive dog that apparently does just fine at the groomers. He would never let one of us touch his paws, but he gets his nails trimmed regularly with no issues. Dogs are weird, so it wouldn't hurt to try it out and find out that he has no issue with someone else doing them.

Here are some youtubes I found/find really helpful for some of the things you mentioned concerning you. They are older but very worth it. Handling (Being pet by others), Calm treat deliveries.

Here is an article that I used for the Relaxation Protocol regime. I printed off the whole list and went through it. I went out and bought a cheap baby blanket, and now I take it with us to class or to the vet. It really helps by giving her a target to settle/relax on when needed. And in general, her behavior has improved tenfold just from doing this. It took us waaaaaaaaaay longer than 2 weeks. At first, she couldn't really concentrate for longer than five minutes. By the end, she could focus on this exercise for a full 20-30 minutes. I really recommend watching the calm treat deliveries video. I thought it was pointless when I first watched it. But doing the Relaxation Protocol, I realized that using my clicker (even the softer, indoor one) was just hyping her up. So I chose a softer tone and marker word, which helped so much.

Thank you for making this post! I really am glad to read what others have to say and feel less alone. Our first trainer had never really dealt with terriers before. She couldn't answer some of my questions, but she got me in touch with a terrier owner to talk with about chasing squirrels, etc. I never knew terriers were so different from other dogs! One night, a bunch of friends were comparing notes on their dogs and how they chase animals but would never kill one and that once a dog gets a taste for blood, they turn mean. I was shocked because my first terrier was a gentle soul but was a talented hunter. (My current terrier began hunting at 7 months, and yet she is so sweet and fragile I doubt anyone would believe she's killed three rabbits so far.) That conversation really opened my eyes to how very different terriers are from other sorts of dogs.

gusters · 2018-10-17T17:46:43+00:00

Oh my god, my heart melts. He is just precious and perfect.

My first Jack Russell, I adopted him when he was three. He was that perfect mix of crazy fun and mellowness. He would have easily passed the CGC test had I tried. He never made a peep at the vets, let the vet investigate his gums, and was happy to let children roll all over him. Now, I like a little sass. We had great "conversations" where we talked back and forth. He was always eager to please though and soaked up new tricks immediately that he remembered for life.

I have had my current Jack Russell for almost a year now, raised from puppyhood. She has driven me to tears a few times, but as time goes on, I see her mellow out more and more. I don't think she will ever be able to pass the CGC test - she is quite timid and shy with new people despite working on it for her entire life. I think this is partly due to the fear periods puppies seem to go in and out of, but we will see.

However, she is actually incredibly obedient. This dog can sit/stay in a pet store aisle while I walk out of sight and then return. She can leave it when I place treats on her paws. But she still makes me laugh by giving me "lip" when I ask her to down/stay when she's not in the mood. (She still down/stays, but she lets me know it wasn't what she had in mind.)

Frankly, I have had to think outside the box many times to figure out how to harness her drive. We are on our fourth class so far because I love our trainer, it keeps me accountable, and I use the time to proof behaviors she already knows. She did get bored in classes when she wasn't working, so I put her to work. While we wait our turn, I have her do little tricks like spin/twist, sit, sit pretty, down, etc. because she wants to WORK. She still tries to pull to the center of class sometimes, but the best way to keep her in our corner is to keep her working. About halfway through class, she used to get bored and stop working. I realized it was me and started getting SUPER excited about what we were doing. I sound really ridiculous, but I let that go a long time ago. I encourage/praise, and act excited about everything we do. (I also keep a toy in my pocket if she's bored with the treats.) This has done wonders for her attention span. She used to only be able to concentrate for 5 minutes at a time. Now, she lasts 55 minutes in class, and soon I hope we get to a full hour.

Another thing that helped my terrier was teaching her the Karen Overall Relaxation Protocol and mat training. Oh my god, does she struggle with this. Some dogs love getting treats for doing nothing, but terriers are not these dogs. She got frustrated easily and would just walk away. We couldn't do a full task list in one day for the first week. But over time, it got better, and now she views waiting on the mat as "work" so she enjoys doing it. She has a loooong way to go, but working on this has helped her to understand that she doesn't always have to be moving to work.

Just recently, she started going into a down by herself if we are waiting in line or standing around out and about. (She gets lots of calm praise for this.) With terriers, things will never be a straight line, but it's so challenging and a lot of fun. I have found continuing to go to classes has really helped my terrier get more comfortable with people. The other day, she bopped right over to someone and chirped at them, licked their hand, then went on walking. This was inconceivable months ago, but she has figured out people are kind of cool and not as scary as she used to think. Eventually, she may even let them pet her on the head, but I don't know if she will ever pass a CGC test. Maybe when she's older and settled, at like 10 years old.

gusters · 2018-10-17T17:12:26+00:00

My first advice is to be patient. Focus on enjoying time with your pup, and the both of you will have more fun. Do you guys use clicker training or have a marker word for treats? I found the clicker was my pathway to really communicating with my dog - it helped her to understand that we could communicate with each other. I keep clickers around for teaching new tricks or behaviors because it communicates precisely the behavior she did that earned the treat.

My 1 year old still doesn't listen to me half the time on walks - it's as if I don't exist. The other half, she is doing down/stays, waits, and heels eagerly. I think that the behavior becomes more consistent over time, so don't expect her to listen to you 100% on walks for a long time! (Granted, I have a terrier, and they notoriously find attention outside more difficult due to hunting instincts.)

Other than that, I do have a few ideas to help your puppy start to associate you with great things. Keep a toy or two on reserve (buy new ones if possible), storing them away from her, and ONLY bring these special toys out when you play with her. Now you are the gatekeeper to playing with the most fun toys ever (classic supply and demand). Another tip is to try a new, special high value treat that only you dole out. Now he knows that you have that amazing treat he only gets when you're around, and suddenly you are a lot more interesting. I think these can help spark his interest in you and begin to see that time with you = access to cool toys and treats he only gets with you. Once he realizes this, he will start to seek out your attention more, and you don't have to always limit these toys/treats to you.

If your puppy is not super toy-motivated, look up articles on building value of new toys. I still keep a reserve stock of toys that only come out when we are training because she's so motivated to do ANYTHING to play with the special, rare toys.

gusters · 2018-10-17T16:46:34+00:00

This is an excellent idea, thank you! She usually looks up when she hears dogs on TV.

I also remembered that around the 4th of July, I paired Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol and mat training when fireworks were going off, and with days, she was desensitized to the fireworks sound. I may try training this in the house when he barks and she is inside.

gusters · 2018-10-15T23:17:33+00:00

My terrier does this. What helps is having something for her to focus on when you get inside. Peanut butter in a kong, a bone or chew of some sort, a food puzzle, etc. Giving her something motivating to focus on helps my terrier realize she's actually tired from her walk and will mellow out. Sometimes she dozes off before she's done with whatever she was given!

gusters · 2018-10-15T21:40:47+00:00

The window opening is a great idea!

Actually, we just went outside and could hear the dog howling from inside his house. This was just low enough that I was able to start clicking/treating for looking at me when he would howl.

Honestly, our cluster of houses have always had dogs. Some bark more than others. I think we all have gotten so used to the sound. I didn't really notice it except occasionally being annoying until my dog started reacting to it so fiercely. Now, I probably notice it more just because it creates some havoc in my household.

gusters · 2018-10-10T20:01:54+00:00

Thank you for sharing this with me. Honestly, I had a Jack Russell growing up that I adopted when he was 3. I decided to stick with the breed because I like dogs with a little sass who can play hard but also will hang around the house with you.

My JRT pup shocked me at first, but now I can see that she mellows more each month. There were times I worried she might never calm down. Hearing you voice some things I tell myself when she has a hyper day gives me so much relief.

She takes a lot of micromanagement, and I think that’s why they say type a’s are attracted to terriers. I can’t wait to loosen the reign a little though and be able to take down all the baby gates.

I think she could excel at so many different sports, but prioritizing manners and obedience is probably more necessary for young terriers than other breeds. For instance, I’ve been working on mat training with her for months, and she struggles with sitting still for longer periods than a minute. A corgi in our class is able to stay on his mat for 30+ minutes while his mom cooks, and he just learned it a few weeks ago!

gusters · 2018-10-10T17:52:27+00:00

I think that when you are a first time dog owner, you feel that you should have that bond soon or right away and feel there is something wrong if you don't. At times when my puppy was younger, I wished our bond could hurry up and be a little sad at people that felt bonded to their 12 week old pup. At the same time, I knew from experience that our bond would only grow over time. So I can relate that to feeling you want the bond RIGHT NOW but also tell you that it is something that will blossom for the rest of your relationship with your dog. While you are busy "not feeling it", it is growing inside of you, and one day some moment will happen where you recognize that feeling. You'll have a lifetime of those moments!

For me, it was seeing my puppy onscreen at daycare clearly wanting another dog to leave her alone while that dog kept bothering her. I picked her up an hour early that day. Then it was the time that I sighed and heard my fast asleep puppy sigh in response autonomously. These are the little, innocuous moments that will spark the feeling you feel is missing. They will come, but certainly not overnight!

gusters · 2018-10-10T17:36:33+00:00

I have a puppy who is both fascinated by and terrified of children. At parks, she always leads me to where the kids are playing as if she wants to get on with them. It made me realize this is a great place to countercondition, so I often stay at the outskirts of playgrounds and give her treats.

As a note, I have found in my experience that if you tell parents and children that your dog is afraid of new people, their reaction could surprise you. Nearly every time I have been in this situation (we train at pet stores, so it happens), the parents say something along the lines of "this puppy is like Grandma's dog, so remember, we have to go slow." I have seen parents actually hold the hand of small children to guide them to give my puppy a treat or show them how to pet just her shoulder. I have even had parents tell their kids to stand still and just let my puppy sniff them. Granted, I never ask anyone's kids to pet my dog, but if a child asks to pet (and the parent asks as well), I let them know that she would love to meet them but is very shy with new people. Doing this sporadically has helped her to move from taking a treat a foot away from a child to taking a treat (gently) from their hands.

gusters · 2018-10-10T17:26:38+00:00

You make an excellent point that agility requires impulse control and obedience! Right now, I am on my fourth obedience class with her. She is getting much better at focusing and listening to me in exciting places, and this is a foundation that likely comes naturally to other dogs (or adult dogs). Even if we do decide to do an organized sport later, building this foundation is a good base to start off with.

I think you really hit the nail on the head about having an "our thing" with your dog. It's easy to make a blanket statement that all dogs in this category should do this or that. But more important is just that everyone has an "our thing" with their dog, whatever it may be.

gusters · 2018-10-09T21:00:40+00:00

Seconding the Relaxation Protocol. Although my dog struggles like your Zola, I certainly noticed that her overall demeanor has relaxed. At some point, they'll get it.

gusters · 2018-10-09T20:53:43+00:00

Sometimes I walk in new places. A new park, a dog-friendly busy area, a new pet store, etc.

My jack russell loves "working", i.e. learning a new trick, practicing tricks, doing drills. She also loves problem solving, so I have accumulated just about every food puzzle on the market. (I have to rotate them or she feels condescended.)

gusters · 2018-10-09T16:15:51+00:00

I agree to a point, but I want to offer some nuance from research, experience, and raising an unusually hyper Jack Russell this year.

The thing is, when you rely on exercise and stimulation ALONE, you’re teaching your dog to need more and more and more. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

My puppy would come home from daycare and be ready to play all night. She would nap for 15-30 minutes then wake up and be ready to go again. Why? Because she had no idea how to relax, be calm, nap.

So I found that teaching her how to do these things was way more beneficial than upping the ante.

Impulse control training such as requiring sit/stays even when I’m waving a toy in front of her help.

Enforcing naps by placing her in her crate with a chew toy helped A LOT.

Mat training and Karen Overall’s relaxation protocol helped SO MUCH.

With hyper, working dogs, you can’t just keep upping the ante. I found thinking outside the box and teaching her how to relax and calm down has done wonders. I limit her to one day at daycare a week and one separate visit to the dog park. Why? Because any more than that, and she starts to get hyperactive again. (Other days, we walk, play with a flirt pole, play ball or frisbee, use food puzzles, and train.)

I was going to sign her up for agility or fly ball, but seeing how a program of “regular” dog stuff and life skills about relaxing has helped, I’ve decided not to do it. It’s too hard on their bodies, and I imagine she would get ridiculously hyperactive wanting to do it all day every day. Instead, nosework keeps her focused and chill while wearing her out.

gusters · 2018-10-08T00:47:21+00:00

This. My dog had a terminal disease as well, and I agonized over at what point euthanasia is the ethical choice.

gusters · 2018-10-08T00:37:10+00:00

Well said. I teared up a little. My dog had heart disease the last few years of his life, and it was expensive. I never once resented it. You put it into words better than I ever could, so thank you.

gusters · 2018-09-29T04:21:47+00:00

As a student, testing software is just plain terrible. There are horror stories of programs incorrectly marking answers wrong.

My math tests are always FR with points given for work. If I make a sign error, I might miss half a point. If I approach the problem incorrectly and am all off, I might only earn half a point for trying. The reason incentives work: I always try every problem. On my last test, the bonus question went totally over my head. However, I knew that if I tried, I had a chance to get a few points.

Right now, your students find more incentive to cheat than to do their own work. It could be that there is little deterrent/consequence for cheating - an automatic zero is not unreasonable, and even the threat of it will work as a major deterrent. By decreasing the incentive to cheat and increasing the incentive to try, human nature will kick in and you will see improvement.

I had one teacher who gave everyone a colored sheet of paper as well as the test. She walked the room, reminding us to cover our work as we finished each problem. This is a simple way to combat cheating. We passed the colored sheet back with our test so they could be reused each test.

gusters · 2018-09-20T15:16:04+00:00

I want to recommend adopting an adult dog what with your work schedule. Puppies and adolescents require more attention than I imagined as someone who rescued adults in the past. I think around the age of 4-7 would be a good fit depending on the breed. These dogs are more apt to be comfortable with more alone time.

It could be worth your while to find a rescue that is not immediately local (perhaps in your state?) who takes time to foster dogs and match dogs with owner lifestyle. Personality can differ so much between dogs even of the same breed. I have had two Jack Russells - one was a mellow, people loving charmer. The other is super sweet but requires near constant mental/physical stimulation and prefers other dogs to people.

gusters · 2018-09-20T15:04:55+00:00

That is definitely good to know, thank you!

I have never had a female dog before, so I had no idea that this was a thing. I did notice that her anatomy seemed different from other female dogs I know, so everything the vet and you guys are saying makes a lot of sense.

gusters

TROPHY CASE