Help me fix my bastard dog, please. (Pics, duh)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Ok, she’s not that horrible (though I’m fairly certain her parents weren’t married upon her conception), but I do need your advice, Doper doggy folks.

Mia is a sweet girl, about 2, who I adopted a little over a year ago from the pound. Right off the bat, Mia had anxiety issues- she peed whenever anyone walked into the front door, would jump jump JUMP and freak out if anyone new was around, etc. She’s mellowed out significantly (we worked on the peeing thing by just ignoring her until she was normal acting and she doesn’t pee or jump on new folks anymore) and through a mixture of exercise and practice, she’s become a nice little house dog. The issues come about outside of the house.

In October, Mia jumped through a giant, plate glass window in my kitchen to get a squirrel out by my lake. She ended up needing stitches, but was alright. This is just an example of the problem: she HATES small, furry creatures. Cats, small dogs, squirrels, and baby ducks (not grown up ducks). Oh, and frogs, which aren’t furry but bother her none the less. What on Earth can I do about this? I have never had a dog show aggression to other animals like that. Now, I should say, she isn’t bitey or attacking when she gets near the small animals, but rather just…as we like to say… has no manners. She wants to PLAY! And jump! And PLAY! And OMG DON’T YOU WANT TO PLAAAAAAY! So when a cat or squirrel runs from her, she thinks he wants to PLAAAAAY. How do I stop this? I want my dog to not run through anymore windows.

Second issue: my dad recently adopted a dog, Elvis, who is perfectly well behaved when alone- very sweet ,not too excitable, etc. Mia is the same way, too, minus when in the presence of squirrels. Together though, these dogs NEVER. CALM. DOWN. They play and play and play and run and run and run and run and run and play and play and chase and chase and you can’t even let them in the house because they wont sit still. I’m glad they are having fun but they never stop running, chasing, and playing (in a distracting, body flinging sort of way). What’s the best way to deal with this?

2

One looks like a Labrador mix and the other looks like a Border Collie or Collie mix? Don’t worry, they’ll calm down in a couple of years (maybe 4 or 5).

3

Well, if that’s all I have to do. . . :wink:

I just need to protect my windows. $400 at the ER vet, then $400 for a new window. Never again. Next time, I’m letting her bleed out and using her pelt to patch the hole in the window.

4

That’s what the vet told my parents when they adopted Clark. He’s a lab/unknown (but possibly a pointer) mix, and he was about six months when they got him. Full of puppy energy. About a year later, the second time they’d had him at the vet for a paw injury, my mom asked how long they could expect the puppy-energy to last. The vet said that, not knowing the breed, it’s impossible to tell, but he’ll always be a high energy dog, and it’ll most likely be several years before he “settles down”.

As best as I’ve heard, the best you can do is try to wear the dog out on your own terms. This means long walks, ideally more than once a day, and lots of play when you can. Clark gets walked at least a mile and a half in the morning, at least one 30 minute play session in the backyard during the day [depends on mom’s work schedule], more play when dad gets home, and then another mile-plus walk before bed. When the weather is warm enough (more my parent’s concern than the dog’s), he gets to go swimming in the park in the evening. He still has lots of energy, but the point is to give him as many acceptable outlets as possible.

It sounds like there might also be a socialization problem, either with Elvis or Mia. Have you considered looking into obedience classes? They provide a pretty good safe introduction to a distraction-filled environment, including with other animals. Most big pet supply stores offer them.

Also, along the lines of training: crate training can work wonders. A dog absolutely wants to have a ‘den’ - a quiet, private place for her to chill. I doubt introducing crate training will solve anything, but it won’t hurt.

And also, if she’s taking off after critters left and right, start walking her on a Gentle Leader or similar head collar. It basically stops pulling, and hopefully, walking her even around your yard with it will let her see those critters, but keep her from chasing them. Over time, she’ll (hopefully) at least get slightly used to that, and stop breaking your windows.

5

This might work for when you get your next dog. You can show them the patch pelt and let them know this is what happens when good dogs go bad.

I wish I could offer a solution but I don’t have one. I had one dog that wanted to PLAY! PLAY! PLAY! all the way through a screen door once but she took that as a learning experience and fortunately, I didn’t have a large vet bill afterwards.

Herding and sporting dogs are to bred to tolerate hostile terrain and harsh physical contact so a window probably doesn’t seem like much of an obstacle unless she didn’t realize it was there. Maybe cutting back on the Windex might help?

6

“No, no. It’s not dirty, I just keep it like this for. . . dog training purposes. Yes! That’s it!” :stuck_out_tongue:

7

I second this. My dog Stella is a mix, most likely with some border collie in her. She didn’t settle into adulthood until about 4. Very different from the smaller terriers I’d had before who settled down around 1.

8

Have you gotten her fixed? My dog slowed down after that. Also around age 5 they just mellow out. For me it was a very good thing because my dog is very hyper when outside or at the Vets.

9

How about buying a lot of those holiday window decals they sell at the 99 cent store and plastering the glass with them so she remembers there is glass and not open space?

I would let the two of them play until they drop as often as they want.

10

Yup, she got fixed a few months after I got her. It’s been almost a year now. Elvis just got fixed.

My HOA would fine me more than the cost of window replacement, sadly. We try to keep the blinds down a little more lately and she isn’t as quick to jump on glass surfaces anymore. All good things, but treating the symptom and not the actual disease here. My dog is a bastard, she needs fixing. Maybe I should just beat her.

(I’m kidding)

11

[aside]DiosaBellissima - is your gmail addy still good? I sent an email a couple days ago and wasn’t sure you’d gotten it.[/aside]

On the second question - why do you want them to stop? When we take the monster over to houses with doggie friends, they do the same thing. The beasts are completely pooped by the time we leave. (Or sometimes before - they’ll get to the point where they’re just lying there, making occasional feeble attempts to chew on each other - it’s a hoot.) It’s great - a tired dog is a good dog! We’ve been talking about setting up just doggie playdates.

On the first question - my best suggestion would be to take her out on lead and correct her behavior when it happens. “Leave it alone” has become a major command in the monster brat’s life. She also gets yelled at for barking at or jumping on windows, although she’s small enough I doubt we’d have the same problem.

Barking is the issue we’re still having. Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark. Bark at anyone walking by, anything that makes noise, birds, squirrels, you name it. Aaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

12

Too slow to edit after I reread the OP.

I feel your pain. Our girl has the same manners problem. She wants to PLAY with everyone and everything (except the ones she wants to bite). I’d love to take her to a dog park, but she’s not anywhere near ready for that.

The older dog has helped teach her some manners, but Mags is really too mellow to put her in her place much. Mostly we’ve had to become very alpha to get her to chill out. The only reason her doggie friends are OK is because they want to PLAY AND PLAY also. I think she is getting a few lessons from them occasionally, when they’ve had enough.

It was purely from lack of socialization. She’s getting better. Daily walks where she’s required to sit and stay and behave when other animals are around has helped a lot.

13

I emailed you back! I’ll resend it right now just in case :slight_smile:

As far as why I want them to stop- well, I don’t mind so much if they are acting the fool out in the yard, that’s fine; the problem is we can’t just let them in the house to lounge around because they are too busy attacking each other into slobbery messes. They don’t need to totally stop, just learn where it’s appropriate (ie: not in the house or car).

And hrm, maybe everyone is right and I just need to work with her more on walks. My issue is, no manner of “LEAVE IT” works because she is SO distracted by whatever has her attention. I can snap her leash to the side, nada. We’ve choke chained her and snapped that, nada. I can grab her face and turn it towards me, nada. I can smack her snout, nada. I can yell, nada. I don’t know how I can get her attention there.

14

That’s weird! I’ll give it a few & go check again.

I swear that Willow the monster dog has ADHD. She gets distracted by almost anything, unless she’s hyperfocused, in which case you can’t hardly get her attention.

What I’ve found often works is odd, fairly loud noises. Slamming a book onto the table, banging a metal chair (outside), that sort of thing. Something that’s out-of-the-ordinary enough to get her attention, then I can correct her. She’s very alert to sounds already, though.

Have you tried obedience classes? Not only would they be good for both of you in learning to work together and in busy environments, but the instructor might be able to give you some suggestions.

15

I’ll second the suggestion of taking her to an obedience class - they are just as much for training the humans to work with their dogs as they are for the dogs. A good trainer can help you help your dog quite a bit.

For the type of behavior you are describing in the quote above, I’d try using the most delicious treats possible that are still convenient to take with you on your walks. Start with a simple command, like ‘Look at me’ when she starts to get distracted, but don’t let her get too wound up - intervene as quickly as you can. Hold up a treat so she can see and smell it. If she looks at you instead of the squirrel, etc., she gets rewarded. Lather/rinse/repeat. Eventually you should be able to expand this to other commands, like ‘sit.’ Basically what you are doing is replacing the undesirable behavior with a more desirable one, but you need to make it worth her while. She’s finding her current behavior rewarding on some level; you need to make your reward something even better.

Also, if this were my dog, I’d cover up the part of the window she can see through, just for safety’s sake, for the time being. You can use something that can be easily applied and removed, like butcher paper or wrapping paper.

Definitely let her play with the other dog until she’s worn out - tired dogs ARE good dogs, and it sounds like she’s pretty high-energy, so she probably needs that level of activity in order to be calm later.

16

Get some kind of decal for the window. I don’t care if it is a suction cup garfield or unobtrusive black line designs or what, but she can’t forget that the glass is there or she will plow through it again. My aunt had to put decals on her glass door to keep her dog from hurting himself for the same reason. Find something that your homeowner’s association won’t notice or fine you for if they do notice but put something there or you will have this same problem again in the future.

17

[Still no email, I’m not sure what the problem is. I got mail from someone else in the meantime. :confused: I’m gonna PM you instead.]

We use those bamboo blinds on the lower half of our windows, to keep people from seeing in while still allowing light through the upper half. Just remember they’re not really solid - they’re quite see-through at night.

It probably does cut down on the dog hysteria. She has to get up on the couch to see over them, which she only does when she already knows something is out there.

Now we just have to figure out what to do about the glass front door. We’ve gone through two mini-blinds already and I refuse to pay for anything else until the dog quits destroying them or we find something she can’t tear up.

(She’s not deliberately destroying them, just jumping up into them like a little maniac when someone comes to the door or the neighbor’s dog goes by.)