Wondering if any of you had any thoughts about a weird behavior of my dog’s. 20 mo old labradoodle. Pretty well behaved in most respects - this hasn’t got all of his brain yet. Barks a little too much out the window at passersby, and a little too excited right when people visit, but we are working on that.
What confounds us is something I would almost call “separation anxiety”, but it isn’t really that. Maybe “fear of separation” anxiety. He gets really excited when we are going to go somewhere, especially in the car.
Here’s what happened when we drove to the forest preserve for a walk this afternoon. He ran to the garage door, and started whining and yelping really loudly. Then when we got to the forest preserve and stopped the car, he whined and yelped as tho we were going to leave him in the car. On the way home, we stopped to mail a letter. As I got out of the car to mail the letter, he whined again - even tho my wife stayed in the car! Then, when we got home and pulled into the garage, he whined again, as tho we were going to lock him in the car in the garage.
He doesn’t act like this when we are going out and leave him home in his crate.
Sometimes he will whine like that when we are getting our shoes and coats on to take him for a walk out our front door, even tho he can see me getting his leash and poop bags.
I’ve had Goldens my entire adult life, but none of them ever acted anything like this. Any thoughts?
If it’s a problem, you can try creating other behaviors to replace the undesirable behavior. I make Kizzy do a sit/stay when we’re about to leave. She knows she gets rewarded (click and kibble) for doing sit/stay so she’s eager to do it.
And we work on the sit/stay - but it is VERY stressful. Normally he is VERY GOOD w/ sit/stay. But this afternoon I had to repeat it at least 4 times, as he repeatedly broke immediately.
We take this damned knucklehead pretty much everywhere we can (and probably many places we oughtn’t.) This behavior just seems so weird.
Sounds to me like anticipation. At each of those junctures you describe is a potential opportunity to “go” somewhere, which evidently your dog likes going places. Seeing you get your socks and shoes on may trigger this as well, or the jingle of the car keys. Your dog has learned from your behavior what may lead to a walk or a car ride somewhere, and is getting excited with anticipation.
A few months ago we got a new dog after our previous one passed away. The new one was 20 months old when we got her, so pretty much an adult. She stares at us all the time - watching, learning. This is what dogs do their whole life - their hobby is observing us, looking for clues and behaviors that may indicate what we may be thinking, and if it involves them. She has already learned about socks and shoes and the jingle of the mailbox key, as well as when I put on cycling gear it will not lead to a walk, but if I put on shorts or sweat pants it could lead to a walk. Dogs are super observant, even the knuckleheads, but especially the smart ones.
I agree. It sounds like anticipation anxiety. The dog seems to anticipate something is going to happen and becomes very excited until it actually does happen. When this occurs, you may want to verbally correct the dog to send the message that the behavior is unacceptable.
Have you ever gone through formal lessons? Going to training classes is worth the effort, and trainers will, IME, work on specific individual problems.
Puppers needs to learn some patience. My mob gets like this and certain triggers, like me putting on outdoors pants or shoes or rattling keys gets them going. Also when they need to go out, me getting up will get the younger two riled up and wrestling which makes it really hard to open the damned door. Desensitization training and verbal/signal correction is needed here–do some of the things that get him going, then…stop. Go sit back down, then in a bit get up and repeat the lesson. Teach him that he needs to be calm and collected before any fun happens–my guys know “chill” and “manners” means they’d best calm down or there will be No Fun. When he’s being excitable, learn to withdraw interaction–just stand like a statue, look away and ignore him until he gives you a behavior you want, like shutting up and sitting down. As soon as he’s calm and on his butt, reward him and go on with what you were doing. Every time he gets nutso, repeat the statue maneuver. This is a super irritating lesson for the humans, who just want to fucking get on with their lives and get shit done, but if you don’t get him calmed down now this is how it will be for the next fifteen years or so.
I fold mine in front of my chest and yep, that really makes a big difference. They know we Do Stuff with our paws and no paws means Less Fun. Dog logic!
Another suggestion is teaching the dog to concentrate on you. You get the dog to sit, then point between your eyes. He’ll naturally look there, you click & treat. Then immediately repeat. And again. Then begin withholding the treat for gradually longer and longer and longer. It’s kind of creepy how intense you can make your dog stare.
Eventually you have a powerful tool where you can tell your dog to stare, knowing you can maintain it a long time. If your dog has much drive (sounds like he does) you can keep him staring indefinitely, because he knows breaking the stare is a loss of treat but maintaining the stare eventually leads to a treat.
Best of luck with him–don’t forget to pay the pupper tax!
I forget not everyone has herding dogs because you sure don’t need to teach those guys to stare, and that intense gaze is something a lot of people find very disconcerting. I prefer a dog who can look me in the eye and that pays attention to my facial expressions and body language and that’s herding dogs in a nutshell. I could do without the mouthy nippiness though!