Why is my dog barking for no reason during the night?
Dogs never bark for “no reason”. We humans are just too dumb to figure out why they’re barking. Here are some reasons why my own dogs bark:Someone outside your house is walking by with, or without a dog.Cats, squirrels and other critters are near your house.He hears far better than you ever will. Mine will bark as he hears other dogs barking 1/2 mile away. Dogs are pack animals who will bark in concert, or warn other dogs in the area that this is his territory and to back off.He needs to go potty or is trying to tell you something. Maybe he is anxious about something. Do you have a cat that taunts him or takes his bed or space? Mine will tattletale bark to me when one of the cats takes his space in his or my bed.Gas or carbon monoxide or other dangers.He’s in pain or discomfort. Many joint pains are worse at night. We feel the wrath of a cold or illness at hardest at night, too.And the most frequent trigger in my own dogs is JEALOUSY. Yes, they are super jealous and won’t try to hide it like your girlfriend when you glance at a pretty girl. Mine will bark and whine if either sees me showing affection for the other. They even place their heads under my hand or will take my hand in their mouths and guide me to pet them. Jealousy isn’t confined to other dogs. If he sees you showing affection for a family member or cat, he will insist equal affection time vocally.He is bored and needs to release energy. If a dog doesn’t get enough exercise, playtime or intellectual stimulation, he will bark until he feels he is adequately spent. The larger breeds need at least 3 hearty walks a day or an hour of hard exercise/play, preferably off leash to run and jump.You wouldn’t start yelling in the middle of the night for no reason. Neither will your dog. You can just tell someone why you’re yelling but with a dog, it’s up to you to figure out why. Try to find a way to tune into his mind and needs. Only good will come of it.
Help! I'm potty training my papillon puppy but she doesn't want to co-operate!?
Some puppies get housebroken within 2 weeks, but 2 weeks really isn't a long time, especially if you are working and not able to take her out everytime she has to go. Generally the more often you succeed in making her go outside, the faster she'll learn. Also, she's just 8 weeks old (and should really only have left her mother and littermates at this age and not at 6 weeks) and might not have complete bladder control yet. I would get rid of the diapers and the puppy pads and instead begin to: 1. Watch her like a hawk when you are home with her. 2. Take her out as soon as she starts sniffing around/circling. 3. Take her out if she squats to pee or poop (lift her up and flip her on her back while you carry her out, most puppies will instinctively not pee on themselves). 4. Take her out after she's played, eaten and slept. 5a. Don't let her out on her own to pee, always go outside with her. 5b. For outside potty trips, don't venture too far away. Puppies are often reluctant to pee in what they consider strange territory (and to a puppy, strange territory might start halfway toward your garden gate). 6. Never punish her for going inside, if you catch her too late, you have no-one to blame but yourself. Simply clean up the mess. Do not rub her nose in it/smack her/yell at her. Punishing the dog, means you might risk teaching her not to go while you're watching - and that makes potty training significantly more difficult for you. 7. Praise her silly when she goes outside. 8. If you have the possibility, go home during lunch hour or have someone pop over to take her out during the day. 9. Be patient, some puppies are slower than others. If you're consistent and vigilant with the potty training, she'll get it eventually. Good luck with her.
Boston terrier marking in the house?
Got him around Mother's Day last year, he was already 4 months old, took forever to potty train him, after that he was taking stuff off of tables and destroying it. Like 4 days after Christmas he started marking on stuff, ex. Christmas bags, a bag of kitty litter, a seat out of a car, a car battery, my work coat, and pretty much everything in my work room. I've caught him in the act a few times and the firm no wasn't working, so I started spanking him when I caught him, which worked for a week, but now hes at it again. Hes just a bad dog and he knows hes done wrong cause whenever I go where hes done something wrong or marked, he gets scared and lays down and pees on himself, (kind of funny how he is trying to state dominance, but cowards when I find where hes done it). I've super cleaned my whole house several times this week. Bleached everything bleach-able, (walls, hard floors, tables, chairs) and shampooed all my carpets. He has been staying in his cage all day lately cause I can't trust him and there is no way I can sit there and watch him 24/7. I'm pretty much fed up with him and having to clean up stinky pee everyday. If I can solve this I'm taking him to the pound.
My dog growls/snaps and is very territorial at night and I don't know why!?
A Lab is behaving this way? Goodness. Hon, you definitely need to be applying more discipline. Not punishment, but discipline. It's just letting her know that you don't agree with that behavior, just like you would with a child. The problem here is she doesn't see you as the pack leader, so she doesn't respect you and is basically taking over, or trying to. Since you're not acting like the pack leader, you haven't made it clear that you own the bed, so she's claiming it. She's being possessive. For starters, I'd start setting up boundaries. Don't allow her on any of the furniture unless you give her permission to do so. This will allow her to see that you're in control, not her. I'd also start practicing other things like making her sit and wait before putting down her food dish, making her wait before entering or exiting a door....Just small things like that. As for the bed situation, do not lure her off with toys or treats. That's actually rewarding the behavior, not correcting it. You HAVE to be more firm with her. Try this exercise: putting a leash and choke chain on her, invite her onto the bed, you standing next to the bed. Tell her "Off," and give a gentle pull on the leash and then release. If she gets off without a fuss, then praise her mightily. If she starts in with the growling/ not budging off the bed, give the collar a firm and quick pull (it doesn't hurt the dog, it just snaps them out of the behavior), and tell her "No." Continue to pull on the leash. Once she starts to give in, release the tension on the leash and just lead her off the bed. Continue to do this until she gets off the bed without fussing. Same thing when you're on the bed with her, if she starts growling when you move or something, give her collar a quick snap and tell her "No." Remember, you don't have to be mean, but you do have to be firm and mean what you say. Be calm though. Dogs only respect and follow calm leaders, so while you're working with her, stay calm and be firm and assertive, and don't be yelling and using a lot of words. That'll only escalate her behavior. Hope this helps. :)
Female Black Lab Too Hyper and Energetic?
My fiancee has a black lab that is about 3 years old. The dog has been very hyper since as long as I can remember. Early on we thought she would grow out of it, but it hasn't happened yet. I have seen hyper dogs and all, but this is a different type of hyper, and I need some help. So she understands commands, she knows to sit, but when she sits she won't plop her butt on the ground. It is like she is ready to run in a split second. Same with laying down. She understands the command, but she does not stay laying down for long at all. I haven't ever been around a lab like this. She breathes really fast all the time with the tongue hanging out with constant drool. Do female dogs mark territory? We just brought her home to the new house today, and I must have watched her pee at least 20 times. Also, she will go to the water dish, and just stick her tongue in, and then drip water everywhere. These are all behaviors I have never seen before, at least with any labs I have been around. The hope is that someday I can walk outside and pet the dog without it running all around me, drooling on me etc. Even today, we sat out there for about 2 hours, and there was no hope for calm. Does anyone have any ideas? suggestions? thx.
Is it too late to train my aggressive dog?
My boyfriend and I adopted a two year old Cairn terrier about eight months ago. Soon after we adopted him we realized that he has some serious protective issues and will get into what our trainer called "scrap fights" with other dogs that he either feels intimidated by, or dogs who approach us. We have another female doberman/lab mix that he gets along fine with because she is extremely submissive. When he gets into these "fights" he attacks the dogs by going for their neck, barks and snarls and sounds extremely scary and immediately doesn't respond to any command that we give him. He has never injured any other dog but it's scary to see. We brought him and my other dog to an obedience class two months ago which he completed fine and I discussed my concerns with the trainer but she told me that he is not aggressive, just very reactive. She said the only thing we can do for him at this point is to keep him away from other dogs. I considerer returning him to the shelter we adopted him from but my boyfriend is too attached at this point. We both want a healthy, happy dog that we can trust but I'm left with nothing to do except keep him away from every other dog for fear he'll pick a fight he can't win. Is there anything else I can do to train him? He is SO good 99% of the time, but when that switch flips in his mind he turns into a completely different dog - HELP!