Help with attention-seeking behavior

Question
Dr. Connor,

Hello. I hope you can help me with a problem I am having with my roommate's dog. She has a Chihuahua/Jack Russell mix and while he is very cute sometimes, he also has some obnoxious behaviors. Since I am a writer and work from home, I am home with the dog all day and many nights and would love to find solutions to the issues because it can be stressful for me and I like my roommate so I want to keep living with her. Here goes.

1. The dog barks. A lot. I like to have the door or window open and it looks out onto the street (we live in a city) and anytime anyone passes by or moves around upstairs or goes up or down the stairs of our apartment building he starts barking loudly.

We've tried the "interrupting" method by poking him in the side or the side of the neck when he looks like he's getting ready to bark or is barking and making a "sstt" sound but he just gets annoyed, keeps doing it, and threatens to bite (he's never actually bitten anyone) so we didn't keep that up. instead, my roommate and I have gotten into the habit of telling him to "go home" so he goes into my roommate's bedroom and sits in his bed. But, this is maybe 10-15 times a day and it's distracting and stressful. We also try putting a muzzle on him but it's very difficult as even though he's little, he's strong and he hates it and has also found a way to bark even when wearing it. The barking is the number one problem.

2. He is super needy. When I'm home (and he's not barking) he's either insisting I play with him (I cannot do this all the time as I'm trying to write/concentrate/etc.) and while I do play with him every day, the moment I stop, he just bring his toy to me and whines or does a little bark until I play with him again.

The second "needy" issue is he insists upon being in my lap or curled up next to me at all times when he's not in his bed or trying to get me to play with him. I wouldn't mind this except that I have a cat and I want to be able to have her curl up with me and I want to be able to play with her. She can't stand him and just glares at him from the top of the TV. I'd like to be able to get some balance here. If I put him in his room (we have a baby gate) he just cries nonstop.

Also, I could take him on daily walks but he barks at everyone and jumps at people and dogs. He is not very well behaved. The only commands he knows are "sit" and "come."

3. He goes to the bathroom all the time. Maybe 5-6 times a day? His dish is always full with food so he can eat whenever. I've heard that's not the right thing to do, but it's what my roommate has always done with him. however, this means I have to adjust my schedule to come home and take him out in the middle of the day and need to schedule my meetings accordingly. If I don't, I come home and have to clean up a mess.

In short, I would like a more peaceful/less stressful home life with this dog because even though he is my roommate's, he is my responsibility if she's out for the night and during the days. What can be done?

Thank you.

Best,
Rebecca

Answer
1.  Your intervention with this dog's barking has been, in the past, horrific.  "Poking" a dog for doing its "job" (this little breed needs to make his presence known, it's normal behavior in many dogs: barking at noises, approaching footsteps, etc., this is why people often keep dogs!) is interrupting what appears to be the dog's anxiety and perhaps even a fight/flight mechanism and is GOING TO CAUSE HIM TO BITE YOU.  Muzzling a dog is inhumane: the dog can't BREATHE with a velcro muzzle and if he's wearing a basket muzzle he can still bark!  Redirecting him WORKS and he's obviously very smart and biddable: he's willing to work for you.  I don't see how stressing it can be to have to redirect a dog 10 to 15 times a day; if you use a clicker, you can reward the dog the moment he STOPS barking and then redirect him to his bed, but there MUST be a REWARD that outweighs his need to raise alarm and you MUST interrupt (with a hoot, a clap of hands, a squeaky toy) to get his attention and interrupt the ACTUAL barking and click/treat the MOMENT he stops.  This is how it's done.  To learn about how to use a clicker to correct unwanted behaviors, see this site:
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/834

To learn how to desensitize a dog so it doesn't respond to every trigger (noise, footsteps, etc.) see this site:
http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/excessive-barking

2.  Given the fact that this dog, despite its breed type, is not CHASING your cat or engaging it as an object of prey, I'd say you're quite fortunate.  The dog is insecure: he's being inadequately managed, his anxiety levels are high, no one is living with him in an appropriate manner.  If he doesn't "know" any behaviors other than 'sit' and 'come' (and I'm shocked he does a recall, frankly), WHOSE fault is that? HIS??? If your eight year old daughter or son can't read, is it the child's fault?? Dogs need to be TRAINED.  For information on positive reinforcement training, see Dr. Ian Dunbar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv38ornzzuQ

You might also want to take a look at Dr. Dunbar's description of why innocent dogs wind up in high kill shelters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYKglba7o_8&feature=related

AND his comments on inappropriate and inadequate "training", how people ignore the advice of dog training professionals, and the result of same: this video is ESSENTIAL VIEWING for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTkYvn1HjrI&NR=1&feature=fvwp

This dog requires close proximity to you at all times because he's extremely stressed, very anxious, and has no leadership.  Many small breed dogs want to be in your lap or curled up with you: this is the CHARM of the small breeds.  Locking him up in his own home when he knows you're there must involve special circumstances, he must see it as a reward.  If he cries and whines, you respond, thereby rewarding his crying.  With positive reinforcement training, he can EASILY be TAUGHT to perform certain behaviors and REWARDED for not whining.  He can be taught that staying on the floor is more rewarding than begging for attention by using the clicker or even basic positive reinforcement.  THIS WILL TAKE TIME AND EFFORT and frankly the very strong statement you are making to me is that YOU DON'T LIKE THIS DOG, and he KNOWS it.  He's an inconvenience to you, a disruption, you don't seem to want to take the time to even reward him ten or fifteen times a day for going to his bed!

3.  The dog isn't house trained.  I free feed my dogs and have for decades.  No one eliminates in the house.  Dogs DO have to be taken out four to five times a day, that is HUMANE.  Can YOU go to the bathroom only two or three times daily? I doubt it.  Why should the dog be able to do it?  House training a dog means taking it outdoor, encouraging elimination (gently) as in "go pee", and then offering a tiny treat and much praise when the dog performs.  Indoors, the dog needs to be observed and prevented from soiling by interruption (clap of hands, sing, whistle, something that doesn't frighten him) and then taken out.  Persistence is key: the dog will learn that eliminating outdoors is rewarding, he will begin to choose to wait until taken out.  No one needs to rush home from a meeting or from work to walk a dog if the dog is properly house trained, but this takes time and patience.

From this distance, I can't train this dog so as not to be a nuisance to you.  I wrote a novel, three study guides, a weekly internet column, a book on dog training and produced my own radio program (involving much correspondence and telephone conversations every day) and I had EIGHT DOGS in my house (in the ROOM with me) at the time.  Never did I consider interruption of my work a "nuisance" because I saw those dogs as living entities, with ONE LIFE just as I have, and the quality of that life should be important to any caring member of our species.  Rather than complain, re-train!

Go to the videos suggested above, learn something, help this animal who is an innocent victim of what appears to be a scatter brained, uncaring owner (your roommate).