Question
Me and Hammer
Dear Jill,
We have a 16 month old intact lab/sharpei cross named Hammer. We own the mother, who's mother was black lab and pregnant stray. We got her as a 6 week old pup, and as she grew, determined her to have shar-pei in her father's background, and maybe a little pit. Met a girl who had a choc. lab/pei and we let them breed. We kept Hammer and the mother. Hammer is extremely loving, preferring our company to that of his mother. She is not a people dog to the degree that he is. She is much happier chasing squirrels! Hammer is a lover, and perhaps a little bit too attached to us. He whines incessantly, especially when we give his mom attention. He pushes her out of the way and nudges us to pet him. When fetching, he will not allow his mom to get the toy. If we take him on a car ride, he whines nonstop. His whining is so nonstop that it has the effect of fingernails on a chalkboard. He constantly wants to be pet, by anybody. He gets attention, lots of it! We didn't take him to any classes, we are very low income. When he would do something wrong like eat my books, or disassemble our doortrim, we hit him. Sometimes with our hand, sometimes with a flyswatter or leash, whatever was near. Jill, after reading some on the web, (we didnt have a computer till a few months ago) we saw that our method of correction was very wrong, and we feel very badly about it. The whining is so aggravating, when there is nothing wrong with the dog and we've seen to his every need. But recently, when we just point a finger in his face and yell no, he sometimes will either growl or emit a sharp bark. I know now it is probably from fear, not wanting to get hit, and he is modeling what we taught him, that it is ok to use force. How can we retrain him, and get the occasional aggression out of him, we have no money for training. And get him to stop whining? He just had a litter of pups and we dont want them to learn the whining behavior. By the way, he is a better mom to them then their mom. We found a place that will neuter him and mom for free if we turn pups over to them, and we are hoping the neutering will settle him down. I have trained him to walk by my side without a leash, he is very smart and trainable and we love him and want to make up for our bad training practices. Please help, Sincerely, Heather
AnswerOk you realize that hitting a dog for any reason is dead wrong; and furthermore, the dog does not connect the violence against him with the act that provoked it. If you can count to ten quickly, the dog's association between event A and Result B is broken; for all he knows, he's being hit because a bird flew by, or just because you all are not playing by the rules and are not in control. He's trying to gain control; incessant whining is rewarded by constant attention, which provokes more incessant whining.
DO NOT BREED ANY MORE DOGS. there is a plethora of dogs dying in municipal kill shelters all over this nation every day, dogs that are thrown away, dogs that are neglected and abused, dogs that are suffering for no good reason. Neutering this dog won't stop his whining: you've trained that. Hitting this dog will ultimately result in you being bitten (and no one would fault the dog if that happened.) Here's what you do:
Book list:
John Fisher's "Think Dog"
Patricia McConnell Ph.D.'s "For the Love of A Dog" and "Family Friendly Training"
Karen Pryor's "Don't Shoot the Dog"
Turid Rugaas "Calming Signals"
These books will teach you about dog psychology, the "rules" they live by, how we mess them up by mixing our culture with theirs (yes, dogs have a culture), how to use positive reinforcement training to TEACH a dog, without force, to work for you every time (and promotes trust in you and your leadership) and how to read dog body language so you can know what your dog is "thinking" and anticipate his next move.
Also: go to ClickerTraining.com and learn about positive reinforcement training. Teach this dog one solid behavior ("SIT", but don't use that word, you've probably already blitzed it). Do this in short, multiple sessions over the course of a couple of weeks until your dog is working happily for the click/treat (the clicker is a cue that says: reward is coming and gives you the opportunity to indicate to the dog IMMEDIATELY when his behavior is what you want.)
IGNORE THE WHINING TOTALLY: turn your back or walk away. when the dog stops whining, make eye contact and say "good dog", short and sweet. DO NOT ever, for any reason, respond to his whining: turn your back and/or walk away every time.
Once you have obtained a 100% successful "SIT" every single time, put this dog on Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF) for about six months. Ask him to "SIT" for everything: being fed, being allowed in/out, being petted, being played with, etc....EVERYTHING. NEVER, for any reason at all, raise your voice NOR do you raise your hand or any other object. This dog will learn that YOU are the headmaster of this 'school' and that you are in control because you are playing by the "rules" of the dog culture. His anxiety will reduce and disappear (no more whining for attention, he will learn that he must WORK for attention), his growling with disappear (no more confusing discipline and fear provoking behaviors from you), he will begin to trust you, he will begin to problem solve (yes, dogs problem solve and plan), his cognition (understanding) of events and behaviors will increase. And you will have a fine companion.
Amazon sells these books at reduced prices and Karen Pryor's equipment from ClickerTraining.com isn't that expensive. You owe your dogs this commitment. Neuter and spay both dogs.
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