My youngest child is my largest. Matt, 15, is 6-foot-3 with size-15 feet. Sweet kid, youngest of five, loves photography and dreams of being an ornithologist. But Juneau is terrified of him. As soon as she hears his size-15 Frankensteins clomping downstairs each morning, Juneau starts barking, growling and cowering.
Well, Matt stayed home sick from school yesterday. I shamelessly seized my son's illness as an opportunity to save a day's cost on doggie care.
First, I had to somehow get out of the house without Juneau. She quickly kept following me out the door, too scared stay home alone with Matt.
Finally, I made it.
Late morning, I telephoned Matt to ask how he felt and if he could take Juneau out to the yard to do her business. He told me he wasn't sure where Juneau was. She was hiding somewhere in the house.
He found her on the floor in my room. When he picked her up, she was so scared, she pooped a bit on his arm.
But, I saved $26 and Matt is all better and eager to get back to school.
May 20, 2009
Sick Day
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Great advice, Cait. Dave, I hope you will give it a try.
Dave,
The next time your son has a little free you could try some desensitization work. To do this, you would find some treats that Juno likes (cut up hot-dogs work well, tiny pieces, but she should be excited to get it). Have Juno go to place in the house she feels comfortable, or in the yard if that relaxes her. If you have a clicker, this is a great time for it.
The key here is don't rush it. You're hoping for results over week and months, not days and hours. Sit down and relax. Have your son head towards the room where you are and as soon as Juno is able to realize he's coming, start clicking and treating. Depending on how nervous she is, that might be it for training. He might not get into the room the first day. You want to set her up for success and quit while you're ahead.
Have your son come down the stairs a few times, click and treat like crazy as she is aware of him coming and giving you a behavior that is reasonable. You're trying to get it stuck in Juno's head that your son coming into the room means she gets a jackpot of treats. Eventually, your son coming into the room is a reason to get excited.
When you can get that far, and she's desensitized a bit towards him you can work on counter conditioning. When Juno is calm enough to be in the room with him and not scared you can try this game.
The two of you sit at least a ways apart and simply call Juno's name. At first, he can try saying her name and if she looks at him, click and he can toss the treat to her. Then, you call her name and have her come and get the treat from your hand. He calls her name again and throws it to her, away from you. Eventually he can start throwing it closer, then at his feet, and eventually you can get Juno taking treats from his hand. Your goal is to get her bouncing back and forth between the two of you. It's a good way to make your son seem like a source of good stuff while also training a really nice reliable recall so she'll come when you call.
You can find lots of articles about this by searching either term. I've seen this kind of training work wonders for dogs who react to other dogs by barking and lunging. It may seem like your giving her treats for nothing, but the idea is to reward the behavior you want to see more of.