# Some issues cropping up...



## Marmalade (Feb 24, 2012)

We've had our adopted boy Cash for a week & he was very well behaved until a couple of days ago. Not sure if it's simply the change of home, or something we're doing. 

He's a year old. When we adopted him the owner said he could sit & stay & he smiles. The previous owner said he was never crate trained & didn't need to be. He would try to get up on their bed to sleep & they'd usually tell him to get down. 

For me he will only sit when I get directly in front of him & say it. He doesn't really stay for long before getting up & doing as he pleases. 

We put his dog bed in our bedroom [the one from his old home, but we washed it] but he has slept on our bed every night since we got him except the first night when I guess he was still warming to us.

He hardly barked the first several days, but the past two or so he has been barking more & more. Most often it's for attention. He has always mouthed my husband during play, but he's started doing it more often & even pulling at his sweater/shirt. I read that the appropriate response is to ignore & go do something else right away so he associated nipping etc. w/ playtime ending. Tonight my husband turned away & sat down in the chair & ignored him & Cash went over & started barking at him & then he mouthed my husband's upper arm pretty hard  My husband was actually really upset about it. 

My questions are:

He doesn't bark/mouth/nip at me or for my attention...is it because my husband works all day & he wants his attention & is excited?

Is he getting enough exercise/attention? My husband takes him for a low-impact jog every morning & almost every day he gets another 1-2 walks. I'm a stay at home mom to two kids, so I love on him often during the day. 

Is letting him sleep in bed with us a bad idea? Has it led to some of the issues we're having with him not listening to our commands?

Is ignoring/leaving the right way to handle the mouthing/barking? We have two kids & when they're in bed for the night it's SO hard to deal with his barking for attention.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

He might be settling in and coming out of his shell. 



> He doesn't bark/mouth/nip at me or for my attention...is it because my husband works all day & he wants his attention & is excited?


He's probably excited. Dogs pick up who they can't lick or nip. My sister called me this morning just to tell me something that she realized with Jacks - he never tries to lick her, because she never let him. She has eczema on her hands and it doesn't take much for her hands to really get irritated and flare up. To get there, it took a lot of patience and firmness on her part. He knows he is only allowed to nuzzle her with his whiskers.



> Is he getting enough exercise/attention? My husband takes him for a low-impact jog every morning & almost every day he gets another 1-2 walks. I'm a stay at home mom to two kids, so I love on him often during the day.


Sounds like your husband is the exciting guy who takes him out jogging and for walks. Of course he's excited to see him!



> Is letting him sleep in bed with us a bad idea? Has it led to some of the issues we're having with him not listening to our commands?


No. Jacks sleeps on my bed and my mom just finally convinced him it's OK to sleep on her bed during the day and nap with her (he preferred the bathtub to her bed). He is a very soft and obedient dog. Where a dog sleeps does NOT change the type of dog he is. 



> Is ignoring/leaving the right way to handle the mouthing/barking? We have two kids & when they're in bed for the night it's SO hard to deal with his barking for attention.


I would take a more direct approach, honestly. 

But what that direct approach is depends on your dog and your handling methods. 

"No bark" is a good command to teach. And the best way is to interrupt the barking and praise him when he's quiet. With our dogs, there were different levels of correction that was necessary to interrupt the barking. With Jacks (who isn't really a barker, but does have his moments when he gets hyper) it's usually just the change of tone that makes him stop. Our previous dogs needed more correction because they were "harder". 

Just walking off and leaving them - DOES NOT WORK.  Our Sammy was put outside with the hopes he'd stop barking long enough for us to bring him back in again. He barked for 20 minutes straight. In the dark. In the rain. >.<

Same thing with "settle". When your dog starts mouthing, that when you stop playing and you use a firmer tone of voice and posture. "Settle".


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

"We've had our adopted boy Cash for a week & he was very well behaved until a couple of days ago"

He was very well behavied because he was unsure of his surroundings. He is now settling in. This happens often. The honeymoon period is over.

"He's a year old. When we adopted him the owner said he could sit & stay & he smiles. The previous owner said he was never crate trained & didn't need to be."

I will bet they are giving him up because he had very little training by them. People deal with a small puppy that doesn't have house manners for awhile and then can't handle what happens when the dog gets bigger and hasn't been given the proper training to have good house manners. It is much harder for the kind adoptive parents as they now have to deal with all the bad habits that the first family let continue. It will take time to teach Cash what is acceptable behavior and what isn't (remember he has had an entire year of learning unacceptable behavior) but don't be discouraged with love, patience, consistency in training, setting rules/limits you can give him the skills to be a fantastic family member.
With a dog this size you need to give firm but gentle consistent guidance. Remember he has just arrived you guys need to build a loving bond of trust. 
Crates and baby gates are your friend. Unfortunately, for now Cash hasn't been trained to a crate. So, I would start off with baby gates. He needs to be managed and given less freedom. There is a program you can look up on the net called NILIF.
Nothing in life is free. You are the owner of all resources, this program can be used with gentle guidance. It doesn't need a heavy hand. For everything Cash gets or wants to do you want him to do something for you first. Then reward his compliance with the item he wants as long as it is appropriate.

"For me he will only sit when I get directly in front of him & say it. He doesn't really stay for long before getting up & doing as he pleases."

You have to build on this training. Teach him to focus on you. Teach him to sit for duration while next to you. It has to be built up slowly. With lots of rewards for complying. Once you build the duration with him sitting near you then you move on to building on his sits from a distance. It is all one step at a time. Don't move on until you get over 80% accuracy from Cash.

" but the past two or so he has been barking more & more. Most often it's for attention "

This is the same as an 18 month old baby that can't have what it wants and has a tantrum. He has no understanding, he has to be taught what is appropriate. This barking tantram in the past has gotten him what he wants so he has learned that this will work. When trying to extingquish this behavior by ignoring and leaving him or removing him from the area at first this behavior will escalate way over the top. Any attention for it will continue to bring it on. He has built this habit up for a year it won't go away in a week or so. It will take time and patience.

"He has always mouthed my husband during play, but he's started doing it more often & even pulling at his sweater/shirt"

It has been proven to work for him in the past. He is escalating. At this point so no one gets hurt he needs to be gently guided into another space where he cannot get to your husband when he gets this arroused.

For now it will be better to prevent this than to deal with it directly. Prevention is by knowing when this happens and engage him in other ways or giving him a quiet time with a bone or antler at this time in a calm space.

The biggest thing I can suggest is to get in a basic obedience class with Cash. The class will help give you the tools to teach him the skills to be a great family pet. It will also put you in touch with a trainer that you can go to that will also have had some contact with Cash and can give you hands on advice.

Again, I want to thank you for taking this on. Lots of our golden puppies are dumped sometime around 8 months to 14 months because the people didn't do the consistent work in the early time. Then it becomes so much harder, bad habits set in, dog becomes so much bigger and harder to handle. He only does what he does because he doesn't know any better. Gentle guidance, patience, love, limits/rules and lots of training and Cash will become the dog of your dreams.


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## Marmalade (Feb 24, 2012)

Thanks for the information!

I read up on NILIF & it def. seems like something we should be practicing with Cash. As of now the only thing we make him "work" for is to go out for a walk...we make him sit to get his leash on, then stay & ensure we step outside before letting him come out. Other than that, he has free reign. I have been trying to teach him "drop it" for when we play fetch & it was working well the first day, but now it takes him longer & longer to drop the toy. 

There was a lot of great information on the NILIF program & I'm excited to share the details with my husband.

But let me make sure I'm clear on this...when he nips or barks or is getting too excited, we definitely SHOULD be leaving the room & ignoring him?


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

"But let me make sure I'm clear on this...when he nips or barks or is getting too excited, we definitely SHOULD be leaving the room & ignoring him? "

Yes for right now I see your options as leaving the room or confining him but not as punishment just to get him calmed down. 

You are dealing with an adult sized dog that doesn't seem to have much training. He has low impulse control. If you put actual corrections on him now he may feel threatened and his two responses will be to be flight or fight. He may be a dog that would never turn toward the fight but you don't know him yet and it is a risk. When dogs are highly aroused or fearful they cannot learn or hear your instructions. 

As you continue to train him to understand what behaviors you want him to do you can use them in place of leaving or confinement.

When aroused now in play he has been biting grabbing your husband and if he is threatened this nipping could become very intense enough to injure if instead of play he feels threatened.

I just think it is better to go slow, play it safe. I am not there to see his behavior but from your words he really sounds like a great dog that needs to be given the time to learn. Goldens are really smart dogs and really want to please us. 
He really sounds like a 3 or 4 month old puppy in a grown up doggy suit. He just hasn't had the great training you can provide him.
When a 3 or 4 month puppy acts out we can physically control them gently but when a pup is 70 or 80 lbs and hasn't had the training to guide him yet we can't physically control them gently. So, you want to train without confrontation.

And I again suggest you join a beginner obedience class. This way you will have someone that will have hands on to guide you through this time.


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## Jessie'sGirl (Aug 30, 2010)

I definitely agree with what has already been said about the need for an obedience class.As well as improving behavior it helps to establish a bond between you and your dog. 
There are some great dog trainers here in Nova Scotia. Are you close to any of the major towns or Halifax city?


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Marmalade, you've been given such excellent advice... I look forward to your updates and have my fingers crossed it will be smooth sailing. How wonderful to have possible trainer recommendations, too!


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## Marmalade (Feb 24, 2012)

Thanks again everyone!

I'm in the Annapolis Valley. There are some beginner training courses starting soon that I'm looking into...we're smack dab in the middle of buying a house & we're also looking at getting Cash neutered soon, so cash flow is a bit of an issue. But training is more than likely much more important than neutering at this point, hehe.

Tonight my husband was very upset because he's a youth pastor & had some teens over for a teen fellowship. Cash's barking has been progressing more & more each day. The first couple of days when we'd put him outside he's bark a few times but now it almost constant. He never used to bark inside, but that's also been increasing. He wouldn't even bark when someone came to the door! Tonight he was barking non-stop when the first two teens came. The girls came in & sat down & he just kept barking & barking. I think it scared them. One possible reason for the "extra" barking is that one of the teens said she is currently dog sitting a female that is not spayed. He was extremely sniffy to this girl & would not leave her alone. My husband & I tried to remove him but it was extremely hard & since our boys are in bed upstairs we couldn't put him up there for fear he'd bark to come down & wake them. Besides that area our home only has the living room, kitchen & dining room & they're all sort of connected. We did try to put him down in the finished basement but he would not go & the teens were going to be going down there in a while anyway. Finally we put him outside where he continued to bark & bark, eventually barking at the door to come inside :/ 

Trust me, I completely understand that these behaviors are due to little to no training. But that does not make them any easier to deal with in the moment. We love the fella, so this is not a case of "Oh, we can't deal with this", but we've only had him a week & sometimes I feel like I'm not only ready to pull my hair out but like I'm letting him down somehow as well.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

In a situation where you have company over, I would do some umbilical cord work with him, leash him to you and he goes where you go. It will help you be able to redirect him immediately if he barks, or remove him easily if he is misbehaving.

I don't believe he knows any of the commands you were told he did. The best thing you can do is sign up for training class. 

I think some of what you are seeing is his reaction to having love and attention, maybe for the first time, and he wants more! But of course it is not acceptable to mouth or bark to demand attention. Training classes will really help you because he will understand what you are asking him to do.


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## Jessie'sGirl (Aug 30, 2010)

One of the trainers that I was thinking of ( Bob Ottenbrite of Lietash canine academy) lives in South Rawdon but does his classes in Lr Sackville. That may be a bit of a distance for you but if you were interested in getting his advice on a good training program in your area I'm sure he would respond if you e-mailed him through his Lietash web-site. He also does home visits for problems which may also be of interest to you. He has years of experience with dogs and is a wealth of information.
I must say you seem to have the determination to stick with Cash and see this through despite the challenge that he is presenting!


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