Sexy Ma
what is your 2-3 yr old's favorite toy?
my son loves everything about cars
Answer
She loves her cabbage patch baby. It goes everywhere with her, on car rides, to bed, outside to play. She is always holding on to that doll-she got it when she was 2 and now she is almost 4 and her and the doll have been inseparable ever since.
She loves her cabbage patch baby. It goes everywhere with her, on car rides, to bed, outside to play. She is always holding on to that doll-she got it when she was 2 and now she is almost 4 and her and the doll have been inseparable ever since.
Help with my dog destroying my toddlers toys?
Meghan
I have a 3 year old min pin who has unending energy. She never went through a puppy stage where she ate any of our stuff, but ever since my son was born 17 months ago she started stealing his belongings (mostly socks) and has become increasingly aggressive with his things that she steals. Recently, she's moved on to hording all of his Little People toys (he has about 50 of these little people that we keep in a basket). She steals them and chews their limbs off, and it's impossible to get it away from her without her going into a rabid fit. This isn't related to her needing to be walked more. We spent the entire weekend outside and the park & on walks, and even when she's tired out she does this. How would you respond to these acts? We've tried a few tactics but usually I just tell her to sit... which she'll do, and usually drops my son's toy. I take it away, and try to get her preoccupied with one of her own toys. It seems as though rewarding it in that fashion just encourages the behavior though? Any negative attention we give her definitely makes her more hostile. Help please :-)
ps.... we live out in the boonies and there aren't any professionals that I've found, or I would've taken her into one by now for a 1 on 1. Petsmart is the only training facility around, but do you think a group class would do her any good? She knows basic commands.
We also have the Biter Apple stuff. If we tried that could it harm my son in any way?
Thanks for answering guys. Sorry it's so long, but whenever I ask a Q in this section people seem to jump down my back if I don't have all the info out there :-)
Answer
Min pins ... they do tend to take over if you're not a strong leader. And don't get me wrong here, just because she knows a few commands and does most of them most of the time doesn't mean she see's you as a strong leader. It just means that her desires match yours most of the time.
It would be best if you could get into an obedience class with someone that was CGC (canine good citizen) focused, but being out in the boonies, that can be difficult. A basic obedience class at petsmart - well, that's a toss up and would depend on the experience of the person teaching the class. Sometimes you get people with a lot of experience, sometimes you get the guy that went to a 6 week course and is now teaching obedience. Certified does not mean experienced but ... you can always talk to their trainer about their experience and make a decision based on that.
But what to do now - well, understanding your dogs point of view will help a little. Those toys smell like you and the baby. This makes them very appealing to the dog. He's not tearing them up out of spite or jealousy or any of that - he's tearing them up because they smell good and ... it's fun. And let's face it, anyting on the floor can be viewed as "his" until you've made it really clear that it's not.
Drop it and leave it. Those two commands are ones you're going to really want to work on. It can be a little tricky because the dog can start to learn that if he picks up something you don't want him to pick up, he gets a treat for dropping it. To avoid that, I don't use "treats." I use an exchange toy. A toy that the dog really likes and will drop other things for. So if the dog has the kids stuffed toy, you get the dogs favorite squeeky toy - you tell the dog to drop it, when he drops your kids toy, he gets his favorite toy.
If your dog fetches at all, you can continue to teach drop it by getting two of what ever he's fetching. Ok, you have a ball in your mouth, but I'm not going to throw this other ball until you drop THAT ball. But once that other ball is dropped, you immediatly get another ball.
It's a little bit of doggy psychology. When you tell them to drop, they get the thing they want taken away. You have to kinda convince them that when you tell them to drop, the next thing they get will be better. Treats don't work because the treats are gone in a second and you still have the desireable object. Can you see what I mean?
As far as some of the other possessive behaviors - I think you can work on some of those at meal times, using his food. No free lunches for a while. I know it's time consuming but, measure out the dogs kibble and make him work for every bite. Sit's, downs, spins .. whatever. No free lunches for a while. Another affective method is to measure out your dogs food into something other than it's normal dog bowl. Set it's empty dog bowl in it's usual spot. Make the dog sit and wait for you to place a kibble or two into the bowl then tell it ok before it can eat it. Repeat for it's entire meal. That's a real fast way to gain a little respect from our K9 friends.
Anyway, good luck!! And please check around. Even out in the boonies you can sometimes find someone that's really dog saavy and willing to help you train your dog.
Min pins ... they do tend to take over if you're not a strong leader. And don't get me wrong here, just because she knows a few commands and does most of them most of the time doesn't mean she see's you as a strong leader. It just means that her desires match yours most of the time.
It would be best if you could get into an obedience class with someone that was CGC (canine good citizen) focused, but being out in the boonies, that can be difficult. A basic obedience class at petsmart - well, that's a toss up and would depend on the experience of the person teaching the class. Sometimes you get people with a lot of experience, sometimes you get the guy that went to a 6 week course and is now teaching obedience. Certified does not mean experienced but ... you can always talk to their trainer about their experience and make a decision based on that.
But what to do now - well, understanding your dogs point of view will help a little. Those toys smell like you and the baby. This makes them very appealing to the dog. He's not tearing them up out of spite or jealousy or any of that - he's tearing them up because they smell good and ... it's fun. And let's face it, anyting on the floor can be viewed as "his" until you've made it really clear that it's not.
Drop it and leave it. Those two commands are ones you're going to really want to work on. It can be a little tricky because the dog can start to learn that if he picks up something you don't want him to pick up, he gets a treat for dropping it. To avoid that, I don't use "treats." I use an exchange toy. A toy that the dog really likes and will drop other things for. So if the dog has the kids stuffed toy, you get the dogs favorite squeeky toy - you tell the dog to drop it, when he drops your kids toy, he gets his favorite toy.
If your dog fetches at all, you can continue to teach drop it by getting two of what ever he's fetching. Ok, you have a ball in your mouth, but I'm not going to throw this other ball until you drop THAT ball. But once that other ball is dropped, you immediatly get another ball.
It's a little bit of doggy psychology. When you tell them to drop, they get the thing they want taken away. You have to kinda convince them that when you tell them to drop, the next thing they get will be better. Treats don't work because the treats are gone in a second and you still have the desireable object. Can you see what I mean?
As far as some of the other possessive behaviors - I think you can work on some of those at meal times, using his food. No free lunches for a while. I know it's time consuming but, measure out the dogs kibble and make him work for every bite. Sit's, downs, spins .. whatever. No free lunches for a while. Another affective method is to measure out your dogs food into something other than it's normal dog bowl. Set it's empty dog bowl in it's usual spot. Make the dog sit and wait for you to place a kibble or two into the bowl then tell it ok before it can eat it. Repeat for it's entire meal. That's a real fast way to gain a little respect from our K9 friends.
Anyway, good luck!! And please check around. Even out in the boonies you can sometimes find someone that's really dog saavy and willing to help you train your dog.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
No comments:
Post a Comment