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014. Fear-biting |
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This article is from the Dog Behavior FAQ, posted to rec.pets.dogs newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
This is a separate problem, caused by a fearful and submissive dog that feels cornered. It indicates an extremely poor temperament and possible abuse. Such dogs should never be bred.
To deal with a fear-biter (evidenced by a dog that bites/threatens to bite but has its ears laid _back_ along its head rather than facing forward), first you have to deal with the insecurity and temperament of the dog. This kind of dog has no self-confidence at all, hence its ready alarm at normally innocuous situations.
Think of the submissive dog outlined above. You need to build up its confidence: pay close attention to understand exactly what sets it off (some are afraid of men, men with beards, people holding something in their hand, small children, etc) and for now, remove that from its environment. Do some training or other work with it to build up its confidence (the training in this case becomes a vehicle for praising the dog). Then work slowly on its fear.
You should really enlist professional help to deal with a fear biter unless you are experienced with dogs. This kind of dog takes lots of patience and careful reading and may never become trustworthy. If you cannot resolve its problems, consider having it destroyed; don't pass it along to someone else to become a problem for that person.
Q)Barking
Each and every time your dog barks, go out and see why the dog is barking. If your dog is barking for a good reason (such as a stranger in the yard), you should praise your dog and then tell it to be quiet. If the dog is barking because there is a squirrel up the tree, or something similar, tell the dog to be quiet and immediately go back into the house. You will have to repeat this every time the dog barks. Pretty soon, in a week or so depending on the dog, the dog will only bark for a good reason. The dog may still bark at the squirrel, but not continually. Instead, one or two good barks to scare the squirrel, and then it considers its duty done. At the same time, you have not dampened your dogs ability to bark when there is something wrong.
_Dealing with complaints about barking._ If your neighbors complain about your dog barking while you are not at home, first purchase a voice-activated tape recorder and set it up where your dog will trigger the tape if it barks. You may find that your neighbor is incorrect about how much your dog actually does bark (keep a log of the barking you record). You may find out what exactly causes it to bark (hearing a car drive by before each barking sequence, for example), giving you some ideas for eliminating the behavior. But do determine that there is actually a problem before you try to do something about it.
If you know that you have a problem, you might enlist the help of your neighbors. Neighbors are often happy to help you with this problem! Have them squirt water at excessive barking, or rattle cans of pennies/rocks, etc.
In any event, take a neighbor's complaint seriously, even if it is unwarranted. More neighbor disputes arise over barking dogs than anything else, and dogs have been injured or killed by neighbors desperate for a good nights sleep.
There is some evidence that barking is an inherited trait: if the parents bark a lot, chances are their puppies will, too.
Often, one method that helps alleviate barking is to give your dog specific permission to bark. Teach it to "speak" -- let it "speak" when appropriate (say, when you're playing in the park). Then "no speak" follows from that. However, there is often a problem when the dog is alone. The following methods outline some other possibilities to address this problem.
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