Sheltie Behavior Problems

[horselover2k2]

We've had our Sheltie since he was a puppy and he is almost 18 months now. He is having a lot of behabior problems such as:

1. Barking when the phone rings
2. Barking when we open windows
3. Barking when we laugh
4. Barking when we sneeze
5. Becoming dominating when we don't do what he wants us to do (growls, pulls our pants, etc.)
6. Barks/chases cars
7. Barks at runners/joggers on our walks
8. If he hears something outside he starts to bark like crazy, which wakes us up in the middle of the night a lot

He is actually very good with other dogs and most people, as long as they're not runners/joggers. He is only aggressive towards strangers at home because of his watchdog instincts.

I'm not sure what to do because my parents are threatening to give him away if we can't solve his behavior problems. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[SummerRiot]

You've just described the typical Sheltie..

They are EXTREMELY yappy dogs lol Sometimes you'll get the odd quiet one, but mostly they like to talk about and to EVERYTHING! lol

We used to breed Shelties for show in obedience, conformation. Gave it up for a few years and just recently got back into Shelties(I have my Belgian Tervuren though). Our female, Jada, is one of the yappy ones, and our male, Crosby, is selectively yappy.

What we found worked for Jada is a squirt bottle. Each time she saw something to bark at(which would be ANYTHING) she'd get a squirt in the face. This has actually helped us considerably.

I also suggest enrolling your dog in some obedience classes. Things wont get better unless you work on them consistantly.

now, #5 isn't a typical Sheltie, so i'm guessing that you've got a dominance problem.

Now, what exactly does he do when you dont do something that he wants, or what exactly does he want that you dont do?
Can you put your hands around his food while hes eating it without having him growl?

What I found that works with joggers(since Riots instinct is to chase down) is the words "watch me".

This teaches the dog to keep all attention on you and ignore anything else going on. Ifhe doesn't pay attention I quickly go to other way saying "watch me". Evetually he keeps all eyes on me and doesn't care about the jogger.
We still need LOVES of work with Bikers though lol he is obsessed with bikes.

 

[Athebeau]

Great advise SummerRiot, I was thinking the same thing when I read this. I thought anyone who got a Sheltie "knew" about the barking and herding behaviors.
Here is an article on barking.
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1547&articleid=153

Your dog sounds assertive, not dominant...the word dominance is used much too frequently and incorrectly when explaining dog behavior. Most times, the dog has not been given proper guidance and is just acting out with behaviors that are internally pleasurable. First you need to start using the NIFIL policy for training in your household, every thing your dog gets has to be earned. This in no way places a status on your dog..it merely teaches your dog rules and the preferred behaviors you want from your dog to earn rewards. Have your dog sit before play time, retrieve ball, return, sit.

Herding dogs have a strong stalk and chase behavior, so it's up to you the owner to properly manage this enhanced drive. As for barking at joggers etc, as summerriot mentioned try to teach your dog the look at me command. Reward your dog for the proper behavior. When your dog grabs your pant leg, stop every thing and tell your dog no...then have him sit and reward with a treat for the proper behavior. Show your dog the "proper" items to direct it's predatory drive towards...don't try to suppress the predatory sequence, try to direct it to proper behavior towards proper items...not your pant leg. That is not dominace, that is a behavior your dog has learned that is self rewarding.

Attend an obedience class that practices "positive" training only...if you hear an instructer mentioning anything about dominance, Alpha etc...run away from that person...don't attend the class....they will make the problem much much worse and could turn into real aggression.

Try to manage your Shelties predatory behavior by minimizing his visual and physical access to prey objects in his own yard and home (prey objects are anything that move fast - cars, joggers, bikers etc). Try to teach your Sheltie to lay down when you see a prey object, as long as your dog can still see the prey object they should listen to this command (if it's well trained)..practice, practice...and practice.

 

[horselover2k2]

We've tried the squirt bottle and it worked for a couple weeks, but after that he actually started liking the squirt bottle because he felt the water was refreshing.

We've also tried coins in an empty soda can and that worked for a couple weeks too, but after that he just ignored the sound and it didn't work anymore.

For example, when my mom takes him out on walks, whenever he sees another dog far away, he wants to go over and play but sometimes my mom's been out for a while and wants to go home, so when she starts to head home, he gets upset and grabs her pant leg and growls. Another example is when he's begging her for food and she doesn't give him anything, he gets upset and barks at her.

He doesn't get aggressive with his own food, like if he was eating and we took his food away, he'd probably just look at us confused. I think it might be because my mom has really spoiled him because she always puts chicken in his dog food, sometimes steak, and he gets different bones and different dog treats, and my mom gives him a lot of tablefood.

It's so hard to change his behavior now because back when we got him as a puppy, I was reading books on training and such because I know that starting the training when he's a puppy is easier than waiting until he grows up and then try to change his behavior problems. I've taught my mom how to train him, but she never listened to me and gave him whatever he wanted when he was younger. And now that he has these behavior problems she's complaining about them, and I just don't really know what to do because it's too late to go back in time.

Like for the obedience classes, do they offer them at PetsMart or something? I've thought about that but my mom says that those don't work.

The other thing my mom is complaining about is that he grabs something and runs off and makes us chase him to get it. Like he'd just run off with one of our slippers, so as a result we always have to keep our slippers up somewhere he can't reach when we're not wearing them. Or when he goes into my mom's closet, he grabs a hanger and runs off. He also likes to pick things out of the trash can. I don't know if it's because he's not mature or something, like he still acts puppyish.

 

[SummerRiot]

Alrighty, definately more clear

Some Shelties are harder to train because they have more of an independance with them. This does NOT mean that they are stupid. In general they are a very smart breed, and learn quickly. This means GOOD and BAD things. Our female sheltie is extremely pig headed(independant) and has taken a while to get out of her little "im the princess bubble".

If the squirt bottle with just water isn't working.. add something citrus to it. DONT spray in the eyes though lol that will sting profusely lol
Another option, is de-barking.. Its a permanent solution that a few breeders do around here. Some people find it morally and ethically wrong, but others vow by it. It does save the ear drums lots.

Your mom, I'm sorry to say, is extremely wrong about obedience classes as well. They are the one thing that will save a keyed "bad dog". Has you dog had any socializing when he was a puppy?? Ie. kids coming to play with him, him getting a chance to play with other dogs?

The growling and biting the pant leg thing is defiantely NOT acceptable. My Belgian Tervuren likes to jump up and nip at my arm when i'm jogging with him and as soon as he does this. i stop everything I'm doing, give him his hand command and say "DOWN" (his regular down command is 'drop', so he doesn't get confused). as soon as he does this and stops, he gets rewarded.

Your dog needs obedience class from the sounds of it. I personally would NOT go through a petsmart or petcetera obedience school. Please check in your area for a reputable training, because some trainers really have no clue how to fix specific problems and could potentially make them worse.
A good trainer can fix anything though

About the grabbing and running, your dog is making a game out of it. If you chase him down, he will continue running.
your dog needs to learn the command "drop it" or "off", which ever phrase you'd like to use. You start out with a toy that your dog likes to play with. you use the command and as SOON as you see a reaction from the dog that you are looking for, ie. loosening of the toy in the mouth reward the dog, gradually work you way to the completed command and reward.

Eventually your dog will just drop the item in its mouth.
my dog, Riots command is "off" I can be across the room and him take something hes not supposed to, like kleenex. i say "off" he drops it and walks away from it.

Also, about table scraps and such. Shelties are a known breed to become overweight extremely easily, so you NEED to be careful what exactly you feed your dog and how much.

 

[Rubylove]

Another option, is de-barking.. Its a permanent solution that a few breeders do around here. Some people find it morally and ethically wrong, but others vow by it. It does save the ear drums lots.

In Australia de-barking (along with de-clawing cats) is illegal. They are both listed under the RSPCA Cruelty To Animals Act, and if you do it to your animal then you are fined A LOT of money, and can face prison-time. Not that you would be able to find a vet here that would do something like that to an animal.

If you are going to do something like this to your dog (much like someone chopping into your voice-box because they didn't like you talking) please look into it very thoroughly. There is a reason it is considered cruelty to animals in some countries.

 

[SummerRiot]

In Australia de-barking (along with de-clawing cats) is illegal. They are both listed under the RSPCA Cruelty To Animals Act, and if you do it to your animal then you are fined A LOT of money, and can face prison-time. Not that you would be able to find a vet here that would do something like that to an animal.

If you are going to do something like this to your dog (much like someone chopping into your voice-box because they didn't like you talking) please look into it very thoroughly. There is a reason it is considered cruelty to animals in some countries.

As I said, its an option, and not all accept it as that. Please dont lead this thread into another de-barking debate though
Its not illegal here in Canada and its a fairly harmless procedure if you have a good vet.

 

[Rubylove]

As I said, its an option, and not all accept it as that. Please dont lead this thread into another de-barking debate though
Its not illegal here in Canada and its a fairly harmless procedure if you have a good vet.

Haha lol I was thinking that as I pressed `submit'. On the cat site that I am on there is a special forum for debates and the old de-clawing issue comes up there constantly!! Although, having said that, I am definitely an advocate of amputating the fingers of those who declaw, as well. Lol....

 

[horselover2k2]

Thanks for the advice, SummerRiot. Our dog is really social with other dogs and kids, he's really friendly towards them. He just always tries to be the boss around us, especially my mom.

And omg, about the tablefood and such. He's 47.5 pounds. My mom took him to the vet and asked about his weight, and the vet said that he's just "big boned" and the largest Sheltie he's ever seen was 50 pounds, so I guess our dog comes in second.

I didn't know there was a such thing as de-barking until like yesterday. I don't think we'd do that though because it's probably going to be painful to our dog. Like we thought of de-clawing our cat but in the end we didn't because it would hurt him.

 

[SummerRiot]

WOW! lol thats a big Sheltie! How tall is he though? The standard for the breed is between 13-16" at the shoulders.

Our female weighs around 15lbs (and is at the low end of the standard) and our male weights around 23lbs and he stands 16.5" (JUST over standard, but may still be showable because sometimes SHelties will shrink back into their bone structure)

They definately should not weight almost 50lbs! I guess its exercise time and definately CUT BACK on the food intake (ie. table scraps).
Feeding table scraps also creates extremely bad habits, such as begging. If you completely cut it off then the begging should go away because they will realize they just aren't getting fed it anymore.

Has your family ever owned a dog before? or is your little Sheltie the first? Everything is always a learning experience.

 

[Summer Magic]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with sheltie behavior problems. We cured most of them but the barking when some one comes to the door hasn't been resolved yet. Magic would actually attack me when the phone rang. Now I tell her it's time for a cookie when the phone rings. She just gets a little tiny morsel of food each time and that settles her down. I've had to get stern with her and use the squirt bottle but now all I have to do is pick it up and she settles down. I also have had to increase her NILIF implementation which has helped her listen to me more readily. She seems to mind better if I keep on her about working for her food or treats. I even use it when I attach her leash so we can go outside for potty. It's just along process and will get better as the dog matures (she's still a teenager remember) Keep on her and let her know that you aren't happy with her behavior and it will start to lessen. Yelling and spanking doesn't work with a sheltie it just adds to the frenzy. Put her on a drag leash so she is easily captured. Use a calm voice and then make her sit and allow her to calm down. Once she calms down she will be able to listen to you because she can't when she's in a frenzy. Shelties are herders and will chase anything that's moving, cars, bikes, people and most of all other animals. I use the "leave it" command and it seems to work here, give it a try. Good luck.

 

[Mordy]

wow judy, small world! i didn't know you posted here too!

 

[horselover2k2]

He's about 18.5" and a lot of people think he's a miniature collie or something. He's the biggest sheltie in our neighborhood so far.

We've had two American Eskimos before him at separate times, I don't really remember them that well because I was little. The first one I think had barking issues, and our neighbor complained, and my mom was really tied up in taking care of me and my brother back then, so we had to give the dog away. The second American Eskimo I don't really remember why we had to give him away, but I think it was probably the same reason as the first, my mom didn't have time to take care of him, and my dad was complaining a lot.

Now my brother's away at college, and I've agreed to help my mom take care of our dog, but lately my dad's been complaining a lot about him and his behavior problems, so my mom's saying that if I can't find a way to solve them then we have to give him away again, and I just don't want that to happen again because we've failed twice already and I don't want to fail again, especially since I'm old enough to help with the dog now.

I'm not sure exactly how we should get him to exercise, like we take him to the dog park, and sometimes he runs around with other dogs, but other times he wants attention from the other people, and he just stands there and lets them pet him. And we try playing fetch with him, and he fetches a few times, but after that, he just doesn't run after the ball anymore.