Jax is being obnoxious! Suggestions?

[gritsar]

Quote:
Jax actually has two "spots of his own". One is his crate of course. The other is on the rug at DH's feet.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Why don't you have DH crate him and ask him to be quiet before he leaves? This is good for several reasons: 1) Jax gets put in his crate with the door shut, that is usually a place he is conditioned to be quiet in (assuming LOL) 2) DH is the one placing him in there, in effect DH is saying "you stay here, I leave and you be calm", and 3) if he is then in his crate you can correct his frantic behavior and when he finally calms down you can let him out. If he starts acting up back in the crate he goes.

 

[RiverOtter]

What Jamie-Dog-Trainer said.

I would NOT use a Stay command. When I say Stay it means I want my dogs to FREEZE IN THAT EXACT SPOT until TOLD OTHERWISE. But then, to me, Down means Down till I say move, but they can lie out on their sides unless I say Stay.

When I leave, my dogs get a cheery "Be a good dog and guard the house." And sometimes a stuffed Kong or a filled Buster cube. Something special they don't get when I'm home.

I don't like the current feeling that everything a dog does is dominance related, but in most cases of separation anxiety, unless you have an extremely servile, almost fearful dog - the kind of dog whos owner carries the dog's confidence around, if you know what I mean, this usually is a dominance thing.

Compare it to this, when you were a kid of 10 or so, and your parents left, you didn't freak. You may have been upset for a minute that they didn't take you with them, but you didn't freak out the whole time they were gone.

But once you became the parent of a 10 yo, if that kid were to up and leave and you were locked in a room where you couldn't go after them and had no idea where they were, who they were with or when they'd be back, you would be OUT OF YOUR MIND!
OMG, where did they go, anything could be happening and I'm not there, how could they just up and leave like that, what if there's a....
See what I mean?

So while I'm sure that as far as Jax is concerned, the sun rises and sets around your DH, I am equally sure (even though he may obey commands readily) that Jax has tough time thinking that your DH is capable of taking care of himself in the Big Ol' World without capable Jax right there, just to make sure.

So maybe have DH work on the "little things" in the language of Alpha. Body language, eating first, through a door first, not complying with demands for petting (ie; dog comes up and nudges, don't just comply with an ear scratch, do a puppy push-up Sit, Down, Sit, and he earns the ear scratch) that sort of thing and see if that helps.

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
Jax actually has two "spots of his own". One is his crate of course. The other is on the rug at DH's feet.

well the rug at hubbys feet is kind of defeating the purpose of having a place of his own,,,as in he's not really alone,but keeping an eye on hubby,,its great to have a loyal dog,but they need to be secure in themselves and be alone to make a well rounded pet.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
We've already got all those things down pat, with both dogs, but you're right; Jax thinks its his job to protect DH at all times and can't stand it when he's not allowed to.
Gonna try the crate trick, with DH doing the crating.
Also, we already planned on seeing if a calming collar would work for Jax for vet trips. Jax didn't get the socialization during the important 8 to 12 weeks (when he was with his original owner) and that has definitely made it harder for us to train him.

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
We've already got all those things down pat, with both dogs, but you're right; Jax thinks its his job to protect DH at all times and can't stand it when he's not allowed to.
Gonna try the crate trick, with DH doing the crating.
Also, we already planned on seeing if a calming collar would work for Jax for vet trips. Jax didn't get the socialization during the important 8 to 12 weeks (when he was with his original owner) and that has definitely made it harder for us to train him.

on one of my GSD list someone was talking about a "thundershirt" they claim it did wonders for their dog..

 

[Tala]

What I would do (in addition to what is already being said) is start making Jax stay in his crate in another room while your hubbs IS home. Just don't need to be reinforcing the idea that he has to be at DH's feet constantly.