Need Help from Dog People

[scbatz33]

No touch, no talk, no eye contact.

Very simple rules, but very hard to follow - especially for visitors. For some reason, people see a dog - esp little ones - and they just want to pet it and talk to it and well, scare it half to death.

I agree with dianneS, small dog symdrome. DH works at a barn that has a min pin. It barks at EVERYTHING!! It's owners don't do anything to discourage the behavior - among other things - so she is a terror. I ignore her when they are around and I correct her when they are not....I know, I know, but if the OWNER won't do anything, someone has to..... She is a HORRIBLE horse chaser!!! At least she doesn't when I'm around. And the barking, I can get her to stop - when her owner is not around. If he's there, oh well, ain't gonna happen.

The key is to establish that you are the leader and what you say goes. If you say hush, then hush it is - no if's and's or but's. My dogs have learned to stop what they are doing if I snap my fingers. They also have learned how to follow hand singnals. I don't need to yell - yelling only gets the dog more excited anyway.

You must be calm - even when your dog is being a total spaz. If you're not calm, you only encourage the dog's bad behavior. Also, when you enter the room (or anyone does) IGNORE THE DOG!! Do not talk to it until it's calm. Do not pet it until it's calm. Do not give it what it wants until it's calm.

If you pet the dog in an excited state, it will associate the reward of being touched with it's bad behavior. Your dog has a fear/excitement issue - that's why it pees and you are petting it when it pees. The dog DOES NOT differentiate between the peeing and the excitement and the petting. It's all one thing. If you wait to acknowledge the dog until it calms down and is quiet, you'll notice a serious decrease in the peeing.

You have to unlearn your behavior as the dog has to unlearn it's. You must be consistant and firm. Do not give into those sad little eyes!!!!

Good luck!

 

[wombat]

It takes a lot of work to get dogs over the submissive urination problem. SCbatz pretty much covered the essentials.

Generally, it is best to nearly ignore the dog when coming home. Just say hello to the dog by name, and then go about your business. Save the affection for later, when the dog approaches you well after you have arrived, and be sparing at first.

Have guests do the same. Say hello, then ignore. Don't pet. Once the guests have been in the house a while, *you* can pet the dog a bit, then ignore a while. Work up to letting the guest pet the dog just a little bit ... and don't tower over them, pet/rub aggressively, or do anything else that puts the guest in a dominant position.

You can find a lot more tips if you go out and google "submissive urination" and read through it.

The barking's another matter. Ignoring it may help, but you'll probably have to figure out what is triggering it. It may be that the dog has know idea what it's supposed to do in life, and barking/warning comes naturally.

Try getting the dog into a routine of playing ball outside, then working up to frisbee and such. Dachsunds are bred to control rodents, and are thus a working dog. A housepet Dachshund has nothing to do, and no job.

I posted a ball playing trick a while back, but here goes again.

First of all, keep all of this simple and short at first, and work up to more over many days/weeks. One bad turn wipes out a lot of successes ... so end each session while you are still ahead, and don't push til things break down ...

Start with two balls, one in hand, one in pocket.

The ball in hand is the "fun" ball. Toss it up and catch it. Talk to yourself. You are having fun with the "fun" ball.
When you have the dog's attention, tell him to sit. Make him hold the sit briefly.
Toss the ball a short distance, giving him a command to release him from the "sit." I use "OK!"
Now the dog has the ball ... if you had only one ball, this would turn into "chase", and the dog trains YOU!

Instead, take the 2nd ball from your pocket.
This is now the "fun ball."
The dog has the useless, no-fun ball. He will want yours.
Repeat as in the first section, getting his attention, making him sit, etc. before tossing.

Keep trading off with the balls.
At first, he'll just drop the boring ball, but once he gets the idea that he will have to come back and sit for you to toss the next ball, he'll eventually start making his way back with the "boring" ball still in his mouth. Work with this, and tell him "Bring!" as he first makes his move to you.

Once you've got him coming back with the ball, work on "Droppit!"
You may need to be patient, but he'll eventually tire of holding a sit with the boring ball in his mouth waiting for you to throw the "fun" ball. When he does drop the "boring" ball, say "Good! Good Droppit!" and cover the ball with your foot ... and then toss the "fun" ball.

Soon you'll have a good routine of "sit!" ... throw / "OK!" ... "Bring!" ... Droppit! Good! "Sit" ...

This won't address your immediate problem right away, but in my experience, a dog that has learned obedience / play routines becomes more confident, has "jobs" / purpose in life, and knows where he fits into the "pack" structure. This may help with your other issues with barking and submissive urination, though playing fetch and such is certainly not all you will need to do!

Also ...

Do you crate your dog while away? This may help with the barking. Dogs naturally spend at least half their time laying about anyway ... and a crate is a secure "den" if approached right.

I always suggest a crate about one size bigger than the recommended size for your breed. Cover the back third or so with an old sheet, so it is like a "cave." Add comfortable bedding. When you are home, leave the door open so that the dog can use the crate when he wants to.

Get some "Kong" toys. Stuff these with a mix of kibble, pieces of carrot, bread, small amounts of peanut butter, a dog biscuit, etc, and put in a ziploc bag and put in the freezer. Make up several, so you have one ready for each day.

The dog only gets these treats when he's crated when you leave for work. He'll soon look forward to them, and he'll have something to do with his time, getting the slowly thawing goodies out of the kong.

If you are not crating and he's alone loose in the house, this might have something to do with the barking problems ...

A warning about dachsunds and small children ... Dachshunds are bred to go into burrows after weasels, badgers, skunks, etc. and do so fearlessly. What would it take for you to go down a hole like that, face first? ... Be very careful with small children around dachhunds ... children who get down face to face at eye level can trigger bites from the dog. In the dachshund's working state, they have to bite first and get a hold on their prey, or they are at a disadvantage ... so it can be a "back brain" reaction for them to snap if someone gets face to face at eye level with them.

Good luck!

 

[countyroad1330]

Thanks for all of the help everyone! There's alot to work on I guess. We've had him his whole life, my mom has a pomeranian his age too. The pom didn't used to bark at everything, but now if he barks she does too. He has ridiculously good hearing. He can hear the neighbors shut a car door two houses down, while he is inside!

Another annoying issue is licking. He cannot be near anyone without constantly licking. He will even lick air. We push him away, put him in the floor, tell him no, give him a chew bone... Nothing stops him, he comes right back. He acts like it hurts him to not lick.

 

[scbatz33]

Obsessive licking is just that obsessive. All of his behaviors are linked. Our boxer mix is like that: barks, licks, pants rapidly - no peeing though. She is hyper active and quite insecure. We have been working with her for the year+ that we have had her. It takes time and patience and patience and more patience. Being consistant and firm are necessary.

Your boy needs lots of exercise. Take him for structured walks twice a day. Set rules and boundaries. Don't let him get away with any behavior you don't like - EVER. He will slowly start to settle down.

Our Daisy is still hyper. But, she has a crate where she can go to "time out" to calm down. She has learned to stop her behavior when we snap our fingers. She will wait before she goes out the door(she used to charge out in front). She doesn't do the constant licking thing as much. She still apces and still pants excessively, but if you say "Daisy chill" she will go into her crate and settle down.