New sheltie - help with attention-getting behaviours

[Petitina]

Hi everyone! In need of some sage advice here!

We adopted a year-and-a-half sable female from the shelter yesterday. It's neither one of our first dogs, but of course every dog is different.

They have no history on her - she was a transfer from another shelter. We visited with her for two hours at the shelter, and saw pretty much all green flags. The shelter volunteers and employees loved her, friendly with everyone (!), good with other dogs, ignores cats. She's very cute, of course. We named her Pretzel.

We knew there would be some training, but we see now that she's going to need a lot of work. Fine on leash, doesn't seem reactive to anything so far. But in the yard and in the house, she is very needy and wants a lot of attention, even after long vigorous walk/runs where she is panting heavily. Paws, nips, pulls on clothes, jumps, and barks right in your face to get you to play with or pet her. It's very puppy-ish in behavior. She's not easily deterred though - showing her toys when mouthing, yelping when nipped, turning your back on her - all make her more determined to get your attention. Also barks in the crate and in a tie-down.

She's had no training - doesn't know sit or wait, etc. Doesn't seem to know how to settle unless she's crated. I'd post a picture of her but so far they are all a brownish blur a'la the tasmanian devil.

So, basically she's a blank slate now, and we really want to get off on the right foot. I've done some dog training in the past, but this kind of attention neediness is new to me (can you tell I've never had a puppy?)

Any tips would be appreciated. When she starts the attention-getting behavior (anytime so far she's not on a leash or in her crate) do we ignore her? Or try to stop it? She doesn't seem to have any kind of impulse control (now! now! me! me! is what I think is running through her head.) I looked through the forums and saw lots of advice for puppies, but not sure if the same advice is for an older dog?

Thanks so much! I'll freely admit we are feeling a little overwhelmed but are determined to do our very best to get things right. Ask any questions if it would help.

[Cindy]

I wish I had some answers for you!
When gavin was a pup, I noticed that play energy was separate from walk energy He'd be dragging from a walk, then see a dog and turn back into the energizer puppy!

I can advise exercise exercise exercise. I think Gavin had a minimum 2 x 1 hour walks a day plus 30 minutes at the dog park until he was a year old. A sleeping dog is a good dog :) I think that really helped us through puppyhood.

A lot shelties here seem to be of the staring variety...when they want something they plop in front of you and give you a hard long look telling you what they want!

[mellie]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your new 1 1/2 year old puppy. I would love to see a picture when you get her still enough. I love her name too. She sounds like she just needs to learn a few manners. Maybe leave the leash on her in the house if she seems to listen while on it. Tie it around your waist and have her by your side for brief periods. You will be teaching her to sit and lie down-these are easy commands to teach-keep it light and game like. When you are ready for a break take her to her mat or rug or bed -the spot where you want her to settle. Have a chew toy she only gets there on her mat and tell her to settle. If you still have her tied to your waist use your foot on the leash to keep her down and let her have the pnutbutter kong or whatever high value toy. If she tries to get up in your space- no eye contact, no play.Look up and away turn your back and mean it and say uh uh in a firm tone-she will know what you mean. When she settles down reward her. She is just so new in your home and it will take her time to adjust and learn your ways so be patient with her and yourselves. Keep calm and don't get frustrated and keep the learning fun and short- enjoy the ride. You will get many excellent suggestions from others here on the forum and you will just have to see what works best for you and Pretzel. Sally has the run of the house but she had to learn the rules first and I did use the leash in the house . Good luck, keep us posted and post lots of pictures !!

[Petitina]

Thanks for the advice mellie and Cindy! I thought of your pup on our last walk Cindy - Pretzel had three hours of walking today, some training sessions, and full on zoomies in the yard and house and playing with her toys so probably four hours of nonstop movement, but she's still raring to go. To be perfectly honest, if we had known her full exercise requirements we probably wouldn't have gotten her - we had planned on two hours of exercise including training but it is what it is. The shelter thought that with our work schedules she'd work out fine, but we are a little worried once we saw what she really needs. Once her recall is good we're planning on taking her to the dog park nearby for running chases with other dogs. So far she only comes 50% of the time.

Training classes around here look full a while - we had planned on waiting two weeks to get her settled down before we started looking but we need help asap so I'm going to call around tomorrow to see if we can get an in-home visit for an hour. And we'll see if the doggy day care near us has any spots for an evaluation this week.

We'll do our very best for her and as long as it seems like she's happy we'll keep trying. We both love her already and are willing to sacrifice as much time and money we can to be a good home.

Thanks again and sorry for rambling! Pics to come and progress reports.

[mcemily]

Welcome to the Forums, and good luck with your new rescue!

I'm no expert, but I think the various techniques etc. that you found on the puppy training forums would still work for an older dog... but you will have to allow more time for her to learn, because the fact of the matter is that she isn't really a blank slate... she has learned these bad habits, so first you have to break those habits before she can learn the better behaviors.

And, of course, you may also find that these behaviors will lessen gradually over time as she settles into her new life. I know it took our pup much longer than 2 weeks to really settle in here, and he was 8 weeks when we brought him home, and hadn't bounced around between shelters (and who knows what before that).

It sounds like you are already doing all the right things, though, so in the end I think it will just come down to time... and of course, patience!

Definitely keep us posted on progress... and if you want to read a really uplifting and encouraging story about a Sheltie rescue, you should check out Tinsel's Journey on this forum. Anything really is possible with these rescues, and I have full confidence that you will be able to transform Pretzel into the well-mannered and obedient dog you desire.

[Cindy]

Doggie daycare can be a great thing. Gain always comes home completely worn out and sleeps for a few days. I have a nice one near me, and I think Gavin gets put in with the smaller dogs as he's never had a mark left on him from rough-housing with other dogs. Even going once a week could really help you and Pretzel out.

Gavin really settled in at about 2 years old and required a lot less exercise.

[Meldor]

Congrats on the new addition! She sounds like a rambunctious teenager but I am more than sure you guys will be able to tame her down.

She's basically had no boundaries it seems... Are you familiar with clicker training? It might be a good method with which to start training her basic commands like sit, down and stay. I found that using a clicker helps dogs understand faster therefore it may be quite beneficial for a dog who has not had any training to help her understand that doing a behavior gets her a rewards. (Here's a great video on clicker training from kikopup's chanel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wv1uvvqaSw, she has a lot of great videos on dog training and I am sure you can find many more on youtube. I also recommend doing a search for videos on crate games.)

I think McEmily is right, use the steps you would use with a puppy but allow more time for her to learn.

These behaviors: Paws, nips, pulls on clothes, jumps, and barks right in your face to get you to play with or pet her.
Should never be rewarded. Only reward the behavior's you like. She is sitting quietly? Give her a treat or initiate play.

If she is doing the things you don't like, I would say a firm no and walk away, that way you are not rewarding the behavior. With our 2 year old Sheltie Kyara, if she is doing something we don't like we send her to her doggy bed and have her do a down stay until she is calmer. Since your new pal still needs to learn basic commands, I guess ignoring and walking away will be alright to start with but you can eventually ask for sit-stays and reward after.

It may take a while but the more you reward what you want, the more she will offer it and stop doing the other behaviors.

I also highly recommend joining an obedience class.

P.s: A final friendly tip, if you do use a trainer or join a training class, make sure he or she only uses positive methods. Shelties are very sensitive and aversive techniques may make the situation worse.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Silaria]

Congratulations on the new dog and for deciding to adopt a rescue.

One thing you can try to keep Pretzel (LOVE the name) occupied are some thinking toys. I LOVE the Nina Ottosson toys, http://www.nina-ottosson.com/Difficulty-levels-2.php. They come in different levels of difficulty so you can continually challenge your dog. Basically hide some treats under the different moving parts. If you dog is food motivated, and most Shelties are, they'll work at until they can get the food.

The stuffed Kong is also a good distraction but it doesn't make them actually think like the Nina Ottosson toys do.

Some other toys that I also love, puzzle type games - Buster Cube, Kong Pryamid (I have the Nina Ottosson pyramid - same game different company), and the tug-a-jug. Some others on this board, if I remember correctly, also use the hide-a-squirrel. Anything that makes them really think will work, honestly.

[Petitina]

Thanks everyone, again. I've read over everyone's advice several times to make sure I get it in my head.

Small breakthroughs today - the layout of the house is such that there wasn't a good place for her to go to be ignored and me with my back to her set her off even more. (She's still getting used to being crated and crate games are going slowly, so we're a bit hesitant to start using it as a timeout area until she goes in the crate willingly and happily the first time we ask. Does that sound right?) I finally figured out that if I can't remove her I'll just remove myself. So up and down the stairs for a half an hour anytime she nipped - which went from no nipping at the bottom of the stairs, no nipping one foot from the stairs, two feet from the stairs, etc etc until I can finally sit on the couch without barking in my face or grabbing my arm. She's now gnawing on her rope toy. Tomorrow it's off to get some smart toys and more chewy things since she seems to like those best. We think we have a clicker around here somewhere so the search begins in the garage. She can entertain herself for about three or four minutes at a time before she comes looking for attention, but I'll take small breaks over what she was doing a few days ago.

... and I just had to take fifteen minutes to go upstairs and downstairs and up and down

She also has a pre-evaluation and then an actual evaluation if the pre-part goes well at the doggy daycare tomorrow.

New behaviors crop up as others go down... endless process! My students always told me I had endless amounts of patience... that is definitely being tested now!

Thanks again!