Riley v. Scary Visiting Neighbor dog

[DPSheltie]

First some background: Riley got badly scared by a German Shepard (GSD) about six months ago, so has decided that ALL GSDs must be evil and barked/growled at....at all times. He HATES GSD puppies also (they may bite ). We had a Rally class where he was the only small dog with all GSDs!! Let's just say he stayed in a corner away from them and he would snap at them if they tried to come in for a sniff (we're working on that). We've been doing a lot of work with him with his fears.

Anyway.....my upstairs neighbor is watching their friends 7 month old HUGE GSD until Sunday. Now Sasha is super sweet, loves people, loves dogs, and is pretty good with little dogs (neighbors have a puggle). Well....Riley HATES her. He's completely turned into a nervous barking growling twit!! We live in an apartment, so there is not too much room to isolate Riley. Except he can hear her from any room in the house, so there is no place to work on a threshold like I usually do.

If sasha goes up/down the stairs (past our door), Riley freaks, running and barking all over the place. He is no better behaved on leash inside, since he is on high alert every second, so paces and woofs and growls. He also is the same (minus the pacing) when being held, and in any room in the house. The same goes for even hearin the GSD bark in her own apartment!!! This has also effected how he is reacting to normal noises since he is on high alert every second now. He woke us up Three times last night going crazy barking at the tiniest things even fans and air purifiers blasting to help keep him calm (and all doors closed).

Any suggestions how to deal with my nervous twit of a dog until Sunday so I don't end up in the looney bin??!! We're trying to manage it (or train, but he's very stressed....). It won't be so bad if I could find a room in the house that he won't react in.

 

[Chris]

I have one suggestion: Thundershirt!

 

[corbinam]

Wish I had a suggestion...I live this everyday with our neighbors' dogs. Bentley hates them (as they are aggressive and fence chase) and he can hear them from inside the house. We constantly have fans and the TV on but if they decide to bark, we're just out of luck.

Good luck to you, I hope you figure it out!

 

[Danny's mommy]

How friendly are you with the neighbor. Well I will be brave and mention an episode I saw of the dog whisperer awhile ago. He took both dogs for a walk together. Of course the german shepherd would have to be an easy going fella for this to work. And you would have to make sure yours couldn't bite his. It worked on t.v. the only other tool (gimmick) I saw was a contraption that dispenses treats to reactive pets. I think I saw it here on this forum. In my world Danny Boy still hates dogs. He acts like he likes them at the vets, doesn't mind seeing them at holidays, but otherwise he barks and goes crazy when he sees them next door or walking down the street or in a car next to his. I would love to know if you find a way to fix this.

 

[Danny's mommy]

Oh I forgot to mention Danny has been doing real good with meeting people while out for a walk. So I am standing in the street chatting with a neighbor and I glanced down and there goes Danny lifting his leg and peeing on his shoes! I think Danny is getting a bad reputation.

 

[Meldor]

I have one suggestion: Thundershirt!

I actually wanted to test the Thundershirt concept when we had a friend staying at our place for a week. I bought a 2$ kid shirt at the dollar stores, cut the sleeves a bit to better fit Kyara. When I put it on she lies down and also paces less. It's worth the try!


That's a tough situation! Are you familiar with the relaxation protocol? That could be a good thing to practice. And maybe trying to adapt the ''look at that'' game to your situation. For example, when he turns towards a noise he ears, you could say (very quickly in this case because he is reacting so much) in a playful way, ''what's that?!'', click and treat. Use a RIDICULOUS rate of reinforcement like clicking and treating the simplest behavior before barking. Cut your treats in tiny tiny tiny pieces (as you probably know, dogs don't really care about the size of the treat, it's more of a how many treats they get that makes them realize a behavior gets them more no matter their size). It may work at making it more of a game of noticing the noises and turning to you.

Finally, have you tried giving him a extremely yummy marrow bone and just let him eat it in a corner or in his crate? A last thing comes to mind, are you guys more stressed with all the commotion cause by him freaking out? Sometimes I find when my BF and I just act as relaxed and ignore the reactions, Kyara will calm herself down faster.

I hope some of my suggestions help you at least a little. Best of luck! Sunday will come soon!

 

[DPSheltie]

I actually wanted to test the Thundershirt concept when we had a friend staying at our place for a week. I bought a 2$ kid shirt at the dollar stores, cut the sleeves a bit to better fit Kyara. When I put it on she lies down and also paces less. It's worth the try!


That's a tough situation! Are you familiar with the relaxation protocol? That could be a good thing to practice. And maybe trying to adapt the ''look at that'' game to your situation. For example, when he turns towards a noise he ears, you could say (very quickly in this case because he is reacting so much) in a playful way, ''what's that?!'', click and treat. Use a RIDICULOUS rate of reinforcement like clicking and treating the simplest behavior before barking. Cut your treats in tiny tiny tiny pieces (as you probably know, dogs don't really care about the size of the treat, it's more of a how many treats they get that makes them realize a behavior gets them more no matter their size). It may work at making it more of a game of noticing the noises and turning to you.

Finally, have you tried giving him a extremely yummy marrow bone and just let him eat it in a corner or in his crate? A last thing comes to mind, are you guys more stressed with all the commotion cause by him freaking out? Sometimes I find when my BF and I just act as relaxed and ignore the reactions, Kyara will calm herself down faster.

I hope some of my suggestions help you at least a little. Best of luck! Sunday will come soon!

I think we will have to get a Thundershirt anyway to help him with his "all big dogs are evil...except the ones I know" problem.

I started dosing him with Rescue Remedy in his water (and on treats) in addition to his normal L-Theamine (Sp??) he typically gets. It seems to be helping a bit since he can now actually lay down and sleep (finally!!!).

We are definitely stressed about it, which is hard to control since Riley is pretty close to driving us bonkers at this point. I am taking him to my parents house today to get a little away time :wink grin: I do feel bad for my neighbor, who is extremely nice and loves Riley to pieces, since they normally have Riley and their puggle play together and they can't because Riley is terrified of the GSD.

I did try some relaxation work and look at that games. My neighbor had Sasha out on the lawn and I sat with Riley on a leash on our porch with chicken. I was able to get him to stop barking, but he was still growling softly under his breath and would not sit with his back to her (in case she somehow finger out how to jump 15 feet up onto our porch?). He is very very scared and stressed by even seeing her (he actually nipped my finger for the first time ever when taking a treat while looking at me).

They did see each other while out on a walk this morning (at a few car lengths of distance). Riley only saw the Puggle first, and play bowed to his BFF, but then he saw Sasha and high tailed it behind me (scared) then lunged barking at her. Sasha, being a good puppy, just tilted her head like "what the hecks wrong with him".

I thought we were getting better since our Rally class (with like 5 GSD) went from Riley cowering in the corner to allowing them within 5 feet of him without reacting or trying to escape out the door. New GSD I guess More work to be had!!