BehavioRx Case of the Month
for April 1998
We get lots of feedback from pet owners who have tackled problems on their
own, using one or more of the BehavioRx Instruction brochures from this home page.
Sometimes it is so well presented that it can make valuable contribution to all dog
owners. The following case may help many readers who have, or are contemplating, adopting
an older dog. "A.L." has agreed to share this ongoing case with you. After
reading it, I have a few comments which may also be helpful.
Dear Bill,
You may recall that I e-mailed you for advice a few weeks ago in response to reading your
BehavioRx pamphlet about adopting a new dog. I had asked you what to do about the two year
old Lab that I had just adopted from the
Humane Society, as I couldn't engage him in playing catch or other games to give him
exercise, and your pamphlet recommended not taking a new dog out on walks for the first
six weeks of ownership.
(To be honest, I didn't follow that instruction for the first few days, and found myself
pulled all over kingdom come by this huge dog who got more and more excited the further he
got from our house. That's when I e-mailed you.)
As a little background, Peter was an un-neutered male. He is very large (about 90 pounds,
which isn't all that much less than me!) According to the Humane Society, he had been an
outside dog and had been surrendered by his owner because he escaped constantly. He was
described as, and is, good with children and other dogs. He is housebroken, and so far has
exhibited no behavior problems in the house (other than occasionally chasing a cat when
he's overexcited). He is very playful with the other dogs, a year-old lab/collie mix, and
a 15 week old shepherd/lab puppy.
In response to my follow-up question about giving Peter sufficient exercise, you advised
me to run him in large circles in front of the house, without letting him mark and
increase his territory, for the first 6 weeks. I think we've been at it just over two
weeks, and the program (overall, including learn-to-earn), has been working very well. (We
also got him neutered about 10 days ago, and that may be contributing to our success.) I
did have to inform all my neighbors what I was doing, running down half a block, across
the street to the park, up half a block, across the street, etc. They all thought at first
that I had gone slightly batty.
Inside the house we've been faithfully following your learn-to-earn program. Peter was
initially a little resistant to the program, although we determined early on that he knew
the "sit" command. We didn't have to ignore him, exactly, just agree to go our
separate ways if he didn't want affection enough to sit for it. For about the first week
he would only sit some of the time, and only on command. Now, when I come home from work,
he usually sits immediately and waits his turn for 'hellos.' If he's too excited, I just
wait for the sit. My other dog has long since learned the drill, so if she sits first, she
gets pets first. He sits immediately after that, without need for a command. He's very
affectionate, and now seems to love to sit for attention.
Oh, one other thing about learn-to-earn. The first few times I fed Peter, he hogged the
food bowl and growled at one of the cats that came too near him, so we instituted a long
sit before eating with the bowl on the ground near his paws. The first few times he made a
lunge for it, but I grabbed it up before he could get there, waited 15 minutes and did it
over again. It was pretty pathetic watching this dog drool with one eye on me and the
other on the bowl, but now that he's used to it, there's been no more bowl hogging. The
funniest thing is, now the puppy is imitating his behavior, sitting down for food and
drooling. (My other dog just sits in the living room and waits for all the hoopla to be
over.)
One of the most important things that we've done besides learn-to-earn has been to use
your training outline for keeping him from bolting through doors. For the first week it
took me about an additional 15 minutes to leave the house in the morning, but now I can go
through the front door with bicycle and backpack, and not be afraid that we'll lose him
immediately. He also will sit on command outside (which he absolutely would not do before)
since he's so much calmer. Now I'm working on maintaining the sit when he sees distracting
things like dogs or joggers, so that he can learn to exercise some self control.
Two other incidents to report. Yesterday, when I opened the front gate to let the dogs in
the house (they have to walk about 8-10 feet to the front door), I forgot to put Peter's
leash on first. He ran to the front door, realized that he was free, and bolted down the
sidewalk. Our 15 week old puppy darted after him, and I panicked a little, and called the
puppy to me. Since he's so young, he came immediately. I praised him, then started to get
him into the house before going to get Peter. Instead, Peter saw that we were going into
the house without him, and he came running back, full speed to make it to the door first.
Hallelujah! He's figuring out that life is way more interesting with all his kindred cats
and dogs and humans inside the house than outside.
The other thing happened this morning. My neighbor's dog, a playmate of my pack, escaped
from her yard while I was outside with the dogs in our yard. I left our yard and went
chasing after her, across the street to the park. Once I got out of sight, apparently
Peter jumped the fence, or shimmied under it, or something, and came running straight to
me, let me grab his
collar immediately. I'm not in the least happy that he got out of the yard (he really is
an escape artist -- we're thinking of a citronella fence), but I was ecstatic that he came
straight to me.
So, anyway, that's a rather lengthy update. Thank you for all of your great work. It is a
real pleasure to work with my dogs without resorting to either bribery or violence. I am
certain that it is giving me a much deeper relationship with them, and a great deal more
satisfaction for all.
Regards,
A.L.
Campbell's Comments:
A.L. phoned for clarification about the need to exercise Peter after reading the warning
in the "Adopting a Dog" not to walk him for six weeks, lest he widen his
territory through neighborhood urination and, hence, renew his behavioral 'baggage' to run
off. The neighborhood circle-run was confined close to the house and appears to be working
well, since Peter is too busy
following A.L. to get interested in other dogs' markings.
A.L. also established leadership [versus physical dominance] by applying the
"learn-to-earn praise and petting" exercise pleasantly and consistently,
avoiding conflict when Peter balked at sitting [which lots of bossy or downright dominant
dogs do] by simply ignoring it and awaiting his next approach for attention or affection.
The fact that A.L.'s leadership position is developing rapidly is borne out by the two
episodes during which Peter had every opportunity to run off, but chose to follow and go
to A.L. All in all, excellent behavior by a committed dog owner.
How do I know A.L. is committed? Easy... Peter's behavior told me. As a wise person once
wrote, "If you want to find out if your dog is really 'yours,' give him his
freedom." [If you know who said this, please e-mail me, because I've forgotten.]
Bill Campbell
Previous Cases
March 1998
February 1998
January 1998
December 1997
November 1997
October 1997
September 1997
August 1997
July 1997
June 1997
May 1997
April 1997
March 1997
February 1997
January 1997
December 1996
November 1996
October 1996
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