Comments on: Breaking a dog’s ball obsession: Days 11-15

By: Lindsay Stordahl

Lindsay Stordahl — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:22:06 +0000

Honestly that behavior would drive me crazy, and it is possible another dog could misinterpret her behavior and attack. Barking is a hard habit to break, though.

Teach your dog to be calm around other dogs. When she becomes too excited and barks, leash her up and maker her lie down until she is calm. Use her favorite food as motivation. As a reward for being calm, she gets to go play some more. It would be easier if you did this with small groups at first with just one other dog and then try this at the dog park.

If she is barking and excited before you even enter the park, simply turn and walk the other way. Teach her that she can’t even go into the park unless she is calm. It helps to go for a good long walk before going to the dog park. Don’t use the park as her only exercise.

Good luck!

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:26:31 +0000

This was a good read for me. With my dog, she gets fixated in chasing other dogs at the park, particularly if it’s a lab or a weimer. that is playing fetch. She is part German Shepherd and Hound, high-energy, low/loud bark, and barks a LOT (sometimes non-stop) when she focuses on chasing a dog. To me it seems like she is displaying “herding” behaviors because she only does this to get dogs to run at the park. However, once she focuses on chasing, herding, and barking at one dog, she will not listen to “come” and will give me the run-around (literally) if I try to grab her and get her under control.

She is never aggressive in terms of attacking, biting, or growling. Just very persistent and noisy, but all the while playful. I don’t mind the barking because she never turns it into anything bad or aggressive, but I have come across several people that are quite annoyed by it. One thing I have heard is that they are worried their dog will snap at mine if she doesn’t stop barking. I am opposed to bark collars and continuous negative reinforcement. Has anyone else had a problem like this, and how did you fix it?

By: Lindsay Stordahl

Lindsay Stordahl — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:57:02 +0000

I do believe that dogs develop these kinds of issues from a lack of exercise and a lack of rules. Ace was without both these things for a year. He is also a submissive dog and tennis balls were one thing he was able to control.

How much obedience work has Sugar had? Does she heel reliably or does she pull you? Does she stay no matter what? Come when called? All of these things are ways you can show your leadership and teach her to respond better to you. Exercise is very important, but so is training. If you have already mastered these things, then you can start incorporating objects she is likely to obsess over and create small challenges for her where she has to ignore them.

Strategically place the object in her path when you are practicing heeling, for example. Please it beside her and encourage her to look at you instead. Place it next to her and then get her to come when called and leave the object. Teach her the “leave it” and “drop” commands.

You will have to start very small and slowly increase the challenges, making sure she is able to be successful.

You could also introduce new activities and challenges into her life. Have her wear a dog backpack or take her to agility to help get rid of some extra physical and mental energy. Also work on getting her to calm down by working on having her lie down and stay for up to a half-hour. Most dogs know how to get riled up, but they don’t know how to calm down.

Good luck!!

By: David Charboneau

David Charboneau — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:45:08 +0000

this is a great stratage but is really hard for me to do because my dog can over power me she is very stron and trust me i am not a small guy.my dog “sugar” is so fixated all the time and it doesnt matter what the object. Could be garbage, a piece of her ripped toy, a pine cone even something as crazy as a blade of grass. this is also very hard because if she knows i am going to take her toy away i cant get it out of her mouth way to strong. and i dont agree with your opening statement about how ace got that way. because i have owned my dog sence four weeks old and i run and hike with her constantly on a daily bases. please any help HELP!! she is going to kill herself over it and i can tell she is not happy. busta4rl@aol.com (801)910-9116

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:15:52 +0000

Wow Lindsay! That’s huge progress! To hear that Ace is starting to interact with the other dogs in environments that he already had established patterns of getting fixated on the tennis balls instead, is really great. I’m really impressed!

By: Lindsay Stordahl

Lindsay Stordahl — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:27:57 +0000

I sure didn’t train my dog to play fetch, anyway. I just encouraged it.

By: Apryl DeLancey

Apryl DeLancey — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:49:13 +0000

Yeah – it is quite funny that some believe you have to train a dog to play fetch. I sort of believe you either have a “fetch dog” or you don’t. Congratulations on working toward your goal with Ace’s obsession.

Apryl DeLanceys last blog post..Tales From The Inbox – September 13, 2008