Struggling, need ideas.

[BastardDog]

We adopted a new rescue dog 10 days ago. We're experienced dog owners and are coping with various behavioural issues that we expected with this particular dog, but one issue's got us stumped and we need ideas.

The new dog hates the phone, landline or mobile. As soon as it rings he goes loopy. If you are sat down he jumps about on our heads and barks, if we are stood up he jumps up to try and take the handset out of our hands. I got nipped in the process today of him trying to get the handset off me. If we answer the phone he is even more excitable.

We've changed the ring tones, moved the handsets to high surfaces and reduced the ringer volume, which has helped only a little.

Any suggestions please?

Well, standard dog training, don't let him jump around your heads, get him lower than you. Stand up, say as below, then ignore.

Say Baah to him firmly, as his mum would have when he was a pup when he was irritating her. When he stops, say good dog if you are one if the " it doesn't confuse them" group, or not if you are not.

Start a desensitisation prog with sounds of phone on cd...very low in background then turni g up over days or weeks. As often a daysas you can. X

A desensitisation and counter conditioning program should work quite nicely as you can control the stimulus (the phone). Is it just the ringing or would he react just to it being picked up. You need to make the phone ringing a predictor of good things - treats, toys, fuss - rather than the harbinger of doom.