Really excited about rehoming this dog, but....

[Oneandonlylife]

I drove two hrs today with my two DDs to see a 1 yr old dog suitable for children AND cats. A rarity I understand.

This dog is a mongrel, 12 months old, mega excited, friendly and playful. He’s a small terrier size. Showed no signed of aggression or food possessiveness- just was wagging, excited and happy to chase a ball.

Due to data protection (obvs) - the home weren’t able to give many details other than that he was -

• VERY friendly with other dogs
• lived with 3 cats
• lived with small children and fine with them
• very excitable
• can play too enthusiastically with other dogs and needs to learn some manners.

Reading between the lines and gleaning snippets of info, this lovely dog hasn’t been exposed to the nicest of dogs.

The good news is, he LOVES treats and seems easily distracted.

The concern I have is observing him near a calm friendly dog. Tail erect and wagging furiously, barking and lunging and the dog.

He’s utterly adorable in every other aspect.

This is one of the bigger UK charities. Not saying which but I’m sure you can guess which ones they are. From what I’ve gleaned - their criteria are pretty strict.

Hubby is mega careful etc. Am I ok to reassure him. I KNOW there are NO guarantees where dogs are concerned. Just want to gauge opinions on the assessments done by these large UK charities.

TIA

Oh do you meant to train then friar, I read it as you wouldn’t let your dog meet ‘truly’ aggressive lunging barking dogs but would let her meet excitable ones who just need manners.

I see what you meant now.

As for being easier to train, I don’t know really, I guess it depends on what level of hyperactivity your dealing with.
But also, sometimes ‘hyperactive’ dogs are actually stressed and uncomfortable underneath.
It may not be as simple as first appears.

Were you able to access the video of him? It shows how easily calmed down he was when given a treat. Before my daughter filmed this, he was barking and bouncing around

Yes I could see your video, (including your full name).

He’s gorgeous, he’s tiny, he’s an excitable baby... I wouldn’t hesitate to take him if that’s your only concern.

I saw the video of him.
Just my (non professional) opinion but to me he does not look calmed down at all.
Although I appreciate what you said about him being worse before.

I don’t think the squeaky excited voice is helpful at all and I would definitely lose it when trying to teach calmness.
Stick to ‘capturing calmness’ with a clicker and deliver any treats calmly with no talking.

I also think it’s important to use the treat when he’s actually calm, so before he starts reacting.
I don’t agree with it being used as a means of distraction.

To me, he looks on alert and a bit anxious, it looked at one point like he was trying to get away I thought.

But, I’m not a professional so I guess I may have read it wrong.

Yes, totally agree that he should be rewarded when calm. I didn’t word it v well in that respect, I was just showing how treat driven he is.

I will be doing the training with him, not the DDs. I’ll dig out my clicker.

Oh do you meant to train then friar, I read it as you wouldn’t let your dog meet ‘truly’ aggressive lunging barking dogs but would let her meet excitable ones who just need manners.
Well I did try giving DDog a couple of books on dog training to read so she could learn what to do herself but she said there weren't enough pictures and she was bored
To be fair I'm assuming we're talking about dogs who just need showing / telling what to do and who will then get it, not those who are the canine equivalent of a small child who's had way too much sugar and is bouncing off the walls. They might be as difficult as a dog who flips into angry or lashing-out-because-I'm-terrified-of-that-other-dog at 20 paces.

When I said I thought that by being with other, calm dogs, the over-excited wanting to play dog could learn dog manners from them, I did not mean they should be expected to totally train him, just so that he could learn dog communication. It is absolutely normal for a dog that doesn't want to play any more to stop playing and back off; then, if pursued by other dog who does still want to play, their next step is to bark at the other dog to show they don't want to engage. This is what dogs are taught by their mother when they are puppies - if they step out of line then she tells them sharply. A lot of rescues have been taken away from their mothers before they were old enough to learn these basic dog communications, rebukes from adults. That is why they need at some stage to learn the language from other sensible dogs. I am happy to say I've met lots of other dog owners with juvenile dogs who are quite happy for my dog to bark at them to back off when she's finished playing with them - they always say, "That's good - he has to learn when to stop". So, the dog needs to learn from dogs as well as his owners about what is and is not acceptable.

I second that the voice you use to the dog should, at all times, be your normal voice, not a special squeaky one (my sister always uses a strange high toned voice to animals, which I and the animals find a bit unsettling). Commands are just your normal tone with a firm tone (no need ever to shout unless the dog is a long way away).

I see what you mean missjoy and used to share that viewpoint.

But I personally now don’t think it should ever get to the stage where the other dog feels the need to bark or whatever because different dogs have different tolerance levels, what one dog might react to another would ignore and different dogs have differing severity of ‘correction’, one dog might give a hard stare or a bark, another might immediately lunge and pin, another might give an inhibited bite.

It’s possible that in response to a correction the rude dog may get defensive and a fight break out, it’s also possible that the rude dog may start getting fearful and aggressive around other dogs if it’s constantly corrected in an overly harsh way.

I also think that having to correct in the first place puts unnecessary stress on the dog.

I think we should be more mindful of reading body language and immediately intervening and removing the dog from the situation when you see rude behaviour from another before the dog feels it has to ‘correct’ it.

finished playing with them - they always say, "That's good - he has to learn when to stop". So, the dog needs to learn from dogs as well as his owners about what is and is not acceptable

And this, yes I used to get this too when I mistakenly let my dog growl at others when they were too bouncy.

The end result was that over time she started correcting for lesser and lesser misdemeanours until it was pretty much all dogs she was reacting to and for no real reason and it didn’t stay as growls either, she escalated.

Admittedly, she isn’t reactive ONLY because of that, her reactivity is mostly due to being attacked but I definitely don’t think allowing her to tell other dogs off when she started feeling threatened was a clever idea at all.