Quantcast My dogs run to the door & bark; this often turns into one dog biting at the other - Dog Training Community

Dog Training Community

Post your dog training questions and share your dog training tips with other community members.
Welcome to Dog Training Community Sign in | Join | Help
in Search

Latest post 10-16-2008 12:12 AM by Jeff Millman. 1 replies.
Page 1 of 1 (2 items)
Sort Posts: Previous Next
  • 10-15-2008 1:11 AM

    • piyoungs
    • Top 100 Contributor
    • Joined on 10-15-2008
    • Posts 1
    • Points 0

    My dogs run to the door & bark; this often turns into one dog biting at the other

    Hi ~ I have two boxers.  Both came from rescue, both have been through obedience classes and are very well behaved overall.  My biggest issues with my boys is that one will 'hear' a noise (it's usually nothing) and tear across the room barking.  This gets the other one going, and soon they are both standing next to each other either on the stairs or on the landing right near the stairs.  We have a split leve home ~ where they stand is where they can see out of the small window we have along the door.  When we had the new door installed in the entryway, we choose a window that only went halfway up the door ~ we used to have a small width, full length window on both sides of the door.  As this was a problem even at that time, we decided to eliminate one entire window and only put half a window on the side we did keep (otherwise the hallway area would be pretty dark).  So the problem is this:  the dogs run to the door, barking and growling (again, usually at nothing) and then the younger of the two (they are about 4 and 6 years old) will get snippy and sometimes even downright aggressive with my older male.  How do I prevent this from happening??  I have tried using *time-out*, placing the dogs in their crates when they do this, but I know that this is not the answer.  I try recall, but this doesn't work.  Both dogs will come to me easily any other time.  I'm just at a loss.  Thank you for any suggestions...

    • Post Points: 0
  • 10-16-2008 12:12 AM In reply to

    Re: My dogs run to the door & bark; this often turns into one dog biting at the other

    What you need to do is desensitize them to the sound so it does not elicit the escalation of behavior and the eventual aggression. This is a displacement behavior. The stress and excitement has to go somewhere, so it is redirected towards the other dog.

    Try this:

    • Put both dogs on leash
    • Move them away from the door and prevent them from rushing the door
    • Have someone help you by recreating the noises that cause the reaction
    • AS SOON as they hear the noise say, "Yes!" or 'click' if you are using a clicker and drop treats on the ground
    • Continue working until they start sniffing the ground when they hear the noise
    • As their reactivity lessens, you can drop the leash and continue working, as long as they don't rush the door

    What you are doing is changing the behavior pattern and redirecting their attention from the door to looking for treats on the ground. As you do more training, replace the treats with verbal praise.

    Let me know if you have more questions.

    ---

    Jeff Millman

    Founder and Trainer

    Watch and Train, LLC

    • Post Points: 0
Page 1 of 1 (2 items)
Powered by Community Server (Non-Commercial Edition), by Telligent Systems