Not sure if I'm dealing with this right

[styric]

I live in a very bad area of town. Bums, kids torching dumpsters, gangs, thieves you name it. As you can imagine, we get alot of nighttime visitors, and most of them are the two legged kind.

Lately they've been actually coming up onto the porch and having a smoke. They do this on and off every few days usually a couple times a night and cycle.. sometimes they'll be gone for weeks, othertimes they'll be around every night for a week.

Orion always alerts me when someone is prowling around the house and she has an entire range of intensities/loudness. I know she's not misbehaving because I can hear the faint crunch of gravel or see them sometimes. Sometimes she leaps out from under the bed and down the hall barking at the door, othertimes she paces the house with her hackles up growling. The one that makes me the most worried (and I immediately get up to go chase off whoever it is) is when she very very quietly growls under her breath and makes an extremely quiet bark. Just enough to tell me something's going on but not loud enough to carry outside the room.

I perfectly okay with her alerting me, in fact I want her to continue as it keeps me more aware of neighborhood activity. When things are alot more active than usual, I stay home as much as possible and keep an eye out. I've taught her to show me where she heard the sound so I could determine if it was front or back.

I'm not sure if I'm handling the praise correctly. I've been trying to stick with the moderation rule, where she's allowed to bark once freely, then if she doesn't go quiet I tell her to shush. If she goes quiet, she gets a cookie and a game of tugowar and if she doesnt quiet down I redirect with a quick 5 minute training session and then a ball game or her rope. That way she knows she's allowed to tell me, but is not allowed to go bonkers on it. 90% of the time I don't even need to tell her anything, she barks once, waits for me to check it out then goes back to sleep.

I've never had a reason to actually want a dog to bark before, so I'm not quite sure if I am making a mistake I will regret later on/condoning a bad behavior or if I am praising/redirecting correctly and dont end up with a big mess on my hands.

[poohbearsmom]

Originally Posted by styric

I live in a very bad area of town. Bums, kids torching dumpsters, gangs, thieves you name it. As you can imagine, we get alot of nighttime visitors, and most of them are the two legged kind.

Lately they've been actually coming up onto the porch and having a smoke. They do this on and off every few days usually a couple times a night and cycle.. sometimes they'll be gone for weeks, othertimes they'll be around every night for a week.

Orion always alerts me when someone is prowling around the house and she has an entire range of intensities/loudness. I know she's not misbehaving because I can hear the faint crunch of gravel or see them sometimes. Sometimes she leaps out from under the bed and down the hall barking at the door, othertimes she paces the house with her hackles up growling. The one that makes me the most worried (and I immediately get up to go chase off whoever it is) is when she very very quietly growls under her breath and makes an extremely quiet bark. Just enough to tell me something's going on but not loud enough to carry outside the room.

I perfectly okay with her alerting me, in fact I want her to continue as it keeps me more aware of neighborhood activity. When things are alot more active than usual, I stay home as much as possible and keep an eye out. I've taught her to show me where she heard the sound so I could determine if it was front or back.

I'm not sure if I'm handling the praise correctly. I've been trying to stick with the moderation rule, where she's allowed to bark once freely, then if she doesn't go quiet I tell her to shush. If she goes quiet, she gets a cookie and a game of tugowar and if she doesnt quiet down I redirect with a quick 5 minute training session and then a ball game or her rope. That way she knows she's allowed to tell me, but is not allowed to go bonkers on it. 90% of the time I don't even need to tell her anything, she barks once, waits for me to check it out then goes back to sleep.

I've never had a reason to actually want a dog to bark before, so I'm not quite sure if I am making a mistake I will regret later on/condoning a bad behavior or if I am praising/redirecting correctly and dont end up with a big mess on my hands.

Sounds like you need to move! yikes!

I would keep reinforcing this behavior, and perhaps ask her for a sit at the door, to maintain "control" over her. I definitely would not correct her at all. It sounds like she has a good set of antenna, and rewarding that is good, just be aware of YOUR mental state (remain calm, cool and collected), so Orion can remain confident in her behaviors.

[stale]

i'd say keep on training as you are - pup is doing ok. in a way, it can be viewed as just doing her job. after all, it's your home, therefore it's her home. warning you, her leader, of the danger, is just what she's supposed to be doing. the only time i encourage Oz to go ballistic with his barking is when people are on the porch. not only do we get less random riffraff, but we've finally shaken off the jehova witnesses.

i have more than once explained to kids that if they do NOT get off my property, there's a shotgun, a bandsaw, and a series of garbage bags in their future. also point out that i work at dofasco (canada's largest steelmill) and making said garbage bags dissapear won't only be easy, but it's been done so often that our PR department actually has a procedure for it.

funnily enough, after a couple weeks, most of the riffraff leave our block alone. they may not fear the cops, might not fear my dog. you for damned sure will fear me.

"you can ignore the dog - beware the owner."

[zorro13]

Originally Posted by stale

i'd say keep on training as you are - pup is doing ok. in a way, it can be viewed as just doing her job. after all, it's your home, therefore it's her home. warning you, her leader, of the danger, is just what she's supposed to be doing. the only time i encourage Oz to go ballistic with his barking is when people are on the porch. not only do we get less random riffraff, but we've finally shaken off the jehova witnesses.

i have more than once explained to kids that if they do NOT get off my property, there's a shotgun, a bandsaw, and a series of garbage bags in their future. also point out that i work at dofasco (canada's largest steelmill) and making said garbage bags dissapear won't only be easy, but it's been done so often that our PR department actually has a procedure for it.funnily enough, after a couple weeks, most of the riffraff leave our block alone. they may not fear the cops, might not fear my dog. you for damned sure will fear me.

"you can ignore the dog - beware the owner."

You're killin me!!! Way to get it done!!! LOL

[moondog]

Originally Posted by styric

I'm not sure if I'm handling the praise correctly. I've been trying to stick with the moderation rule, where she's allowed to bark once freely, then if she doesn't go quiet I tell her to shush. If she goes quiet, she gets a cookie and a game of tugowar and if she doesnt quiet down I redirect with a quick 5 minute training session and then a ball game or her rope. That way she knows she's allowed to tell me, but is not allowed to go bonkers on it. 90% of the time I don't even need to tell her anything, she barks once, waits for me to check it out then goes back to sleep.

It sounds like you are handling it well to me. When my dog alerts with hackles, I'll call her to me and talk to her about BoogieMen while waiting for all hackles to settle down, so she's in more of a state of calm. THEN we play!

Originally Posted by stale

i have more than once explained to kids that if they do NOT get off my property, there's a shotgun, a bandsaw, and a series of garbage bags in their future. also point out that i work at dofasco (canada's largest steelmill) and making said garbage bags dissapear won't only be easy, but it's been done so often that our PR department actually has a procedure for it.

I promise I won't mess with you!! I can think of a few kids I'd love to use this on.

[lgslgs]

We train our dogs with the command "what's that?" and "enough". "What's that" is actually a signal that they are to alert to something, and it's a time when a huff or a woof is acceptable behavior.

"Enough" is the command that tells them that their job is over and no further huffing, barking, or posturing is needed. They also get a "thank you" praise when they've chosen a correct situation to alert on and alerted at a level that is in proportion to the threat.


Over time they learn which alerting is appropriate and which isn't. They know that the UPS man merits standing up and watching, but not barking. Same with deer. An unfamiliar car in the drive merits standing up watching, perhaps with light sounds to get our attention. A big snapping turtle in the yard is worth telling us about, but one on TV is not. A predator animal inside the fenceline merits hackles up and full fledged barking. Wild turkeys fighting inside the fenceline merits standing and alert watching only.

We sort of overwork "what's that" when they are young just so they have lots of chances to do gentle alerts, see our reaction to the particular situation, and learn that most things are OK and not worth much attention. We do a number of those with a low excitement, curious sounding voice - just enough to focus our attention on something and then dismiss it as normal and just fine.

"What's that", "thank you" and "enough" have got our dogs so that they will observe comings and goings at our neighbor's house across the street but rarely even raise an eyebrow. But the night the neighbor lady fell into a deep hole in her yard in the dark, or the night there was a break in, the dogs let us know. (Urgent whining for the fall, and hackles up woofing for the break in.)


The most amazing alert I've seen from one of our dogs was when we lived at a previous house, and one afternoon Guinness let out a walls rattling bellow like I'd never heard before. The old boy made the windows shake. I have no idea how he recognized that small bits of smoke and flame coming from the wrong parts of a nearby house was "wrong". But somehow he knew that just wasn't right and we were able to get the fire department out before the house fire did much damage.

Guinness had seen charcoal grills being started before and leaf piles being burned - but those never merited more than watching. But a house fire - I can still hear that sound he made. And he knew it was wrong even when it was still small. I was so proud of him.


Of course, on the way to getting him trained to that point we did have to explain that a Christmas tree by the curb after Christmas and a large person in a giant Micky Mouse suit on Halloween were actually "OK" situations. :)


Lynda

[stale]

oh, i'm not all that evil, really. i just have strong views on the subjects of private property and personal privacy. those who impinge upon my property or business would do well to be wary of me.

but really, i'm a great big teddy bear, just like ozzy... really

[chicatropical]

I totally cracked up after this reply...lol

[trish603a]

after reading some of the other posts you have wrote before and after your move, I too think you are doing the right think. I also have taught my dogs the "what's that?" command and "enough" when they have done there job. I would keep doing what you are doing, and hopefully you can get out of that neighborhood soon!

[jlaack]

"Enough" is the command that tells them that their job is over and no further huffing, barking, or posturing is needed.

As do we. The low growl and barks that sound like a light cough are the most our dogs typically do. However, there have been a couple times where our eldest has then escalated to loud barks with a couple growls. I don't use enough but I will tell him to down signaling that I have heard him and I've got it from here. This doesn't happen very often and I can see how it'd be annoying if it was a frequent occurance, but I appreciate him letting me know he heard something that I didn't. His hearing is TONS better than mine anyhow.

[styric]

The company I worked for, Comcast, pulled their contract from us so I lost me job. The contractor I work for got blacklisted recently at most jobs as well so I'm not going anywhere soon until I get a new job. I am pulling extra odd jobs in the shop and pounding pavement to pay for her up coming shots and heartworm meds. I have some savings at least, being stored for any emergency vet bills so it is not too bad yet. I just can't move anytime soon or my rent doubles to $1000 a month for a place that will take a Rottie mix.

[fostermom]

We had a foster that I took to a trainer/behavioralist...while working with Zach there was a huge bang from upstairs...Zach barked...I started to "hush" him but the trainer said that I should praise instead...so what I do now when my dogs start barking outside is the first bark or two gets praised by calling them to me and offering a treat and telling what good dogs they are...so now after the first couple of barks they come barrelling over to me to look for their treats.

[Diva Satanica]

Originally Posted by stale

i have more than once explained to kids that if they do NOT get off my property, there's a shotgun, a bandsaw, and a series of garbage bags in their future. also point out that i work at dofasco (canada's largest steelmill) and making said garbage bags dissapear won't only be easy, but it's been done so often that our PR department actually has a procedure for it.

funnily enough, after a couple weeks, most of the riffraff leave our block alone. they may not fear the cops, might not fear my dog. you for damned sure will fear me.

"you can ignore the dog - beware the owner."

Whereabouts are you stale? Down the hill?

[annamack]

Oh My is all of Canada that way? I was up in Alberta checking the area out, was actually thinking of moving up that way back then and I couldnt believe it there, Very Beautiful country.
As for the alerting you I think that is fine what you are doing. I wish mine were as well behaved on the barking, my male lets me know when the coyotes are out back but if some one pulls in he don't. My female could care less about the coyotes but is more intune to who is here.
one of each for me

[stale]

yep, by gage park - convienient for burning off some of ozzy's surplus energy.