# Barking like a maniac!



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Well, right now I need some advice. Wether its training or something else I don't mind but need stg!

Here's the story. Just this morning when our dog walker came he told me he had a hard time with Elza last week. 
She apparently was totally out of control, wouldn't leave his dogs alone (two choc lab) and would bark at him every time he would leave her in a room or just to even go and take the rubbish out! Also she counter surfs in his house! 

She doesn't do these things in our home. Of course we don't have other dogs but any other situation could happen in our home too. Another problem when he comes to pick her up she barks like a maniac!!! I was there today (most of the time we already left for work when he comes), I even went out before and asked him to do what we do when we come home. 
She runs to the door then I tell her to go to bed and if she does and sits or lays down I will pet her. But she didn't even hear me she was barking so much so I got him to tell her to go to bed which eventually she did but then she would jump out of it jumping upon him, putting her paws on his arm and carry on barking. This will go on for minutes!!! 
I put the leash on her for more control which helped a bit but you could still see she was anything but calm. 
I can gain control over her but as soon as Ian (the dog walker) goes down to pet her she just jumps up on him keep saying Elza no sit calm down etc. 
He took the crate back today just in case she cannot calm down again for a nap. He said when he brings her back she goes straight to her bed and sleeps! She is so tired that when we get home she greets us and goes back to bed straight away. So obviously that's why cos she goes on and on all day! 

While I was writing this I texted Ian to find out how's she doing. Turns out today Elza is a different dog, back to normal nice behaviour!  

Now what I need firstly is advice on how to make her stop going crazy when Ian comes to pick her up. Ones we sorted that out we have less problem with her. 

I know many of you talked about teaching her bark first then quiet but I find that hard to do. Most of the time when she barks its an unwanted behaviour. It happens when she wants something and we don't give in. So I cannot treat her in that moment since she's behaving badly. I give her time out or I tell her to go to bed or some other command then she will stop barking. 

We need to stop this before it escalates even more. She's 11 months old in a few days and we do basic training every day to keep her mind busy. She gets 2 hours exercise every day and obviously more at Ian's place. She doesn't touch anything at home and we even started to leave her in the living room and nothing happened. My partner suggested we leave her in the corridor again so she won't think she can sniff around and sleep on the sofa without us. 

Thanks in advance


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

It just sounds like he wasn't making her follow the same rules that you do, and she started taking advantage of it.
If he starts following the same rules you have at home she should come around.
It won't matter what rules you make at home if he dosent enforce them. Lucy will pester my daughter to no end. She doesn't do it to anyone else in the family. She will bark,whine and bounce. I want to go out. I Want to go in. I want in your room. I want out of your room. I want you out of your room. Its a problem only my daughter can fix if she chooses to. As long as she gives in Lucy will continue to push her buttons. 
Then you have to take into account at different stages in life dogs will try and see just what they can get by with.


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

It sounds like more of an issue with your dog walker than anything else to me. She acts out when he comes to pick her up and at his house. She obviously doesn't respect him as a leader. How does he act when he comes to pick her up? When my brother-in-law comes over, he calmly walks in and pets the dogs after saying hi to us. The pups are happy to see him but don't get overly excited. Now, when my sister comes in she squeals their names, talks to them in a high-pitched voice, and gets the dogs all riled up and jumping all over her and the furniture barking. 

Also, in teaching woof/shush, you HAVE to reward the negative behavior at first to connect it with the word "woof". For example - your dog walker comes to the door and she starts going nuts barking. You have to say "woof" and then treat her. She will be very confused at first, but I guarantee she will learn to associate the command "woof" with the barking and not the bad behavior.


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Thanks for replying!

I feel a bit aqward telling him how to treat Elza... I mean how to behave with her. He's a professional dog walker, not just someone who decided to walk dogs, plus has Elza since she was 5 months old. When he comes and Elza goes nuts he will turn his back on her with arms folded and ignore her but she will carry on barking and jumping up and down on him. The other thing he does is goes down to her level, which I think is also not good plus today we saw he sort of bends over her. There are times when she doesn't want to listen to us, if we straighten our back and be confident she will listen straight away. 
I have told him he can use the leash as a tool if necessary to correct her with it (tug to the side). 
By the way, as soon as he knocks on the door Elza starts the barking going crazy. We think she knows she is going to his place and gets really excited! Ian by the way is very calm when he comes, doesn't raise his voice with her but did hear him repeating the commands more than I ever would. I say max twice the same thing then it has to happen.
I just somehow need to make him understand he has to treat her differently than a lab. But it's also uncomfortable. I know it would be beneficial for all of us... 

I agree TexasRed that she is pushing it, we are having some recall issues occasionally and a few little thing here and there but we are staying consistent with her. I guess she's having her teenage 'years'. 

Thanks for the advice on the woof threefsh! I will start doing it when it happens again. 

So any advice on how to tell my dog walker he's not the pack leader of my dog?  :-[ :-\


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

adrino said:


> So any advice on how to tell my dog walker he's not the pack leader of my dog?  :-[ :-\


He has to be aware of it by now with how she is misbehaving around him. You can always soften the blow a bit by saying "Vizslas are different than your typical dog" or something. They really are very special, very challenging dogs (that's why we love them). It wouldn't hurt to spend some time working with him and showing him how to better handle your pup. I'm sure he would appreciate the tips. You don't have to say "you are a terrible dog trainer!" I would say something to the effect of "You are such a great dog walker, but lately we've noticed Elza has been acting out and challenging you. She's going through a teenage rebellious stage and we would like to show you some methods that have been working really well for us."

I don't know if you've seen this video by Ian Dunbar on woof/shush, but it was very helpful for training Riley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEp0Yird9cA


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Thank you so much threefsh! 

I'm not good with small talk and usually just straight to the point, what's in my head its on my mouth!  So instead I didn't say anything to him. Will use some of your words with him. 8)

Watched the video, I'll need to have a treat around me then to do it at the right time. If I'm sitting and I stand up she will stop straight away.  Cheeky bugger!


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Ok, a little update....

No good...
Yesterday Ian came to pick Elza up again. She was going absolutely mental! Pupils wide open, jumping up on him constantly. I actually waited for him with Elza on leash. I stood on the leash because she was barking and jumping so much it was hard to hold her! She wasn't having it! I wait until I can relax the leash but as soon as it happens she will launch at him again. If I make her sit she will sit but carry on barking and whining then try to get to him and jumping up on him. I am more than aware that keeping the tension on the leash is not good but as I said if I relax it she will go straight back... When I did let her close to him she would jump up, chew the arm of his coat, carry on barking and god knows what else! 
All this with wide open pupils! She can't snatch out of it! 

I had some treats out, of course as soon as she saw that she sat down and did whatever I asked her to! But once I managed to do that and they were ready to leave she just started to jump up on him again with all the barking and the rest.... 

He said she was very hyper in his home again with the same behaviour as explained so I told him to bring her back 2 hours earlier than usual, she will sleep anyway. 

Got home, she didn't come out of her bed to greet us but waited in her bed for a rub. We started to do this so she only gets the attention if she stays or goes back to bed and lays down. 

I'm really confused since she does not behave like this with us. On walks she doesn't try to pull towards people ever, we only have the occasional jump on one or two other dog owners, mostly who doesn't do what I ask them to! 

I'm a bit worried that one day Ian will turn around and say: "I can't have Elza anymore, she's too much!" It was already very hard to find him, she's looking after her since April so he knows her well. 


Heeeeeeelp! :-[


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

If your dog is controlled with you I am sorry but it is your dog walker that is causing this problem. He needs to be clam with her and live by clear rules. Your pup has learned to live within the rules with you and can do with him too. My guess is he is not following through or being consistent with her and therefore she feels that she can do as she wishes. 

We have a dog walker that our pup behaves with. He sometimes plays up if the dog walker and myself are both in the room together. I think it is a sort of play them off each other type thing.

Main thing here is your dog walker hasn't earned your pups trust and respect.


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

The others are right.... your dog walker is a pussy!!!! ;D ;D ;D


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

He has two chocolate labs himself but we all know they are totally different from vizslas. As I explained he looks after Elza for quite a while now and this problem started only about a month or so ago. 

I know she's in the rebellion stage... She's pushing it with us too sometimes but we keep things firm and consistent. 

I still don't understand the wide pupil... She's in this state and very hard to snap her out of it.


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

adrino said:


> He has two chocolate labs himself but we all know they are totally different from vizslas. As I explained he looks after Elza for quite a while now and this problem started only about a month or so ago.
> 
> I know she's in the rebellion stage... She's pushing it with us too sometimes but we keep things firm and consistent.
> 
> I still don't understand the wide pupil... She's in this state and very hard to snap her out of it.


My guess if not aggressive the wide pupil is a result of excitement. Your dog walker needs to be able to calm her down. No two ways around it. When he arrives the door shouldn't even open until she is sitting and calm. Open the door and she moves the door gets shut again. She will get it soon enough that the dog walker won't have anything to do with her til she is calm.


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Thanks *born36*, that's a great idea! I will talk to him about it. 

She's not aggressive with him so I guess you're right about the wide pupil and excitement. Gotta work on this! :-\


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Wow, Elza must have a fun day with him if he get her adrenlin running that high. Does he have other dogs staying with him on the same day he has Elza? What does he do with her that gets her so excited to see him?

In an earlier post you said he had borrowed your crate to try and calm her down, is he using it for time out. Sounds like he needs to use the crate to teach her that she can't do what she likes, and she has to calm down.

One other possibility would be to put an Adaptil collar on her the days she goes to Ian, and see if that calms her down.

What a night mare for you. Boris has just hit 9 months and we seem to have a puppy with a rather pushy disposition at the moment - those teenage years have a lot to answer for  He has never been a chewer - now all of a sudden he is chewing. How long do the teenage years go on for??


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Yeah, she has loads of fun but she just cannot calm down. Since we do not use the crate we don't mind if he use it for her to calm down. 
I didn't think about the Adaptil but I'll check it online. 
She's quite good with us, she tries things but we don't let her off. 

I think Boris just got into the same stage hotmischief! You just got to keep it firm! It's been going on with Elza for about 3 months, it probably will last another 3... 
Well I hope it won't last longer!


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