Help

[eileish]

my dog is called ben, he is two years old and a lakeland terrier cross.
he has some basic tricks learnt like 'sit' & 'lie down' but that is about it, my parents are currently going through a divorce and he can not stay at the old family home anymore,and me and my mother are moving into rented accomodation. so i need help, i need tips on how to calm him down and keep the barking to a minimum. also he dose this weird wee spray thing whenever he comes into a new area, if anyone has any tips on what can help stop that it would be greatly appreciate, infact anything would be greatly appreciated. thank you

 

[running_dog]

Welcome to DTA

What a nice dog you have, I LOVE lakeland terrier crosses, if I had to have a smaller dog I'd probably look for one of those but as you say they are rather yappy! They are terriers after all... so there isn't an answer to that which doesn't involve some commitment from you!

I think one of the best ways to keep them calm and quiet is to keep them busy and tired. I don't know how far you manage to walk him but looooooooooooooooooooooong walks are good to calm most dogs down. Dogs need to exercise their brains as well as their legs. Lakelands are clever little dogs so teaching them lots of tricks does help to tire them out and keep them from enjoying the sound of their own voices. You can train dogs not to bark so much, I've been playing with a poodle this week, he used to bark at me whenever I gave any command, I started to give him a 30 second time out (I ignored him and looked at the sky) when he barked, the first day he barked at me non stop for 10 minutes while I ignored him, after 3 sessions now he occasionally gives just one "wuff" and then waits his 30 seconds quietly to try the command again. Can you reward your dog when he is quiet? Remember that to him any attention (even you telling him not to bark) is FUN, try to catch him being good. If you look in the behaviour problems forum I'm sure there'll be more ideas (or better explained).

I'm not sure how to stop Ben weeing when he goes to new places but I'm sure someone will be along with some better suggestions soon, is Ben scared in new places? One of the things I have done to stop my own dog wetting in the house when I go out is to leave treats hidden around my room for him to find. He used to get really stressed when I left him and the excitement made him wet in the house, now he sees me go to hide the treats and you can see him thinking, "I wish she'd hurry up and GO, I want those treats...". Maybe you could throw treats down for your dog to find in the new places so that he is busy finding them instead of getting over excited or scared?

I hope you manage to make some progress with Ben and that everything works out for you and your family.

 

[eileish]

thank you for your advice i'll deffinatly try some of them ideas

Welcome to DTA

What a nice dog you have, I LOVE lakeland terrier crosses, if I had to have a smaller dog I'd probably look for one of those but as you say they are rather yappy! They are terriers after all... so there isn't an answer to that which doesn't involve some commitment from you!

I think one of the best ways to keep them calm and quiet is to keep them busy and tired. I don't know how far you manage to walk him but looooooooooooooooooooooong walks are good to calm most dogs down. Dogs need to exercise their brains as well as their legs. Lakelands are clever little dogs so teaching them lots of tricks does help to tire them out and keep them from enjoying the sound of their own voices. You can train dogs not to bark so much, I've been playing with a poodle this week, he used to bark at me whenever I gave any command, I started to give him a 30 second time out (I ignored him and looked at the sky) when he barked, the first day he barked at me non stop for 10 minutes while I ignored him, after 3 sessions now he occasionally gives just one "wuff" and then waits his 30 seconds quietly to try the command again. Can you reward your dog when he is quiet? Remember that to him any attention (even you telling him not to bark) is FUN, try to catch him being good. If you look in the behaviour problems forum I'm sure there'll be more ideas (or better explained).

I'm not sure how to stop Ben weeing when he goes to new places but I'm sure someone will be along with some better suggestions soon, is Ben scared in new places? One of the things I have done to stop my own dog wetting in the house when I go out is to leave treats hidden around my room for him to find. He used to get really stressed when I left him and the excitement made him wet in the house, now he sees me go to hide the treats and you can see him thinking, "I wish she'd hurry up and GO, I want those treats...". Maybe you could throw treats down for your dog to find in the new places so that he is busy finding them instead of getting over excited or scared?

I hope you manage to make some progress with Ben and that everything works out for you and your family.

 

[running_dog]

The third post in this thread might help you too