can someone please help?


otis

New Member
:eek:I have a 2 year old neutered dachshund named Otis. He is so aggressive, and I dont know what I can do to get him to stop. If is sees anyone he starts barking, if he hears anything he barks. When I take him for a walk he goes nuts when anyone comes near us. I took him to the vet and the receptionist got a little close and he lounged at her, he does that to anyone that comes close. I think he is going to end up bitting someone. He pees on my bed. He is awful with people, but he loves other dogs. The weird thing is, his best friends are my to rabbits (always 100% supervised) they play and sleep together. I treat otis great. He gets lots of food and treats, and has over 50 toys. Within the last 3 weeks he has started chewing holes in the carpet (I rent so its a big problem). He also as started to distroy his toys. If anyone could give me some advice I would really appreciate it.
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DeafDogs

Alberta Region Moderator
Ok so you gave me most of the facts I need to know, but here's a couple of other questions.

1- At what age was he neutered?

2- How often does he get out for walks?

3- Does he get any off leash time?

4- Does he play tug and or fetch?

5- Does he guard food, toys, bones or any other resources from you? other animals?

6- Where does he sleep?

7- Is he cuddly with you? Sit on your lap alot?

8- Does he react more to people when you're holding him or he's on the floor?

9- How and what do you feed him?

10- Are you willing to buy books to learn how to deal with him?

11- Are you knowledgeable about clickertraining? Are you willing to give Clickertraining a shot?

12- How long is he alone in a day?

13- Are you willing to restrict his access to parts of the house?

14- How much time do you spend playing with him in a day?

ok enough questions, here's a bit of what I see from your post.

He sounds frustrated, and used to getting what he wants, when he wants it. He seems stressed and somewhat anxious. I'm guessing he has free access to all his toys and possibly his food as well as you, he is allowed wherever he wants, whenever he wants.

Here's several things you should do to get him back on track, I can give you more advice and details after you answer my 150 questions LOL

First off: handfeeding. Put his daily allotment of food in several containers around the house. Then periodically go to one, and call him, if he comes to you, give him a piece of food, then ask for a sit, if he doesn't know how to sit, you can begin training the sit, (preferably using clicker training). Once that container is gone, go about your business, until you want to give him another container. repeat as often as there are containers of food, per day. WARNING: Make sure he is only getting enough food that he will not get fat, Extra weight on a Dachshund is EXTREMELY bad for them.

You can use this handfeeding regime to train him tricks or obedience, you can teach him down, roll over, shake a paw, heel, weave between your legs, the sky is the limit. I'm guessing that after a couple of weeks of handfeeding, you will see a marked improvement in his disposition!

Second bit of advice: Remove all toys from his reach. He is now only allowed to play with you when you want to play. Play tug with him, it's a fantastic game to help him release predatory frustration. Make sure that there are rules to the game though. You need to teach him to release the toy on command, always end the game if his teeth touch any part of you, and only you can begin the game, using a cue, like "take it" Get down on the floor and play with him 5-10 or more times a day, the more often, the better. Playing fetch is also a huge release of frustration, and it's great exercise. and a tired dog is a good dog. Teach him to play hide and seek. Put him in a room, then go hide a favorite treat or toy, let him out of the room then give him a cue ("find it") Then lead him to the reward. Once he's found the toy, or consumed the treat, play a game with him for a minute or 2, then put him away again, and hide the same object or another treat, and go at it again... do 2 or 3 searches per session. back off your help once he seems to understand the game.

Third tidbit: give him things to do when left alone. Hide old socks with treats knotted in, hide kongs stuffed with peanut butter, or anything else he likes, Hide a chew toy or 2, hide a couple of his favorite toys, you can buy toys that you put food into and they have to work at it to get the food out, if he's got fun things to do when you're not home, he wont destroy things or bark and disturb the neighbours. Hide 10 - 20 items around the house for him.

And my last bit of advice for this morning, take him for long walks, preferably where he can freely interact with other dogs off leash, let him be a dog for awhile.

You'll notice that I did not once say to correct him... DO NOT CORRECT HIM FOR REACTING! Prevent him from reacting, but do not even say no if he does react to something... this will only serve to make him more suspicious of strangers ("the last time I saw a stranger, I got attacked by my owner, so I need to make sure the people stay even further away!") Dont force him to be around people, give him a choice. If he's barking at someone, move him away from that person until he feels more comfortable, and reward him for a stop in reaction. Distract him from people, play with him, or have fun filled training sessions around people, so he gets used to having fun when strangers are nearby.

I hope you will answer my questions, so I can help more.

Here's some books that will help you, if you are so inclined to get them.

"Reaching The Animal Mind" By Karen Pryor, it's a book about Clicker training and is invaluable

"Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog" By Emma Parsons

"The Dog Vinci Code" by John Rogerson a FANTASTIC book about dog behaviour, and addresses your problems to a tee.

"The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson another great read!

I hope this is of some help to you!
 
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DeafDogs

Alberta Region Moderator
Oh and one more thing... PLEASE PLEAASE PRETTY PLEEEEAAAASSSSSE post a pic of your Boy Otis!
 

kornygerm

New Member
Thanks for the advice DeafDogs.

I think my dog behaves similar to otis. Whenever i walk him and a kid comes near him to pet him, kawfee(dog) tries to avoid any contact. He is fine with kids in the house though, so i dont know if he is just that way or can be corrected. He is not neutered. I been thinking about it, but my family is not so sure about that, yet. Our home may become place for a foster home for a puppy, so i'm hoping he accepts the puppy.Again, home he has good manners..outside..not so much.
 

sdw1961

New Member
Otis is a Handsome Lil Fellow!

Heather, I just viewed Otis' pictures. He is quite the handsome lil Doxie!

Is he your first Dachshund?

Hope you can get to the bottom of his troubles so you can help him.

I'm here learning too, otherwise I would try to help you. I haven't had the chance to read the books suggested to me. I have one on order that should be here sometime this week. Until then this forum is my only source of information so, all I can do is offer you my support and send up prayers for you and Otis.

Please keep us updated on his progress.:)

Sandra
 

otis

New Member
1. He was 8 monthes when he was neutered.
2. He gets often for little walks each day, to the neighbors that he likes, and around the block. He goes to the laundry room and the dumpster, the dumpster is across the apartment complex. And he plays in the yard for hours each day depending on the weather (I sit out there with him. I dont leave him alone) we play with dog toys. I throw them he gets them and runs, but he has to be on a cable because I live in town, plus I am afraid he will bite some one.
3. He might get off leash time two week ends out of a month. I take him to my moms, she has 149 acres and 5 friendly dogs, and 3 coon hounds that arnt. Otis dosent go near were the coon hounds are, one atacted him when he was about 10 weeks old.
4. He plays you throw the toy and I will run with it. I didnt know if tug would make him more aggressive. I dont want to incourage his prey drive to much, because he is good friends with my 2 rabbits they play together and sometimes they lay together (never left alone with them).
5.he does not guard anything from me, or other dogs, but he did snap at one of the rabbits. The rabbit was eating popcorn, and otis wanted it.
6.He sleeps with me
7.He is cuddly with me. He is on my lap all the time
8.He reacts to people when I hold him and when he is on the floor
9.I put food in his bowl and fill it when it is emty. He eats iams small breed dogs food. He also eats what ever I am eating, he begs like a wood chuck and he barks at me till I give him some. He also eats veggies with the rabbits.
10.I am willing to buy books
11.I have tried clickertraining, but am not knowledgeable.
12. he is never alone more then 4 hours its usually 3, and thats only 3 days a week. The rest of the time I am home.
13.I am willing to restrict him
14.We play alot outside, he always refuses to come in so we stay out there. Sometimes he is just laying in the sun. He is on along cable because of his issues and the leash law.
I put some pic of him in a album under otis. He is cocolate and tan, with some gray in spots on his body.
 

otis

New Member
I just had something great happen with Otis. I took him for a walk, and on the way back home we walked by one of guys that live in my complex. This guy has been trying to get Otis to let him pet him for a year and a half. He was standing there talking to someone else. Usually Otis starts barking and jumping towards him, but he didnt even bark. So I stopped and told him he was a good boy and gave him some love (Otis not the guy), I stood there and talked, and I told the guy to ignore him, and I kept edging my way a little closer to she what Otis would do, and then another neighbor called me over to see what I was doing over there. When I left her house the guy told me to come back over. I told them I could only talk for a minute because I wanted to take Otis home to give him some water, the guy ran in his house and brought out some water. Otis didnt want it buthe started sniffing the guys leg again and wagging his tail. The guys like should I try to pet him and I told him to neal down slowly and let him sniff your hand. Otis started to lick his hand, but you could tell Otis was scared. The guy slowly started to pet him, and within secounds Otis was standing up on is knee, and the guy was scratching his back, his head, and Otis was just wagging his tail. I told the guy that he sould of listened when I moved in when I told him not to try and push himself on him. I think the nice come walk after dark helped because there was nothing to make him go nuts, there were no other people out. And now Otis is passed out on the floor on a dog bed (he has 4 to chose from). But I still need to work on him not just going after people because they come near me or him, but this tonight was good experiance with him, I havent felt good about his behavior in along time, so this made me really happy.
 

DeafDogs

Alberta Region Moderator
ok I definitely see a dog who gets whatever he wants. Dont let him have free food, ever. He gets food only when he does something you ask him to do.

It is a myth that playing tug with a dog makes them more aggressive. If you always have clear rules to the game (game starts when you say "take It" ends if you ever feel teeth, and he will let go when you ask) It's a great way to get rid of predator frustration. Dogs are predators, no matter how you look at it, and giving them a way to safely express that drive helps relieve stress and frustration. It will not make him aggressive with your rabbits.

With more games, more exercise and more training and brain work, it's likely your boy will ease off the barking.

I think you should buy "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson. It will really help your situation. She describes every single one of your problems, and the way to help them (plus many more) "The Dog Vinci Code" by John Rogerson, is also very, very good, but in your case, The Culture Clash will be a better read, I do believe.

The other advice I gave in my first post to you is still valid (after seeing your answers to my questions) and will help, immensely if carried out correctly.

Otis is a wirehair!!! I LOVE Wires! He's GORGEOUS!!! I have a very soft spot for wirehaired dogs/breeds!
 

DeafDogs

Alberta Region Moderator
OH and you were right. Take him around people only if they completely ignore him, that means no looking too. give him part of his daily rations around strangers while they are ignoring him. just periodically kneel down and feed him a piece or 2. do not let the stranger give him food/treats just yet, you dont want him rushing strangers for food, but still being scared.

Dont rush him, let him choose the pace, if he's anxious let him back away, if he stiffens/freezes, he's past his threshold and will likely react if the pressure is not released.

And dont let him demand things from you, ignore any noise or physical attempts at prompting you to get him what he wants... He will go through an extinction burst, which means the behaviour will get worse before it gets better, DO NOT GIVE IN, or next time it'll be doubly hard.
 

otis

New Member
How much food should he be getting every day. He eats iams small and toy breed proactive health. The bag says 3/4 to 1 cup, but is that enough, he is around 14 pounds.
 

DeafDogs

Alberta Region Moderator
How much food should he be getting every day. He eats iams small and toy breed proactive health. The bag says 3/4 to 1 cup, but is that enough, he is around 14 pounds.
My 10 lb Doxies get 2/3 - 1 cup of food a day, but they're on a grain-free food. I am constantly adjusting the amount they get, if I see them starting to gain, I feed less, if I see they're starting to lose, I give them more. If you're giving him peanut butter filled kongs and such, you need to keep a really close eye on his waistline and adjust the amount he gets.
 
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