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Canine Behavior/barking chihuhuahua

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Expert: Lee Charles Kelley - 10/26/2008


Question
i adopted a 4 month 3 pound chihuahua about 1 week ago he was a puppy mill dog before the was rescued and he was fostered for about 1-2 months before i adopted him.

hes a normal puppy but heres the only problem - he has a problem  with men who have beards (ive tested him to be sure) every morning when my husband gets up for work when the house is nice and quiet the puppy frantically barks at my husband until he leaves for work.hes learning to  trust my husband but in the mornings he seems to forget all the progress we made the day before.we have a crate,i sometimes put the pup in it when hes starts the barking (and he does stop when i put him in).i just wait until my husband leaves for work to let him out,and when my 2 brothers come to visit he does the same barking and more barking followed with biting when they aproach him.most of the men in my family have a beard so i need to figure out a way for him to learn that he can trust them. what should i do? thanks

Answer
Hi, Christy,

Thanks for the question.

The best solution is for your husband (and any other bearded men you know) to sit on the floor of the kitchen and hand feed your doggie by hand. It should only take a minute or two and will make a world of difference. If the pup is nervous about taking the food from him while he's seated in the floor, the next best thing would be to have your husband lie on his back and hold the food in an outstretched hand. Doing this for several weeks should create a monumental change in how this dog relates to your husband, and hopefully to men in general.

If you can get the dog to play with you, and get him to do so reliably, then try to get him to play with your husband (after the hand feeding), that would really cement the kind of relationship you want these two boys (doggie and human) to have.

I hope this helps!
LCK
http://www.LeeCharlesKelley.com
“Changing the World, One Dog at a Time”

Canine Behavior

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Lee Charles Kelley

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I've been training dogs in New York City for nearly 20 years. My training approach and philosophy are based on the way police dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and detection dogs are trained--through the prey drive, inherited from the wolf. It's true that there's been a shift away from using the "wolf model" in dog training recently, and to some extent, there's a good reason. That's because trainers have been using the wrong model, the one that says you have to be the "alpha" or the pack leader in order to control your dog's behavior. This simply isn't true. In wild wolves there is no dominance hierarchy, no "alpha" wolf, and no pack leader (not in the traditional sense). The pack instinct only exists to enable wolves to hunt large prey by working in harmony. (Wolves who live near garbage dumps, for example, and who don't hunt together, don't form packs.) So if wolves don't have an instinct to "follow the pack leader" or "obey the alpha wolf," how could dogs have inherited it from them?

Years ago, before I became a dog trainer, I noticed that the happiest, most obedient, and best-behaved dogs I met weren't the ones who'd been to a dog trainer or behaviorist; they were the dogs whose owners always had Frisbees and tennis balls on hand. And while it might seem that my approach would only be relevant to high-drive dogs who love fetch and tug-of-war, it isn't. Even something as seemingly unrelated as a housebreaking issue or greeting behavior are often the direct result of a dog's predatory energy not having an acceptable outlet.

All behavior is an expression of energy. So when a dog's energy isn't utilized in a way that feels satisfying to his or her instincts and emotions, that's when behavioral problems develop. Giving the dog an acceptable outlet for its energy will almost always bring the dog's behavior back into alignment with its instincts

Feel free to ask me questions about any training/behavioral issue.

LCK

Experience

20 years as a dog trainer. I'm also a bestselling author, writing a series of dog-related mystery novels for Avon.

Organizations
Dog Writers Association of America

Education/Credentials
Just a natural gift I have for understanding and training dogs

Past/Present Clients
Too numerous to mention.

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