Neesie

"Something's"??? What the heck does that mean? I meant to write SOMETIMES!

Geri B

Marionsquilts....excellent information......going to have my daughter/weim work on PLACE

rjwilder

You can teach an old dog new tricks! Yes, get some professional help and like everything else in life, practice makes perfect. Training a dog is very time consuming and it takes a lot of patience from the owners. Be consistent, even when you're tired or it's raining outside. Put the leash on and go for the walk, practice the commands that you want your dog to obey and you get the dog to behave the way you want it to be. Think about all the things service dogs can do. Your dogs can be trained to do cool things also.

MarionsQuilts

GerriB - it is an amazing training tool!!!! It does take lots of work and TONS of patience, but the benefits are unbelievable.

For people with those super hyper dogs that never seem to calm down, this is the best command ever!!!!! (And, yes, I have one of those, which is why place is such an important part of Kyleigh's life LOL)

Scuddles

I have a lhasa opsa and a yorkie and I am taking care of my DD's 3 cats (I feel like I live at a zoo). Whenever my DGS's come over, one is 14 but the other one is 6 and as soon as they hear his voice, every single animal disappears, it's like the Bermuda Triangle. What's sad is people want to hide from him. He is sooooo active and never sits down. Last night my DD gave him his bath and put him to bed at 9:00. My Son In law woke up at 1:00 a.m. and my DGS was playing on his tablet and his Ipad.

sparkys_mom

You have a lot of good advice here and, IMO, some really bad advice. I've worked with a breed rescue group over 15 years and it's sad but true, if the dog fails, even if it isn't his fault, the dog ALWAYS loses. It either winds up in a shelter or being euthanized.

Retraining a dog requires a lot of patience and consistency on your part. Failure to be consistent can reward the behaviour you don't want. I would definitely get a trainer to come to the house and get an evaluation. This is a place to start searching for a trainer. https://apdt.com/

In the interim, I would just put the dogs in another room when having visitors. Crates are a good idea. You might consider crate training them so they consider that to be a fun place rather than a punishment place. And, assuming you know ahead that you are having visitors, put them away before company comes.

EmiliasNana

I couldn't agree more with seeking out a good dog trainer. In the meantime check out the YouTube videos by ZakGeorge - dog training rEvolution. He has lots of good free humane advice, but there is no substitute for a dog trainer that knows your dog, its quirks and your situation. When we got our two Golden siblings we had an issue with guarding food and toys, so contacted a dog trainer in N. Carolina via Skype. She did a 1 1/2 hr. session via Skype, wrote up a treatment plan after seeing videos of the behavior and provided online support. She was fantastic. PM if interested in her contact info.

Caswews

Classes!! Read books is another .. My foster cat vomits after people leave as he is not used to people being here as most of the time its just the 4 of us (DH, myself , Dog and Cat).

vjengels

Hi!
3 years ago we adopted a dog with HUGE socialzation issues, poor baby, she was probaly taken from her mother too soon, left outside for her first 6 yrs, EVERTYTHING scared her... She wasn't aggressive; only vocalized and exhibited avoidence behaviour, but still a frightened dog is a dangerous dog.
We enlisted the help of a behaviorist, not a trainer.. she was able to help us pin down and disect exact behaviors to work on, it was worth every penny! our Stella is a happy dog now, we ( humans) still have to practice some simple behaviors to help her be calm around other people, but she's 180 degrees different than when we started.
Good luck!

bee3

Marionsquilts had a great post, especially for high drive dogs. I completely agree with what she said about the dogs needing to feel safe. My dog had same issues, kids come in and stare at dogs, many dogs misinterpret and feel uneasy with this. Make sure you tell the kids " no look, no touch, no talking to dogs, completely ignore them until you have things under control. The dogs need to know your handling the situation, not them. You can do this, dogs will usually get it but takes some work. Good luck.