I am fostering a wire fox terrier. She is 3 years old and was owned by an elderly man who probably allowed her free run of the house . Liaka was trained to potty on a potty pad in the garage. Difficult to housebreak but has improved.

Liaka has a problem attacking the door whenever someone tries to leave. Very annoying to me,but what about her new adoptive home. Few people are willing to tolerate this kind of behavior and will return her.Maybe some one has an idea on how to change this behavior. She will also go in the crate,turn around and start barking.

I am going to make sure her new adopters are aware of her need for plenty of exersize.

You mean after they leave and the door is closed, or what?

She will start growling as you approach the door,anticipating your leaving. Then bite at the bottom of the door and maybe try to grab a foot and shake it. After the door is shut the jumping up and down begins as she watches you leave.

So no drag line, free run of the house? How long have you had her?

I would teach a wanted door behavior (marker training) with this dog for both doorbell and leave-taking.

That is, I would focus on teaching what I want rather than correcting for everything I don't want. It's far more specific, fun to train, confidence-building for the dog ....

You would have access to a potential adopter, right?

I have a potential adopter.When the dog first arrived she did not eat for a few days.After about 2 or 3 weeks she stopped eating again. Took her to the vet and treated with antibiotics due to a fever and high white blood cell count.About three weeks later her real self began to appear as she started eating normally.

I have been teaching her to sit at the door and marking it with a click and a treat. I am concerned the adopter will send her back to me because she is a very dominant dog.

"Dominant" meaning ...... ?

No drag line, free run of the house? How long have you had her?


I'd start a similar training program with the door-leaving behavior.

If you try to correct her she will growl and she also guards her ball when I allow her to have one.Does not guard her food at least not from people. Some times she has a line on,but not always. I have to leave for work,Thanks for the help and I will check the board somewhere around midnight tonight.

That's not really what "dominant" means. It does mean she's not ready to be adopted, though.

"If you try to correct her she will growl "

Correct her how, and for what behavior? Details.


How long have you had her? I'm not just asking for fun (3rd time). Some kinds of behavior kind of "come with" a dog who is new to the house. If she has been there for months and is doing this, that's different (for me) from being there for a few weeks, part of the time being sick and maybe having no training.

But all these things can be re-trained. There's no instant fix, but none of it sounds insurmountable. We need more details, though.

Also, who is she guarding the ball from? Are there other dogs? Is she hunching over it to keep you from taking it back? Details.

"Does not guard her food at least not from people." Meaning ..... ? Are there other dogs approaching her bowl?

I'm working with a 10 year old fox terrier and he has super prey drive. He has some separation anxiety and a lot of ball crazy/field crazy (boing boing boing boing boing). I'm finding his biggest challenge is learning to Sit, Down, and Wait. It's so interesting, because when we exercise those commands (with clicker and treat) he is so pooped out after the session!

I practice them everywhere. For the first 6 months we thought he had a problem with his hips because he couldn't seem to sit. Now he offers sits all the time, hoping for a treat. It's amazing to see the difference. I can even get him to sit and wait for the ball throw out on the field, which is extremely difficult for him. I have to time my click to catch him when his entire body isn't quivering with excitement.

He has some crate issues, so for his new soft crate for car rides, I spent a couple of weeks with daily crate exercises - yup - Sit, Down, Wait in the Crate! Today we had our inaugural voyage in the car with dogs in their new soft crates. Skipper was awesome! Especially on the trip home, when I realized I had to leave the top flap zipped closed or he would ride with his head sticking out the top of the crate.

I guess what I am saying is that living with Skipper is like living with a 20 lb alligator crossed with a humming bird. But entirely trainable, his food drive almost matches his ball drive, and he loves to learn. And it turns out the commands he needs are not that hard to teach.

Who ever adopts your fox terrier, has to be committed to learning to train and play with this dog. As I said, Skipper is 10 years old and runs circles around every single dog we have met so far.

We have had her about three months. Lika will play with a ball for hours by herself.But if a person or another dog tries to grab it she just holds it in her mouth and growls. She does hunch over the ball and growl if a person tries to take it from her.Its the problem at the door that bothers me the most. I wonder why she tries to attack the door when someone tries to leave the house.So difficult to describe dog behavior on the internet.