My 7 y o f pointer mix goes balistic (howling, barking, lunging, and trying to chew up the window blinds when someone is spotted walking on the sidewalk in front of my house. Person could be walking, on a bike, with or without a dog. I am looking for a form of correction to use to stop this behavior. Verbal commands are not doing the trick, obviously... Time out in her cage seems weak? A prong collar could result in more aggression? What would you do? I know most of you would have curbed this behavior long before this point, but I was ignorant.

Denise Schuler
SCS, MI
Dog owner

Personally, I think an e-collar would be best, because the dog won't have to be wearing a leash and you won't have to be right beside her to give the correction. Get a good one, like a Dogtra or TriTronics, fit it high on the dog's neck, and snug (you shouldn't be able to get more than 1 finger between the strap and the dog's neck) - see THIS PAGE. Make putting it on a routine - put it on first thing in the morning and leave it on all day, taking it off at bedtime. This way the collar won't mean a thing to her.

Find the level at which she can just feel the stim upon pressing the button, as explained in the link I provided above, and know that you will have to raise this level for it to be effective as a correction for going ballistic at people passing by outside. I'm not familiar with TriTronics, but if you get a Dogtra collar, start out at roughly 3-5 levels higher than her everyday working level (don't try it until she starts the unwanted behavior). Allow her to start the behavior, and press and hold the continuous button until she stops. If the level isn't high enough to cause her to yelp and jump away from the window, then slowly turn up the dial until she does. For everyday use, you don't want this kind of reaction, but for the problem you are having, you want it to hurt a little. Otherwise, it will not be effective as a correction and could make her behavior worse.

When she jumps away from the window, praise her (and if you want to use a clicker, click and treat) and be happy and upbeat. Allow her to go back up to the window if she wants, but if she begins the barking, etc. press and hold the button again until she jumps back away from the window again. You probably won't have to hold it down for more than a second. Remember to praise her anytime she's at the window and NOT causing a ruckus. You don't want her to be afraid of the window, you want her to understand that her behavior upon seeing someone passing by is unacceptable.

I'm sure you'll get more advice from others. Good luck!

Using an Ecollar set so high as to cause pain can work but it can also result in all sorts of fallout, undesired, unexpected behavior. In this case you may get lucky and the dog will realize that it's the barking and acting up behavior that causes the stim to start and stopping that behavior will make it stop.

But what's just as likely is that the dog will associate the pain with the person walking by and can increase the undesired behavior. The dog comes to believe that the person (whom the dog already regards as a threat) can hurt him from a distance, convincing the dog that he's right to fear or be threatened by him. Another thing that may happen is that the dog will shut off the aggressive display but will still have the mindset that caused it. This can be extremely dangerous. You think that, because your dog is no longer acting a fool, that he's OK with those who walk by your house. In fact he's ready to go from calm to murder. All you've done is to shut off the display. And when those people are your guests, you won't be able to tell how the dog is feeling about them, because the usual warnings that dogs give will have been suppressed.

Success with using an Ecollar is much more likely if you guide the dog into the desired behavior, instead of merely pressing the button and hoping for the best.

In this case I'd suggest that you first teach the dog the recall and the sit with the Ecollar. This teaches the dog that it's his behavior that makes the stim start and stop. Then give the dog a sit command when he starts this behavior. The sit means to sit and "not bark." This will stop the howling, barking, lunging, and trying to chew up the window blinds" that you describe.

Once the dog knows that it's his behavior that makes the stim start and stop, you can use the tool, at the lowest level that the dog can perceive in this situation, to stop the behavior.

Just pressing the button and causing pain, may work. But it also can make the problem far worse.

Ms Cabe and Mr Castle, Thank you for your input, I will attempt to introduce the e-collar slowly with simple behavior issues first before tackeling the passers-by behavior. Maizey is very food driven and distracted when she knows I have treats, so she usually response to this positive reinforcement as well.

Denise Schuler
SCS, MI
Dog owner