monty2011

Monty will be a year on the 1st feb, hes doing very well and is very big and strong-he does not realise this when he gallops across me when we're playing! He is still as stubborn as ever and i love his little attitude but there are some things i am try to fix so that i can have non-dog people
over more often without him annoying them. It is a struggle and a battle of wills with monty.

When i have a treat he can sit, sit and stay and leave the treat until i clap my hands, he can lie down and we are in the process of learning roll over. He is smart but often his genius is put into mischief!! He walks quite well on the lead however he has issues going in a straight line-he doesnt look were he is going and keeps his nose to the ground the whole time, if he smells something good he suctions himself to the ground and either refuses to move or else pulls like a baby rhino to get to whatever it is.

I wanted to ask if it is normal for him to still have the puppy energy? He still charges about with his toys and is always exploring something with his mouth. It may be because he is big now it just seems more boisterous. In the morning when i come down he gallops back and forth from room to room and jumps up on me all the time-i have bruises!!!


The main problems are the jumping up, i have always tried to teach him
down but he is unbeleivably persistant, sometimes he jumps up and runs off. We started doing this thing when he jumps up were we raise one finger and say down and dont do anything until he gets down, he then started to lie down when we do that and then rolls over onto his back and make noises that sound like "come on play with me!", when he lies down or rolls over we give him praise and a belly rub. But two seconds later he jumps up again, its like he is trying to obey but there is so much energy
and excitment he cant help himself. I have been reading Mikey T's comments and am thinking now that actually we are rewarding him in some way when he does this. Sometimes i try and ignore monty and then he pokes me with his paws or does something he knows will get him attention like counter surfing.


The other thing is counter surfing. It is truly admirable the stubborness he has when it comes to food being at stake. Every time i turn my back he is up on his hind legs looking to see if he can get anything off the counter. I have recently observed monty actually moving the kitchen chairs out so he can climb up on them and walk across our kitchen table!!!! I was told to try chillis and that it would put him off-he ate six chillis off the counter and didnt even go looking for a drink of water! I say down in a firm tone but he ignores me unless i go over to him and then he runs off. I dont know how to get him to do this-ive heard people say even thier older bassets do this all their life?? any tips???


The last is something i NEED to sort out. He still mouths, i want to pet him but he can be head shy, sometimes he lets me stroke his head and i tell him good boy in a soft voice, then he throws his head back rolls over and tries to pull my hands over and chew my hands. He is far to big for this and it can be sore if i catch his teeth the wrong way. For this reason i will not let children or some people near him if we are out because im afraid they may think he bites when he thinks hes just playing.It is a shame because he is freindly. I have tried pulling my hands away, and yelling in a high picthed voice 'ouch'. He looks at me shocked and then makes a big sighing noise like hes frustrated i wont play and then tries again. If i dont let him near my hands he comes over and paws me with his paws which
can be sore as he has large feet and claws or tries to put his head under my hands and arms to get my arms apart. I fold my arms and then he starts pulling the bottoms of my trousers and rolling over on his back making mumbling noises-i have also watch him do this with my other dogs at my parents when they refuse to play-but monty then just climbs on their back and tries to wrestle. how do i get him to stop without allowing him away with this behaviour like pulling my shoes if i ignore him?

Also, it is a shame i cant let him near kids for this reason. Monty loves people but i feel he is too enthusiastic right now and worry hed knock a child over, also with kids high pichted noises hed get more excited and if they wave their hands about also. yet i know i need to practice with him to get him used to people more. He is walked twice a day for 45 mins and i live in the city so he is used to people yet he still pulls to get over to see people and other dogs. I also am worried as he sometimes is very timid. I noticed it after he was nipped by another dog when he was a few months old. The other owner had his dogs off their lead and monty was very young and was excited to see the other dog. It nipped him in the face and drew blood, but just as the dog bit, the male owner shouted in a deep voice and raised his hand, monty was frighted and i think monty thought the man was yelling at him and going to hit him. I notice he is timid around
some men who are very big. He gets excited to see people but sometimes when they come over he goes down as if he is bowing and his head tilts to the side with his ears back and his tail down sort of wagging. He sniffs the peoples hand nervously and licks it, but when they move to stroke him he jumps from side to side-he doesnt seem to know what to do. But in my house he is fine if someone comes in. I dont want it to turn into fear biting-any tips??

also, out of interest can anyone tell me if their basset seem to ignore social cues with other dogs. my other 2 dogs will be tired playing and monty still persists. my old lab even growls but monty just gets excited. He doesnt live the other two dogs so it is just him. He has no concept that all food is not his and will go to eat out of their bowls while theyre eating! i have been wondering if he thinks he is head of the pack. But i dont know because i thought if he was head then he would not let anyone near his food. Monty will let other dogs and cats eat out of his bowl at the same time he is eating, he will not take a bone if hes growled at.
From the beginning i taught him that i am allowed around his food to avoid guarding behaviour and food aggression, i did the things were you remove the bowl while hes eating and then give it back as a pup. he has never shown any aggression with food or toys(or any aggression at all). I can put his collar on him while hes eating and hes fine, also, he will bring
his bones up and put them on my knee and eat it off my knee, i can touch the bone and lift it away and it doesnt phase him. what is the pack order here? does he actually have one??

So does anyone have any tips for me about these behaviours-i feel ive
been confusing him in these areas. also any stories of your dogs bad habits would make me feel better lol.

thanks

vonny01

He sounds like a normal adolescent hound to me

Mikey T

What you got is a whole lot of rude and obnoxious attention seeking behavior. the only way to combat this is to teach more appropriate behavior the reason such behavior occur is yes because they are rewarded. the other porpblem is we humans tend to ignore more polite ways to ask for attention. This is where IMHO a NILIF works well. It provides a means for the human to ignore rude behavior and reward more polite behavior.

see Should You Use “Nothing in Life Is Free” with Your Dog?

let us look at on behavior an you will get an idea how the behavior is being rewarded.
He jumps up for attention and while you thing the rasing a finger etc might either be teaching an alternate behavior or be a werning to him it is interaction. You need to ingnore the jumping up behavior turn you back and leave if you must but doing anything when the dog is jumping up is good to be a reward when the dog has four feet on the ground then you can interact with him.

see Quick Fix for a Jumping Dog
There are no real solutions to counter surfing once it starts in a basset. The average basset is always hungry regardless of when it last ate. IMHO it is a manifestation of selective breed for hunting traits. Image two dogs of equal ability one gets full after eating breakfast and one does not. Which dog is going to be the more persistent and better hunter. the one that is still hungery or the one that is sated? So first we have a constant motivation for the dog. next lets talk about the reward. Don't know what you know about reward ratio's and the like. In most training the idea is dog does thing to your satitisfaction ie meets the criteria it gets a reward. basic one for one. Easy for the dog to figure out ask for a sit but the dog pause before resonding you don't reward dog figure out only quick response are reward and hence responds faster. so it a straight one for one makes raising criteria easier . however the behavior are more prone to extinction that is ending when reward ends. If the dog soes every thing it normal does to get a reward but doesn't get one it can get a bit confussed but if this starts happening consitently the dog is going to stop doing that behavior.

no let us ingtroduce variable reinforcement. It means just that not on a fixed schedual not every one, two or tree successful completions will be reward but some time it will take only one other time four, or two then five etc. sort of like a Las vegas slot machine. the dog learns from this that the behavior pays of some but not all the time it continues the behavior because it is sometimes rewarded but the behavior is much harder to extinquish because the dog has learned and expects it won't pay off every time. this is why counter surfing is nearly impossible to extinquish it is variable reinforece that is the dog get a reward only occasionally.

The easiest solution is to not reward the dog for the behavior in the first place. if you want another idea which I doubt will work not because the premise is bad but i don't thing too many can actual follow through with it.

Technique Challenge: Counter Surfing

mouthing in a one year old is to be expected. but it looks like you might not be giving him adequite outlent for his chewing etc. I would strongly suggest instilling a game like tugging
it is through games like this you can instill the confidence in yourself and the dog it can control himself and his mouth without causing injury from link above
it is more likely you are misreading the dogs If they truely had a problem with missing doggy cues you would know it.

so what is the problem if eating out of other bowls is acceptable rule in your house. IF it is not then you need to do a better job of teaching and enforcing the rules. food bowl ettiquite is not an inheireted trait it is learned. see WHY NOT TAKE CANDY FROM A BABY? (If he lets you!)
Examines manipulation as part of social life, and the dog's need for clear boundaries & leadership

not likely but my guess is the hand are coming from in front of the dog and for high to low. all in doggydom are aggressive and dominate acts. you may want to teach stranger a more appropriate way to approach a dog.

How to Greet a Dog Ebook: Free Download for One Week Only!


None dogs do not form packs
The Social Organization of the Domestic Dog A Longitudinal Study of Domestic Canine Behavior and the
Ontogeny of Canine Social Systems


Dominance in domestic dogs useful construct or bad habit?
Why Dominance won't die?
[quoteAt the same time, studies of the domestic dog have also moved on. It has been well established that the social behaviour of the domestic dog is unlike that of the wolf. The domestic dog is a neotonised version of the wolf-type ancestor, a specialised variant that evolved into a newly formed environmental niche to scavenge the domestic waste of human settlements. These adaptations removed the need to operate as a true wolf pack and consequently there is little collaboration in hunting or in care of offspring, but much more cooperation with strangers, dog or human. Although dogs congregate in groups around resources, they do not form packs in the cohesive family way that wolves still do.[/quote]

Mikey T

But him and mariah a now 12 year old female to gether at the end of the day there will be one dog still ready to go somemore and another "dog-tired" I'd put the odds at about 9,999,999 to one that the dog still standing is the 12 year old. no he is not hyper or abnormal.

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My Rosie is 10 and still has lots of puppy energy. That's 10 YEARS. This is her in October.


As for the counter surfing, in my experience it's easier and less frustrating to just not leave stuff within reach (easier said than done, I know, but still easier than trying to teach them not to do it).

Somebody needs to post that video of the basset moving the chair around the kitchen to counter surf.

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