I have FINALLY had enough of the negative interaction between DH and Loki. She barks, he yells stop it and then she barks again until and he gives in and gives her treat to shut her up.
Seeing that this is clearly NOT working (for us, anyway, works great for Loki) and seeing that DH is clearly NOT changing strategies (I mean, wth? :verdict:) we have instituted the following plan:
Loki barks at DH and when DH says "No!" and snaps his fingers, she gets a little squirt from behind the scenes. (heh heh I can aim pretty good from behind the sofa or table.) Our goal is to make the finger snapping associated with a squirt, and eventually dispense with the squirt.
A dog trainer once told me that in order to train them not to do something the dog has to think that the consequences occur without the human doing it. "They think the house is doing it." I know I am not explaining this well...
Anyway, we KNOW that when Loki sees the spray bottle all we get are more barks and then snarls, so I thought, she can't see the water coming.
Sooooo...after a few squirts last night she lay down on her bed in the living room and sulked, then got a chewie and joined us on the sofa. Loki is clearly wrapping her mind around this new situation--and I am not altogether sure she has not had this technique before.
Ideas? suggestions?
Sounds like you're on the right track. I once did the squirt bottle with Rudy-angel. Rudy, never one to back down from a challenge, managed to get hold of the squirt bottle and summarily destroyed it.
We have had to do the spray bottle training with Duggie and his need to bark when outside or inside.......we tell him no bark and if he still insists on barking, then he got sprayed along with the term "squirt". With the few weeks of working with him, we now say squirt and he stops.....he does a low grumble for a few seconds but he associates the word squirt with if I don't be quiet, I'm gonna get wet from the spray bottle. He doesn't even like the small amount of wet from the spray bottle......he might melt! And, even though I or Dave have never sprayed them with the hose, when either of them see the hose with water coming out of the spray nozzle, they are on the deck and super quiet! Their association, we better be good or we'll get wet!
from
http://hubpages.com/hub/Dog_misbehavior_Bad_Dog
here's what I was trying to say earlier
"Warning: Dogs are generally smarter than we think, and in order for our dogs not to associate the bad and feared squirt with the people they love, it is best to be as sneaky and inconspicuous as possible. DO NOT under any circumstance let your dog know you are culprit with the squirt gun. Let them think it is the hand of God that strikes them, and be the loving compassionate parent instead."