constant crying

[Maria]

Gina,
I think the other advice about 'demoting' Barkley would be to make sure he eats after you (or at least you appear to eat something in his presence before he has his meals), that he goes through doors / narrow openings after you, and to try and train him not to pull on his lead (if he does). Also, if he lies at the bottom of the stairs / door openings (guarding), make him move if you want to get by, and make him come to you if he wants attention. Having control over his toys should also elevate your position. These are all tips from Jan Fennel (and John Fisher's) books, which can be easier said than done, but do make a difference!
Good luck!                    

[Michele]

Has anyone else got any other tips for removing Barkley from the top of our pack, things we can do to help get the message across, as i'm sure once he knows he doesn't have to worry about us all of the time, everything will hopefully fall into place.



Gina

Hi Gina,
Its not just about removing Barkley's status but elevating yours too. Things like going through a door first, eating before he does (even if you eat your meal later, have a biscuit or cracker...thing of pack order in lions/wolves, the alphas get to eat the kill first). Teaching Barkley to wait before he is allowed his food is an excellent way of elevating your status. Make sure he makes eye contact with you first before giving the go ahead. This means that he acknowledges your status and is looking to you for your next command.
As the others have said Jan Fennels book may strike a cord with some & not others, but I still think it is well worth reading. If you only find a couple of things that you agree with and you implement them with success then its got to be worthwhile.
Good luck                      

[Jane S]

Ok, Gina why do you feel Barkley is acting as "top dog"? A dog displaying signs of separation anxiety is often a distressed dog - he is not howling as an act of dominance in my opinion. Yes a lot of what Jan Fennel makes sense but I don't agree that a dog that is noisy when left alone is behaving like this because he feels responsible for the rest of his pack and sees the humans in his family as his "children" - there is absolutely no evidence to back up this theory. Dogs are social animals - it is not in their nature to spend time totally alone but this is something we have to teach them to accept as, in the real world, most of us cannot spend 24 hours a day with our dogs :wink:

Dogs that suffer from separation anxiety are frequently the clingy, submissive type -they get distressed when left alone because they have not learnt that it's ok to be alone sometimes. I see this sometimes with new puppy owners who are afraid to leave their puppy alone to begin with and so the puppy gets used to round the clock company - something that is not good for any pet dog who has to learn that sometimes he must spend time alone. Separation anxiety is also fairly common in rescue dogs who are understandably insecure as a result of the changes in their lives. If you apply status reduction techniques to a nervous, clingy type of dog, then you are going to make that dog even more unhappy and confused. Of course these techniques will be more successful with dogs that display separation anxiety because they are attention-seeking or trying to manipulate the owner but they cannot be applied across the board to every dog regardless of their personality or the reasons for the behaviour - that can lead to even more problems. For what it's worth, I would follow the advice given by Linda and Penny B earlier in this thread and if you are patient and consistent, you will see an improvement.                    

[Magic Star]

I have to agree with Jane on this one   a dog who thinks hes is the top of the pack is usually a pushy, confident dog, who wouldn't have a problem being left alone.  A dog with seperation anxiety is a dog who through either their own personality, or that of their owner or circumstances that have surrounded the dog, becomes insecure of being left alone.  As with my Sheba, it wasn't necesarrily me she was howling for, as if my mum went into the house, she would settle down :?    

I have had a rescue dog that thought she was top dog and believe you and me, you would certainly know about it, if Barkley was showing signs of this.  Basically the rescue who wasn't a cocker, was very pushy, she would come and demand to be stroked, demand her food, almost command us into doing what she wanted, we only had her three days, till one day she actually cornered me on the stairs, she wouldn't let me up my own stairs, it was really frightening, I had to leave the house and call the rescue centre for help :roll:  they took her back, as she was displaying such worrying behaviour

I hope this puts Barkleys behaviour into persepctive I am sure if you keep following the good advise given, you will be able to nip the anxiety in the bud.

Take care                    

[Colin]

From personal experience I'd advise some caution when putting some of Jan Fennel's ideas into practice. For example she suggests when you start her training programme you should ignore your dog for a full 24 hours, when I did this with Jimmy it made him withdrawn and sullen.... he seemed to  have lost a bit of trust in me.  As he was quite a shy pup I felt that he'd been set back months by this and I really regretted doing it. I still do the ignoring to a certain extent if he and Misty get too excited when I come in but not to the extremes that Fennel suggests. A lot of what she says is very good, but these things are hardly her own original ideas it seems.

In her book she says that she once ignored one of her bitches for a full four days as it had had a confrontation with another of her bitches who was in season. She wouldn't even let it integrate with her other dogs during this period.  :shock: This strikes me as little more than mental cruelty, how could a dog associate being shunned for so long with it's initial bad behaviour ? I don't agree with her idea that you should try and discourage your dogs from playing with dogs they've never met before either. Surely socialising with as many dogs as possible is a good thing. :?:                    

[Magic Star]

:shock: Good grief I would certainly not be able to ignore Indie for more than 20 mins, never mind 4 days :shock:  :?   I have never read this book, and I don't think I will be in any hurry to read it :roll:   To be honest I haven't  read any dog behaviour books :?   I think a lot of it is just pure common sence, and what works on one dog may not work on another :?   I don't doubt there is some great information out there on behavioural problems etc, but sometimes the best knowledge you can obtain is by learning what works best for you and your dog, and seeing what has worked for other people on forums like this one

Colin, I see your point entirely on the ignoring for 24 hours suggestion :roll:  I can't see what benefit that would have atall :?  but then I am no expert, maybe it does work, I would be interested to know how many people have used this method and had some success with it