Tralfaz, the original name of Astro from The Jetsons, grew up to be a very large and very vocal dog. While he may not share his opinions by saying "Ruh roh," he certainly makes a lot of other sounds to express his thoughts, and he has many of them. Whines, sighs, play barks, serious barks, disgusted huffs, rusty yawns, anxious yodels, he does them all.
The late Nipper, named for the famous RCA mascot, certainly liked to nip as a puppy, and was always as spunky and chipper as the name would suggest.
And the name for Izzy, the new dog, often comes up in conversation, as in: Izzy ever going to stop biting us? Izzy ever going to stop tearing at the rugs? Izzy ever going to sleep in a crate successfully? Izzy ever going to be sane? And the answer to all of these and many similar questions to date is: NO.
There are several issues at play here. One is that when we got him he needed elbow surgery and he currently has hip dysplasia, and we've always been cautious about exercising him too much and causing him pain. However, an energetic young dog who doesn't get enough activity is a dog that will destroy everything in his path, so while he hasn't reached that stage yet, we are upping the walks & frolic time.
Another issue is that he has never shaken the idea that the best way to initiate play is to start biting. Dude, that worked when you and your siblings were the size and shape of dinner rolls, but that's got to stop! The odd thing is, Iz never bites Fazzy. Just the hands that feed him.
A third is he has not figured out a way to tell us when he has to go out, so he -- you guessed it! -- bites. My wife has ordered these bells that -- seriously! -- you can train your dog to use to let you know it's time to go. Like he's calling for the concierge.
I'll update you on how that works out.
Finally, Izzy is still like a toddler, in that he just goes on one speed until he collapses. Whereas a toddler will be having the time of his life and suddenly fall asleep or burst out crying, Izzy has another behavior. Rhymes with kites. I might be sitting with him of an evening, holding his favorite Benebone chew toy, and suddenly CHOMP -- he's moved past the toy bone and onto the Fred bone.
It's not like we haven't been training. He gets training every day. He definitely gets negative consequences for bad behavior, usually exile into the pen for a timeout. Sometimes he'll reform and be a humble bumble for a while; sometimes he'll come out and chomp right where he left off. My wife has threatened to send him back, and I've threatened to put him in a huge box with a sign offering a lousy dog to anyone who can stand him for free. Free to (very tough) home.
We hoped his behavior would improve when he got his adult teeth, then when he got elbow surgery, then when he got neutered, then when... I don't even remember what other milestones he's chewed his way past. He'll be a year old in about six weeks, and I guess we could hope for more mature behavior, or at least more acceptance of correction to bad behavior, at that time. Seems like a pretty forlorn hope at this point.
The worst thing about it is, when he is good, he is the sweetest dog in the world.
That's how they getcha!
4 comments:
Bite him back Fred. You could make the local headlines.
I proclaim myself the inventor of the pet doorbell, because in the 90's I had the idea to hang a bell at my cat's level from the doorknob, so he would softly ring it instead of bellowing a loud whiny meow. He learned quickly. How cute, my kitty is a genius, etc. In fact, he was smarter than me, who failed to think of the consequences of a cat who wants out at 2:00 am, as they often do. He would start with the soft tinkle, and then build up to grabbing the bell in both paws and slamming it against the door repeatedly. Of course then he would have to start bellowing the loud whiny meows because I was trying to ignore him. When he passed away, I took the bell down and did not teach the method to any subsequent cats.
Thanks for the advice, Bear! And thank you, Anonymous Person. The fear of 24/7 jingling is on my mind, but my wife says she knows the Technique that will prevent the pup from demanding to go out for fun & games and only use it for potty breaks. We shall see.
Hannah will bark at the sound of a leaf falling. Bandit will usually ignore those barks. But other barks, such as someone coming to the door, or seeing another dog walk past and he'll jump right in. Somehow he's able to make distinctions between those barks that all sound the same to me.
rbj
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