need help with mounting problem

this is getting out of control, and its something that recently started for Jake. I had some friends over and he mounted a 7 year old, after she bent over to pick up Wylies toy, she could have really been hurt. she did have a few scratches. Recently I started to do excersise on the floor and he thinks that gives him the go ahead to mount me and I cant get him off. He is 8 years old, nuetured. and 100#. How do I put a stop to this? my husband says to bop him in the mouth, I said how is anything possible when has has me pinned down. He has always thought of me as his play toy when I am on the ground, but he never use to do this, what is going on and how can I stop it???

 

The WDJ had a nice article on this a while back. I can't seem to find mine though to read it over.
If you can figure out the triggers you can teach him an alternative behavior...something incompatible with mounting. For instance, your exercising or otherwise laying on the floor seems to be a trigger. If you can get your husband to help maybe the two of you can teach him to down-stay or go to a designated area "his place" whenever someone lays on the floor? Just a thought.

 

Does he have a good stay? I always wanted to teach my dogs to "go lie down" or "go to your place" but I have been too lazy.

 

I have just taught mine to "Get". This means go sit or lay on the corner of the dining room rug. I've been using it frequently while I'm in the kitchen cooking. I'm constantly tripping over them as they hang around my legs waiting for me to clumbsily drop food on the floor as I'm preparing it. LOL. I don't even have to tell Natalie most of the time...as soon as she sees me starting to prepare food in the kitchen she goes to the corner of the dining room rug all by herself. I'm so proud of her.

 

How did you teach it, Nern?

 

Jake is the "you cant each and old dog new tricks". For 8 years we have struggled training him, he is just so darn stubborn. He refuses to learn and we went about it all wrong training him when he was young.

I sat and thought and about it last night that I think its also a dominance issues thats gettig out of hand. you see Wylie is the dominant dog over Jake, but Jake is dominant over us, I know aBIG NO NO. I was sitting on the couch and he wanted to play, and usually I do because its his time since I Iave been gone all day. but last night I ignored him, so he sat there and barked and barked because I was ignoring him, he was gettnig mad. I tought maybe I should do this more often, like play time is when Iwant ton, not when he wants to. Is this right??

Nern, I get hte WDJ and dont remember that, I will look it up though as you can order back articles

 

Have you tried clicker training? It may take a while, but there is usually SOME method that works for a dog, even an older dog.

And yes, playing should be on YOUR terms. If he comes to you and wants to play and you don't, then don't! If he comes to you and wants to play and you do, then ask him for some tricks before you agree. Make him sit or whatever else he knows, and THEN play with him.

Do this for everything - eating, going outside, being petted, playing, etc. He will learn that all good things come from you, ONLY if he listens and does what you say first.

Now, since he is older and stuck in his ways and stubborn to boot, you probably have quite a struggle ahead of you if you want to do this. You and your husband will have to be consistent and PATIENT and persistent. When I started making Nala sit to go outside even when she was really, really excited, it would sometimes take me 20 minutes to be able to let her out. I'd ask for the command, she'd ignore, I'd walk away. Rinse and repeat. She had to obey within THREE seconds or I'd walk away. It probably took a week or two. Now she skids to the door on her butt, smashing her nose into the crack between the door and the jam, and waits for it to open. LMAO. :lol:

 

This may not be the popular answer...but if he is stubborn and you want results...try using a citronella collar. I call it the "act of God training". They don't associate the spritz coming from you, mine always run to me as if to say "Mom! did you see that?"
I paid $99 for mine on ebay and I have found several times when it was handy for training. If you want to excercise, keep the remote in your hand, when he starts to mount you spritz him and then go on with what you were doing. The spray doesn't hurt him or you.
We never had any issues with mounting until Annie came into the house, now they have all done it at one time or another. Usually to each other and not anyone else. Witt and Dooley have not done it to people. Annie will do it to people in the house and we have worked on it. She does it as a dominant thing...the times she chooses to do it leave no doubt for me. I have not used the collar on her yet for this issue...but she is only 60 pounds and I have no trouble tossing her hiney off and getting up to make sure she understands it's not gonna happen, usually that means "the look" and body stance...if it is repeated she goes to her room alone..no more play or company.. Makes me think of that commercial..."This is Momma's house!" (mom playing basketball with kids in driveway)
I have learned to anticipate the behavior with Annie so she gets the message very quickly that it's not allowed. If she does it to the kids...it usually takes a minute before they realize whats happening. Whic is not helpful in training her not to do it.

 

HAHAHAHAHA!!! I can just see the looks on their little faces! :lol:

 

I swear this thing has come in so handy. Of course it's not good for anything and everything but I have certainly found some good uses. Dooley was killing all my shrubs and plants in the flower beds by peeing on them and trampling them. Put collar on and spritzed anytime he stepped into the beds...eye opener for him...the plants pee back!
Witt fence fighting with neighbor dog...collar on..ONE TIME, neither dog will pay any attention to the other now. Witt was the quick learner on this..he won't even look at the other dog.
Darby...barks everytime anyone enters or leaves the house, you tell him hush..he barks back. He was not learning to quit barking after the initial.."Mom someone is here" as the other dogs have..he is old and I was sure he would never learn. Collar is working wonders on that too!
Annie jumps all over my vintage very hard to find expensive diner style table and chairs in the kitchen anytime someone is outside, after she tore one of the chairs in her scramble to get to the window I decided to put on the collar she is still growling and scampers around in a scramble but she doesn't get on the table or chairs and when I call her to me she comes and sits with me. Of course she has to moan groan grumble and whine in an effort to tell me that an invader is outside...but she sits. I always go and look to let her know I value her warning...but she needs to know that destroying things to get to window is not ok.

 

Do you find that they know when that particular collar goes on, something is going to happen? I swear, Nala would learn that the bushes only pee back if she is wearing the collar.

 

haha, I will have to look into that Maisey, Maybe I could cure Jake of jumping on people when they walk in the door, Wylie from barking everytime she hears a truck rumble pastor sees a bicyclist. I have seen those collars but didnt know they had a remote control, boy they are pricey. $180 so you got a good deal

DO you think it would get confusing if you used it on other issues at the same time? or would you work on one at a time until they were "cured"?


Jimiya, my parents have a shick collar for their shitzu and she learned right away, every once in awhile, she starts up again and all they have to do is put the collar on and dont even have to turn it on

 

Yes I think they figure out that the collar on means something can happen... although Annie comes running when she see's the collar, she likes when I put it on, so I'm not sure what her connection is. They have to be able to smell the citronella on the collar... so I would think she wouldn't want it on.
The key is marking unwanted behavior, and it takes repetition usually. They don't know I am causing the consequence for the behavior..they just know there is one. I haven't been able to leave it on one dog for any period of time, so I have been working on specific behaviors. I know when the mailman is going to get here so I make sure Annie is wearing it a good hour before he gets here. I know when Shawn is going to come home, so I make sure Darby is wearing it a long while before that time. I also mark wanted behavior with it..there is a button for a beep and I use it like a clicker, so the collar isn't all about bad. For Dooley, I put the collar on first thing in the morning when I get up, he wears it while I start coffee and do my normal morning stuff before I let them outside to go potty. It's just sort of anticipating behavior, when it will happen and setting them up so you can mark it.
There are cironella collars that are just for barking..no remote and they are a lot less expensive. I looked at alot of sites for the remote one I have and found that $120-$130 was average retail. You can type in the name of it on e-bay and watch for one to come up...mine was brand new in orginal box..never been opened. Spray Commander by Premier Remote Control training System. I think the place I got mine from carries them all the time.

 

ha ha ha... I taught Granvel...he he he.. that every time I layed down he couldn't mount ....laughing at this post...but gimmi a sec...

I sternly said no and continued what i was doing....if he tried again I clapped my hands really no and acted like he was hurting me....

Funny thing is it worked when Red Dog tried to do that to me as well!!!!!

When we first got him,he was dominat like that. But I just tried the Granvel trick on him and he quit!!! LOL!!!

 

One day after I tripped over Natalie while cooking I walked her out of the kitchen to the corner of the dining room rug and told her to stay. I then walked back into the kitchen, grabbed a handful of crutons (I was making a salad) and gave them to her. After I finished making my salad I headed out of the kitchen and there Natalie was in the same spot I left her with an anxious look on her face so I ran back into the kitchen grabbed a handful of NB dog treats and said "Good girl!!" and gave them to her. The next day she did it on her own while I made my food and I rewarded her heavily on my way out of the kitchen...a couple times I think she forgot but I just said "Get" (did'nt choose this cue intentially) and she went right to that carpet corner.

Two days ago I decided to do the same thing with Sebastian. First, I said "Get" and shuffled my feet to herd him out of the kitchen. I had him sit next to Natalie and told them to stay. Grabbed some treats and ran them out to them before he had a chance to come back into the kitchen. He kept sneaking back into the kitchen every couple minutes so I would say "Get" and herd him back out...wait a few minutes and bring him a treat. Yesterday, he snuck back into the kitchen a few times but stayed on the corner of the rug next to Natalie for the most part and I was making a cassarole so I was in the kitchen for a good 30 minutes....Natalie did'nt budge once. I gave them a couple treats every few minutes as long as they both stayed there....they both got 2 jackpots for Sebastians longest stays. I'm hoping that Sebastian will be as reliable as Natalie because it sure is nice not tripping over them. LOL.

 

Oh that's a good idea Nern. I guess it really doesn't have to be far away for them to sit, does it? Zoey points herself right at my feet when I'm in the corner of the kitchen cooking. And yes, she has accidently been rewarded lol. If I start hollering, she goes and sits in the doorway where she can still see. I think I'm gonna try a word, instead of hollering. And reward her appropriately.

 

Interesting! I'm not sure Nala would want to stay, but as long as she was out of the kitchen I suppose the effect is the same. Nala has to try all sorts of variations just to see what mommy will do next. Bonnie just stares at you with her big eyes and wags her darling tail ferociously.

I swear, Maisey, that even though Nala wouldn't know the correction was coming from me, she WOULD know it came from the collar. (And she might even connect that both the collar AND me had to be present at the same time.) Therefore, she would behave perfectly with it on and ignore all rules when it was off. She used to do this with her training exercises. The trainer at the puppy class I took her to said ALWAYS put the collar on (and she recommended a head halter as well) and keep the dog leashed while training. While this works well to initially teach them what you want them to do, it was totally impractical for us. For one thing, I am too lazy to go get a bunch of equipment when I want to train my dog. And for another - Nala learned what the collar and leash inside the house meant. I would drill her on her commands, she would obey each one perfectly, and then I would take everything off and she was free to misbehave again! I had to find techniques that worked with her when she DIDN'T have a leash and/or collar on - mostly body language, getting in her space, etc.

BUT for dogs that this sort of thing works for, it can be a great tool! Bonnie would train very quickly with a citronella collar. But she's a soft dog.

 

"One day after I tripped over Natalie while cooking I walked her out of the kitchen to the corner of the dining room rug and told her to stay. I then walked back into the kitchen, grabbed a handful of crutons (I was making a salad) and gave them to her"

Nern, I am going to try that with Jake, he is a permanent fixture on my rug at the stove, and I have to always have step over him while I am cooking.

 

It wouldn't be the right tool for every dog of course...but I would be willing to bet that Annie and Nala are alot alike. I remember all those frustrated posts of yours! I used to think the boys were an 8 on a scale of 1-10 on the "gotta be busy" scale, then I got Annie and realized that they are about a 6 or 7 and she is a 14! The dog should be named Drive Queen. She rarely walks anywhere..she scampers at warp speed to every destination, it would be an all out run except we have slippery floors. She reacts very favorably to the spray collar. You could always leave it on nala all the time. One of the trainers on our flyball team has the remote on a vinyl coil spring like bracelet so it's always at hand when she is working with it. But like I said..it's not for every dog and I don't know your dog personally so it's hard for me to say.
I takes a lot of repetitions in alot of different places for something to stick most times, even with the collar. Witt just happens to be a quick learner with this particular tool. LOL.

 

OK scratch the Drive Queen name...it would become DQ for short and thats a bad omen in any dog sport!