# Another trainability question



## heatherk (Feb 24, 2011)

I just answered Java's post with my thought about a havanese's 'trainability', but, I have a slightly different problem which I am not sure how to deal with.

Ceylon is the most friendly, loveable dog. He is perfect at home; very chill, very loving. No guarding issues, no territorial issues, no issues really whatsoever. If he is chewing on something he is not supposed to be chewing on, I tell him to stop and he usually does; if he doesn't, I just go take it from him and he goes and just as happily chews on one of his toys. If we tell him to 'move' (if he is sitting on the couch or the car seat where somebody is trying to sit) he moves. We've trained him not to bolt out of the door when it's open and he almost always waits for 'come on' to run out; if the 'come on' doesn't come, he is fine with staying inside. Same with the car; he won't even try to jump out unless we say 'come on'. And speaking of the car, he is reliable enough that I never these days have to put him on a leash to walk him to the car to get in; he sniffs his way to the car and then waits for the door to be opened and jumps right in. He is fine with being bathed and groomed, and as long as there is nobody else in the courtyard when I let him out to go pee, he ALWAYS comes right in when I say 'come on' and open the door. It's the 'nobody else in the courtyard' that is the tip of the iceberg...

Ceylon's main behavioral issue is simply that, if there is another person or dog around that is 'new' (i.e., he hasn't been with them for at least 20 minutes), he. Goes. NUTS. Absolutely, positively, crazy nuts. Now, I know that in one aspect, I should be glad that he is so friendly. Lord knows the last thing I need or want is an unfriendly dog! But, it's literally like Jekyll and Hyde with him. No 'new' person or dog = most well-behaved, most reliable, most listening dog ever. Enter a new person or dog close to him, and he just goes NUTS. All of his training goes out of the window; and, if I admonish him, he does respond to that but then just starts to slink (since he thinks he is doing something wrong) while still going crazy, if that makes any sense. In other words, admonishing him doesn't seem to help, it just makes him feel bad while he is doing it.

Every person I've had visit my house has commented on how crazy Ceylon acted at first trying to get their attention (trying to jump on them, etc.) but if they were here long enough (20 minutes to an hour at the very most), how 'chill' of a dog he actually ended up being after a while. And, this is definitely NOT a socialization problem; I've taken Ceylon with me everywhere I could since day 1, and he goes to doggie daycare and to the dog park on a weekly or more basis each. At first, I just thought it was puppy energy/enthusiasm, but, he is 11 months old now and it hasn't improved. We have been working on the jumping up on people thing for a bit now since that is a basic 'good canine' thing to train for, but, that is only a symptom of his problem; he 'scrabbles' when on his leash to get to a new person or dog (and if I admonish him, his tails goes down and he starts to slink, but, he still scrabbles while slinking half a second later), he wiggles crazily if they actually pick him up, the same way he did when he was a tiny puppy and I held him. I know this probably sounds minor but basically, he is unmanageable when new dogs or people are around, and, the more new dogs or people, the more unmanageable he gets.

I took him to a dog show yesterday to see the show and the Havanese dogs in action, and to get a breeder to look at him to see if I should show him. The breeder could hardly look at his teeth, eyes, etc. because he was so excited he was trying to wiggle himself off of the table while she was holding him. Then, she tried to put a confirmation lead on him to see how he walked and it got caught in his mouth (again, because he was wiggling so much) and it took three of us to hold him, and at least 3 minutes, before she was able to pull it out of his mouth - again, because he was wiggling so much. Then, she tried to walk him to see how he walked but he was trying to run/sniff/scrabble because of all the other dogs and the smells in the place, and then she admonished him and then he just slinked. I know there is training I can do to help this, but, I don't know what lol. It's not like training for sit, or laydown, or recall training... How do I even start training him to not go crazy in high-excitement areas? And by the way, no, he has absolutely NO interest in treats of any kind, whether cheese or chicken or the taco I didn't finish when he is in this sort of situation...


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Hi Heather. It's standard operating procedure that things are MUCH easier in a calm, distraction-free environment than they are with distractions present. It's a matter of very slowly, over time expecting the dog to maintain behaviors under more and more distracting circumstances. People who do serious obedience training 
call this "proofing" their dog. It's even more important with police and rescue dogs who must remain on-task in the face of ANY sort of distraction, from steak being waved in their faces to bombs going off nearby.

BUT that takes a LONG time. The fact that Ceylon is doing everything you want in a low-distraction setting is a wonderful first step, and about all you could expect of an 11 month old. He's "almost" not a puppy anymore but he will be an adolescent for at least another year. So his age is PART of what is going on, but dogs don't learn to ignore distractions in isolation.

I am not a big Cesar Milan fan, but as far as his behavior is concerned when people come into your house, he's spot on when he says that you need to get your guests to use the "no touch, no talk, no eye contact" rule. ANY interact with him will just rev him up. The problem is that while it's easy to get people to follow this rule if the dog is scary, if the dog is cute and friendly, the response is often, "Oh, that's OK, I don't mind, he's so cute!" You have to make it clear that this is the rule for EVERYONE while Ceylon is learning proper behavior when people enter the house. If you can get everyone to do this, he will most likely start to settle MUCH faster. It's just not so much fun (or as exciting!) when everyone ignores you!

On the street, same thing. Ask people NOT to approach him. Explain that as cute as he is, he is in training. If he is starts to run at people, step on his leash, close enough to his collar that he can't get his front feet off the ground. Then TOTALLY ignore him, while you talk to the person (make sure they do too!). In the beginning, it will take time, but don't move off again until he has gotten bored and relaxed. Eventually he will learn that meeting people on the street is pretty boring, and give it up. 

Both in the house and on the street, I would not admonish him, I'd just set it up so he can't get what he wants, (attention!) and then ignore him. I would NEVER let other people pick him up!!! It's just way too dangerous, especially if he wiggles like that. A drop from that height can cause serious harm, and people don't realize how quick and strong these little guys can be!

As far as show manners are concerned, most people who show start with show training pretty early so their ups can get ring experience in puppy classes, where they are a little more understanding of high spirits. At this age, especially where you don't have any show experience, I think you would really need to take some classes to teach both you and him how to work in the show ring, and to teach him to ignore the other dogs around him. It will take time, but he will get there!

Kodi is very social too, but now, he understands the difference between work time and "free play" time. We can work on the agility course with other dogs sitting on the side lines with no problem, yet at the end of class, when we are putting the equipment away, all the dogs play together and have a blast. He knows that work time is work time, and during free play time, he can do what he wants. But that didn't happen over night. He is 2 1/2 now!


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