Sara,
My spaniel Samson is adorable however, he will insist on waking me up at 4am every morning. I love him dearly, but I am not as young as I used to be and it is like having a baby in the house again. He is also barking a lot in the garden, I have only just moved here and already one of my neighbours has complained.
Yours exhaustedly,
Stephanie
Samson was a very lively 11-month-old puppy. He had been receiving veterinary attention for many months for an injured leg, and Stephanie was given instructions to keep him quiet. This was like asking a three year old child to have an afternoon nap - impossible!
Stephanie watched him like a hawk to ensure he did himself no harm, walked him when he asked for it, stroked him when he asked for it and fed him when he asked for it. She lavished attention on Samson, as any concerned owner would, to ensure he had all he needed and to keep him safe and pain free.
The initial reason for my visit was the early morning wake up call, which in Stephanie's words was like having a baby in the house again. Samson always slept in a basket in the kitchen, and at 4 am he threw himself bodily against the kitchen door and barked his head off! Also the complaint from the neighbour about Samson's barking in the garden was worrying Stephanie, especially as she was new to the neighbourhood.
When I met Samson he was all over me like a rash, as sexy as a young stallion, he would not stop pestering me for love, nor money. I thought it was perhaps my magnetic personality and unrivaled charm, which held him so fascinated until Stephanie burst my bubble and told me he was like it often, especially with visitors.
I ignored him for a few minutes and when he realised he was getting no where with me (what sort of girl did he think I was) his attention went back to Stephanie. He began to bark at her. She then stroked him whilst chastising him for shouting. This pattern of barking, stroking and chastising continued for quite a while whilst we talked about Samson's background, his injury and subsequent treatments. It quickly transpired that Samson barked at Stephanie throughout the day whenever he required her to be attentive.
Samson never behaved sexually towards Stephanie, this particular practice was saved for his much loved visitors, which included Stephanie's grandchildren. This gave rise to many questions that could not always be adequately fielded. Easy enough to explain that babies come from mummy's tummy, or puppies come from their mothers tummy. Not so easy to explain the male part in the process - especially when he is doing it to them (he likes you so much he wants you to bear his offspring??) Needless to say, Stephanie found Samson's behaviour around guests somewhat embarrassing.
As you might expect the subject of castration featured heavily in the discussions pertaining to Samson's behaviour patterns. Although I do not readily leap for the two bricks and a Stanley knife approach, it does serve us well on occasions and some owners simply cannot deal with overt sexual behaviours any other way. Also, in most cases, the earlier the snip the better with this type of behaviour - before the dog experiences ecstatic reinforcement. This is a family site and we will say no more on the matter!
Samson also never seemed to rest. It was not the case that he awoke at 4am and then had a long siesta, he was literally on the go all day giving Stephanie little respite. As you can imagine tempers were becoming somewhat frayed. Stephanie had changed the timer on the boiler and investigated the kitchen thoroughly, to see if there was anything that set him off at this particular time each day - there was nothing.
In order to interrupt some of Samson's behaviours I conditioned him to Training Discs. When a dog is properly conditioned to these, they become a potent signal of non-reward. The conditioning involves frustrating the dog with a treat by placing it on the floor and when the dog moves to take the treat the discs are thrown to the floor and the treat removed. This is repeated until the dog actively walks away from the treat when it is placed on the floor.
Whilst this equipment is freely available in many pet stores I must emphasise here that, although rare, some dogs do react very badly to discs and have been known to fly into a rage. Therefore it is important that owners think carefully and to be on the safe side obtain a proper behavioural diagnosis before embarking on this course of action - especially with dogs showing aggression.
The discs in this case were used to stop Samson barking in the garden, and to calm down his unruly behaviour in the house. Stephanie was advised to ignore Samson's barking at her as much as she possibly could and use the discs if she could no longer ignore him. Samson was also made to earn all attention and privileges, to place all interaction on Stephanie's terms.
Stephanie also tried using the discs with Samson's early morning activities, to no avail. She persisted for a few mornings, and then rang me in desperation. Stephanie explained that all of his problems had arrested overnight - except for this one - the most important one to her!
We talked it over and decided to give Samson the run of the house at night to see if that would help, and thankfully it did. Samson now sleeps until 6am most mornings. He has also calmed down tremendously during the day and has frequent naps like most dogs. Samson is still barking at Stephanie when visitors arrive, however the discs stop this almost instantly and it is only a matter of time now before this ceases altogether. I believe that Samson's sexy behaviour has also improved as he is generally more responsive to Stephanie's voice, so he may escape the snip after all.
Samson had simply learned to shout for everything he wanted - and boy did he want everything. It was probably his biological clock that awoke him each morning at 4am, possibly due to him being so restless in nature. Samson was simply a compulsive attention seeker who needed some guidelines to show him what was and was not acceptable behaviour.
This type of situation occurs frequently with dogs that have undergone long term medical treatment and have caring and attentive owners. Stephanie telephoned to thank me for my help as she was reluctantly considering rehoming him before my visit and now could not wish for a better companion.