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They don’t use a crate in the house. He sleeps on a mat in their bedroom. They tried covering the crate in the car. It made no difference. He jumps right into the crate in the car. No problem at all. No hesitation. What’s a ‘lick sticker?’
He barks on the way to, but forgot what owner said re: barking on way back.
Regarding Leadership, as noted, they’ve done 0 formal obedience training but from nearly 2 hrs of fone conversation, I’m pretty sure Diego’s a cooperative pooch and will do what he’s asked to do, as long as he understands what’s required.
0 resource guarding. Loves to play hide and seek in house. Ditto Come games in house and backyard. Ditto fetch games in backyard. It’s pretty clear that the owners have worked with him informally, but they’ve done no obedience training, is full of energy and big and strong. So their main problem is stuff like pulling on leash, barking at other dogs on walks, mouthiness (no biting, just mouthiness) to get attention from people coming thru door, etc, no resource guarding. He jogs several miles a day with one owner and takes long walks with the other owner, so I’m pretty sure it’s lack of leadership when he’s out on walks w/owners. They just don’t know what to do re: obedience training and being the leader on walks. (He minds them in house, they tell me; e.g., goes to his place and waits ’til he’s called at mealtimes; no problems w/counter-surfing/garbage eating, etc, doesn’t demand attention, gets off couch when told, no separation anxiety, etc. Unless the owners don’t know what they’re talking about — I’ll soon know — Diego’s a sound pooch + owners have done a lot right w/him, but he needs obedience training in order to know what he can/cannot do, when/where when out on walks and re manners w/guests.
Unless I’m badly mistaken, the only problem that’s got me flummoxed is the car-barking/anxiety.
Maybe this is related to the barking in crate in car: He howls beautifully when he hears sirens. (Heard it over the phone.) No reaction to thunder/lightening/gunshots. I’m thinking he might be acutely sensitive to some kinds of sound.-Some dogs are. I’ve heard at least one trainer say they’ve had dogs who bark hyterically at the sound of one kind of truck bouncing up the street, but not at another type of truck. So maybe the sound of car engines, or maybe this particular car engine, triggers him. Some frequencies can be stressful/painful to some dogs, ya know. Gotta remember to ask whether he barks coming as well as going. If he barks both coming and going, it would be evidence in favor of sound sensitivity. But if not, then that’s probably not the reason.
Thanks for the feedback, Allie. Will keep you posted.
