• Michael D'Abruzzo

    Administrator
    October 10, 2009 at 3:41 am
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    Sorry about the Sadie mix up, Wrote last post when almost about to pass out from exhaustion!

    The fence thing can be tricky if you expect too much from them. It kind of goes back to the first part of our troubleshooting system “knowledge”.

    We must understand first what we are starting with and what is realistic. Most dogs will become territorial if left to their own devices in the yard – especially if you have a dog that may be of a breed that was selectively bred to be that way ie. Kaila.

    Also it sounds like you have a training ground for property protection dogs – since you have a busy sidewalk bordering the fenced in property – with people walking by probably feet from the fence. the only good thing in your favor is that their seems to be a visual barrier, but doesnt help that much when passerbys are so close they can be heard.

    This can definitely be helped by leaps and bounds – but realistically only if you are out there with them and in control of the situation (with good phase 3 obedience). When they are by themselves it is a battle between the two of them as to who is allowed to take charge and call the shots.

    This isnt very different from owning a dog that when you are with, you can throw a party in your home – but when you go to sleep at night or at work no one can come in. It is one of the most ancient uses of dogs along with hunting (and apparently as a food source according to some new study!).

    When dogs are really charging a fence line bad – the only reliable solution I have seen that works when you are not there is to also install an invisble fence on the inside perimeter to keep them as far back from the fence as you would like – but this does nothing for barking. Theoretically there are bark collars for that, but i always felt that if you had to go this far – the dogs would be enjoying themselves more indoors anyway at that point.

    If they were my dogs I would probably save the outdoor exercise for when i was out there with them to instruct “leave it” when they were distracted by the passerbys or put them out when it is a quite time of the day (if there is a quite time).

    overall, like trying to teach a dog not to sniff the ground when they are outside by themselves – this would be a whopper to accomplish to the extent of totally ignoring passerbys when alone, because it goes so far against the dogs’ instincts.