Bonnie - My problem rescue dog and our happy ending: Hyper active, pacing, jumping all over us, pooping and peeing inside (even when she knows she will be punished and after having been taken for a walk) – just all around an exhausting, demanding dog (even though she’s only 10 pounds). When we would walk Bonnie (on one of those retractable leashes which might be good for some dogs, but not ones behaving as this one was), she would run ahead weaving back and forth across the street in a dizzying pattern, constantly pulling. The good side: She’s very affectionate, cute as all get out, excellent with young children, very smart and totally non aggressive. The solution: Just by luck I stayed up late to watch a British program about unmanageable dogs who were at the end of their line. One, a bearded collie fit the exact profile of Bonnie – sweet natured, smart, healthy but hyper active - the only problem was that when he was herding sheep (his job), he would get the uncontrollable urge to kill one at the same time. This cuts into sheep owner’s profits L and needless to say was frowned upon. So this very nice British lady undertook the retraining to save his life. The first thing she did was make him walk BEHIND her. You hold a stick, like a walking stick in one hand and a short leash in the other. Placing the leash hand behind your back, you tell the dog ‘behind me’ and use the stick to block their way if they try to get in front. The next morning, I tried this on my hyper active dog and it was like a complete transformation! She fell into line behind me and calmly walked meekly along. Today it’s 7 days since I started doing this and she is a changed dog. No peeing or pooping in the house, the pacing has stopped and she is a much more relaxed dog. She still has a lot of energy, but it’s not the frenetic kind she exhibited before – it’s a playful type. I’m really hoping this little piece of knowledge can help other desperate folks that are having trouble with wonderful but uncontrollable dogs. Try it! It costs nothing – and the effects can be seen almost immediately. The dog psychology behind it seems to be that the dog has to see you as the Alpha (lead dog of the pack). They become very stressed – hence the pacing and irrational running around on the leash – when they have to assume that role by being out in front of you on the leash, or by sitting higher than you (on the back of the sofa for instance) or even by running out the door ahead of you. These are actions that should be attributed to the Alpha human, not the dog. Further investigating these theories led me to a very informative website called www.dogbreedinfo.com - look over at the categories on the right side of the opening page.
I just hope this little piece of information can be as helpful to some other troubled dog owners as it was to me. If you think it can, please pass it on.