View Full Version : Bad Habbit!
Can anyone help? My collie attacks the vaccum! He seems to be getting worse and barks mentally if he is shut in a room or outside when its on! This is his only bad behaviour and he's usually a placid friendly dog but its getting
to be a pain.[evil]
Any suggestions or advice very welcome.
neepnipper
11-Aug-07, 18:35
Rhino, I would have one of you hoovering whilst the other distracts the dog by giving a favourite treat, if you keep on doing this eventually he should associate hoovering with good things, just try it at first for a minute or two then build up the time.
If he attacks the hoover whilst it's not on as well you could try putting treats on the hoover when it's off and let him take them off. He needs to know that the hoover is something good and not his enemy to be attacked!
He only attacks the vaccum when its being used.We have tried the ball/treat thing but usually its when mrs rhino is on her own that the hoovering gets done. mr rhino probably doesnt know where it is.:)
He spends most of his elsewhere as you know![lol]
i'll maybe get the kids to try though.
thanks neepnipper
neepnipper
11-Aug-07, 21:52
Mr Rhino obviously works far too many hours! Maybe you could get one of those carpet sweeper thingys that doesn't have a motor!
Cesar Milan dealt with this problem on his show 'Dog Whisperer' and what he did was 'claimed' the vacuum by standing in front of it with a very confident pose, pointing at the dog and making a loud 'shooshing' noise (kind of difficult to describe!)
He would walk towards the dog making it back off and would not start the vacuum again until the dog had quietened down and backed off.
I have tried it with my dog and it does work.
It may take a few go's but, if you persevere, hopefully it will work.
Maybe Porshiepoo will help as she is very good at using Cesar Millan's training methods.
ill have to give these ideas ago - my nice new dyson is covered in teeth marks and scratches - the dog will even attack it as i wheel it out to use, not even plugged in yet and he has a go!!!!
do you think putting treats on the cats will stop him chasing them aswell !!!! lol
I have a hoover chasing collie too - he's done it since he's a pup, and he's now nearly 9yrs old. I've just kinda gotten used to it over the years, he'll attack it when it's off or on, he's not fussy [lol].
I like liz's answer,must try that.
Thanks for all the advice.Im off to try the shooshing. Wish me luck!:)
porshiepoo
15-Aug-07, 23:06
Jeepers, that would drive me up the wall. :(
My advice would be to watch Cesar Milan or read his book or check his methods out online.
Liz is quite correct in saying Cesar would 'claim' the hoover and it's quite a common symptom I think.
It's not something I've ever personally had to deal with, in fact my cats and dogs are the complete opposite and would quite happily let me hoover right up to them without feeling the need to move, but I know that if it were me I'd be looking into Cesars methods.
It obviously takes some perserverance and you would need to look at your entire structure within the household to see if there needs to be some 'claiming' in other areas too, but the results should be quite rapid if it's done correctly.
Personally I would forget any attempt at distracting him from the hoover by giving treats. This isn't a request you're issuing to your dog, you're telling him as pack leader that you will not accept this behaviour any longer.
I think I have said before that my dog is a woose (sp?). He only has to hear me taking the vacuum out of the cupboard and he high tails it to the bottom of the garden. If by chance the back door is closed, he cowers in the kitchen until I let him out.
At least I get peace to do my housework!
The dog knows his place. I am his boss and he is number 7 in the pecking order. Even one of the cats and the rabbit come before him. He is just a pet now but he is from working stock and had been mistreated before we got him. It's taken years of love and patience to get him to where he is now.
The vacuum is the only issue we have. The rest I can live with:)
A hairy house I cannot!
porshiepoo
16-Aug-07, 13:33
The dog knows his place. I am his boss and he is number 7 in the pecking order. Even one of the cats and the rabbit come before him. He is just a pet now but he is from working stock and had been mistreated before we got him. It's taken years of love and patience to get him to where he is now.
The vacuum is the only issue we have. The rest I can live with
A hairy house I cannot!
Wasn't going to say anything but heck, you know me, couldn't leave it. :lol:
While I respect very much the opinion that people who have rescue dogs have with reagrds to the dogs past, in my honest opinion, the reality is actually further from what you think.
Dogs, no matter how they're treated, do not dwell on things past. That simply isn't how their brain works. They can 'learn' behaviours of course but that isn't because they analyse the way we do, they've simply learnt a condition.
9 times out of 10 a dog that has been rescued that ends up with behavioural issues is because the kind person that "rescued" them ends up feeling sorry for them. That person can often mis-interpret those 'sad' eyes as feeling sad and so try to compensate in a way that we would do if it were a human that we were trying to make feel better.
If a dog is scared of the hoover, scared of a car etc etc, it's not because the hoover hit them or the car hit them (even though they may have) it's because of the way we as humans react to that event. It's us that sustains the behaviour and causes it to become an issue and not the dog. The dog would quite happily forget about such things but we think that everytime a car comes near or whatever, that the dog must feel anxious or nervous because that's how we as humans would feel. We then cause our own energy to become anxious or fraught and it's actually this that the dog reads, nothing else.
One perfect example - we rescued a 5 year old german shepherd bitch. The owner was moving and had kept her indoors because she barked and attacked everything canine, hated men, hated kids and would attack cats. Not much going for her then huh!
Well we took her for a walk before bringing her home, made sure our other dogs were calm and walked her straight in. No problems whatsover.
Because we'd asserted our leadership right from the get-go, dogs, kids, men etc no probs at all.
Then I noticed how she started to manipulate my husband while fireworks were going off. She'd start panting, panicking, trying to hide under the coffee table etc and my husband would pet her and try to calm her. No matter how much I told him not to do this he thought I was being cruel and that she needed attention at this time. Until, I managed to prove to him that when he wasn't there on firework night the dog was actually perfectly calm and normal and would sleep with the others or alone no probs.
Finally he could see that he was feeding the behaviour.
Tara was panicking when my husband was trying to soothe her because she was picking up on his nervous and anxious energy (all for her) which he then interpretted as a fear of fireworks (which later turned into anything that went Bang!), petted her all the more and sustained this "fear" of fireworks.
There, I've waffled enough. :lol:
In the words of Cesar Milan we should all give our dogs "Exercise, Discipline, Affection" - in that order.
WildChild
16-Aug-07, 14:18
Cesar Milan has a brilliant way with dogs and overcoming probs at the drop of a hat LOL well worth watching him and learning "how not to" LOL In saying that our dog attacks the hoover and one of these carpet sweeper thingys, shes getting better all the time LOL and the attacks are becoming less and less frequent! :)
Woo Hoo!
After vacuuming the car and Jaq scratching the kitchen door, barking like an idiot, I decided to try more 'shooshing'.
I managed the sitting room, hall, and some of the stairs. A bit of whining and that was it! Maybe he watched Dog Whisperer last night:D
cuddlepop
25-Aug-07, 13:08
Woo Hoo!
After vacuuming the car and Jaq scratching the kitchen door, barking like an idiot, I decided to try more 'shooshing'.
I managed the sitting room, hall, and some of the stairs. A bit of whining and that was it! Maybe he watched Dog Whisperer last night:D
Best of luck I know I shouldn't have but I removed my collie from the room when I wanted to hover I was sick of fighting with him.
well we have a weimaraner who when the hoover is out sits in front of it and does not give up unto he has been hoovered from top to bottom head tail belly chest the works , even then he still wants to be done again ... strange creatures lol
well we have a weimaraner who when the hoover is out sits in front of it and does not give up unto he has been hoovered from top to bottom head tail belly chest the works , even then he still wants to be done again ... strange creatures lol
I had a cat who loved to be 'hoovered':lol:
Glad to hear that the Dog Whisperer's methods are working Rhino!!!!
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