katlyngiberson
New member
Hello all, new to this sub but desperately seeking some helpful advice.
I have a 9yo male (neutered) rat terrier mix, Ziggy. I’ve had him since he was about 1yo. He’s generally chill all day, perfectly sweet and calm with me, was with my exboyfriend, who I lived with, and people he’s familiar with. He can be apprehensive with new people, will usually bark at them a bit, but generally gets over it within a couple minutes and warms up to them. He’s very reactive though, barks like crazy at the mail every single day, barks at anybody who walks by our house, barks and or chases any cats that come into my yard, etc. I do my best to stop that behavior, I don’t let him carry on, I’ll take him inside, crate him if he’s being rude, but admittedly, I haven’t put enough work into training it out of him. I guess I was content getting by with this bar behavior for the rest of his life, knowing it mainly only affected me.
However, now I am dating a new man, for a year now. Ziggy warmed up to him very quickly, and actually really loves him. All was well until we tried to introduce Ziggy to my boyfriends 7yo son a few months ago. He absolutely went insane, barking, jumping, and pulling at his leash, attempting to get to him. Son was obviously nervous, especially so having little experience with dogs. I feel Ziggy reads his nervousness and it makes him ever more crazy.
We’ve made small progress since the first interaction but I feel like he just regresses immediately. We’ve all gone on group walks and Ziggy will be fine with bfs son, even let him pet him, but as soon as we get back to bfs house he’s back to barking and yanking on his leash. I haven’t and won’t let him off leash, I’m afraid he’ll bite bfs son as it seems like his prey drive is being activated. So usually I’ll just crate Ziggy when I’m at their house, or keep him on a leash next to me, and he’ll lay down and chill until bfs son walks by, and then he’s up barking at him again.
It’s devastating me because we want to move in together and this is a huge hurdle preventing that. I feel like such a bad pet parent and I don’t know what to do.
Would hiring a good trainer be helpful in this situation? I’m at a loss
I have a 9yo male (neutered) rat terrier mix, Ziggy. I’ve had him since he was about 1yo. He’s generally chill all day, perfectly sweet and calm with me, was with my exboyfriend, who I lived with, and people he’s familiar with. He can be apprehensive with new people, will usually bark at them a bit, but generally gets over it within a couple minutes and warms up to them. He’s very reactive though, barks like crazy at the mail every single day, barks at anybody who walks by our house, barks and or chases any cats that come into my yard, etc. I do my best to stop that behavior, I don’t let him carry on, I’ll take him inside, crate him if he’s being rude, but admittedly, I haven’t put enough work into training it out of him. I guess I was content getting by with this bar behavior for the rest of his life, knowing it mainly only affected me.
However, now I am dating a new man, for a year now. Ziggy warmed up to him very quickly, and actually really loves him. All was well until we tried to introduce Ziggy to my boyfriends 7yo son a few months ago. He absolutely went insane, barking, jumping, and pulling at his leash, attempting to get to him. Son was obviously nervous, especially so having little experience with dogs. I feel Ziggy reads his nervousness and it makes him ever more crazy.
We’ve made small progress since the first interaction but I feel like he just regresses immediately. We’ve all gone on group walks and Ziggy will be fine with bfs son, even let him pet him, but as soon as we get back to bfs house he’s back to barking and yanking on his leash. I haven’t and won’t let him off leash, I’m afraid he’ll bite bfs son as it seems like his prey drive is being activated. So usually I’ll just crate Ziggy when I’m at their house, or keep him on a leash next to me, and he’ll lay down and chill until bfs son walks by, and then he’s up barking at him again.
It’s devastating me because we want to move in together and this is a huge hurdle preventing that. I feel like such a bad pet parent and I don’t know what to do.
Would hiring a good trainer be helpful in this situation? I’m at a loss