Really appreciate the advice everyone, very helpful!
Debra, thus far he is fantastic with strangers that we encounter, minus the Thanksgiving situation at family parties. So I do hope that the setting matters, and a therapy setting would bring out a 'different,' more work-like Dexter. We are working very hard to prepare him for therapy work, and I work in the hospital, so I won't be taking him nor taking the certification exams until he is ready.
Dmey, how you described Ayo's actions is near identical to what I encountered last week.
I will be trying Control Unleashed. I do give an emphatic "NO" for the over-excitement and rough play, but like dmey has explained, it only lasts for a few short minutes. Any way to make this understanding last longer? Should I put him away for a while to settle down when it happens?
My Arnie does fine at lure coursing events, show events, etc. where things can be noisy and with barking dogs but he does not like screaming playing kids or if they are on skateboards on sidewalks-something about the wheel noise. He also does not like gunshots. I find it odd how some things upset dogs while others do not. I rescued him when he was a pup almost 4 months old so I do not know if kids teased him or since he was born in rural MO if he was near hunting/gunshots.
Jennifer
I will be trying Control Unleashed. I do give an emphatic "NO" for the over-excitement and rough play, but like dmey has explained, it only lasts for a few short minutes. Any way to make this understanding last longer? Should I put him away for a while to settle down when it happens?
Yes, IMO. If he is acting out because he is over-stressed/over-stimulated, the best thing is to remove him from the situation. You also want to pay closer attention to his body language and look for cues that he is getting stressed so you can head off the issues from occurring. I like the Control Unleashed philosophy too, just reading the book gave me a very different perspective on how I looked at my dogs regarding stress and behavior.
He just sounds stressed to me. Give him frequent breaks from all craziness around the holidays. I don't think it is necessarily fair to expect him to be perfect when all of that activity is going on. One of my dogs gets a stressed more easily than the others so I limit her exposure to large crowds of people, particularly when she is tired. When dogs get stressed, it can get more difficult for them to respond to commands they more reliably respond to under normal circumstances. Plus they can act out.
I agree about the stress. So, with that in mind, maybe give him a rigorous exercise before the party starts and then, after awhile….the 'break' could be a walk with a number of the guests even around the block to help the trust with the extended number of people in his world! Just a thought!
