Friday, October 3, 2008

Wants to train dog her dog not to howl -- dog disrupts family sleeping habits


Dear Dr. Jim

My question:
So, how did you get to be 106 years old, so soon?

But really:
I have a rescue Siberian husky/German shepherd/wolf-in-the-woodpile mix. He ululates every morning about 5:23am to go for an iditerod.

I've had the dog about 9 months, and have grown very attached to him, but this behavior gets me up every morning. It's interfering with my already pathetic love life.

Whatever should I do about it (the dog howling, not my love life)? Please don't say get rid of the dog or my male companion. I'm fond of them both, pretty much equally.

Tired in Oregon

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Dear Tired

Oh dear! Houston, we have a problem. No not with my age. For that take my age, multiply it times 70, add 25, divide by 33 and subtract 12. Then divide by 2.5 and multiply by two and subtract 20. That will be approximately 106.

Now with the sleeping problem. Go to bed earlier, the doggie will howl earlier, let him outside for a bit (put your robe on if it is cold weather), then you all go back to bed and sleep until your regular time.

Dogs can be trained not to howl. Our dog, Adi, only howls on demand or if she is ready for ice cream and beddy-bye late at night.


This is what DogTrainingClassroom.com has to say about breaking the Siberian Husky of howling:

"Your dog may make noise as its way of communication to you when he is lonely or bored. Your dog may howl to seek attention from you. However excessive howling can irritate therefore, training your dog not to howl or make noise is of utmost importance. There are a few simple solutions to solve this problem:

  • For the first few days, try to ignore your dog when he/she goes into a howling fit for no apparent reason as any attention will reinforce the behavior. Praise your dog when he becomes quiet.
  • Do use a squirt gun to spray water on your dog if excessive howling persists. This is to disrupt its behavior and your dog will associate howling as an unpleasant experience.
  • Do praise and reward your dog immediately after it stops making noises and not ten minutes after. Your dog will not understand the reason for the discipline.
  • Do use an anti bark collar for further training whenever you are not around and your dog is not fully train yet so as to be thoughtful to thy neighbors."
    http://www.dogtrainingclassroom.com/siberian-husky-training.html at the bottom.

I hope this helps. Above all, do not get rid of the mate or the dog!

But hurry and stop the dog from ululating or the mate might get rid of you both. Or get you both trained to get up with him every morning. You could read the newspaper, ours has come by then.

You might even train him to bring you the paper for you.


Thank you for your confidence, Dr. Jim

[We do have a new (to us) toy poodle who will take a running socks from my shoes if I leave them laying on the floor. It looks like she'll be training me to put them away in the dirty clothes basket.]



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3 comments:

Putz said...

you know i asked dr. jim that question about age about a month ago and he just ignorned me...didn't respond...you must be a very very speciqal person to get good attention from the good doctor....i hear he can also help with dreams....i think dr. jim has given you the correct advice,,,he uses every resource to come up with your answer

Putz said...

slao the good doctor will be wife bashing if he isn't very careful, socks or shoes in the middle of the floor is a nop no...i found out the hard way

Jim said...

Yes, Mr. Putz, a big benifit of writing this blog column is that occasionally I can 'fix myself', i.e. clean up my act.
So today my running socks are sitting behind the little TV on the serving bar of our kitchen/breakfast room.
That is instead of being left in my shoes which are by the wall in the breakfast room.
..
BTW, I think this dog has a foot fetish, she licks my feet, the insides of my sandels, and carries those socks around (guarding them and growling all the time).
Right now she is sitting on the little braided rug beside me and the computer.
I think she likes me as well as my feet. :-)
..

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