Gun Dog Forum

Those with dogs that live in the house. How do you get your dog to be calm in the house. I have a 14 month old brit that has never layen still in her live no matter how much excercise she got those the reason for keeping her outside. When we do bring her in she is doing circles around the house and up the walls.

Training. Reward when quiet. Reward when not moving. Teach "down", give the dog a spot out of traffic flow and teach it to go there when you want it to. Use your best recliner, or the spot on the sofa that gives the best view of the TV.

either it is the dogs or I am doing something that I am not aware of but I just don't have any hyper problems.

I've had both a GSP and a brittany inside and I rewarded the behavior that was expected and punished the behavior that wasn't (jumping up on furniture/people/potty training...etc) It was rough at first but they typically learned fairly quick since bird dogs are typically smarter than the average angle biter. Like kids, dogs need boundaries and thrive when they know what those expectations are, being consistent also helps a lot.
Ross

I discourage running in the house. It's still an issue every now and then, but the pup catches on. Also, if you have wood or tile floors try getting some winter booties with a cloth sole and have him wear those on his front paws in the house for a bit. The cloth slips on the wood and tile really easily so the pup is forced to step carefully...eventually they just associate the house with walking and not running.

Basic obedience.

Thanks guys. We are working on the Obeidance and when she is in the house trying to control her behavior. Just keep hearing everyone say their dogs are couch potatoes and that they sleep with them. My dog is on the complete opposite from this. She never wants to stop moving no matter how much I praise and reward her for being still or quiet. LOL guess we will just have to wait till she gets old fat and lazy.

If she's not in the house much, she's probably excited to be there, and a bit hyper because of it. If you're nervous having her in the house, she's going to key off of that.

My advise would be to keep her on a leash and with you in the house, and give her a good bone to chew on when you settle down for the evening.

Karen wrote:If she's not in the house much, she's probably excited to be there, and a bit hyper because of it. If you're nervous having her in the house, she's going to key off of that.

My advise would be to keep her on a leash and with you in the house, and give her a good bone to chew on when you settle down for the evening.

I was just going to say that. I tied a leash to my belt for a while so I could watch for the pup peeing in the house and so the pup got used to relaxing when I was relaxing.

Mine really don't bother me. We have 3 v's usually all out together. Sometimes more sometimes less. If they cannot control themselves, then they go in the crate for a while.

My level of comfort and yours may be totally different. Most of the times my guys are curled up in a ball somewhere. Some tiems they are bouncing off the walls, but we try and channel it positively by playing fetch or wrestling, etc.

She will settle in eventually. Just let her know what you don't like. Most dogs figure it out pretty quickly.

Exercise, mines a royal PITA if he hasn't been run.

I've never had a dog live anywhere besides in the house. It's all about conveying the energy you want and putting your "stamp" of dominance on the dog. Right now I have five dogs in a small house less than 1,000 square foot and they all do fine. Of course, I try to get them out to run as much as I can, but even when I can't they do well. Among my dogs are two birddogs - a Pointer and Setter - and a Malinois. Not sure how familiar you are with Malinois, but they are notorious for being neurotic and are equivelant to Border Collies in energy level.

I start my dogs young, but I don't think that is absolutely mandatory. Make sure they know who boss is and when you say something, that's the law. Not hard, really. Also, and something often overlooked, is the energy level of the house. My household is really mellow and usually not much going on at the house and I NEVER loose my cool with my dogs. That makes me look unstable and the dogs feed off that. If my dogs don't listen, I don't throw a fit, I just keep my cool and give them a good correction.

So, make sure your dog sees you as dominant (you have to have absolute control) and he doesn't see his leader (you) as emotionally unstable in any way. It's really that simple.