by Christine Kling
Like the Beatles said:
Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help!
Back in May, feeling desperately sad over the loss of my dear geriatric partner, Chip, the Intrepid Seadog, I began searching the doggie rescue sites, and I found that little face in the photo above. Doesn’t he look cute? Yeah, he is adorable, and he works his way into your heart with his warm sleepy puppy act in the morning. You decide that he is absolutely the sweetest little guy in the world. Then, guess what? The next thing you know he is chewing up the boat’s woodwork and foam cushions, and he is walking across the galley countertops headed for the dinner on the stove. There are days when I think of the movie The Exorcist and I expect his little puppy head to spin on his neck. I have adopted Barney, the Yorkshire Terror!
Where is Cesar Milan when you need him?
This little guy is 11 pounds of alpha, bow-legged, leader-of-the-pack machismo one minute, and the next minute he’s rolling over on his back playing like the most submissive little doggie in the world.
I can’t figure him out.
When I found out the rescue foster mom had given him the name Barney, I thought it fit. I thought of Barney Rubble from the Flintstones. Now I know his name should be Barney Trouble.
Yeah, I know, I’ve left him several times in the first 8 months we’ve been together. But my son and I have this deal we call “shared custody.” Tim often texts me and askes if Barney can sleep over. He is a family dog. Granted, Tim is not the least bit interested in discipline, and when I returned from my trip to SE Asia, I found that “my boys” had been living the “No Rules” life.
Silly me, I figured I could whip my little guy back into shape in no time.
Last spring when I took Barney to a vet in Marsh Harbor in the Abacos, the vet there remarked that the little guy, then only 9 months old, was very stubborn. I said something like, “Yeah, but hopefully he will grow out of that.” The Bahamian vet laughed, then said something that continues to haunt me. He said if he is this stubborn at this age, it will probably be his character for the rest of his life. At the time, I was skeptical, but I’m becoming a believer.
Lately, at night, as soon as I turn out all the lights and climb into the V-berth, Barney goes nuts. There are lots of outside lights here from the dock lights to the neighboring boats to the moon. As the boat moves around in the slip, the lights move. Barney goes on full alert and starts digging at the woodwork trying to get at what is moving. For the last week, the only way I could get him to go to sleep was by leaving the overhead lights on in the main salon to drown out the outside lights.
I know I should be taking Barney to some kind of puppy obedience school, but I have a book to write! I have a deadline, and boat work, and I need to do a hundred other things with my money and my time. And besides, I am a DIY kind of gal. Surely there must be something I can do on my own?
So, right now, I am taking him on a super long walk in the mornings down to the beach. I am trying to establish, à la Cesar, that I am the pack leader. And I find that as a writer, I do some of my best daydreaming and plot scheming while staring at the west end of an east-bound dog. But these are particularly breezy days here in Fort Lauderdale and I am walking a barely one-year-old terrier puppy who has not yet figured out that all things that move are not alive. He leaps in avid pursuit of every blowing leaf, paper and twig. I often imagine that some of the older labs and golden retrievers we pass on the street must be shaking their heads at his silliness. And worse yet, he is just as likely to chase a leaf as a garbage truck. He has no clue that one of the two might hurt him. I’m terrified that one day his leash or harness might break as he lunges toward a fast-moving vehicle.
And then, every time we meet a jogger or a mom pushing a stroller, Barney either strains at his leash to intercept that person or he stops, hunkers down belly to the pavement and eyes them trying to calculate their petting potential. It’s funny how the people always say, “Look, the little puppy’s tired!” Boy, has he got them fooled. He’s not tired – it’s just part of his act to get them to stop and pay attention to him! If they don’t, he barks at them as if he’s yelling at them!
But the thing that makes me craziest right now is the fact that he barks at everyone, human or canine, if they don’t pay attention to him in a way that pleases him. I worry that he is going to incite some bigger dog to react like a normal dog – and tear his head off. Around here, there are way more big dogs than little dogs. So, the last few days, I’ve been taking him to the local dog park to try to socialize him. In the little dog area, he is fine and he just rolls over like a submissive sweetie and tries to make friends, letting everyone smell him. Okay, so then I took him into the big dog area and he wound up in the center of about six giant dogs, all of them barking, and I was afraid he was about to become a snack for them.
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me.
I know there are lots of you out there who have dogs and can offer me some advice. What should I be doing to turn Barney, the Yorkshire Terror, into the good little boat dog I want him to be?
Fair winds!
Christine
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As the owner of two to three dogs for more years than I can count, I can tell you the method I’ve used, and I realize it’s part of what Cesar often does. It’s the ‘learn by example’ method, letting other dogs show the student what is expected. Many years ago I found a stray, and though I can’t imagine how she ended up on the streets, Luna was one of the brightest, most well behaved dogs I’d ever come across. She knew every command I could think of, and her manners were impecable. A few years later I found her a friend, Nova, who knew not a single command, but by watching Luna, soon mirrored all her behaviors. Move forward another few years, and another dog came along, (that was Moxie, who passed away last summer,) and though she was stubborn and quite a handful, she too picked up on what landed the other two treats and pets. Moxie went on to train Rex, and then Loki as well, and amusingly, even one of my cats has discovered on his own that when I say ‘sit’, parking his rear on the floor lands him a kitty treat. I didn’t teach him that, he learned by watching the dogs. Even funnier, though Luna, Nova, and Moxie are all gone, Loki and Rex still respond to commands they passed down… including ‘Moose.’ When my daughter was young and Luna was blocking a doorway, she’d mispronouce ‘move’, saying, “Moose.” Two decades later, the strange command for dogs to give way lives on.
Perhaps some quality time around some other dog that already possesses the behaviors you’d like might show Barney the manners you want him to learn. Notice how many times Cesar puts the dog in training around his pack, or choses a mentor dog. Do you know someone else’s dog that could hang out with Barney on occassion? Get them together, then lavishly praise whichever dog or dogs are being good. Barney’s smart, he’ll soon pick up on the right ways to act. Good luck!
Alas, I’m afraid your Yorkshire Terror is that way for life. When I met my sweetheart he had a Yorkie named Charlie who was stubborn, destructive and cranky. And little Charlie stayed that way until he passed away at 19 years old. He chewed, he barked, he cried, and he refused to accept that anyone else in the household, human or canine, mattered except as a source of food & walks. To this day when we pass a cute little Yorkie on the street we both say, “No way will we have another of those monsters!”
Chris,
Try a Thunder Shirt. It doesn’t work for every anxious dog, but it can work like a damned miracle for many. My sister has a chow mix, very neurotic, leash-puller, jumped at everyone on a bike, barked at the drop of a leaf outside. But a good dog! Kelly got her a thunder shirt and almost immediately (I watched on Skype) Pearl calmed down. It’s endorsed by vets. Here’s the site: http://www.thundershirt.com/?gclid=CKCFnZHU4LQCFUqoPAod0E0A1A
C.E. – That makes me think about my sister who kept telling me that I should get the next dog while Chip was still around so the old dog could teach the new. Apparently, that was how Barney got house-trained. The foster mom at the rescue place had two small dogs who were trained to use a pee-pee pad and Barney just went where they did. Now, I just keep one in the head and on the rare occasions when I don’t get him out often enough, he just uses the head.
You know how there are those places that rent out communal office space for folks who can’t work at home? Wouldn’t it be great to have a place like that with dogs?
CK
Neil,
And I don’t think I’m going to train that terrier trait out of him.
I ask for help and you tell me it’s hopeless. You are too funny!
I remember your Yorkie stories, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call them monsters. They are very funny and quirky little characters. Stubborn? Absolutely. I might tend to exaggerate a bit on his chewing (who, me? exaggerate?) – I don’t really think he’s that different from most puppies. It’s the obsessive chasing of what he perceives to be prey – whether it is a dancing light, a leaf or a garbage truck that can be destructive, though – both by him and/or to him. When that’s going on, I’ll admit to having thought of him as a little monster on occasion
CK
Kris aka PJ – Yes! I got Chip a Thundershirt when I was in Annapolis a couple of years ago. It really helped to calm him down when I was driving the boat on the Intracoastal and he had to spend all day down below in the main salon. Or when I left him alone. Chip was a howler when left alone and the Thundershirt helped that, too. Barney is crate trained and he loves his box. It’s no problem leaving him alone. He just goes to sleep in his den.
Thundershirts have to be tight and Barney is too skinny to wear Chip’s old one. I might have to buy another one for him. Maybe I’ll wash the old one in really hot water??
CK
Barney is adorable! And if he can stay alone in his crate without problems, why not crate him when you go to bed at night? That way, he’ll know it’s settle-down time not chew-the-boat time. Or maybe put him in a berth like yours? I confess, I know nothing of the furnishings on a boat like yours.
But I have spent the last year breaking in a new retired racing greyhound, who was a nightmare on the leash when we first got him. He did not know dogs came in different shapes and sizes and was pretty sure the little white ones were rabbits. But after months of two walks a day — you have to get up from the desk sometime! — and stopping dead in my tracks whenever he pulled, and talking to him constantly, he is now a delight. Keep at it. Use treats and two or three repeated commands. With consistency, he’ll get it.