Excessive Territory marking/sniffing help

[trinitycomplex]

Hello,
I have a 3 year old jack russell terrier spayed female. When we go for walks she is obsessive about marking and sniffing. She marks sometimes up to 15 times in a 30 min walk and must stop and sniff for 10-30 seconds every 5-10 feet. if i try and pull lightly on the leash she will get very frustrated at me and stop dead on the side walk. if she gets really fed up by me not letting her sniff/mark she will sit down on the sidewalk or grass and not move at all unless i pick her up or i give her time to relax. She will often walk very slow behind me because she wants to mark or sniff and i am trying to continue to walk. She is scared of any sudden load noise outside like a big truck or a dog barking. I tell her it is ok and pet her however i know i should not be doing this. Also when ever a person passes by or she sees someone get out of a car she will stop and want to sniff or look at the person. If i try to walk past the person she will stop and not want to continue as she wants to check them out. However when a person does try to pet her she runs away or barks. If you pet her when they try and pet her she is fine. She does not bite or nip at anyone she just gives kisses. What i wanted to ask if is she marking and sniffing so much because she is scared and insecure on the walks? i see online here: http://ezinearticles.com/?Dog-Marking-Codes---Territory-Marking-and-Dog-Scent-Mixing&id=288039 that it can be the case. if so what can i do? Thank you very much for the help.

[Xerxes]

Wow that's an interesting problem. I wish I could tell you what's happening, but I honestly have no clue.

[houndlove]

Well, I know it is certainly the case that the more anxious of my two is the big marker/sniffer. Don't know if that's for really real the root of it, but there's another anecdote to add to the evidence.

My solution to this problem (regardless of it's source) is improving verbal cues to focus on ME and what I'M doing (hello, human attached to other end of leash here!). He can't sniff and sniff and sniff and mark mark mark if he's attending to me. He also can't freak out about the scary things he sees on our walks if he's giving me good attention (he's mostly concerned about some of the other dogs he sees and in a more limited way unusual/really loud things). We're currently working on two things:

1. "Let's go!" which is the verbal cue to give me attention and continue walking forward with me. I take some yummy treats on the walk and at first when he was walking nicely for me I'd say "let's go!" and treat him. Then I began to use that cue when I'd notice that he was about to stop and investigate something but before he'd actually stopped. I'd say "let's go!" and when he looked up at me and continued moving, he'd get a treat. That's actually still where we mostly are. Eventually I want to be able to get his attention back to me to continue our walk even if I have let him stop to sniff for a moment, without having to tug on his leash at all (he weighs 85-90 lbs. and is incredibly strong so if he doesn't want to move, there is no moving).

2. Desensitization/counter-conditioning and focus exercises to deal with other dogs. We still keep pretty far away from other dogs if it can be helped. Far enough away that Conrad isn't so worked up about them and has the ability to work with me (if they're too close, his fear gets the best of him and he starts to lunge/whine/growl/freakout). We sit, Conrad looks at me, and I start dispensing the treats, until the other dog is out of range, I stop with the treats and we continue our walk. The goal here is not only to help Conrad see that when other dogs appear, treats appear too and this is a GOOD thing, but to also train him to keep his focus on me instead of the scary thing and perhaps in the future have him automatically look at me whenever he sees another dog.

[Doberluv]

Whatever the reason, she continues to do what she wants on the walk because she is given no reason to do otherwise. What I would suggest is reinforcing her frequently WHEN she is walking nicely. Don't stop when she stops. You control the walks. You walk and she comes along, but gets tiny tid bits of yummy treats and lots of praise/fun when she takes even a few nice steps alongside you on a loose leash. Start practicing her in a boring place like your yard with few distractions. Try to reinforce her good walking before she has a chance to mess it up. If she stops to sniff, tell her "leave it" and keep going. (teach her the leave it trick at other times) You can do a search here for that. Then when you are walking and she's doing well for just a few minutes, loosen up the leash and tell her "go sniff" or something like that, which differentiates between her "responsibility" to walk the way you want and her free time to do what she wants. (within reason) Then back to nice walking again. So, in other words, you're giving her what she wants (to sniff, pee, check things out) ONLY as reward for her walking nicely. Keep the practice sessions short. I'd forgo the walks for a week or two out amongst the big, crazy world. Let her get the hang of this a little bit, at least, in your yard where there are fewer distractions. Then add something small to create interest.

Do look up how to teach "leave it" if you haven't already. That can really come in handy in all kinds of situations.

So far, it has worked for her to do what she wants on the walks. She's not being "dominant" or "stubborn" or anything like that. Dogs do what works. She is learning exactly the way dogs learn. If it works and it's fun, do it. So, now you have to make it so what YOU want works and is fun but what she wants to do, (pull you, stop and sniff every 5 seconds) does NOT work. Keep walking because if you let her stop, that sniffing and peeing IS the reinforcer for her. Prevent it....keep walking in a cheerful way and reinforce her with a high value treat very very frequently at first for some time until she gets good at it. Then you can space out the treats. Also for her reward can be the opportunity to sniff and pee, stop, whatever WHEN you give the cue...the permission to do so. Differentiate.

[Doberluv]

Houndlove...lol...missed your post while I was typing. I totally forgot to address the shyness part of the post. Somehow, it completely escaped me. Your advice is very good to associate good things with scary things....to turn the scary things into good things.

[trinitycomplex]

houndlove and Doberluv thanks this is great advice :) Im going to try the things you suggested today i can try just walking up and down my street its a small dead end street. Thanks for the help:)

[Doberluv]

You are so welcome. I hope things improve. Remember, it won't change over night since what she's been doing all along has been working. In fact, she is likely to get worse before she gets better. When it's not working to do what she wants on the walk when she wants to do it, she'll give it all she's got before she finds out that it flat out doesn't work but the alternative you give her does. Be super consistant. In a couple of weeks you should see some improvement. Let us know how she does with the nice "walkies" as well as any improvement with "scary" things/people. Best of luck!