The biggest Ada problem (need advice)

So I'm coming along with Ada but there is one issue that is pretty much a turn off to everyone who lives here or comes to visit and I think it will be hard/impossible to adopt her out unless it is fixed.

The big 4:

-Potty training. Seeming to go a bit better. She still is supervised or tethered to me all the time.

- Stealing things to destroy. I've got it to where she'll 'drop it' most the time on command. I treat her for that. But she still if let loose will run through the house and just steal things to eat.

- No recall- coming along but she's still a bolter and not a dog I'd EVER trust off leash. (deal breaker for some people)

- the main one- screaming and howling 24/7. She does this almost all the time and it's driving me nuts. I have no idea how to deal with it to be honest. If she's left alone, she barks all the time.

Have you thought about getting a manners minder for the separation anxiety? The manners minder can help because you can close the door behind you and wait for a quiet moment and reward the dog without being in the room, it's a remote controlled treat dispenser.

How about working call offs for the recall work? I can see if I can video how we start this but we use this in most every sport.

Basically you start it with the dog on a long line, let them get distracted then move away (do not pull the dog to you, a pop of the leash for attention is the most you should ever do) and call the dog, high, loud and fun. Have a toy ready and get them super psyched on you. Whether it's a quick ball toss behind you and a a game of two ball (once the dog has one ball you call them close using the second ball as bait and then tell them to out the first ball and throw the second ball) or a game of rapid tug.

You then cheerily end the game, walk on and wait for the dog to get distracted again before starting all over.

As for stealing and destroying I would train "trade it" and give her a suitable toy to play with. All but one of my 5 dogs will destroy a toy given enough time and really... I can live with that, we just put up valuable toys when not actively playing with them.

As far as the screaming...that will probably be the hardest to work on. What helped Edna a lot was teaching a solid stay, then having her stay outside a door while I go inside, stay while I shut the door halfway for a few seconds, stay while I shut it halfway for a minute or two, stay with the door shut for a few seconds, stay with it shut a few minutes, etc. Do not make it a big deal when you come home, ignore her for the most part. Don't say "goodbye", just go.

As far as stealing, keep her tethered or secure. Keep stuff out of reach. DO NOT LET HER CHEW STUFF. It's self-rewarding behavior. If you catch her, interrupt it and trade it for a fun toy.

You don't know how hold she is, do you? My guess is the chewing is a young-dog/puppy behavior she'll hopefully at least mostly grow out of. Or she's been allowed to chew/destroy things in a past home.

As far as housebreaking, I know spay incontinence is a problem, but I've had an easier time housebreaking female dogs after they've been spayed. Especially if she was pregnant or had weird stuff going on...hopefully if you just continue crate-training and keep her on a schedule, she'll catch on soon.

I've been trying to provide her with lots of appropriate chews. It's not JUST toys she'll steal, she steals basically anything. I've been doing the trade it game and then treating her for giving things up. She's very very food oriented. She's supposedly 2-3 years old, so not a puppy puppy.

The screaming is definitely the worst thing and occurs very often. Every now and then she's okay being by herself. It is just very hard having to manage her so much in the house and at the same time she can't be left outside alone either because she screams.

I hope this goes through okay. I've been having issues with chaz today timing out.

Hmmm

I have never had dogs who run around destroying things (I do have dogs who destroy dog toys, but they limit it to just toys... and really Dekka is the main culprit)

As for the running off. That is a terrier thing. Right now if Solo gets out he will usually hang around if I act all casual like.. and after he has ran through the barn and smelled things and peed 107 times he is all excited to go back in. If I chase him (or even walk at him) he runs off. I have dealt with this often. But all I do is practise lots. So I will intentionally take Solo out (I am not worried about him running to the highway or anything, that direction is boring.. woods, neighbours chained up dogs (and the crap food thats often in their bowls), the barn, the fields are far more exciting) when he is VERY hungry. I also bring with me a dog or two that has a stellar recall.

I start heading up to the back and he and the other dog race along. Periodically I call him and treat him and then let him go back to frolicking. So far I have only had one dog who was not off leash material. Not sure if you can impliment anything like that or not (of if she heads for the hills when she gets out, my young ones tend to run out to eat horse poop or visit the chain dogs)

The screaming is more tricky. I tend to let them scream it out. But then I don't have other people to bother for the most part.

For some reason letting past dogs scream it out hasn't bothered me but Ada does. I think it must be the pitch or something. It's god-awful sounding. Pretty much everyone that meets her comments that she's obnoxiously loud. So I am worried that will be a big deal breaker as far as most sane adopters go.

With stealing things, as soon as she's off leash in the house she will just start doing donuts and grab whatever she finds. Then she will just eat it. So that's made letting her off leash in the house impossible. It seems to be building on itself- off leash in the house = new and exciting and she must act like a lunatic. I just don't trust her at ALL not to eat something or pee on something. Eventually though she'll need to gain some freedom but so far she hasn't gained any freedom at all.

I am sure it would be mildly better if she wasn't supposed to be on bed rest either. She has quite a bit of energy. Before if I'd let her run it out for a few hours, she'd come in and settle a bit. but the screaming was still a problem back then too. If anything, it's getting worse as time goes on. But now it's not possible to exercise her hard either.

what about grabbing a muzzle? A basket one, she can breath and pant but can't grab things. They are usually pretty cheap. Maybe let her learn to settle first and then work on the temptation of all those things she could eat?

The barking, sadly my only suggestion if she is that bad is to try a spray collar. Some pet stores rent them. (though they make you pay for them if your BC manages to chew it whilst wearing it...)

I really am not thinking it's SA either. I have had Summer with SA and it just doesn't seem the same. She's not panicky at all, just loud and annoying and 'YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!!'

We've waited out Ada for HOURS literally. I am very familiar with how to deal with SA from Summer but I have not seen one ounce of improvement in over 6 weeks.

I think the muzzle is probably a good idea at first to try to let being inside be a little less of a novelty. I think once being loose inside is normal, she'll be easier to deal with. Because right now it pretty much makes her crazy.

She's also getting a lot scrappier with the other dogs. Definitely a terrier through and through but I can handle the scrappiness. I've had to redirect her three times this past 30 minutes from another dog.

Living with Ada currently is a 24/7 task. If she's not being watched either outside or in a crate or x-pen, she's bellowing. If she's even leashed in the house, she spends most the time just pacing and wandering to and fro and trying to snipe things. I've been REALLY rewarding the brief moments where she sits down. If you have her outside and you're outside though she will settle pretty fast and be happy just curling up at your feet. She just seems to have a really tough time settling indoors for some reason.

She sleeps through the night if the crate is in my room.

Outdoors is boring, indoors is interesting.

Muzzle her and let her loose for 2 weeks. It will suck for you but she'll settle eventually. I did this with Middie and the longer I prolonged things the worse it got until he was finally just turned loose.

I am really thinking keeping her tethered 24/7 is probably aggravating things a bit. It will definitely suck to let her loose even if she's muzzled at first. But I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet eventually so that indoors can lose some of the novelty.

Now the GOOD news is we've gotten the kennel to being good (provided it's in the room I am in). She will willingly go lie down in her bed in the kennel for a few minutes at a time (which is a HUGE improvement for her).

Can you dog-proof some rooms and let her run loose in them supervised until she gets bored? Pop some interactive toys on the floor, like a stuffed kong or whatnot, interrupt her if she grabs something, but otherwise ignore her?

I've done some of that. She has been loose in a couple rooms. My idea was to let her out and free then gradually give her some more access to other rooms. She's been okay. She really has no problem marking on things though, which requires very close supervision still. She will run over and hike her leg on just about anything. I'm hoping that will settle down as her hormones return to usual. I've heard it sometimes helps.

Even when I let her loose in a safe room she's found something to chew or try to eat. Or if not, she likes to scratch at the doors and walls furiously.

I think part of it is that she is not a very easy (imo) dog to focus. Even when she was better she'd have some toy drive but it wasn't like Mia who would play ball till she dropped. She gets bored of ball or of training or of tug really quick (plus she can't d much of that now anyways). So wearing her out is tricky. The only time I saw her worn out was the one time I decided to take her to the dog park (after her shots but before I knew she was HW+) Running off leash and chasing big dogs was the literally only way I've seen her worn out. Mia probably has more energy but she's so much more focused that it's easy to expel (at least for me). Ada kind of reminds me of a mini boxer or something. Just spazzing everywhere with no real reason to and no real idea of what she's doing. The dogs I am used to tend to be the type that it is easy to utilize the energy to be productive because they naturally kind of focus it (if that makes sense). It's not just all over the place like Ada's is.

This too.

Seriously consider a manners minder, it's some form of anxiety if she can't calm herself while you are gone and training settle with manners minders is very easy and effective.

What is a manners minder? I've never heard of that before.

Amazon.com: Premier Manners Minder Remote Reward Behavior Training System for Dogs: Kitchen & Dining

They are pricey. And determined terriers have been known to destroy them to get at the food. I wouldn't suggest leaving with the dog.

I looked it up and my first thought was that she'd probably just eat it.

She sounds like a firecracker! lol. I am not sure I could deal with that :\ so I commend you.

For the marking... have you considered a doggie diaper? LOL. Like seriously. Or would she just rip it off... lol.

she'd rip it off. The first thing she did when she got back from being spayed was to rip off the bandage on her leg.

She's a good dog, just very very very terrier. She needs a lot of management around the other dogs especially. She's not DA, just quick to react to any kind of excitement in the other dogs (in a not-so good way).

I am thinking any adopter might need to have terrier experience. Dekka, how do you tend to screen people for the JRTs you've fostered? I think Ada is going to really need someone that enjoys an independent minded terrier type temperament.

Could she drag a leash around inside? If she starts zooming around, you can grab it or step on it. She might feel more free than if she's tethered to you, but still has a reminder that she has to behave. And she'll be easier to catch if she grabs something. You can cut the loop out of the handle so it doesn't catch on things.

If you think she'd destroy the manners minder, what about a toy like a bobs-a-lot -

YouTube - ‪Starmark Bob-A-Lot Treat Toy for Dogs‬‏

Something she has to interact with, maybe would keep her focus longer?