Halloween is coming!

I'm lucky enough to be in a basement suite with my door facing the backyard so I know there won't be any kids coming over, but how does everyone elses dogs cope with all the chaos of halloween?

Last year Triton was a nervous wreck, so I had to take him downstairs and occupy him while all the children came knocking lol.

Triton is also very unfriendly towards people, so I had to keep him far far away, and not greet anyone poor guy

This will be our first Halloween with Oakley. He loves kids...but hates people in costume...especially clowns. We were at a parade and Oakley ran into a clown and absolutely went berserk. I'm sure if we would have let him loose, the poor clown would have been noseless.

Well it will be a very good experience for you all then! Hopefully you get some nice little kids in moderate costumes..

I hope I am not stepping on anyones toes but the attached site needs help feeding animals in shelters in Canada & USA.
I would be very appreciative of everyone if they could make this site one of their favorites to click on every day to feed the animals in need.


http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3&ThirdPartyClicks=ERA_092509_ARS

You bet thats my first bookmark! I order goodies from them too. It's nice to have great stuff and help animals in the same purchase

I will sticky the link.

Well, Hotshot goes crazy when anyone comes to the door, so in the last place we lived in, a tri-level townhouse, Glen would stay down in the living room holding him the entire trick-or-treating time while I went up to the middle level where the front door was to hand out candy. By the way, I made the mistake of leaving the front door open with only the screen door closed, and the box of candy sitting on the front porch just inside the door...and some kid(s) stole it while I was down in the living room. Jerks.

Anyway, this will be Gizmo's first Halloween with us but I know he'll bark his fool head off. Plus we are in a new house now where the living room is where the front door is, which means I imagine someone will have to take the dogs to the basement and hang out with them down there during trick-or-treating time.

Not to mention the fact that we have a little girl to take out now...so that we can eat the candy!

Triton07 wrote:I'm lucky enough to be in a basement suite with my door facing the backyard so I know there won't be any kids coming over, but how does everyone elses dogs cope with all the chaos of halloween?

Last year Triton was a nervous wreck, so I had to take him downstairs and occupy him while all the children came knocking lol.

Triton is also very unfriendly towards people, so I had to keep him far far away, and not greet anyone poor guy

Keeping your dog far far away will not help your dog. What you need to do is throw him in the water so to speak and let him swim back. The only way dogs who have people/dog/children issues get better is a ton of direct contact. Get him out a ton more, but do not let people interact with him. Tell them to just ignore him. If he learns that people will not force him to interact he will get better.

My dog goes tricker treating with us ... well last year we just had riker, this year we have the sibe puppy as well, so we will all go!

The biggest issue I see, is dogs that do not have the utmost confidence in their owners. And owners who let themselves get flustered.

First of all I would set up a scenario with a friend much before hand... like now! Practice coming to the door, knocking, ringing the door bell and such. The dog is not allowed to rush the door, bark excessively, etc. The key is to practice this behaviour until it becomes boring and mundane to the dog. I would also practice opening and closing the door and teaching the dog to NOT barge thru it.

Once your dog is good with these things, have different people come to the door, with hats, with kids, holding bags, etc. Don't just have the same person. Dogs do not generalize learning very easily. If you just have the same person over and over, they will learn that it is ok with THAT particular person comes to the door!

Once the dog is good with different people and different scenarios, start having the people yell as kids will. Realise that you will probably see regression, but stay calm.

When Halloween comes, KEEP YOUR DOG WITH YOU!!! It is an AMAZING training experience that only happens once a year!!! Take advantage of it!!

You will find that very quickly your dog will calm down and begin to accept the comings and goings. If YOU are calm and accepting.

I would also suggest that if it is a time of particular stress... take your dog for a VERY VERY VERY long run before hand. Tired dogs deal with things better! ;-)

You can also give them a job to do that will keep them pre occupied. This year Riker will learn to carry a pumkin treat carrier thing. He will also bay/bark for treats at the doors if they ask (which my son will probably promt everyone to do! lol).

If you are staying at home.. you could teach your dog to "show you" where the treats are (ie go and stare at the treats or put his feet on a ledge and stare, or you could even have them in a bag and teach him to retrieve the bag for you). Or you could train your dog to "race" you for the candy bag, and sometimes YOU win and sometimes HE gets to win and bring the bag out. But too many times would get boring after a while so change things up to keep the dog interested.

Stress is a very cool training tool, and that which does not kill you makes you stronger, is very applicable to dogs as well. Once a dog realises that they will not die, be maimed, harmed, hurt, etc they will be stronger for it. Do not be afraid to stress your dog. lol.. but also do not push them past what they can handle. Clear as mud?

Tamara McIntosh

Thank you very much for that info Tamara!! This year I don't have to worry about Halloween because I'm in my new basement suite now, and the only door is in the back yard. And since Triton is absolutely HORRIBLE with people coming to our house, I've taken advantage of my new place. We've been here 2 full days now, and in those 2 days I've had 5 strangers come here, and he did amazing!! He even let them PET HIM!! OH MY GOD! I had to have looked silly with my proud mommy grin the whole time I plan on inviting over people as much as possible, and getting him used to the idea of having people in "our" house. But as for the trick or treating, I won't be going out at all this year (I'll be 20 and really have nothing to go out for)

I try to take him to the parks and such as much as possible too, always have, and try to work with him NEAR people, but not coming into contact with them. Our biggest problem is that he is so small and "cute and nice" that little kids just want to come pet him, and if I tell them and their parents that he is not a nice doggy and they should be careful, well you think thats going to stop them!!! Heavens no!! It's awful, I feel bad when he snarls and barks at them (he literally looks/sounds rabid) and they run away terrified. What more can I do? I warn them!?

But I think that if we make progress in the house first, then we'll start more training outside near adults and dogs first (with dogs he is great!) and then work our way to being near kids.

Thanks again for the info, and I'll update you with our progress

Triton07 wrote: It's awful, I feel bad when he snarls and barks at them (he literally looks/sounds rabid) and they run away terrified. What more can I do? I warn them!?

You can control your dog, and the situation. Your dog needs to be interupted before the behaviour begins, and you need to be firm with people when they approch your dog.

The other thing you can do is get a muzzle for your dog. This usually keeps people far far away without ever having to say anything! LOL. You can get a cheap plastic basket muzzle from G&E for about 10 bucks.

The muzzle will also help you to feel more confident, knowing that he can snap and snarl if he wants, but nothing negative is going to happen.

It will also reinforce to the dog that it is not HIS choice to interact. There are things in life that dogs must do or live with that they do not have input into. It sounds like this dog has been allowed to make his decisions and it is not his choice. It is your choice.

I will give you this advice... emotion is weakness in the dog world. ANY emotion... pity, anger, sadness. So you need to take that out of your vocabulary to deal with dogs in a manner they will understand and respond to. To quote Ceasar Milan "Dogs live in the now". So the only being dwelling on what happened to the dog at 5 weeks or 10 months or 2 years ago or even yesterday, is the owner. Once the OWNER gets over the issue, the dog will get better and show improvment.

I will be in Edmonton this weekend and can get together with you if you want. Contact me at:

memphisbelle5@hotmail.com

Tamara McIntosh

Well since day 1 he hasn't gotten away with making his own decisions. What advice you have given me is just like all the other trainers that I've spoken with. They all explain to me what I'm doing wrong, and the emotions I'm giving off, but once they actually SEE the situation, they don't know what to say. He's a very difficult dog for them to deal with. I've talked to MANY trainers, and they all say the same thing, and I do everything I have been told/ read/ improvised. I do take control, and they've seen it happen. They've tried to take control, and it is worse. It's so hard to explain him unless you've seen it happen.

Unfortunately I live in Red Deer, so Edmontons still far for me to go.

As for a muzzle, I've never found one that actually fits his tiny nose, and since the situation has never gotten to the point where I cannot control him and he gets ahold of someone, I don't feel the need to mask his mouth with a muzzle.

As he gets older, he is getting better. But not as quickly as I'd like. So far it has been a 2 year battle with his aggression, but it is nothing like it was back when I first got him.

Well, my dogs LOVE to see who's at the door, and I'm afraid they do scare some people (delivery guys, etc.) So I think we may try to keep them under high-security control (ie: my husband is going to have to be on corral duty!) while the kids are visiting. I have heard however that there are not many kids in our neighbourhood, so it should be ok.

Please everyone, remember: It looks like the weather will be really nice this Halloween, which means more kids out doing much mischief. Please keep a close watch on your pets, especially if they are let outside, even in a fenced yard. Kids will throw firecrackers over your fence or do all kinds of things that can hurt your dogs. Don't let them out of your sight on Saturday night.

Last night I brought home my costume and I wanted to see how Oakley would react to it. I put it on in the bathroom (its only a mask, wig, and kfc bucket) and came out...and Oakley was petrified. The hair on his back stood on end like I've never seen it before, he barked like I've never heard it, and he actually peed a little.

I felt pretty bad about it but after I let him smell the mask and check it out, he warmed up to it a little and wasn't as afraid.

It gave us a good laugh though.