Annoying Behavior

[karenz]

Xander has developed a very annoying behavior. He jumps and snaps at anything in the air. If I light my grill he jumps and bites at the smoke. He also does this with raindrops and snowflakes. Now that it is cold outside he even does it when me or him breathes and he can see the breath. I have tried distractions and leash corrections but he is so obsessed with it. Nothing seems to be working. Any suggestions? They only time I have had any success is to play ball with him, but as soon as we stop he goes right back to it. I tried to hold his ball and tell him no snap and when he stops for a moment I throw him the ball for a reward.

[Raven]

Here's my two-cents based on my experience: something has told him to react to these type of things. Refrain from acknowledging the behavior inasmuchas encouraging/reinforcing it by rewarding him...which you are doing by distraction, offering him the ball. (This is a technique that is good in some situations while encourages behavior in others, especially depending upon the status of training.)

In another thread, you said he understands the power of your finger. Use that to tell him to stop. Stand and do nothing else until he does. Nothing. As long as his relationship with you is readable, he'll get it. Once he ceases the behavior, mark and reward.

As he continues to react to this type of stimuli (which he likely will), extend the period of time between the mark and reward. Again, he'll connect the dots.

Hope this makes sense and is helpful.

[karenz]

In another thread, you said he understands the power of your finger. Use that to tell him to stop. Stand and do nothing else until he does. Nothing. As long as his relationship with you is readable, he'll get it. Once he ceases the behavior, mark and reward.

The powerful finger works if on leash. If he is on leash I can get his attention and give him the finger. He will sit and look at me and the behavior stops. He is however twitching with excitement and making his excitement noises.

It is off leash that I lose the power of the finger. So I have stopped the off leash when there are any floating or falling objects in the air. That way I have more control over his focus.

I'm pretty sure this is all my fault. When he was a puppy I bought child safe bubbles and would blow them for him to jump and bite at. He absolutely loved it. It's just that it has developed into a crazy obsession with him now.

I also stopped with the ball reward as I was doing in the beginning. I now keep him on leash and have him stop and focus on me. I mark the behavior when he does he gets a treat. I will just keep extending the length of time that he has to focus.

[Raven]

I feel your pain.

When I first adopted Thor, one of the "tools" I used for training...well...it backfired. Not only did he obsess over it in a majorly maniacal way, and not only did anything that remotely resemble it get him going, but it translated to all types of other things--where associations GREW into other bizarre sub-associations. It was maddening. Fascinating how his mind worked, and how quickly he made all those sub-associations, but maddening.

It took LOTS of counter-conditioning. Had to work on each association separately as well. Each one we worked on deliberately...but then also in the normal course of daily activity when one of the "associations" would just naturally occur (like you lighting the grill for dinner), so I'd have to stop what I was doing to work on the issue. Ugh.

It can be done, but whew!