11 months old, am I doing this right?

[Tracys0309]

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Meg is now 11months old. She is a spaniel /lurcher cross. She is a crazy girl. She has realised that she can jump high walls and I am now struggling to keep her in the garden without her jumping over the walls into neighbours gardens. I have been giving her the kitchen to sleep in with her own bed and access to the garden when I'm out, neighbours say that she barks constantly when I'm not there, please can anyone help

 

[JoanneF]

There are a couple of things here - first, if she can jump over the garden wall, you must not allow her access to the garden when you are out. If she got out, apart from getting lost or stolen, suppose she crossed a road and either was hit by a car or caused a car to swerve and have an accident?

Second, do you know why she is barking - is it boredom or is it anxiety? Can you video her to see her behaviour?

What is her routine on a daily basis and how long is she left for?

 

[Kara 1]

How long have you had her ...what is she being fed .....
Lurchers are incredibly sensitive dogs and are wired differently to other breeds .....ive been addicted to them for 32 yrs ....
As said above what is her daily routine. ...

 

[Tracys0309]

There are a couple of things here - first, if she can jump over the garden wall, you must not allow her access to the garden when you are out. If she got out, apart from getting lost or stolen, suppose she crossed a road and either was hit by a car or caused a car to swerve and have an accident?

Second, do you know why she is barking - is it boredom or is it anxiety? Can you video her to see her behaviour?

What is her routine on a daily basis and how long is she left for?

There are a couple of things here - first, if she can jump over the garden wall, you must not allow her access to the garden when you are out. If she got out, apart from getting lost or stolen, suppose she crossed a road and either was hit by a car or caused a car to swerve and have an accident?

Second, do you know why she is barking - is it boredom or is it anxiety? Can you video her to see her behaviour?

What is her routine on a daily basis and how long is she left for?

Hi Joanne,
I blocked access to the top garden when she started jumping over the walls there, yesterday is the first time she has jumped over the wall at the bottom which is higher.
Her normal routine on a work day is up and out for morning toilet, breakfast then in the car to doggy day care. There she spends her day with other dogs and goes for long walk.
I pick her up after work, we have another walk and playtime then she rests for evening and bed.
On non work days we get up, breakfast, sometimes I have to pop out before we walk, never more than a couple of hours.
She barks at birds when I'm with her, not sure about when she's alone. I have no way of videoing her either.
I am now trying to make the walls in the bottom garden higher with fencing but am reluctant to let her out when I'm not there because of the barking.

 

[Tracys0309]

How long have you had her ...what is she being fed .....
Lurchers are incredibly sensitive dogs and are wired differently to other breeds .....ive been addicted to them for 32 yrs ....
As said above what is her daily routine. ...

Hi Kara,
I've had Meg since she was about 10 weeks old. I feed her James Wellbeloved Junior dried food.
She is a beautiful active puppy who is calming down slowly and not jumping up at people as she used to.
Someone told me yesterday that she is uncontrollable and not normal, even suggested she has autism, I know that the comments are wrong as she is a pup and continues to learn more every day. But I really don't want to fail her, I have to go out on occasion and was giving her the run of the smaller bottom garden, I won't do this until I have increased the wall height now, but am also concerned about the barking so may have to keep her inside when I pop out. Will this be okay?
Any advice you can give me for my beautiful spaniel/lurcher would be gratefully received.
Many thanks
Tracy & Meg

 

[JoanneF]

I take it that since you are online that you have a smartphone, laptop or tablet - you could use that to video her. Addressing the problem has to start with identifying the cause or we could make suggestions that just don't help.

She is still young and is a high energy dog but if you can tire her brain rather than her body you might find she is more manageable. Can you take her to a training class or club, or do scentwork or similar to improve her focus? Failing that look up Kikopup on YouTube who has many good short training videos. @JudyN also recommends a video on impulse control called "it's yer choice" (tagged to correct me if I have that wrong at all) which could help a lot too.

 

[Tracys0309]

I take it that since you are online that you have a smartphone, laptop or tablet - you could use that to video her. Addressing the problem has to start with identifying the cause or we could make suggestions that just don't help.

She is still young and is a high energy dog but if you can tire her brain rather than her body you might find she is more manageable. Can you take her to a training class or club, or do scentwork or similar to improve her focus? Failing that look up Kikopup on YouTube who has many good short training videos. @JudyN also recommends a video on impulse control called "it's yer choice" (tagged to correct me if I have that wrong at all) which could help a lot too.

Thank you, I will give this a go. As far as videoing her, I can do this when I'm here, but not sure how to when the problems occur when I'm out. I will try to get some videos when she is distracted and starts barking when I'm home.
She has been to puppy training classes which have helped a great deal. I will look up what you suggest.
Thank you
Tracy & Meg x

 

[Kara 1]

I would feed her a food less than 20 %protein ...have you thought about raw feeding ...it really does help as higher protein in food can make lurchers hyper ...everything else seems like you are doing the right thing

 

[JudyN]

Spaniel x lurcher... eek, an adolescent without an off switch!!

I wrote a long post about separation anxiety, then realised I'd missed your later posts above - I thought she was being left all day! I'll post more later but just wanted to add that given her breeding and age, her behaviour sounds normal. Do you know if there's any saluki in her mix? That would add an additional box of frogs...

 

[merlina]

It sounds as if you're doing very well with her and for her and she's totally normal. I have a young spaniel and he certainly barks at birds whether I'm there or not. She is a mix of two very active breeds so will have more energy than she knows what to do with at the moment. Maybe if you are only popping out for an hour or two and she's had exercise leaving her inside with a kong say may encourage her to learn some downtime behaviour. My boy is two and a bit now and is just getting there.

 

[JudyN]

Is she getting much down time when she's with you, and when she's at doggy day care? Learning to settle down and relax when 'nothing' is happening is important - if she struggles with this you could praise and treat her occasionally when she is resting quietly on her bed (take the treat to her, don't get her to come over!).

I would keep her in the house when you pop out. There's too much stimulation in the garden and she may feel she has to 'police' it, and protect it from any passing bird or squirrel! And there's the possibility that someone might realise that she's in the garden with no one in the house and try to steal her.

If you can't easily get a video recording, you could get an audio one - this should be possible through a laptop. The sound she makes might tell you if she's distressed.

This thread about another lively lurcher might help you realise that you're not alone: Struggling with our sight hound :(

 

[Tracys0309]

Hi Kara,
I've had Meg since she was about 10 weeks old. I feed her James Wellbeloved Junior dried food.
She is a beautiful active puppy who is calming down slowly and not jumping up at people as she used to.
Someone told me yesterday that she is uncontrollable and not normal, even suggested she has autism, I know that the comments are wrong as she is a pup and continues to learn more every day. But I really don't want to fail her, I have to go out on occasion and was giving her the run of the smaller bottom garden, I won't do this until I have increased the wall height now, but am also concerned about the barking so may have to keep her inside when I pop out. Will this be okay?
Any advice you can give me for my beautiful spaniel/lurcher would be gratefully received.
Many thanks
Tracy & Meg

Is there a way to stop her jumping over walls? She has now started jumping the walls in day care and they are concerned for her safety. I don't want her not to go as mixing with the other dogs is doing her the world of good. Any advice please
@JudyN

 

[Kara 1]

Has she been neutered yet ....

 

[Tracys0309]

Has she been neutered yet ....

Yes she has, she seems to take each wall as a challenge and work out how to clear it

 

[JoanneF]

She has now started jumping the walls in day care and they are concerned for her safety

I am sure they are but you are paying for a service and they have a responsibility for keeping her safe.

 

[JudyN]

Is there a way to stop her jumping over walls? She has now started jumping the walls in day care and they are concerned for her safety. I don't want her not to go as mixing with the other dogs is doing her the world of good. Any advice please
@JudyN

Sadly I don't think there's any reliable way of 'training' her not to. I don't suppose paying the day care to put additional trellis on top of/in front of the wall is an option? Otherwise, they may need to be willing to keep her in a penned-off area or indoors, or take her out on a lead or long line (if the latter, it would need to be attached to a harness, not a collar). I had a search on the Lurcher Link forum and found this thread that really just suggests ways of making fences more impregnable: Fence Jumping - Lurcher Link

 

[Tracys0309]

She has had to leave that daycare as they were not keen to heighten the walls, I think she'd have found a way over anyway.
I am keeping her inside when I'm out now, and looking into her going to other day care.
Thank you

 

[Tracys0309]

Spaniel x lurcher... eek, an adolescent without an off switch!!

I wrote a long post about separation anxiety, then realised I'd missed your later posts above - I thought she was being left all day! I'll post more later but just wanted to add that given her breeding and age, her behaviour sounds normal. Do you know if there's any saluki in her mix? That would add an additional box of frogs...

I'm not sure if saluki in the mix, lots of people comment that she looks part saluki though