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I brought home a 7-month-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She grew up in a pack of adult Cavaliers, and her breeder only trained her for dog shows (stand and walk). She walked calmly on a leash there, didn’t pull, and didn’t react to anything. She lived other 5 adult Cavaliers, so I think she never had a reason to look for excitement? Now we live on Long Island, with deer, squirrels, raccoons, birds, and all kinds of strong scents and movement everywhere. She has been here with me for about a month, and honestly the last two weeks have gotten worse instead of better. Inside the house she barks at random noises, shadows, footsteps upstairs, and anything out the window. When she gets into this alert state, she won’t listen at all. She also whines when she can’t get to something she wants, or when she’s overstimulated. She used to be calm and focused the first two weeks, but now it feels like her brain switches off and she just reacts to everything (over-excitement not aggresive) I’m also trying introducing her slowly to our two new kittens. She gets extremely overstimulated by their smell and goes into “search mode,” whining and pacing. What i need advice on: How do I de-escalate an overstimulated dog in the moment when she’s not listening to anything? Leash pulling to get to other dogs/people/whatever scent she caught and goes into “search mode,” whining and pacing. How do I teach recall, calmness, and focus when the environment is full of wildlife and distractions? Should I keep her on a leash in the yard until she’s fully trained? Or is it better to let her run and burn off energy even if she ignores me? Bcs on a yard she immediate locks in and is obsessed, chasing birds… How do I limit the barking/reactivity toward noises, windows, and movement? I'd appreciate any thoughts/advice, tysm 🙏 P.S Video is just a mild version of her reactivity, but wanted to caught it on video. submitted by /u/Slight-Move-4997 |