# Grrr... My neighbor counter acts our training.



## Lou (Sep 22, 2012)

I wouldnt allow him near my dog period. "If you are so selfish that you can't consider my efforts in training MY baby then u can go £¥€#*^+• !!! "

I have zero tolerance for ¥£€•*%^ people

LOL I ain't got time for that, ya know? 

Not saying that's what YOU should do, but that is what I would do. 

Arrrgghh! I have just had enough of people like that, no thanks!  (personal experiences....)

I'd still be friends with the wife, and I'm sure if she is as good friend of mine she'd understand.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

i'd just walk the other way with my dog every time i saw that neighbor coming. if your neighbor won't get the message, your dog probably will: it's pretty clear your neighbor is not trainable, but your dog still is, so that's where the effort has to go.


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## Lou (Sep 22, 2012)

patk said:


> i'd just walk the other way with my dog every time i saw that neighbor coming. if your neighbor won't get the message, your dog probably will: it's pretty clear your neighbor is not trainable, but your dog still is, so that's where the effort has to go.


I LOVE what u said! "If the neighbor doesn't get the message, your dog will!"  

Of course!  The dog will realize he doesn't get to act-up with the neighbor, that behavior is unacceptable! Great advice!

May I add:
I am absolutely sure your dog is smarter than A LOT of people!  


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## Lou (Sep 22, 2012)

Oops! Duplicate


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

My daughter was dating a guy that would come to the house often. On two occasions he picked up Misha and held her with one hand under her chest (he was sitting down), he raised her up over his head and kind of just let her hang there. She didn't know what to do, but wasn't scared, just confused.

I asked him nicely to put my dog down. Then I explained to him that I wasn't going to have a frightened dog because of his stupidity. My dog, my house, my rules. 

Next time he came over I guess he forgot because I caught him doing it again. I came in and told him to immediately put my dog down. Then I told him to leave. He smiled thinking I was joking. I made it clear I wasn't joking, when it came to my dogs, I was dead serious. He asked if he could ever come back and I told him yes, but if he was ever caught teasing or being mean to my dogs in ANY way again he would never be allowed back.

Thank heavens my daughter "saw the light" a few weeks later and broke off the relationship.

Anyways, I don't care about hurting someones feelings or offending them. You have to advocate for your dog. Personally I would be very blunt, tell him if he doesn't change the dog would be prevented from interacting with him.


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## Spicoli's Mom (Jan 25, 2014)

Ok I am going to do my best to avoid him and be more assertive about my rules. Thanks everyone.

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## Joelly (May 8, 2012)

You just have to be direct with some people. Unfortunately but true.


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## IthacaSpoo (Jan 22, 2014)

I'm asking a dumb question, but what is four on the floor philosophy. Something tells me this is a good thing to know?


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## Spicoli's Mom (Jan 25, 2014)

IthacaSpoo said:


> I'm asking a dumb question, but what is four on the floor philosophy. Something tells me this is a good thing to know?


I don't give any attention to him if he is not calm with four feet on the floor. He knows to get anything from me he has to be calm with all four feet on the floor. Not jumping up on people or acting like a spaz. When other people pet him I ask that they do the same. It is okay to pet him and give him attention as long as he is not jumping up or demanding it. He has to be calm for them to pet him. If he isn't I ask that they stop and ignore him, no eye contact, nothing, until he settles down.

I don't know if it is a philosophy or who first did it. It has just been something that has always been a rule for me with dogs. I have always had big dogs and you just can't have them jumping up on people. So I have always tried to discourage that type of behavior early on. I call it four on the floor but I am not sure who coined it. LOL!


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## Spicoli's Mom (Jan 25, 2014)

One more thing...

Later on I will train him to jump up on command but first I want him to know it is never okay to jump up. Once that is mastered I will add jumping on cue. So that he knows the only time it is okay is if he is cued to do it. So it isn't that I never want him to jump up it is just that I don't want him to do it unless I cue him to do it. First he needs to just learn that it gets him nothing so there is no point in doing it.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

i have a small dog and i did the same with him. i worried most about him jumping up on a small child. my neighbor's child was terrified of small dogs because a friend's toy dogs had overwhelmed her as a toddler - and this was a child who grew up in a home with a resident white gsd.


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## IthacaSpoo (Jan 22, 2014)

I love this Four on the Floor, simple and easy to remember. Thanks all!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Since you are friends with the guy's wife maybe you can enlist her help in getting him to get with the program. In the meantime if you move your dog away from this man every time he sees him and starts to get worked up, then reward for settling down I will bet your smart pup will figure out pretty quickly not to act crazy when he sees the guy even if he tries to incite a riotous response.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Knowing me, I'd avoid antagonizing this guy. So, I like the idea of training your dog that it works out a million times better to stay away from the guy, in spite of his distracting and enticing antics (you can work up to like scenarios with a practice person) and that the pay off is HUGE compared to even going up to the guy. ("leave it") And HUGE reinforcer. First work on perfecting his attention on you, first with minimal stimuli and gradually increasing it until he can resist this dufus of a neighbor. I think it would be a riot to go one step further after this attention training and leaving it...to turning his back and sitting down facing you when the neighbor is present. Of course you'll need to have him on the leash when training around the neighbor...can't work across yards without a leash. But eventually, your dog can learn that in any situation (when you practice with various locations and scenarios, various stimuli, mild up to stronger distractions)...on cue, he's to ignore people when you give the cue that becomes (later) attached to the behavior of sitting with his back to someone and looking at you ONLY. lol.


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## Spicoli's Mom (Jan 25, 2014)

Poodlebeguiled said:


> Knowing me, I'd avoid antagonizing this guy. So, I like the idea of training your dog that it works out a million times better to stay away from the guy, in spite of his distracting and enticing antics (you can work up to like scenarios with a practice person) and that the pay off is HUGE compared to even going up to the guy. ("leave it") And HUGE reinforcer. First work on perfecting his attention on you, first with minimal stimuli and gradually increasing it until he can resist this dufus of a neighbor. I think it would be a riot to go one step further after this attention training and leaving it...to turning his back and sitting down facing you when the neighbor is present. Of course you'll need to have him on the leash when training around the neighbor...can't work across yards without a leash. But eventually, your dog can learn that in any situation (when you practice with various locations and scenarios, various stimuli, mild up to stronger distractions)...on cue, he's to ignore people when you give the cue that becomes (later) attached to the behavior of sitting with his back to someone and looking at you ONLY. lol.



That would be awesome. I am going to start looking at this as a fun challenge. It would be so funny if the next time we encounter him Spicoli completely ignored him. Hahahaha. Or any annoying person for that matter. That would be sweet. LOL! That is my new goal.


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## Spicoli's Mom (Jan 25, 2014)

Poodlebeguiled said:


> Of course you'll need to have him on the leash when training around the neighbor...can't work across yards without a leash. But eventually, your dog can learn that in any situation



Yes absolutely. You know that is the other thing that really erks me. This guy will call my dog from his yard as soon as he sees us. There is a decent distance between us but if he sees us leaving he will come out and pester us. Of course I have Spicoli leashed but the thing that really annoys me is that he doesn't even call him by his name. He calls him Prince which is not even remotely part of his name but he does it in such a high pitch excited way that Spicoli reacts anyways. Ugh he really is just a huge ass of a guy. I mean it is like he is trying to have his own weird relationship with my dog. 

They do not have a dog but this guy is one of those that know's everything about everything. It doesn't matter what you are doing he has input for you and he is sure that his way is better. Like the name thing I say to him his name isn't prince it's Spicoli and he says well you need to name him prince that fits him better. UGH!! LOL! Can't stand him. His wife is nice we are friends but not like super close friends. She knows he is an ass. She has flat out ask him to stop messing with the dog but he doesn't listen to either of us. It's nothing new this guy is a real charmer let me tell you. LOL!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Gosh, he really sounds like an ass. I know the type...real boars. And bores. OMG I feel for you. But hopefully, you can get around this. Keep us posted. I wish you all the best.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Spicoli's Mom said:


> One more thing...
> 
> Later on I will train him to jump up on command but first I want him to know it is never okay to jump up. Once that is mastered I will add jumping on cue. So that he knows the only time it is okay is if he is cued to do it. So it isn't that I never want him to jump up it is just that I don't want him to do it unless I cue him to do it. First he needs to just learn that it gets him nothing so there is no point in doing it.


Yes, this worked wonderfully for me too, teaching him later to do it on command only. I absolutely hate having peoples dogs jump on me.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Spicoli's Mom said:


> Ok I am going to do my best to avoid him and be more assertive about my rules. Thanks everyone.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com


Great. Just remember that intermittent reinforcement is the strongest. So you can't ever respond to this guy in the way he wants, and from what you've said he will test you, believe me. Crossing my fingers for you


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## MaryEdwards (Oct 29, 2012)

It's a shame people continue to do what they are asked not to. You asked and received no response, and I could not agree more with the advice other members have offered. It is rude, but some people just DO NOT GET IT!

sorry had to vent, I deal with something similar every day


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## Spicoli's Mom (Jan 25, 2014)

*Update!!!*

So I have a little update on my nieghbor. 

He really isn't a bad guy he is just a curmudgeon. That is what his wife and I call him "the curmudgeon."

Anyways, I was sweeping my garage out and I had left Spicoli in the house because I knew that if the curmudgeon was outside he would start creating problems that we were not ready to deal with. 

Sure enough I saw his wife who came over to say hi. He wasn't far behind her. He walked up and said "where is Prince Pierre?" I said "Spicoli is in the house sleeping and being a good dog." He and his wife both knew at that point exactly what I meant. His wife kind of looked at me and we smiled at each other. He said "Ahh, come on I wanted to see the dog."

I said "Well, here's the deal "Troy" aka(the curmudgeon)... I am training him to be a well behaved companion and you are seem to enjoy interfering with that. I don't want you getting him all riled up. I don't want you to reward him for jumping on you. If you two can't play nice then I don't want you playing together. He is very impressionable right now." 

I was really nice but he immediately got the point. I think I made him feel kind of small.

He actually apologized and said "I was just playing I'm sorry." I said "if you can follow the rules I will let him out." He agreed, I opened the door and called Spicoli. He slowly got up and came outside, he was kind of half asleep. As soon as he saw the curmudgeon he started to get excited but the curmudgeon did not reward it. He waited until spicoli was with four on the floor and calm then reached down and loved on him. I was kind of shocked.

As he reached down to pet him he said "sorry bud, I can't play with you like that anymore. Your mom says I am teaching bad things so we have to play nice."

We all stood outside and watched Spicoli play with Clearbrook Kitty (Another long story) Sort of an adopted neighborhood alley cat. The kitty and Spicoli have become like best friends. This cat has to come love on him as soon as they see each other. They play nice so I allow it but every so often I have to break it up if they get too excited. 

Anyways, we had a nice time enjoying Spicoli out front with the neighbors and I was glad that I finally got my point across. I am sure there will be reminders here and there but we do get along fairly well with these neighbors and consider them friends so it is best that we can work things out.


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

Wow! Don't want to patronize, but I'm proud of you! Way to go!


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## kukukachoo (Jul 26, 2012)

way to whip him in line! :whip:


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Spicoli's Mom said:


> So I have a little update on my nieghbor. ..... I said "Well, here's the deal "Troy" aka(the curmudgeon)... I am training him to be a well behaved companion and you are seem to enjoy interfering with that. I don't want you getting him all riled up. I don't want you to reward him for jumping on you. If you two can't play nice then I don't want you playing together. He is very impressionable right now."
> 
> I was really nice but he immediately got the point. I think I made him feel kind of small.
> 
> ...


Wow Spicoli's Mom - You did a great job with that. I bet that guy is going to think quite a bit about his behavior. It could even carry over to other parts of his life. Awesome.

I really liked the "If you two can't play nice then I don't want you playing together. He is very impressionable right now." What a good way to not make it sound like it was all his fault, but make the point really clear.


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## IthacaSpoo (Jan 22, 2014)

Awesome outcome so far. One thing is for sure, the guy is doing this because he really likes your dog. He needs a Prince of his own.


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## hopetocurl (Jan 8, 2014)

IthacaSpoo said:


> Awesome outcome so far. One thing is for sure, the guy is doing this because he really likes your dog. He needs a Prince of his own.


Exactly what I was thinking!


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## Spicoli's Mom (Jan 25, 2014)

I am pretty sure he would love to have a dog and his wife is somewhat against the idea. She always says she choose to have kids not animals. I say why not have both. LOL! 

I believe they have discussed it and agreed that they would not get a dog until they buy a house. Although, I am sure if he had it his way they would already have a couple of dogs. He really is a nice guy and I get that he thinks Spicoli is awesome. As long as he can follow a few simple rules I am more than happy to let them hang out.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Good job, after all most dog training is about the people.


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