Problems

 These statements below in small type are not, I repeat, NOT, about my dogs or the puppies I have bred.

So even though these comments are not about my dogs and puppies; they could just as easily have been about them. 

When I have people who might be interested in adopting an Icelandic Sheepdog contact me about purchasing a puppy, I like to have an informal talk with them over a few weeks.

Before I would consider selling people a puppy, I want to know if they have had dogs before and if so, what kinds. That's simply because these dogs are not for the first time dog owner. These dogs are also not for people who are used to soft breeds. 

I tell people that Icelandics are very smart and that you have to be smarter than they are if you want to be successful with them. They may think I'm joking; I'm not. 

People who have had a challenging breed before and loved the dog, did well with the dog, and miss the dog move up to the top of my list. People who have had German Shepherds, Dobermans, any of the Nordic breeds (Huskies, Akitas, etc.), any of the terrier breeds and who have done well with them, get high marks.

People who are going to be away from home at work all day should not have an Icelandic, in my opinion. Our dogs have a very strong 'need' to be with their humans. It's virtually torture for them to be left alone unless you gradually prepare them for it starting when they are puppies. See below. (When they escape, they are trying to find you. They miss you.)

People who have done some kind of dog sports like agility, flyball, herding, obedience, rally, therapy dog work, etc. with their dogs have an edge when I try and find a good home.

People who have an unfenced backyard should not have an Icelandic. The most frequent cause of premature deaths in Icelandics is vehicular accidents. They chase vehicles - and lose.

I'm paraphrasing and hiding identities. This family has two Icelandics; a male who is almost ten months old and a female who will be two years old in August and another older mixed breed dog.

My male escapes through a 5 inch iron fence covered with 24" of chicken wire.  Neighbors have brought him home on several occasions; I crated him when we went to dinner the other night.  First with the gravity latch; he escaped and chewed a pair of shoes.  The next time I crated him again using the regular lock latch (which I previously removed because he jingled it all night).  This time he escaped and tore our bathroom trash containers and 2 magazines.  The next time, gravity latch, locking mechanism, and a carabiner; he undid the two and forced enough space out of the bottom to escape. Yesterday he crawled under a 5" gap under a doggy gate, took a pair of UGGS from our closet upstairs, brought them downstairs; they were still wet with minimal damage.

 He has a bark collar but hates it and runs from me when I want to put it on. They both hate it; me too. His has never been over 2 setting, She is always at 4. She starts the barking.

Saw him a few days ago digging up a sprinkler head, if he busts one of those, we are all in trouble....  Again, these dogs are walked and or taken to a dog park daily.  They aren't ever left alone for more than 4 hours.

She is just as mischievous as the male, but way more sneaky.  she chewed some speaker wires, and then puked some plastic up.

 So, in order to not worry about these VERY PRIVILEGED dogs, I have to:

* - Put chicken wire 5 feet high on a iron fence

* - Put three latches and two carabiners on his crate when we leave for a few hours

* - If they aren't crated I have to install a new doggy gate that is both taller and close to the ground

* - Spray outside furniture and fabric outside with doggy deterrent

* - Pour cayenne and tabasco on our outdoor BURIED wires.

* - Put shock collars on both dogs before I leave

* - I still have to buy the shock pads for the couch as I know they are still getting up on those when we leave.  Again, if they chew on the couch, they will be gone the next day.

* - Triple check everything, every time we leave, no matter for how long so that we don't leave something for them to chew on in their HUGE confined area 

All of this after they get a walk and/or a ton of doggy park time.  btw, the doggy park is a huge other story.  The others cringe when they see and hear us pull up.  I am talking ear piercing high pitched, in your face, uncontrollable barking.

I am still on the fence with these guys, love them to death, but I am at wits end.

I don't know where to start. Seriously. I feel very bad for all the canines and humans involved. This sounds like the situation may have entered the crisis stage. I'm going to shoot from the hip and address some of the issues. Pardon.

 When you have a human child that abuses privileges, then you start taking away some of those privileges until that child gets the message. If you do that while they are very young, it's a lot easier to get along with them when they get older. If you wait until they are older to start taking away their privileges, then you are going to have a much more resistant teenager. Most of us know that almost instinctively, don't we?

 Maybe those very privileged dogs need a wake-up call. That does NOT mean you have to start being mean to them. It means you have to let them know that in your pack, in your home, you are in charge, you are the alpha. Everyone, every human in your home must be alpha over your dogs. Again, you don't need to be excessively, aggressively physical to get that message across.

Those of you who read my blog know that I have said several times that most dogs, regardless of what breed, that are given up to shelter or rescue groups, left by the side of the road in the country, returned to the breeder, etc. are given up at about the age of ten months. This male turns ten soon. Between the ages of 7-12 months (+/-) dogs are in their teenage "months". Fortunately this does not last as long as adolescence in humans! That's the good news. The rush of adult hormones renders them just slightly insane. Even neutered dogs go through this period because even with their reproductive organs removed, their bodies still produce some hormones.

However, this problem is bigger than just the teenage issue, in my opinion. By the way, all my writings are just my opinions. Accept them or reject them. I am just trying to help and am not an expert.

 Stop, STOP taking these dogs to the doggy park. It's not working, is it? Why keep doing it. These dogs need to have more control. In the doggy park you have less control. I've mentioned before that doggy parks are a great place to pick up diseases from other dogs, perhaps un-vaccinated dogs. Doggy parks are frequented by people who let their dogs loose and don't monitor or are totally unable to monitor the activities of their dogs. They are a good place for dog fights to happen resulting in very expensive vet bills and lawsuits. Just my opinion. A better idea might be to arrange play dates with friends who have dogs.

I think I've talked about "separation anxiety" before, haven't I?

 Our dogs are genetically programmed to want companionship; they crave contact with other living beings - dogs, sheep, cattle, geese, horses, humans, etc. Herding dogs need to be with the herd they are protecting and controlling. Any ancestors of our dogs that wandered off from the herd or the shepherds, would not have been used for breeding the next generation. In fact, they probably would have been eliminated as an unnecessary expense draining resources.

When you leave a herding dog alone in the house or yard, they are going to do whatever is necessary to escape and find you. If they cannot find you, finding something that smells like you (shoes, clothes, newspapers, books, etc.) is second best. Their anxiety is so high that they are going to react. A human forced into isolation has the same, or similar, response. That's why putting someone in solitary confinement is such a horrific thing to do. People who are alone for long periods of time may resort to compulsive behaviors, eating, drinking, smoking, etc. It's not a stretch to see that our closest non-human companions do the same thing.

So. How to fix that (if it's not too late)? Some suggestions: Always feed your dog/puppy in its crate until it feels secure in a larger area. (If it likes its crate, it may be less likely to try and escape from it.) If you give your dog a bone or something else acceptable to chew on, do that in its crate - with the door closed and locked while you are there to observe what happens. At first, be with or near the crated dog while it's eating or chewing.

After weeks, or possibly months, of doing things to make the crate its home, its cave, its safe place, but with you nearby, leave the dog alone in its secured crate with food or a bone and go outside or into the garage or into another room for a short time - maybe 30 seconds. Return to the crated dog and give it a treat and say soothing things like, "Good Rover", Good Quiet", "Good Crate", "Good Relax", etc. Do that a few times and then quit. Later repeat it.

Then repeat it and leave for a slightly longer time. Always returning before the dog barks and always with a reward and calming words. If the dog barks and makes noise, return without praise and treats. Calm the dog, leave again but for a shorter amount of time than the last attempt. Reward and treat for appropriate behavior only. Ignore inappropriate behaviors. Dogs are problem solvers (like humans). Our dogs are extremely smart. They will figure out what's happening. Really.

Crate training may take weeks or even months. When my puppies leave they are aware of crates. They know they are safe places. They realize that sometimes the door is closed and that as long as they are quiet, things will be OK, they even may get a reward. They are not 'perfectly' crate trained. How could they be at only eight weeks old? But they know what crates are and they are ready to have more positive experiences because, they are very smart dogs, they are problem solvers, they know the routine of command, reward-praise.

I have two dogs that I would never leave un-crated when I leave the house - even if it's only for a short trip. In my case I am concerned about confrontations. They haven't fought yet but they growl at one another when I am home and that tells me that they could, that they might, go after one another if I'm not here to stop them before they start. I read my dogs' minds very well and am very proactive instead of reactive. 

 Most of my dogs are just fine now. Did it take a long time to crate train some of my dogs? Yes. Absolutely. Months in some cases. But now even the most destructive of my puppies/young adults is the most reliable adult dog I have and she has been for years. She is never left in a crate when I leave.

 When you return to your dog after you've gone to the store, have you noticed that it greets you like you've been gone for a very long time even if you've only been gone five or ten minutes? That's because they 'need' to be with their humans and they are afraid that their human might not come back. So - - - greet them the same way they greet you. That will go a long way towards reassuring them that you will return every time and that you miss them as much as they miss you. Really.

I know the desire to punish your dog for a misdeed (that's putting it mildly sometimes) that happened while you were gone is strong. Don't. They will not know what they are being punished for especially if they left some poop on the floor hours ago or the magazine was torn up right after you left.

What I do is greet my dogs enthusiastically and then later when I'm cleaning up the mess, I say in my calm adult voice words like "Oh, I am so disappointed in you.", "How could you do that?", "Did you make this mess?". Etc. They will get it. They will. 

Sometimes it really is an accident. Have you ever tried NOT to throw up when you're sick to your stomach? When you have diarrhea, - - - well, you get the idea. You might be able to get to the bathroom in time. They are locked up inside the house or the crate. 

Sometimes things just happen and they feel as bad about it after as you would. Be enthusiastic when you get home in your greeting. Let them know later when you're cleaning things up how unhappy you are.

 However, once a bad pattern (habit) has already been established, it's much harder to 'fix'. It's easier to prevent a problem in the first place by good training early on.

Over the years I've had two dogs that thought they were better than me. I attached leashes to their collars and tied the end around my waist. Everywhere I went, they went. I didn't use my hands; they just came with me when I walked. It was hard for me but I could watch everything they did and they began to feel comfortable being close to me and uncomfortable when I wasn't near. Knowing what an uncooperative dog is doing can prevent problems before they happen.

I have also had to feed one of my dogs its food, piece by piece, so that it learned that all of its food comes from me. I am the boss. Yes, that is time consuming but it firmly and clearly establishes who is in control. Me. It is not mean. It is not physical.

To discourage dogs from digging, I've found that putting poop (yes doggy poop) in the holes they've dug and covering the poop with a thin layer of dirt is much more successful than using sprays. And it's cheaper and readily available. Try that with underground wires, underground watering pipes, etc.

I've addressed barking in some previous posts. Look for them. Maybe bark collars exacerbate the problem. I don't know. I do know some people have de-barked their dogs, not just Icelandics, of course, and they are happier and their neighbors are also. I make no judgments about that. 

I always, always say it's your dog, you get to decide what to do with it.My thoughts or suggestions are only that. You're adults and you get to decide what to do or not do. Enough said.