Dear Miss Jane,
We currently have a 2 yr old male westie whom we dearly love and we are thinking of adopting a 2-5 yr old female to be a companion for our little boy. We would like to change the little girl's name. Does this propose any serious problems for the new girl other than confusing the dickens out of her?

Thanks much,
Dan and Mary

Don't worry, just pick a name you like.
~Jane

Dear Miss Jane,
Hello, my name is Andria and I live in Toronto, Canada with my westie-child, Emily. My Emily will be 3 years old in August and she has been with me since she was a 10 week old pup.

The reason that I am writing to you is , I have had problems training Emily. She is totally bossy and will not come to me, even if I offer her treats. She will sit occasionally, but only if it suits her. She talks back to me ALL the time, and quite frankly ... I have no control over her. I have tried clicker training her and I have not been successful. We go out for walks and she lunges at bigger dogs and street trade individuals (we live in downtown Toronto). She screams at people on the street for talking too loudly and wants to bite them. I should say that Emily has never bitten anyone, but I fear that she would bite people and other big dogs on the streets ... if she ever got close enough!! I find her behavior extremely difficult and can't let anyone else walk her, for fear that they wouldn't be able to control her. I know that it is myself that has created this tiny bully, but is it too late?

When Emily was a baby, I will admit that I never disciplined her... I was afraid of breaking her spirit!!! Well, now she is breaking mine. She knows that she is the boss of my house. The problem is, Emily tries to be the boss of EVERY household that we visit and I have been thrown out of many, because of her behavior. I love Emi and wouldn't trade her for the world, but my 11 year old cockapoo Samantha has to put up with her tantrums as well. When I give Samantha attention, Emi starts screaming and pushes Sami out of the way. Friends and family are tired of Emily's behavior and my lack of discipline with her. The problem is, I then get defensive of her and feel the need to protect her. I usually end up taking her everywhere with me. She is my baby and I can't seem to discipline her. You have no idea of how cute she is. Believe me, I have tried over the last 2 months to crate her when she's screaming at me and being bossy to Sami. After 15 minutes in the crate, she comes out and for the rest of the day, she ignores me and withholds affection. So what do I do? I spend the day begging her for her forgiveness and giving her treats ... its a vicious cycle!!

Jane, if you have any advice, please send it to me. I know that I have done wrong with Emily from the start, but I do want to correct the problem. I want a happy, well-adjusted and obedient westie.

Thanking you in advance,
Andria

Hello Andria,
The first thing that I want to point out is that Emily, no matter how sweet and adorable, is NOT a child. She is not a baby in a furry body, she is a dog. I am not saying this to be cruel but I am going to point out how the rules work in the dog world. Dogs instinctively want to pack together, but in that pack there is ALWAYS a leader, a head honcho. Dogs don't share, they don't become equals, the rules say it is like a totem pole, Alpha (first) dog at the top, then subordinates fall below in order. It is like a ladder, ABCDE .... E dog is NEVER above any of the other dogs, C dog is never above B dog. Eventually a more dominant subordinate could fight the alpha dog for top spot but until that happens, everything runs smoothly.

You seem to realize that she has become "a tiny bully" and you ask if it's too late ... NO, but you have to change YOUR whole way of thinking regarding Emily. Dogs certainly display certain types of behaviour that we humans also possess such as jealousy and anger, but dogs are not our human equals and if given half a chance, dominate the household and create total chaos for all involved.

You must be CONSISTANT. Don't fuss at her for something and then go and apologize. The more you do that, the more she realizes you have no clue what you're doing and she may help you understand HER rules by giving a nip or two. Dogs like dead-set predictable rules. It makes them feel secure, but the more you waffle back and forth about enforcing those rules the more you lead the dog to think you just aren't cut out for the job of lead dog, so the dog takes over.

Stop apologizing to Emily, make her apologize to you. If you put her in her crate for not following YOUR rules, and you go to let her out, just do so quietly with no fuss. You have got to reverse who is running the show. So by ignoring her attitude you tell her that you are no longer going to approve of that type of behaviour. She will eventually come around to you, but don't beg for it, never.

I don't mean ignore her behaviour, you need to enforce the "law". When you are out walking with her, and she starts going berserk, give her a firm yank on the lead and tell her QUIET or carry a spray bottle with you and shoot her with water everytime she goes for the people. What has happened is, she has ruled you all this time, now she is trying to rule everyone else. Her next move would be to bite, I guarantee it. NEVER apologize to her when you correct her, and I don't mean just saying you're sorry, but petting her or feeding her either. You give a correction and move on. She will learn to
deal with it, and very soon she will realize who the head honcho is and start becoming a sweet, friendly little Westie.

My next suggestion is to enroll her in an obedience class. It's easier to learn a hands-on approach. That way you can really start to see an improvement. But again, you have to change your own mind-set as well, she's not a human she is a dog, with strength and power in teeth and jaws. You want a companion not a dictator.
~ Jane

Dear Miss Jane,
We have a 2 yr old westie male named Casey. Every timesomeone comes in or goes out he bolts out the front door. He also does the same if someone opens the gate to the
back yard which is enclosed by a chain link fence. Then we have a 20 minute chase through the neighborhood to catch him. Casey doesn't even know what a car is and I'm
scared to death he's going to get hit. We need HELP!

P.S. I've heard the theory that we should just let him go and to not chase him but that sounds kind of risky for Casey's sake. Also I heard about obedience training but he does pretty good on most of the commands, it's just this bolting that I have to nip in the bud.

Thanks much,
Dan & Casey Z.

Hello Dan,
Thanks for writing. Yes, open doors/gates create a lot of problems for the dog owner, and small dogs, like our Westies are so quick to escape and are so hard to catch once they do escape, so here is what you do. You teach Casey to "fear" the door/gate. Not in a dreadful sense, of course, so let's call it "Door Respect", Casey does not cross the threshold of the door or fence until given the okay to do so.

The way you begin is to attach the leash to Casey's collar and act as though you are going to walk out the door with him. As you open the door, hold Casey back just a little by his leash and with your other hand, SLAM the door hard. Don't warn him in any way except to give a command as you are slamming the door, such as WAIT or BACK. Do it again, approach, hold him back just a little, and SLAM the door. The open it one more time, wait a second to see what he does. More than likely, he will back up away from "that scary door". Don't make him sit or anything as you do this, because you want him to learn this on all fours, because that is when accidents happen is when the dog is standing just ready for his opportunity to fly out the door.

Now once a dog has escaped, recapture is very tricky, so you have to be clever. No amount of chasing and screaming for the dog is going to make the dog suddenly turn around and come to you, no amount of name calling or COME will work either, but one thing you can practice now is a little trick I used with a client who had a Golden Retriever who like to take off in the woods and come back days later. Get a whistle and some high value treats...what are high value treats? Treats you NEVER EVER use except when you blow your whistle, such as a wonderful piece of cheese, a nice cut of meat, anything that will remain interesting to the dog. You start out slowly by having
several pieces of goody. Blow the whistle, and give the treat. The dog does no work for it he just stands there while you blow the whistle and dole out yummy treats. Only do it a few times, you don't want him to get bored. Even filet mignon loses it's appeal if you ate it everyday. At least once a day, practice this exercise, though during the first week practice a few times a day with Casey near you, then the following week practice it when Casey is not in view such as in another room or outside, then see how fast he comes running. Vary the goodies too, so it will remain a random surprise to him. Don't give him any just for begging. Westies are very clever and will try to beat you to the punch, if that happens ignore him and do it later. Hopefully if he ever got out again, you could blow the whistle and he would turn on a dime. Hopefully!

Another technique that sometimes works for escaped dogs is to run in the opposite direction. When you chase a dog, it becomes a game, but if you run away from them, they get curious and want to see what is so interesting. Kneel down on the ground as though you have just located the most fascinating piece of grass, he will come up to see what you found, at which point you grab him with all your might and hang on for dear life, even if he yelps. That's better than having him end up under the wheels of car, that hurts much worse. Never scold him for fleeing, because if you do, he knows that to
return to you means punishment, and that certainly won't make it a pleasure to get back to you, he'll just run faster and farther the next time.

As far as letting the dog run off and stay out until it decides to come back home, well not a very good idea in this day and age. He could get run over and if he didn't die imediately, he would suffer enormously, or someone could catch him and keep him, just too many scenarios which are very unpleasant.

I wish you the best and hope my advice is of some help.
~Jane

Copyright © 2001 Jane Fink and Westie World.