A Small Dog Halloween Horror

Posted on Oct 24 in Small Dog Aggression, Small Dog Behaviorby Jeff K.Print

Trick or treat!

“Trick or treat. Give me something good to eat. Don’t hold back and don’t be lazy, or I’ll drive your small dog crazy.”

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. What’s not to like? You get to dress up in a costume and play another character. It’s an excuse to eat a bunch of junk food. The house decorations are fun. Someone almost always hosts a great party. Your small dog barks his brains out when the doorbell rings every 90 seconds between sundown and around 9:00 p.m.

Okay, maybe you’re not so fond of that last item.

The Horror . . . the Horror!

If your small dog creates his own horror movie by terrorizing trick-or-treaters at your front door, you have two choices:

1. Put up with the commotion and hope your dog doesn’t try to make a Halloween snack out of a trick-or-treater, or
2. Arrange it so your dog can relax when . . .
   “. . . suddenly there came a tapping,
   As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
   `’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
   Only this, and nothing more.’” (The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe, 1945)

Frankenstein’s Formula

A dog that charges the front door and barks is extremely anxious about the intruder/threat on the other side. Any attempt to counter the dog’s behavior with voice commands and physical manipulation, such as poking the dog in the neck, will only fuel the dog’s anxiety. You will get much better results by applying the two primary principles of training:

• Arrange it so the dog’s undesirable behavior fails to serve the dog.
• Offer a substitute behavior that works for the dog.

I’ll explain how to do these two steps in my next article.

Tricks and Treats

Your other option is simply to place your dog in his crate with a suitable distraction, such as a long-lasting chew stick or toy. Ironically this technique is very similar to the first because you are arranging the situation where:

1. Charging the front door is going to fail because it is not possible, and
2. Eating a dog-safe Halloween treat is a great substitute for eating little kids in costumes.

I’ll be back before October 31st with an article explaining the training steps to stop your dog from charging the front door. Happy Halloween.

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