Dogsitting a dog that is 'difficult'

I am currently dogsitting my mothers friends dog.

This dog is a rescue dog.

Said friend got the dog while we were living with her. Said dog arrived with many many issues. Some we are gradually progressing on! She was afraid of everything, from plastic bags to paper. She barks at everything, even people coming down the stairs. She had no training when she arrived either.

This is also the dog that has terrible terrible allergies during the summer.

She will pee if you speak to her when you arrive home (we have to ignore her for 5 mins).

During the week, she stays at my mothers house while the friend works. The friend is adiment that the dog hates being alone......


ANYWAYS, thats a bit of history!

Minka, has also not a clue how to interact with dogs. She is very dominating. Jinty is ok with her as Jin will just submit and then carry on regardless, ignoring her! This, and the lack of recall, means I am walking her onlead. I am trying to build a recall but she wont even listen to her name in the house.

She is constantly growling or woofing at noises outside. I am not to sure what to do about it

So I guess, my questions are:

** How do I address the constant growling/woofing at noises outside the house? **

Clicker training does work with her, because she has a fear of the clicker...... and when she is worried, she wont accept food.

She is also petrified of the fireworks..... Ive set her up a crate with her bed from home and covered in a blanket that smells of her home. She was literally shivering and shaking so I resorted to popping her in her crate, covered up to calm down.... was this the right thing to do? I didnt want to reinforce her behaviour but I also dont want her to think shes been bad or anything.....

What do you think?

This is how Kestral is day to day around the house (worse at the parents as its not double glazed).

We keep music and TV on all the time which keeps her more relaxed. She also wears a calming collar - not sure about what effect is has but its doing no harm.
She still grumbles and growls and barks when the neighbors bang doors and when there are noisy people in the street but it is manageable. When the TV was off for a couple of days she got so worked up she even secreted her anal glands when my boyfriend entered the room.

From dealing with Kestral my suggestion would be to try to mask the noise, dont put her in any situations that scares her (this just gets them all worked up and then things that were fine are now scary). When Kestral gets worried, I tried ignoring her as I didnt want to reward the behavior - this just got her all het-up. I now call her over to me, so she can relax a little near me, and if shes not too worried ask for a replacement behavior like a sit or paw - this calms her down and makes her less reactive.

Good luck with your dog sitting dog - sounds like you are making progress!
With regards to clicker training, how about using a word - that acts like the clicker but is not - such as 'good' or 'yesss' said in a different tone of voice - but a word that marks a good behavior.
I think the key is just as much as possible keep them below their fear threshold. For me this means living in constant noise, no road walking, no crowds etc, and over time I will gradually work on things one at a time - at the moment its people

Clicker training works with anything that has a CNS.

You are focusing on the tool (clicker) rather than the method (system).

You can use

I-click (very quiet)
ball point pen
torch
word

etc etc

Heya, thanks for the suggestions.

Thankfully, I am not out of the house often, so she wont often be alone. I will ensure to make some noise!

She is already a bit better here than at my mums house as she can't sit and watch everyone outside..... our window has a table in the way to prevent such behaviour (it was one thing I never wanted Jinty to develop!).

Have opened the crate again, the fireworks have stopped and she came out calmly and has hopped on my lap.

She was shivering and shaking before. I felt so sorry for her! It was quite loud.

Jinty doesnt care about loud noises after I took such care to play soundtracks of fireworks, guns and emergency vehicles when she was younger.

Do you think playing my soundtrack of the above noises, quietly at first, may help Mink.... or would it just keep her stressed??

As for the clicker training, I will give her a go tomorrow, getting her to respond to her name first and foremost, tomorrow, using a word.

I used a "good girl" when I was teaching Jin to walk nicely on the lead. I kind of forgot it could have the same affect.

I taught her quite a few things when I was living with Minka, sadly walking nicely on the lead was never one I tried many things, she was very hard!

She knows; "sit", "down", "paw", "shake", "wave" and "beg". She refuses to lie on her back to show her tummy. I dont know whether thats linked with something from the past or just because she is quite dominant.

Another question: Ive fed Jin first and then Minka when Jin had finished, as its Jintys house. Was this a good idea or should they be fed simaltaniously? Its just.... Minka is a bit food aggressive......

Sounds like things are going alright
I think you could play a cd providing that at the quietest level it does not provoke a nervous response.. If she becomes nervous I would not use it as you want her feeling as relaxed as possible in the house.

Regarding lying with her belly showing, this is quite a vulnerable position so perhaps she does not feel comfortable enough..

With the feeding I'm not sure it matters too much, I would do what works and does not cause aggression. Perhaps feed at the same time but in different rooms?

Shocking update:

Minka tolerating Jinty being near her.....

Aw how cute is that keep up the good work!

Thank you. Thats very kind.

Hopefully it will be a good experience for both of them! Sadly, Mink doesnt get a lot of training at home anymore so we will be working on that, and of course, being around other dogs. I have set up a play date with a few friends that will hopefully tolerate Minka.... because she is boysterous (puts her hackles up, growls, puts her paws on dogs... it looks worse than it is) she isnt allowed to play with other dogs around her house. People think she is vicious. which has made her worse.

awww fab pic! You could always use a light as a clicker, like a small torch?

Tango didn't show us her belly for ages when she came, don't worry. Now all you have to do is walk past her and she flips over for a tummy rub she then 'hits' you when you stop!

She doesn't sound at all dominant to me, just very poorly treated and socialised. Lose the dominant idea and dhape it into her being frightened of other dogs too , bless