Squirrels

[Dottydyball]

Hello.....our mini dotty is 18months now...
We have massive Windows, and live in a squirrel hot spot.....if she see’s one, in the front or back garden, all hell breaks loose.....the barking/screaming is bad enough.....but she throws herself at the window...very upset......I know this is normal behaviour, but I don’t know what to do...should I pick her up? This works until the squirrel leaves.....ive tried getting in front of her and telling her to sit down...somebody suggested spraying her with water, but I don’t like the sound of that....
Any suggestions? Or cest la vie? Thank you

[zeta1454]

Hi Betty,

I would agree with you that spraying with water is not a good idea and you really need to try and train Dotty not to react so wildly at the sight of the squirrels which is certainly not a simple task as many dogs, including mini schnauzers, are pretty much hard wired to react when they see birds or small creatures in their garden space!

Have you used a clicker in training before? These can be very useful in all sorts of training situations. There is a link here regarding clicker-training dogs to stop barking unnecessarily which is not quite your situation but may give you some ideas to work with:

https://www.clickertraining.com/node/3968

If you can distract Dotty from the windows every time she sees a squirrel and get her to come to you for a reward whether her favourite toy for a game or an extra special food treat, you may be able to change her response from hurling at the window barking to running to you instead for a reward. Don’t pick her up or use any ‘punishment’ type actions or even just blocking her view or asking for a sit, but try to call her excitedly yourself to come and offer her something better and more interesting than the squirrels. If you train with a clicker you can teach her to recognise the clicker as a signal she has done the right thing and will get a reward so you can train this without the distraction of squirrels at first until she recognises the cue of the click. Once she understands the click means ‘good girl’ and she will be rewarded Dotty should be more likely to respond to you calling her away from the window. To start with you may need to reward even a small move or look away or a brief halt in barking but you can gradually build on this over time.

When you are out of the house, you will need to keep Dotty somewhere that she cannot see out of the windows though, as while you can’t intervene, she may get into the habit of barking at them again. You must try to ensure that she has as little opportunity as possible for the barking / screaming and hyper behaviour as it is self rewarding to her and substitute some other activity that she enjoys to keep her away from the windows. Once she is more responsive to you, you could try seeing if you could train her to sit watching the squirrels without the reactions she had before. Sit with her and talk to her, offer tiny treats, watch the squirrels together. Her reactions are both due to excitement at wanting to chase the squirrels and probably also letting you know they are there - these dogs were bred from watchdogs who warned of strangers approaching etc. as well as ratters and mousers so there are very deep instincts for the behaviour.

It is a difficult situation with your windows and the squirrels but, if Dotty cannot be kept away from looking out, it will be a question of trying to train her to react differently when she sees them and will certainly take some time!

[Oscar 12345]

Just to add my experience but with birds especially pigeons, we too have french windows across the back of the house. I treat the initial behaviour as though it is part of Otto's job to tell me they are there. As soon as he reacts I go over to him, say well done and thank him with a pat on the head and then ask him to come away. I used to do it with a nice treat and then some play for distraction but now he is 3 he just needs to be told to come away. It works with the window cleaner also. Not sure whether it would work for every dog but it has worked with Otto who seems happy with the extent of his employment responsibilities.