fly chasing and other OCD behavior
So Oskar (AA) has shown some tendencies that strike me as slightly OCD. He chases his tail, for example. We stop him when he does it, because otherwise he will chase it til he gets dizzy and falls over. It's pretty easy to distract him from tail chasing though: I call his name, put him in a sit, give him a treat. Easy. (If I can stop laughing long enough to do it, because it does look pretty silly)
Now he's started snapping at flies. So far, thankfully, they are real flies (not invisible ones like some OCD dogs!). It just started after we got back from a trip, and at first, I thought, so what. The Shibas hunt bugs all the time (probably he learned to go after flies watching Bel). But the Shibas don't just snap at flies....they hunt them, catch them, and eat them, and don't seem fixated.
Here's when I noticed a problem. I was taking Oskar for a walk on his new harness, and he was being good and not pulling, and then suddenly he kind of went crazy and was pulling and jumping and snapping. WTF? Flies. He got so distracted by the flies that he was going after them like crazy. I've been using the "walk in the other direction" mode of loose leash training, because the standing still method doesn't seem to work. Using this method, I was able to distract him enough to get him to move on, but once he saw another fly, he started up all over again. Now I've noticed he's totally fixated on flies in the house, and it's really hard to distract him from them. And hey, its August in NM. There are flies.
Thoughts? I don't feel like I need to be horribly worried (OMG my dog is OCD!) yet, but I do want to distract him from this, esp. while walking, and it's harder to distract from flies than it is to interrupt his tail chasing.
Now he's started snapping at flies. So far, thankfully, they are real flies (not invisible ones like some OCD dogs!). It just started after we got back from a trip, and at first, I thought, so what. The Shibas hunt bugs all the time (probably he learned to go after flies watching Bel). But the Shibas don't just snap at flies....they hunt them, catch them, and eat them, and don't seem fixated.
Here's when I noticed a problem. I was taking Oskar for a walk on his new harness, and he was being good and not pulling, and then suddenly he kind of went crazy and was pulling and jumping and snapping. WTF? Flies. He got so distracted by the flies that he was going after them like crazy. I've been using the "walk in the other direction" mode of loose leash training, because the standing still method doesn't seem to work. Using this method, I was able to distract him enough to get him to move on, but once he saw another fly, he started up all over again. Now I've noticed he's totally fixated on flies in the house, and it's really hard to distract him from them. And hey, its August in NM. There are flies.
Thoughts? I don't feel like I need to be horribly worried (OMG my dog is OCD!) yet, but I do want to distract him from this, esp. while walking, and it's harder to distract from flies than it is to interrupt his tail chasing.
Comments
I'd probably do the same thing you are doing, interrupt and distract with a different behavior. Maybe if you do it enough times he'll stop. That and up his exercise? I don't know how active he is, or how Akitas are in general. How is he with puzzles and games? Would those work to get his mind off his tail? Got any toys he loves that would distract him away from the flies? Sorry I'm not much help...
We constantly worked on redirecting his behavior and gained his focus. Just remember, the faster you get his attention, the less time he gets to practice.
I have fly paper in every window (how chic!) to cut down the anxiety factor. Outside is rough when you cannot control flies and we don't have him in the T-shirt outside, but its easier to redirect him outside for some reason... so much other distractions I guess?
He needs more focus work anyway, so maybe I'll try that. And I forgot the thing I used to do to get his attention when he wanted to bark at people on walks, which is to squeak a toy. I suspect that will help.
He's not a terribly active dog, though he's young. If we play fetch or tug in the yard, he's tired afterwards, or if we go for a walk. Akitas are kind of lazy.
I don't have one big enough for Oskar though, but I'm also not convinced its a huge problem--I just don't want it to become one!
Oskar has a tiny squeaky duck he loves, so that ought to distract him on walks.
Dogs seem to love those bad cuz, good cuz balls, though, don't they?
Couldn't it be just a fun game for the silly little man? Boredom?