[Marco]

My 9-10 month old male Doberman (Not neutered) has always been good as gold. He's not been much of a 'barky' dog, he was always bouncy and happy to meet strangers. I've had him since he was 4-5 months old. This morning when he went out for his morning pee, he started staring at the back gate as if waiting for something. There was nothing there, and nothing on the other side, so my wife brought him away from the gate. When I got home (3pm) I let him out of his crate, and sent him out to go 'hurry up'. In every day life, he's in his crate for 2:30hrs. on and off. When my wife gets home for hr lunch break she lets him out and plays for a while, then puts him back, goes back to work and then when I get home, I let him out, play for a bit, and he can stay out until night-time. At night, when we go to bed, he send him to his crate which is in our bedroom, tell him to lay down and get into bed. We don't shut the crate, he has the choice whether of not to sleep on the bed or in the crate. He hardly ever chooses the bed, which we assumed is a sign that he feels safe in his crate. He's really not cooped up for too long, thankfully. We go on four-five walks per-day, depending on weather, our schedule, etc, etc...

When I let him out that afternoon, he didn't go for a pee. Instead he lunged at the back gate. It's 6ft high, and while he's still young I'm not too worried about him getting out. After checking to see if anything was the other side of the gate, I made sure to take him up the other side of the garden so he'd go for a wee. As I was bringing him in, I had hold of his collar so he wouldn't make lunging at the gate a habit, but he still tried to bounce for it. :???: He's never payed much attention to the gate before, he's never barked at anyone the other side...Even when he did lung at the gate today, he didn't bark or growl, he just leaped at it.

There's been no change in routine, no diet change, he hasn't been fed any new dog treats, he's fine health-wise. Our last vet check was at the beginning of March (18th). There's nothing smell wise by the gate, the neighbours haven't been giving us hassle. We're truly baffled as to why Enzo would suddenly bounce at the gate as if he wants to kill it. My daughter sent him out for another pee 30-ish minutes ago and he instantly jumped up the back gate. My wife was in the kitchen (boiling the kettle) so she saw him leap at the gate and was sure he'd make it over, but he didn't. We've been keeping up with his training (Hence the fact I've not been posting recently) and we've finally managed to get him into a great class. We've been doing outside training, as well. Road walks, off leash 'waits/stays', 'heel', and 'come'. He's 80-90 per cent reliable for each command now, and only occasionally do we have to repeat ourselves.

Anyone got any idea's as to why he's suddenly doing this?

[Yogi]

Curiosity...the odds are there was something there that he could smell but could not see. By the time you folks looked it was gone but this does not necessarily alter the dogs willingness to find out what it was. In his mind it is still on the other side of the gate whether you show him or not. If what ever it was does not come back to refresh the area, most likely his actions toward the gate will cease.

[Todd]

I agree. In this case, I believe that time with be to your advantage and this whole deal will most likely clear up on its own. Just for clarification, does he go after the fense like he thinks it's alive or does he try to jump over it? I'm assuming that he's trying to jump over it. Just let him be and he will probably eventually stop on his own. Give it about a week or so and see what happens then update us on his progress. Obviously don't leave him back there alone when you're not home because he may jump over it and leave the yard, but when you can keep an eye on him occasionally, leave him back there and his curiosity will eventually take him to other tasks once he realizes that there's nothing there anymore. He's just curious. Let him explore. He's young and experiences new things. This should clear up on its own but if it doesn't, be sure and let us know so we can make further suggestions.

Good luck and have fun with your pup! Cherish the moments you have with him while he's just a young little thing!

[Marco]

Originally Posted by Todd

...Just for clarification, does he go after the fence like he thinks it's alive or does he try to jump over it?...

He leaps at it as if he's trying to play, but is a bit unsure. He'll jump at it, put his two front paws up against it, then step back and stare at it for a few minutes. If we leave him to stare at it, after about two minutes he jumps at it again, but we've always brought him in before he has a chance to leap at it for a third time.

Hopefully this was just something he saw on the other side, that he still has in that mind of his. Would taking him out through the gate and showing him nothing is there help? We've debated this, but my OH is sure it will make him worse for some reason.

If he continues to jump at the gate, I'm sure he's going to hurt himself. He isn't careful when he flings himself toward it, my wife is worried he's going to do some serious damage - to the gate and himself. Trying to stop him from leaping at the gate would mean stopping him from toileting outside, meaning he's more likely to do it inside.

Perhaps getting somebody to stand out by the gate before we let Enzo out? That way they'd be able to push him off- or stop him jumping up. I've never had this problem before, he seems to be what could only be called "obsessed" when he gets 'unleashed' into the garden.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Marco

He leaps at it as if he's trying to play, but is a bit unsure. He'll jump at it, put his two front paws up against it, then step back and stare at it for a few minutes. If we leave him to stare at it, after about two minutes he jumps at it again, but we've always brought him in before he has a chance to leap at it for a third time.

Hopefully this was just something he saw on the other side, that he still has in that mind of his. Would taking him out through the gate and showing him nothing is there help? We've debated this, but my OH is sure it will make him worse for some reason.

If he continues to jump at the gate, I'm sure he's going to hurt himself. He isn't careful when he flings himself toward it, my wife is worried he's going to do some serious damage - to the gate and himself. Trying to stop him from leaping at the gate would mean stopping him from toileting outside, meaning he's more likely to do it inside.

Perhaps getting somebody to stand out by the gate before we let Enzo out? That way they'd be able to push him off- or stop him jumping up. I've never had this problem before, he seems to be what could only be called "obsessed" when he gets 'unleashed' into the garden.

If you had somebody just stand in front of the fence the behavior would most likely never stop. I say just let him do what he's doing and he'll quict on his own. I understand your concern about him getting hurt but if he did bump the fence too hard and it hurt him he would probably learn from that and stop the behavior. You obviously don't want him to get injured, but otherwise I think you just let this issue play out and see if it doesn't resolve on its own.

[Marco]

A quick update,

This afternoon when he went outside, he was still interested in the gate, and we decided to show him that nothing was on the other side. We let him sniff around on the other side for around 2 minutes, and he seemed to lose interest. When we let him out later on, he took a small bit on interest in the gate, but then walked away and for the first time in 2 days, he went for a pee without someone pulling him away from the gate. He's now got a slight limp in his front left leg where he kept flying into the gate. Apparently he's learned his lesson, as this evening he didn't pay any attention to the gate until our neighbour poked his head over it. You know, I really didn't think a dog - any dog - would be able to remember something that spelled or something that moved, just once, for two straight days. :mrgreen: Just thought I'd give you an update.