Hi Elizabeth, I just had to respond to your post as unbelievably, I ALSO have had a dog with
coffee issues!!!!!!

Xxxxxxxx wrote:

> I have NO idea how this behavior got started, suspect some odd association
> picked up from a house sitter (not sure what though), but this dog does not
> want me drinking coffee. I can make coffee in the pot, but he starts to get
> wired up when I am stirring the mug on the counter. By wired up, he gets
> excited -- starts jumping at/on me -- if allowed, he progresses to blocking
> my path, barking and nipping at my chest/arms if I am walking with a coffee
> mug. Ignoring this does not work. If I turn my back, he jumps/barks at my
> back! Feel constrained because carrying hot liquid. Does not work to "set
> up" situation with empty mug. He KNOWS when there's coffee and when there's
> not.<

I'm guessing you have there an extraordinarily intelligent dog with high initiative, and like mine, develops associations very quickly (and not all good).

My suggestion would be to absolutely ignore it, no corrections, walk right through his jumping to your desired destination and let him figure out the situation for himself...it is just that it will take more time than you have given this approach.

My dog with the coffee problem was a breeder return male Keeshond, eventually given to me because of multiple behavior issues but no aggression (not in his repetoire of behavior at all). I had had him for 5 months, every morning during that time he was in kitchen when I made coffee.

Suddenly he developed full blown panic when i made coffee in morning that started with reacting to the sound of the beans being put in the coffee grinder and generalized to every aspect of the process including eventually running frantically when I turned on the kitchen tap, touched any apparatus near the stove burners etc.

We were able to trace the beginning of the reaction to my adult son bringing me special coffee beans (normally I used pre-ground coffee) and discussing them with me by shaking them in a metal container. I noticed my dog alert at the time, but thought nothing of it, until the coffee phobia set in---concluded an inappropriate use of shaker can in past was possible source.

Keeshond

How to treat? I tried everything..all desensitization procedures I knew, culminating in a last desperate effort at "flooding" where my husband held the panicking dog while I made coffee over and over again for 2 solid hours!!! one night..it didn't work and we were very lucky not to get bit during this last "procedure".

So I just gave up and let him run away in a fitful panic when I made coffee in mornings. He would open the door in a frenzy *himself* and run to the yard. 

The first morning I allowed him to flee he ran to the horse shed about 100 feet from the house and peeked out behind it, only approached the house 30 minutes later. Each day he ran less and less far and got
very good at estimating how long it took for coffee to be made. Then he would return to house.

And then one day he just quit running, simply did not move when I picked up the coffee bean can. I even showed it to him in case he wanted to escape and hadn't heard the sound!!!  And he never was afraid again.

I think your dog is likely afraid of something (maybe coffee was spilled on him) and he responds to fear in a more aggressive, "take charge" manner than my above dog, but if it is safe to ignore him, I would take that approach and let him cure himself.

I have since taken this do-nothing-but-continue-with-activity approach with a weird fear of being in the car with another dog (it is called "tincture of time" in medicine) and it worked where food treats did not!

© 6/13/2000 Mary McCready, Parkhill, ON, Canada  All rights reserved. No further reproduction permitted without express written consent.