Comments on: The Dominant Dog – Dealing with Dominance in Dogs http://shibashake.com/dog Dog Tips, Care & Training Mon, 21 May 2012 18:42:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: shibashake http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-26215 shibashake Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:55:56 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-26215 Hello Codeman, I got a new puppy early last year and she is a super ball of energy. She wanted to play all of the time and kept pestering my other two dogs. Some things that helped with my puppy- - I set up a very fixed routine for puppy, which includes play time, eating time, training time, and the ever important rest time. - I make sure that she does not bug my other dogs when they want to rest. - I also have safe zones where puppy is not allowed to play. For example, each of my dogs have their own bed area and when they go there, it is a safe zone where they can rest in peace. I make sure puppy leaves them alone when they are there. If she goes near, I no-mark and just body block her away. - I supervise them during play to keep things safe and have many play-breaks so that puppy does not become over-excited. - I exercise puppy with games, training and interactive toys so that she redirects her energy onto positive, people-friendly, and dog-friendly activities. When I do not have the time to supervise puppy, she goes in her crate, enclosure, or stays tethered in the kitchen with me. Here are more of my experiences on <a href="http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog" rel="nofollow">introducing a second dog</a>. Here are some other things that helped with my puppy- http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training Hello Codeman,

I got a new puppy early last year and she is a super ball of energy. She wanted to play all of the time and kept pestering my other two dogs. Some things that helped with my puppy-
- I set up a very fixed routine for puppy, which includes play time, eating time, training time, and the ever important rest time.
- I make sure that she does not bug my other dogs when they want to rest.
- I also have safe zones where puppy is not allowed to play. For example, each of my dogs have their own bed area and when they go there, it is a safe zone where they can rest in peace. I make sure puppy leaves them alone when they are there. If she goes near, I no-mark and just body block her away.
- I supervise them during play to keep things safe and have many play-breaks so that puppy does not become over-excited.
- I exercise puppy with games, training and interactive toys so that she redirects her energy onto positive, people-friendly, and dog-friendly activities.

When I do not have the time to supervise puppy, she goes in her crate, enclosure, or stays tethered in the kitchen with me.

Here are more of my experiences on introducing a second dog.

Here are some other things that helped with my puppy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training

]]> By: Codeman http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-26115 Codeman Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:44:35 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-26115 I have a 8week old pitbull puppy who ive had for two weeks now. She is very loving and playful.She comes to me, is excited to see me when i come home. There is one problem thats troubling me and my family I cant stop her from jumping and biting on my pug(7yrs).It looks playful but my pug is very lazy and doesnt enjoy. My pug isnt aggressive and does nothing but cuddle and eat. , but I cant stop my pitbull from biting her.My pug just runs away or ignores the jumping It seems innocent until my pug cant take it no more and snaps once nothing serious which settles things down as my puppy backs off. But 15 mins later my pups back at jumping and biting my pug. I seperate them when it starts and feed seperate. I dont think its too serious because they will sleep together at nighttime but i dont want this to continue where my pug gets my pit now or my pit gets bigger and does damage to my pug. Please i dont want anything to happen plz help. My pitbull is named atheena my pug is belle I have a 8week old pitbull puppy who ive had for two weeks now. She is very loving and playful.She comes to me, is excited to see me when i come home. There is one problem thats troubling me and my family I cant stop her from jumping and biting on my pug(7yrs).It looks playful but my pug is very lazy and doesnt enjoy. My pug isnt aggressive and does nothing but cuddle and eat. , but I cant stop my pitbull from biting her.My pug just runs away or ignores the jumping It seems innocent until my pug cant take it no more and snaps once nothing serious which settles things down as my puppy backs off. But 15 mins later my pups back at jumping and biting my pug. I seperate them when it starts and feed seperate. I dont think its too serious because they will sleep together at nighttime but i dont want this to continue where my pug gets my pit now or my pit gets bigger and does damage to my pug. Please i dont want anything to happen plz help. My pitbull is named atheena my pug is belle

]]> By: shibashake http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-26084 shibashake Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:42:28 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-26084 Hello Ashley, I went through a similar experience with my Shiba Inu Sephy. It is difficult to say how similar my situation was, so I will just tell my story. Sephy is a very stubborn dog and in the beginning, I was not very sure how to handle him. He was also very mouthy and would often mouth all over my hands and arms. Since my husband worked, I was home with Sephy most of the day dealing with his Shiba hijinks. I spent the whole day walking him, feeding him, and trying to give him affection. However, when my husband returned, Sephy seemed to prefer his company. Also, Sephy would reserve his worst behaviors for me - including humping my leg, jumping on me, crazy leash biting, and mouthing all over me. Because of all this, I got even more uncertain of him, and was also somewhat fearful. I also felt somewhat betrayed that he would avoid my company, especially when I was the one feeding and taking care of him. However, the more uncertain and fearful I felt, the worse his behavior became. It was not a good time for either of us. I later realized that Sephy is a very sensitive dog. Therefore, he picked up on my uncertain and fearful energy, and became somewhat stressed himself. Fear can often be contagious. As a result of this, he started acting erratically because he was stressed, and did not know what to expect from me. On the other hand, my husband was a lot more calm and sure with him. This was something Sephy could count on, and as a result he was a lot more calm around my husband and preferred his calm company. House rules are important, but I realized that calm energy and confidence are also very important. I started by taking very small steps. -First, I stopped giving him too much attention and affection. I spent more time on my own tasks, and ignored him more. -I put Sephy on a very fixed schedule. In this way, I was sure what to expect from him and he was sure what to expect from me. I had a schedule for the entire day planned out, to the minute. -I established very clear rules and a very clear plan of what I would do for each of his bad behaviors. I also had many contingency plans. Having a plan really helped me build my own confidence and become less fearful of what *might* happen. -I put <a href="http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training#draglead" rel="nofollow">a drag-lead</a> on Sephy (only with a flat collar and only when I am home to supervise). This helped me to control him better, and to easily put him in <a href="http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout" rel="nofollow">timeout</a> whenever he tried to mouth me or hump me. All of these things helped me to regain control of the house, and become a lot more calm and confident. Once I became more calm, Sephy also calmed down and his behavior improved significantly. Here are some things that helped me when Sephy was young- http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training http://shibashake.com/dog/afraid-of-your-dog http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog Getting private lessons from a professional trainer can also be very helpful. I met with many professional trainers when Sephy was young. It was not easy to find a good positive trainer that could handle Sephy, but we found a couple and they were quite helpful. I also did a lot of research on the web and read a lot of dog books. On the web, I found the breed-specific forums and meetup groups to be most helpful because there were a lot of veterans there that post regularly. Hello Ashley,

I went through a similar experience with my Shiba Inu Sephy. It is difficult to say how similar my situation was, so I will just tell my story.

Sephy is a very stubborn dog and in the beginning, I was not very sure how to handle him. He was also very mouthy and would often mouth all over my hands and arms. Since my husband worked, I was home with Sephy most of the day dealing with his Shiba hijinks. I spent the whole day walking him, feeding him, and trying to give him affection. However, when my husband returned, Sephy seemed to prefer his company. Also, Sephy would reserve his worst behaviors for me – including humping my leg, jumping on me, crazy leash biting, and mouthing all over me.

Because of all this, I got even more uncertain of him, and was also somewhat fearful. I also felt somewhat betrayed that he would avoid my company, especially when I was the one feeding and taking care of him. However, the more uncertain and fearful I felt, the worse his behavior became. It was not a good time for either of us.

I later realized that Sephy is a very sensitive dog. Therefore, he picked up on my uncertain and fearful energy, and became somewhat stressed himself. Fear can often be contagious. As a result of this, he started acting erratically because he was stressed, and did not know what to expect from me. On the other hand, my husband was a lot more calm and sure with him. This was something Sephy could count on, and as a result he was a lot more calm around my husband and preferred his calm company.

House rules are important, but I realized that calm energy and confidence are also very important.

I started by taking very small steps.
-First, I stopped giving him too much attention and affection. I spent more time on my own tasks, and ignored him more.
-I put Sephy on a very fixed schedule. In this way, I was sure what to expect from him and he was sure what to expect from me. I had a schedule for the entire day planned out, to the minute.
-I established very clear rules and a very clear plan of what I would do for each of his bad behaviors. I also had many contingency plans. Having a plan really helped me build my own confidence and become less fearful of what *might* happen.
-I put a drag-lead on Sephy (only with a flat collar and only when I am home to supervise). This helped me to control him better, and to easily put him in timeout whenever he tried to mouth me or hump me.

All of these things helped me to regain control of the house, and become a lot more calm and confident. Once I became more calm, Sephy also calmed down and his behavior improved significantly.

Here are some things that helped me when Sephy was young-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
http://shibashake.com/dog/afraid-of-your-dog
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog

Getting private lessons from a professional trainer can also be very helpful. I met with many professional trainers when Sephy was young. It was not easy to find a good positive trainer that could handle Sephy, but we found a couple and they were quite helpful. I also did a lot of research on the web and read a lot of dog books. On the web, I found the breed-specific forums and meetup groups to be most helpful because there were a lot of veterans there that post regularly.

]]> By: shibashake http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-26063 shibashake Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:12:54 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-26063 Hello Hana Jang, My Shiba was also very mouthy as a puppy. Here is what I did when he starts to bite on me- http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout Bite inhibition exercises were also very useful for my Shiba Sephy- http://shibashake.com/dog/bite-inhibition Because Sephy was so mouthy when he was young, I got somewhat fearful of him. However, the more fearful and frustrated I got, the worse his behavior became. Sephy is very sensitive to what I am feeling, and he picks it up and becomes stressed himself. http://shibashake.com/dog/afraid-of-your-dog Sephy does best when I am calm, when I establish a very fixed routine for him, and when I have very consistent rules. Here are some things that helped with Sephy when he was young- http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training Here are some of my experiences with food aggression and resource guarding- http://shibashake.com/dog/stop-food-aggression-stop-resource-guarding Hello Hana Jang,

My Shiba was also very mouthy as a puppy. Here is what I did when he starts to bite on me-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout

Bite inhibition exercises were also very useful for my Shiba Sephy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/bite-inhibition

Because Sephy was so mouthy when he was young, I got somewhat fearful of him. However, the more fearful and frustrated I got, the worse his behavior became. Sephy is very sensitive to what I am feeling, and he picks it up and becomes stressed himself.
http://shibashake.com/dog/afraid-of-your-dog

Sephy does best when I am calm, when I establish a very fixed routine for him, and when I have very consistent rules. Here are some things that helped with Sephy when he was young-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training

Here are some of my experiences with food aggression and resource guarding-
http://shibashake.com/dog/stop-food-aggression-stop-resource-guarding

]]> By: Ashley http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-25994 Ashley Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:42:22 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-25994 I have an almost 9 month old Husky-lab mix named Bailey, and she was so sweet and affectionate (though hyper active and excitable like huskies and labs tend to be) until her first heat a few weeks ago. Right before we knew she was in heat (before the period), there was an incident at home where my husband and I were sitting on the couch, and Bailey was laying between our sets of feet. I looked down at her at some point and thought she looked especially cute, and decided to pet her. Seemingly out of nowhere, she snapped at me and darted away. She never did this before, and I also got no growl or curled lip in warning. My husband and I were shocked. The only thing I can think of that could have set her off was that she had a bone nearby that she was being possessive over, even though I made no motions towards the bone. Things only escalated from there. We have noticed that she never growls at my husband, only me. At first we thought it was because I am pregnant, and might be avoiding me because she senses or smells me differently. Now we think it is just a dominance issue, that she probably sees me as competition for top female in the house. We moved her crate (used for bedtime, occasional feedings and travel) into our room so she might feel like we're more of a "pack". She does not sleep on the bed with us, though we do let her on the bed at times. When we go in our room, she follows and immediately goes into her crate, even though we don't tell her. We try to call her out, but she won't come. If we were sending her there for the night, we would say "bedtime" and she'd go right in, but though we don't say it, she goes anyway and growls if I approach. Other times, she will lay down on the floor near her crate, and growl if I come near her. When she is in her crate and acting territorial/dominant like this, if I look at her she growls. If I so much as say her name, she growls. If my husband can coax her out, she'll let him pet her and love on her, but if I gently move my hand towards her non-threateningly to pet her, she'll then growl at me, and only me. Then she'll try to go away into her crate. She gets growly with me at random times of the day, also. Sometimes she'll come over to me and lean on my leg for attention, and say I decide to give it to her and pet her, she'll be fine for a minute and then suddenly she'll start growling. I don't get it. She is possessive over toys if she is playing with them, unless she brings them to us for Fetch. Again, she only growls and snaps at me, and has only ever been this way with my husband once or twice. She still acts like this, even now that her heat has ended. I am worried about what will happen when our baby is born; I don't want her unpredictable behavior to mean possible injury to our child. We have tried establishing that she is not dominant in the house by having her sit before feeding, by not letting her pull on the leash and walk ahead during walks.. well that one we try on, but we have trouble with... she sleeps in her crate below us, when we play tug of war, we don't let her "win", and when we go up/down stairs and through doors, we make her sit and go through last. Please do your best to help me! How can I further establish dominance with her? I have an almost 9 month old Husky-lab mix named Bailey, and she was so sweet and affectionate (though hyper active and excitable like huskies and labs tend to be) until her first heat a few weeks ago. Right before we knew she was in heat (before the period), there was an incident at home where my husband and I were sitting on the couch, and Bailey was laying between our sets of feet. I looked down at her at some point and thought she looked especially cute, and decided to pet her. Seemingly out of nowhere, she snapped at me and darted away. She never did this before, and I also got no growl or curled lip in warning. My husband and I were shocked. The only thing I can think of that could have set her off was that she had a bone nearby that she was being possessive over, even though I made no motions towards the bone.
Things only escalated from there. We have noticed that she never growls at my husband, only me. At first we thought it was because I am pregnant, and might be avoiding me because she senses or smells me differently. Now we think it is just a dominance issue, that she probably sees me as competition for top female in the house.
We moved her crate (used for bedtime, occasional feedings and travel) into our room so she might feel like we’re more of a “pack”. She does not sleep on the bed with us, though we do let her on the bed at times. When we go in our room, she follows and immediately goes into her crate, even though we don’t tell her. We try to call her out, but she won’t come. If we were sending her there for the night, we would say “bedtime” and she’d go right in, but though we don’t say it, she goes anyway and growls if I approach. Other times, she will lay down on the floor near her crate, and growl if I come near her. When she is in her crate and acting territorial/dominant like this, if I look at her she growls. If I so much as say her name, she growls. If my husband can coax her out, she’ll let him pet her and love on her, but if I gently move my hand towards her non-threateningly to pet her, she’ll then growl at me, and only me. Then she’ll try to go away into her crate.
She gets growly with me at random times of the day, also. Sometimes she’ll come over to me and lean on my leg for attention, and say I decide to give it to her and pet her, she’ll be fine for a minute and then suddenly she’ll start growling. I don’t get it.
She is possessive over toys if she is playing with them, unless she brings them to us for Fetch. Again, she only growls and snaps at me, and has only ever been this way with my husband once or twice. She still acts like this, even now that her heat has ended. I am worried about what will happen when our baby is born; I don’t want her unpredictable behavior to mean possible injury to our child.

We have tried establishing that she is not dominant in the house by having her sit before feeding, by not letting her pull on the leash and walk ahead during walks.. well that one we try on, but we have trouble with… she sleeps in her crate below us, when we play tug of war, we don’t let her “win”, and when we go up/down stairs and through doors, we make her sit and go through last. Please do your best to help me! How can I further establish dominance with her?

]]> By: Hana Jang http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-25760 Hana Jang Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:39:22 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-25760 Hi! My male shiba is almost 4 months and he has bad food and toy aggression. We started to work on some food aggression techniques so we'll have to see if that will fix anything. But he will growl at us if we got near him and even after he was done with his food, he'll growl and be mad for the next 15-30 min. When he's mad and growling, should we just ignore that or what do we do? He's protective over his toys if we let him sit with it for a little bit and he'll start growling if we got near him. This morning, he was being protective over his toy, so I drew his attention away by giving him a couple of treats and I put the toy away. Maybe about 10-15 later, I was laying on the floor, on my computer, my shiba was near him and I was just smiling at him saying hi and he just started growling and just came at me. Jumping and bite my thigh and gave me a small bruise. He has been very mouthy and I'm getting bite marks everywhere. I have no idea why he came at me like that. Maybe cause he didn't have a toy anymore? and how can I stop my shiba from just biting? I tell him no, stop, or tell him sit, sometimes he'll sit but goes back to biting. He has been biting a little bit around my leg and ankle lately too. There was also a time when I was training him how to sit and lay down, I gave him a treat after he did a command, and he came at me and then started to protect the bag of treats and growling at us and he started to pee. I need help! I know he's only 4 months old but I feel like his behavior shouldn't be this bad at his age. I want to fix this before he gets bigger or we can seriously get hurt. Hi! My male shiba is almost 4 months and he has bad food and toy aggression. We started to work on some food aggression techniques so we’ll have to see if that will fix anything. But he will growl at us if we got near him and even after he was done with his food, he’ll growl and be mad for the next 15-30 min. When he’s mad and growling, should we just ignore that or what do we do? He’s protective over his toys if we let him sit with it for a little bit and he’ll start growling if we got near him. This morning, he was being protective over his toy, so I drew his attention away by giving him a couple of treats and I put the toy away. Maybe about 10-15 later, I was laying on the floor, on my computer, my shiba was near him and I was just smiling at him saying hi and he just started growling and just came at me. Jumping and bite my thigh and gave me a small bruise. He has been very mouthy and I’m getting bite marks everywhere. I have no idea why he came at me like that. Maybe cause he didn’t have a toy anymore? and how can I stop my shiba from just biting? I tell him no, stop, or tell him sit, sometimes he’ll sit but goes back to biting. He has been biting a little bit around my leg and ankle lately too. There was also a time when I was training him how to sit and lay down, I gave him a treat after he did a command, and he came at me and then started to protect the bag of treats and growling at us and he started to pee. I need help! I know he’s only 4 months old but I feel like his behavior shouldn’t be this bad at his age. I want to fix this before he gets bigger or we can seriously get hurt.

]]> By: shibashake http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-19659 shibashake Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:13:44 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-19659 Hello Katie, I had a similar experience with my Shiba Inu Sephy. When he was a puppy, he would bite all over me, hump my leg, and do crazy leash biting. Here are some things that helped me with Sephy- http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog As for classes, my experience is that group classes are mostly for socialization. I really did not learn much there, but the socialization experience was useful for Sephy. I learned most from doing private lessons with a good professional trainer. Since dog training is not well regulated, there are many sub-par trainers out there. I always call them up, ask them many questions about my dog's behavior issues, and push them for detailed answers. In general, I look for trainers who are well versed in <a href="http://shibashake.com/dog/operant-conditioning-and-dog-training" rel="nofollow">operant conditioning techniques</a>, have good experience with difficult dogs, and have calm dogs of their own that they can use in training. http://shibashake.com/dog/finding-a-dog-trainer In terms of time-out, it is best not to use the crate. My dogs go into their crate for eating and sleeping at night, so I want it to be a positive place for them. An alternative to using a time-out room, is to put the dog on a tie-down in a quiet, low stimulus area. Only use a flat collar or harness and not a training collar. Do not leave a dog on tie-down if we are not home. Let us know how it goes. Hugs to your little boy! Hello Katie,
I had a similar experience with my Shiba Inu Sephy. When he was a puppy, he would bite all over me, hump my leg, and do crazy leash biting. Here are some things that helped me with Sephy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog

As for classes, my experience is that group classes are mostly for socialization. I really did not learn much there, but the socialization experience was useful for Sephy. I learned most from doing private lessons with a good professional trainer. Since dog training is not well regulated, there are many sub-par trainers out there. I always call them up, ask them many questions about my dog’s behavior issues, and push them for detailed answers. In general, I look for trainers who are well versed in operant conditioning techniques, have good experience with difficult dogs, and have calm dogs of their own that they can use in training.
http://shibashake.com/dog/finding-a-dog-trainer

In terms of time-out, it is best not to use the crate. My dogs go into their crate for eating and sleeping at night, so I want it to be a positive place for them. An alternative to using a time-out room, is to put the dog on a tie-down in a quiet, low stimulus area. Only use a flat collar or harness and not a training collar. Do not leave a dog on tie-down if we are not home.

Let us know how it goes. Hugs to your little boy!

]]> By: Katie http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-19606 Katie Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:38:26 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-19606 Hi there, this has helped me learn so much that I didn't think of! I have a new puppy Staffordshire ball terroir. He's my baby I love him to pieces but he can reduce me to tears. He bites me( hasn't drawn blood) pounces at me, grabs my hair try's pulling it, follows me around growling at me. With my partner he's as good as gold occasionally he may pounce around and growl but never to the extent he shows to me. Other than this he is brilliant I can take him for walks off his lead he doesn't run far if he is running far he turns to check I'm there and comes running back to me before setting off again. He sits, comes here, gives paw, lays down and has been weeing and pooing on his matts since He was 10weeks.I've never been to classes he's 15weeks now and I'm thinking maybe because of his behaviour to take him to classes what do u think? We currently live In a bedsit and will be moving into a house In 7weeks so I'm definitely going to start doing time out. I usually do that by putting him in his Crete. Is there any personal advice you could forward. Would really help! Thankyou in advance. A very desperate girlie xxx Hi there, this has helped me learn so much that I didn’t think of! I have a new puppy Staffordshire ball terroir. He’s my baby I love him to pieces but he can reduce me to tears. He bites me( hasn’t drawn blood) pounces at me, grabs my hair try’s pulling it, follows me around growling at me. With my partner he’s as good as gold occasionally he may pounce around and growl but never to the extent he shows to me. Other than this he is brilliant I can take him for walks off his lead he doesn’t run far if he is running far he turns to check I’m there and comes running back to me before setting off again. He sits, comes here, gives paw, lays down and has been weeing and pooing on his matts since He was 10weeks.I’ve never been to classes he’s 15weeks now and I’m thinking maybe because of his behaviour to take him to classes what do u think? We currently live In a bedsit and will be moving into a house In 7weeks so I’m definitely going to start doing time out. I usually do that by putting him in his Crete. Is there any personal advice you could forward. Would really help! Thankyou in advance. A very desperate girlie xxx

]]> By: eddiesmom http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-14380 eddiesmom Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:23:47 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-14380 i have huge issues with eddies domination of me. he is never dominating toward me when the hubby is around and he also isnt dominant toward my daughter. but as soon as the hubby isnt around its horrible if iam eating he will hop right on the table wont listen to me at all and will eat my food and if i try to take it from him he bears his teeth. he has also humped me and when i push him off he comes right back, and the most embaressing of all hes actually peed on me. if i take him for a walk i can never take him off the leash he wont listen to me like he does to the hubby, and i have to use the pinch collar the hubby doesnt need it he uses the harness, i dont know if its a gender thing or if he just sees me as weak. also if a male friend that he does not know comes up to me while iam walking him he growls and gets like this hulk stance going on and he like puffs up his chest its humiliating because people think hes vicious and hes far from it i have huge issues with eddies domination of me. he is never dominating toward me when the hubby is around and he also isnt dominant toward my daughter. but as soon as the hubby isnt around its horrible if iam eating he will hop right on the table wont listen to me at all and will eat my food and if i try to take it from him he bears his teeth. he has also humped me and when i push him off he comes right back, and the most embaressing of all hes actually peed on me. if i take him for a walk i can never take him off the leash he wont listen to me like he does to the hubby, and i have to use the pinch collar the hubby doesnt need it he uses the harness, i dont know if its a gender thing or if he just sees me as weak. also if a male friend that he does not know comes up to me while iam walking him he growls and gets like this hulk stance going on and he like puffs up his chest its humiliating because people think hes vicious and hes far from it

]]> By: shibashake http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-11586 shibashake Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:51:43 +0000 http://www.shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs#comment-11586 Hello Toni, I have a no-bullying rule with my dogs, and that seems to have worked well. In general, when one dog is becoming a pest to another I will step in and handle the situation. Usually it is the new puppy that is trying something that the other dogs do not like, e.g. humping. I supervise the dogs while they are playing so that as soon as I see puppy getting into position to hump, I non-mark her (No or Ack-ack) and lead her away by her drag lead. Then, we take a short break to do some obedience commands. After a bit, she gets to go back and play. If she keeps trying to hump and ignores my warnings, then play stops and she has to go for a short timeout. This teaches my dogs that they don't have to correct each other, I will handle it. I also try to be very consistent with them in terms of the rules, i.e. no dog gets to hump, and all of them get the same consequences for the same actions. The key here is to step in early and stop things before they escalate into aggression. In this way, it can be a learning experience. Once things have escalated too much, it becomes dangerous to step in, the dogs have likely gone rear-brained, and they are no longer able to learn. In general, the more a dog practices a certain behavior (including aggression) the more likely he/she will repeat that behavior. Therefore, I also try to supervise and manage things so that there is no need for aggression. For example, I prevent my dogs from stealing each others stuff. Very occasionally, a small theft occurs, but I will hand out the consequences to the thief, and I also replace the stuff. In this way, there is no need for the dogs to use aggression and things don't escalate. I also make sure they are separated when working on really high priority items, e.g. bully sticks. Here are more of my experiences with supervising my dogs - http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog Hello Toni,

I have a no-bullying rule with my dogs, and that seems to have worked well. In general, when one dog is becoming a pest to another I will step in and handle the situation. Usually it is the new puppy that is trying something that the other dogs do not like, e.g. humping.

I supervise the dogs while they are playing so that as soon as I see puppy getting into position to hump, I non-mark her (No or Ack-ack) and lead her away by her drag lead. Then, we take a short break to do some obedience commands. After a bit, she gets to go back and play.

If she keeps trying to hump and ignores my warnings, then play stops and she has to go for a short timeout.

This teaches my dogs that they don’t have to correct each other, I will handle it. I also try to be very consistent with them in terms of the rules, i.e. no dog gets to hump, and all of them get the same consequences for the same actions. The key here is to step in early and stop things before they escalate into aggression. In this way, it can be a learning experience. Once things have escalated too much, it becomes dangerous to step in, the dogs have likely gone rear-brained, and they are no longer able to learn.

In general, the more a dog practices a certain behavior (including aggression) the more likely he/she will repeat that behavior. Therefore, I also try to supervise and manage things so that there is no need for aggression. For example, I prevent my dogs from stealing each others stuff. Very occasionally, a small theft occurs, but I will hand out the consequences to the thief, and I also replace the stuff. In this way, there is no need for the dogs to use aggression and things don’t escalate. I also make sure they are separated when working on really high priority items, e.g. bully sticks.

Here are more of my experiences with supervising my dogs -
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog

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