May 13, 2011
Laney has many annoying habits such as: constant licking or jumping on us. She can’t ever just sit or lay by us when we watch TV or talk.
Full Question:
We live in a small town and I can't find anyone to train us, mostly my husband and I. Laney (1 year old part chow part Shepherd) has many annoying habits: constant licking or jumping up on us. She can never just sit or lay by us while we watch TV or talk. She also play bites my husband, but never me because I have been firmer in the past with her. Last, she is too smart for us, we can never get her to come or leave the room, go to bed, go outside... When we try she always lays down, rolls on her back and puts her paws in the air. If you try to grab her or get her by the collar she will raise her gums and try and bite you. Please help! 
Ed's Answer:
Your dog needs obedience training. That’s the place to start. At one year of age she needs to learn manners. She is old enough to begin to go through serious training. You need to get my tape Basic Dog Obedience. This dog is crying for attention and dog training provides this attention. It also teaches the dog manners.
The bigger concern is that you have allowed her to roll on her back and show her teeth to you. By allowing this to happen, you have trained the dog to do this. She has learned that it produces results. When a dog shows its teeth as a young dog (under 1 year) it needs to get corrected and a very good correction, at that. The dog is not mature enough to really turn on (no matter how inexperienced the handler is) and come back on the handler. If you do not feel comfortable about sticking your hand down to grab the dog, put a short leash on her and make her wear it all the time. You can always reach down and grab the end of an 18 inch leash. If she snarls, she needs a level 10 correction. She needs to learn that every time she shows her teeth she is going to go through HELL.
If you as the handler refuse to do this, you are creating a very dangerous situation. As this dog matures, it will gain more and more confidence in its ability to defend itself (when it is under 1 year it does not have that self confidence yet). The dog is learning that if it does not like something it can snarl at a human (even a human it knows) and get its way. One day it will be around a child and the child will do something it does not like. The snarl may not work because the child does not recognize it as a warning signal. Then the dog bites and everyone is a loser.
The bigger concern is that you have allowed her to roll on her back and show her teeth to you. By allowing this to happen, you have trained the dog to do this. She has learned that it produces results. When a dog shows its teeth as a young dog (under 1 year) it needs to get corrected and a very good correction, at that. The dog is not mature enough to really turn on (no matter how inexperienced the handler is) and come back on the handler. If you do not feel comfortable about sticking your hand down to grab the dog, put a short leash on her and make her wear it all the time. You can always reach down and grab the end of an 18 inch leash. If she snarls, she needs a level 10 correction. She needs to learn that every time she shows her teeth she is going to go through HELL.
If you as the handler refuse to do this, you are creating a very dangerous situation. As this dog matures, it will gain more and more confidence in its ability to defend itself (when it is under 1 year it does not have that self confidence yet). The dog is learning that if it does not like something it can snarl at a human (even a human it knows) and get its way. One day it will be around a child and the child will do something it does not like. The snarl may not work because the child does not recognize it as a warning signal. Then the dog bites and everyone is a loser.
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