I have a few questions about my pup and being mouthy, pulling and integrating him with our older dog.

Question

Hi Cindy,

    We have a 15 week old GSD who we want to eventually train in protection. We have several of your dog training DVDs- puppy, 8 weeks to 8 mos, working puppy, puppy bite work, basic obedience, marker training, but I haven't seen the answer to these questions:

    1. He is going through a very mouthy stage- we are constantly re-directing him to chew on acceptable items. Is this just what we need to do during this time, verses any corrections? We are working on 'leave it', and leash/ flat collar pops. Is there any thing else we should/ could be doing? Is this just a phase to get through? He has plenty of nice toys and bones.

    2. Pulling- he is a very strong shouldered 20 pounds (he will most likely top out at around 90 pounds), and he pulls like a sled dog. We have tried leash pulls with a 'don't pull/ good don't pull' command, to no avail. We have also tried letting him self correct with a prong collar, but this does not phase him. Is there another method to try? I have thought about doing lots of positive treat reinforcement for staying near me, but in the long run I don't want him always looking at me, I want him looking at the world around us. Any advice would be appreciated.

    3. We have a 7 year old dominant female dutch shepherd that we would like to eventually integrate him with (she was successfully integrated with our last GSD male, who has passed, who was a Leerburg dog!). So far we have kept the separated, and they are still very interested in each other. We have a dominant dog collar and the dominant dog DVD on order from you. We feel pretty good about knowing how to handle our female, but our 15 wk GSD male seems overly interested in getting to the female, He lunges when on leach, and whines and yips excessively when we take them on introductory walks. It doesn't matter if I have the prong on him or not. We are wondering if we should find a safe older dog for him to interact with, so he calms down about the older dog idea? Or is this something that is just between these two dogs? Is there a certain age we should wait for until we try integrating the two of them, so that he doesn't get dog aggressive if she outs him in his place? We are not wanting to toss them in the yard together, but it would be great if they could both chill out in the same room while we are watching TV, without one of them being in a crate.

    These turned out to be long winded questions!

 Thank you for your time,
    Maisie

Accepted Answer

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have.. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A's and posts on our forum.

    You'll find lots of information on puppy biting, pulling on the leash and puppy raising.

    You can use marker training to reinforce ANY behavior you want to continue, like leaving slack in the leash when you walk, performing a trick or simple behavior INSTEAD of biting you, etc... We can't possibly answer ever single question on a video. We give you the knowledge of the concepts and then you have the tools to apply them to your situation.

    I would not be allowing a 15 week old puppy that behaves in an excited manner to interact with your other dog. My rule is that if my puppy won't come running to me every single time I call him no matter what the distraction, he's not ready to play with other dogs. Another dog is the biggest distraction there is and usually more fun to play with than a human, so I don't allow it until my pup is really showing attentiveness to me all the time. The age can vary depending on the dog and the skill of the handler. I don't rush this, because if you do it too soon you'll end up TEACHING your puppy that it's ok to ignore you when other dogs are around.

    Cindy