May 20, 2011
I have a 14 week old Rott that comes from very good working bloodlines. She has some issues with being aggressive in certain situations. What is your opinion of the dog?
Full Question:
Dear Mr. Frawley,I am a long time member of your discussion board and have purchased items from your website. My question for you is about my 14 week old female rottweiler pup. I would like to know what you think of her nerves at this stage in her life. I have a fully protection trained male adult rott that we train with at a PSA club here in town that has such strong nerve I couldn't mess him up if I tried. We plan to protection train this pup as well.
The pup comes from strong working lines with lots of SCH III's and even a few IPO's scattered through her pedigree. I picked her up last week and the breeder didn't do a lot of socializing with her because she said she is afraid of parvo at such a young age. Ok fine, we bring her home and have taken her everywhere with us, the hardware store, the department store, the DMV to watch people come in and out, and basically everywhere with us. She is not scared of any noise EXCEPT when I started the lawn mower outside she ran and hid in the garage but came back out a few minutes later. When people greet her for the first time she walks up slowly and her tail is down and after a few seconds her tail is going like crazy and she is happy to be there but she isn't crazy about new people right at first. I have taken her to the protection club twice now to watch the agitation and she just lights up when she hears and sees the whip. She runs out to the end of the leash with her tail wagging wanting to inspect.
Everything sounds ok so far right? Well, here is what is worrying me.
When she sees someone strange she barks at them. Like the neighbor across the street, when they are getting in the car, the pup is barking at them and runs out to the edge of the grass with her tail straight up and erect. (she does have her tail by the way). Her hackles are not being raised so that is a good thing but it worries me at 14 weeks she is barking at people. What is your opinion on this and if it is a problem what can I do to solve it?
By the way, she is crate trained and spends her unsupervised time in the kennel. She has tons of prey drive and we are sacking her with a burlap piece attached to an old leather leash. Her grip is nice and deep and she is very quiet while on the sack, she just gives a nice backward tugging motion. I haven't done any obedience with her at all except showing her how to sit by putting her food bowl over her head until she sits, I tell her, "good sit" and then let her have her food. So what do you think? Do I have a nerve bag here or is this typical puppy behavior?
Thank you very much,
Joe
Cindy's Answer:
Joe,
The female is obviously going to be VERY SHARP as an adult. If your goal is personal protection then that’s what you will get.
But with this said you are going to need to change some things you seem to be doing.
1- I would NEVER take this pup to your club until it is over 12 months of age. It’s a bad idea. Dogs like this do not need it. It will make her crazy.
2- I don’t use the whip in training the way you see a lot of people do. The whip becomes a prey item and is the most over used and poorly used piece of equipment there is. I save the use of the whip for when I really need it - and that is to sting a dog when I feel he may need waking up.
3- You should be focusing everything you can on PREY work with this pup. It needs the kind of work I show in my Building Drive, Focus and Grip Video. This is calm work with the handler - all the foundation is done at home in your yard. When it’s a year old then it goes to club. But this dog needs to learn to be calm with you.
4- I assume you allow it to have little to no time with your male. Not until it's 4 to 5 months old. It must focus on you.
5- I NEVER allow people to touch my dog. Not ever! Not for any reason! With this said, if you have a sharp dog, which you have, I will break the "No Touching" rule and have people give her pieces of food. This continues until she does not have problems with strangers. From that point on no one touches or pets her.
6- I will be releasing a video on Raising a Working Puppy - you may want to get it.
Good luck
The female is obviously going to be VERY SHARP as an adult. If your goal is personal protection then that’s what you will get.
But with this said you are going to need to change some things you seem to be doing.
1- I would NEVER take this pup to your club until it is over 12 months of age. It’s a bad idea. Dogs like this do not need it. It will make her crazy.
2- I don’t use the whip in training the way you see a lot of people do. The whip becomes a prey item and is the most over used and poorly used piece of equipment there is. I save the use of the whip for when I really need it - and that is to sting a dog when I feel he may need waking up.
3- You should be focusing everything you can on PREY work with this pup. It needs the kind of work I show in my Building Drive, Focus and Grip Video. This is calm work with the handler - all the foundation is done at home in your yard. When it’s a year old then it goes to club. But this dog needs to learn to be calm with you.
4- I assume you allow it to have little to no time with your male. Not until it's 4 to 5 months old. It must focus on you.
5- I NEVER allow people to touch my dog. Not ever! Not for any reason! With this said, if you have a sharp dog, which you have, I will break the "No Touching" rule and have people give her pieces of food. This continues until she does not have problems with strangers. From that point on no one touches or pets her.
6- I will be releasing a video on Raising a Working Puppy - you may want to get it.
Good luck
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