May 20, 2011
My dog listens to my husband more. He says I need to let the dog know I'm the boss, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Any suggestions?
Full Question:
Mr Frawley,I understand you get lots of emails with questions on dog training. I admit I need help. Here is my story. We adopted a puppy from a rescue almost 2 years ago. Our older dog is of unknown breed, we where told collie/hound mix (female), but I do not think this is true. I have worked very hard with this dog, and she is truly a wonderful dog, but from reading most of your articles I think we need to revisit some training. which I will do gladly.
We have adopted another dog, 2 months ago, a German shepard, border collie female. She was 8-10 weeks old when we got her (she is 5 months old now). Things were going smoothly until about 3 weeks ago. From what I am reading on your site, I introduced them in the totally wrong way.
We did introduce them a few times outside the home before we brought her home. Our older dog loves other dogs. So she played happily , we brought the puppy home. She did behave but did regress and pee on the floor a couple of times. We have never had any problems with food, toys, sleep areas. We have never crated our older dog, but the puppy most definitely is. She (they) is not left alone without someone in the house. They do not play outside alone (together), they are on a runner when they need to go to the bathroom.
Our puppy, in the past few weeks has had some nipping issues, I was thinking it was her being a puppy and mouthing. I (the family) will give her a stern NO and all playing will stop. I also have my dogs sit, before anything, go outside, eat, food only gets put our for the allotted 15 minutes. Another problem is she nips ALOT at our older dogs paws and ears. I'm sitting her wondering if she's having a herding instinct? I don't want my older dog stressed out. Although if she is doing this and they start a tussle as soon as they see me it all stops, I don't even have to say a word.
Well 3 nights ago, I was patting her (the puppy) and it seemed as if she was going to bite me. So now I am here wondering if I have a aggressive dog. She went done into down position. Some of my problem is my husband. I know its an excuse, but I work and he's with the dogs the other half of the time. He just keep telling me "she needs to know your boss" what the heck does that mean. He doesn't try to much in the training dept.
Someone has pointed me in your direction. So I'm wondering what videos would be best for me. They all seem very similar.
Thank you for your time,
Kristen
Ed's Answer:
Your right – you are making mistakes that will lead to other problems.
You need to revisit the article on how to introduce a new dog into a home – yes you have made mistakes here but you also need to start all over. These dogs should NOT PLAY TOGETER – you need two crates not one. The you dog needs to go through pack structure training - Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Dog. If you do this the so called aggression will more than likely go away – BTW this is how leadership is developed.
If your husband does not buy into this program though you may as well forget it – in fact you had better read the article I wrote titled HOW TO BREAK UP A DOG FIGHT WITHOUT GETTING HURT - I recommend you visit my list of 300 dog training articles. You will find additional information that will help you.
When I get emails like this (and I get a lot) there are three DVD's I recommend people get:
BTW – people always ask when can the dogs be together again? The answer is when your obedience is good enough on the young dog that you can call it away from the other dog when they are really playing hard together. If you can’t do that then the dog really is not trained – and this is no such thing as an ALMOST TRAINED DOG. That’s like saying a women is ALMOST PREGNANT.
Kind Regards,
Ed
You need to revisit the article on how to introduce a new dog into a home – yes you have made mistakes here but you also need to start all over. These dogs should NOT PLAY TOGETER – you need two crates not one. The you dog needs to go through pack structure training - Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Dog. If you do this the so called aggression will more than likely go away – BTW this is how leadership is developed.
If your husband does not buy into this program though you may as well forget it – in fact you had better read the article I wrote titled HOW TO BREAK UP A DOG FIGHT WITHOUT GETTING HURT - I recommend you visit my list of 300 dog training articles. You will find additional information that will help you.
When I get emails like this (and I get a lot) there are three DVD's I recommend people get:
- The pack structure one I mentioned above
- Basic Dog Obedience
- Remote Collar Training for the Pet Owner
BTW – people always ask when can the dogs be together again? The answer is when your obedience is good enough on the young dog that you can call it away from the other dog when they are really playing hard together. If you can’t do that then the dog really is not trained – and this is no such thing as an ALMOST TRAINED DOG. That’s like saying a women is ALMOST PREGNANT.
Kind Regards,
Ed
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