April 19, 2011
My 5 month old GSD pees on the floor when my husband approaches him. What can we do?
Full Question:
The techniques we have used to train our 5 month old shepherd have come directly from this web site. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate an article with a similar subject that addresses our particular issue with our dog.Our dog is definitely an alpha dog however my husband has managed to gain the title of leader in our pack. Our dog seems to like my husband, but I'm definitely his favorite because I spend all day with him. With this in mind, the problem we have is: When my husband feeds our dog, the dog urinates while eating his food. (He never urinates when I feed him.) When my husband comes home from work and calmly greets the dog, the dog urinates then also. How can we discourage and correct this behavior?
Ed's Answer:
Your husband has been too hard on this dog. It only takes one or two good ass kickings or excessive corrections to cause a problem with a puppy. There IS NO 5 month old puppy who is an ALPHA puppy. This can not happen until a dog is 18 to 24 months old (with rare exception in a very, very few bloodlines it will show at a year).
For one thing it's impossible (at this age) to even assume that a puppy can be an alpha dog - for a second thing it indicates a "mind set" on your part concerning this dog.
Some dogs will get pissy like this at 10 months of age. This only lasts for a short period of time and is related to development and maturity issues. But to be happening at 5 months indicates handler problems. I suggest that your husband starts to play with this dog and take him for long walks where the focus is not obedience training but bonding.
You need to take a look at Basic Dog Obedience. It discusses (in detail) how to measure corrections according to your dogs temperament.
For one thing it's impossible (at this age) to even assume that a puppy can be an alpha dog - for a second thing it indicates a "mind set" on your part concerning this dog.
Some dogs will get pissy like this at 10 months of age. This only lasts for a short period of time and is related to development and maturity issues. But to be happening at 5 months indicates handler problems. I suggest that your husband starts to play with this dog and take him for long walks where the focus is not obedience training but bonding.
You need to take a look at Basic Dog Obedience. It discusses (in detail) how to measure corrections according to your dogs temperament.
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