April 28, 2011
My rescue Greyhound snaps at me. What can I do?
Full Question:
I hope you don't mind questions. I have a dominant female Greyhound X. She is very dog aggressive and will bark and nip friends that visit on a hit and miss basis. We have done obedience classes and she is about 70% on sits and downs. Her stays are 20% and only with treats. I have no idea how to convince her. We got her from the pound a year ago and she is 6 years old.We let her sleep in the bed and she is less then 4 feet away when we eat. I like her sleeping with us. What should we do? Can we reduce her dominance and still let her sleep with us?
If I'm playing with her and I grab her in some way that gives her mild discomfort she barks and snaps at me like I've ripped her leg off. On the other hand I can play with her face or push her over and even when I am really bugging her she wouldn't dream of snapping at me.
In short she shows all the signs of dominance but only some of the time and even when she is aggressive with us she is self restrained. It seems like we are members of her pack and she cares for us but does not always accept that I'm in charge.
I have a great relationship with her and would have a hard time going all draconian with her. Some friends have suggested drugs. What should I do?
Doug
Ed's Answer:
Read my article on Dealing with the Dominant Dog. I stop reading every email I get like this - when I get to the point where people tell me they let their dog sleep in their bed. This is drop dead stupid. READ MY ARTICLE. I don't care what else is going on or what you are doing - this is self induced.
Your dog is not trained and unless you make an effort to train then you will continue to have problems. You need to make an effort to understand pack behavior and obedience training. Maybe your search of the Internet is an indication that you too have come to this conclusion.
If you would like to learn something about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes.
Your dog is not trained and unless you make an effort to train then you will continue to have problems. You need to make an effort to understand pack behavior and obedience training. Maybe your search of the Internet is an indication that you too have come to this conclusion.
If you would like to learn something about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes.
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