Hello everyone, this will be my first post, and i think it's going to be a long one, so let me apologize in advance.

I recently rescued a 1 1/2 year old border collie/husky cross from a local rescue mission. Tucker is an incredibly smart,friendly,active guy. But i have come across a couple of problems. Now I have only had him for a little over a month now and in that time he has learned the basics(on & off leash) sit, down, stay, come. I do believe i have attained the Alpha status with him (but i know i am not 100% there yet), he rarely ever rushes ahead of me in the house or when we go outside to play, When he does forget himself and rush ahead of me he is corrected (but to be fair to him he only seems make mistakes when he's excited, but he is still corrected for it).He sit-stays for his dinner and will not move until i tell him ok. I can pet him, put my hand in the dish and basically do anything with him while he's eating or chewing his kong and his only response is to wag his tail even more, he is not allowed on the furniture or on my bed. When i enter the house and let him out of his crate he greets me with ears down and tail wagging. I do not fuss over him too much.
He readily listens when i give a command and responds quite promptly, but now my concern is that he has a habit of almost talking back sometimes when i give him a command. I am not sure how to describe it because it's not a bark at all, but it's more of an "air snap" as he is performing the command. but it's almost like a silent bark. There is no showing of teeth or growling or anything of that nature and he is not snapping "at" me in any way shape or form.This generally tends to happen when he is a bit excited and i give him a command, like when we're getting ready to go for a walk and i tell him to sit so that i can attach his lead. Now understand that these little snaps are never directed at me, hard to explain but he's not nipping at my hands, legs pants or anything else and he's not reaching for any part of my body, he's just snapping his jaws shut, almost like he's barking but no sound is coming out. Now, i've never seen this behaviour before, and in my mind it's just because he's excited. I would like to see if anyone else has come across this with their dogs. Should I be correcting this (I am sure some of you are probably saying to yourself this girl is crazy if her dog is snapping at her and she questioning wether or not she should correct the dog...but its hard to explain what he is doing) and he never does it if i have to correct him and my hands are right there by his mouth when i reach in for the correction. But i am not sure if i should take it as a sign of him trying to assert a little dominance over me.
Now my concern is when he does it when i give a command, like "down". He always listens and goes down, but he does that air snapping as he does it sometimes. How can i correct him for the air-snapping? I don't want him to think i am correcting him for going into the down. He is just learning obedience as he was rescued off a farm where he was tied up outside all of his life (not abused, but very much neglected)so to me correcting him for the air-snapping when he is doing what i want and going into the down at this stage might be counter effective. Any ideas? or is this just a quirk of his? As i said, he generally only does it when he gets too excited.

And secondly....he seems to be dog aggressive. Now i know that he is starting to get the idea that I am the alpha of the pack, but i am going to assume that whoever had him before let him take care of himself because when he sees another dog approaching his tail goes up, hackles go up and he is very very focused on them. He does not growl. I generally bring treats with me and when he focus' on me, even just for a second rather than the other dog i give him a treat. We do not try to make friends with the other dog...but i do try to make sure he focuses on me. The only time i've seen him act overly aggressive is when we passed by a dog that was behind a fence and that dog started to act up (now keep in mind we were probably about 10 feet away from the fence but the other dog was still going nuts). When that happened Tucker lunged towards the fence barking, growling, hackles & tail up. Obviously Tucker doesn't have enough trust in me yet to know that i would protect him so he went into defense mode.
My question is, when he goes into that mode from what i have read on this site i should be giving him corrections for that behaviour? Because in reality if he truly saw me as the alpha he wouldn't be concerned for his own safety while i was around but would be under the impression that he has nothing to worry about because I am there. Is that correct??? So should i be correcting him for any sign of aggressiveness when we see another dog? Hackles, tail up etc etc? So far i have been focusing more on getting him to pay attention to me when another dogs around by giving him a couple of commands and giving him treats when he focus' on me and what I am asking him to do, rather than correcting him for acting aggressive. So should i be doing a leash correction whenever i see him acting aggressively in any way (hackles) towards another dog? I just want to make sure i am reading whats been said on this board correctly.
Well, i hope someone can give me some input and steer me in the right direction.

I am impressed, you have done your homework.

As far as the "air bites" - If I'm understanding what you are describing, it is a sign of high drive and motivation sometimes called a "chatter". This is a sign that you've done your obedience training well - that he enjoys it! If it bothers you, when you are training, use a little less treats or toys, and a little more praise. Be sure that your dog is getting enough exercise and get your dog involved in an activity - agility, flyball, skijoring, herding, weight pulling, rallyO, etc.

As far as showing dominance with other dogs, I have had luck using a verbal correction "no" when the dog puts his tail up, but before hackles go up. This is the alpha reminding the dog that he is not the leader - as some dogs are submissive to people but dominant with other dogs. Make sure you have a "reserve" - a corrective collar and leash on the dog - in case he doesn't mind from only the verbal correction. Is in absolutely mandatory that YOU stay completely calm in such a situation - in both your voice and correction. I personally would use a dominant dog collar for displays of dominance and/or aggression (with a pull tab or very short drag leash), and a seperate collar (flat or prong) for any other need for correction. (It's a new trick in my book - thanks Cindy!)

Wendy,

You are describing my 8 year old Border Collie/Husky mix to a tee when he was that age.

I just ignored the air snaps and they subsided over time.

I've never been able to control his going into defense with other dogs. Mind you part of his defense is pain based as he has had arthritis in his spine from an early age and simply wants the other dogs to just stay away from him. I suspect that you will have better luck in controling your boy's defensive tendencies than I have had with my guy. So unfortunately I don't have any suggestions for you <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Natalie

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I am impressed, you have done your homework.

As far as the "air bites" - If I'm understanding what you are describing, it is a sign of high drive and motivation sometimes called a "chatter". This is a sign that you've done your obedience training well - that he enjoys it! If it bothers you, when you are training, use a little less treats or toys, and a little more praise. Be sure that your dog is getting enough exercise and get your dog involved in an activity - agility, flyball, skijoring, herding, weight pulling, rallyO, etc.

As far as showing dominance with other dogs, I have had luck using a verbal correction "no" when the dog puts his tail up, but before hackles go up. This is the alpha reminding the dog that he is not the leader - as some dogs are submissive to people but dominant with other dogs. Make sure you have a "reserve" - a corrective collar and leash on the dog - in case he doesn't mind from only the verbal correction. Is in absolutely mandatory that YOU stay completely calm in such a situation - in both your voice and correction. I personally would use a dominant dog collar for displays of dominance and/or aggression (with a pull tab or very short drag leash), and a seperate collar (flat or prong) for any other need for correction. (It's a new trick in my book - thanks Cindy!)

Thanks for the reply, and you've eased my mind with the whole "air-snapping" thing. Its true, he absolutely loves when we do our obediance training, and i have started to ease off on the treats and use praise more, so he may just eventually ease off on it. It doesn't really bother me, I was concerned that people may see it as him snapping at them, when in reality he wasn't. And he does only do it in the beginning of our training sessions so i'll just be happy he's enjoying himself. He's the pefect dog for training as he responds well to treats, praise or toys, and he seems quite smart. He is getting alot of exercise, we walk for over an hour each night (with about 20 minutes of fetch at the park) I don't quite trust him yet off leash, so i have a long long lead on him and just leave it loose when we're in play mode. His intensity with a ball is phenomenal (same with a flashlight beam on the floor, which i found out the hard way when i was looking for something and he started jumping at the wall after the beam) so i have seriously been considering signing up for Agility or fly ball....just as soon as we have everything else down pat!!
Tucker does know the word no, in the backyard and in the house he obeys it instantly. But, when he focuses on the other dog, he sometimes only gives me a flick of his ears back, then I will generally give a leash correction because of course I know he heard me, but is choosing to ignore the command. He will respond to the leash correction and turn to walk towards me, but he is contstantly looking behind him to keep an eye on the other dog. Once he reaches me i make him sit and hold a treat up so that he has to break his focus on the dog in order to get the treat. I do remain calm, and my voice is always pleasant so that he won't feel any tension or anything coming from me. So i think my next question is do i just keep correcting until i get the desired response. I can generally get him to understand that he has nothing to worry about when we just see another dog, but the times that the nutty dog behind the fence starts up he will respond to the leash correction and come when called, but his hackles are still up and his focus on that fence is very very intense. He will look up at me when i say his name and i praise him for that, but it only takes a couple of seconds and he'll re-focus on the dog. Like if i step in his sightline, he will look around my legs to keep the dog in sight. (that dog is always outside and always goes nuts, i don't want to avoid the dog because he has to learn, plus there aren't too many parks in my area). So i am not sure what i should be aiming for right away. When he does respond to me when i say come, I of course praise him, but if his hackles are still up because the other dog is still going nuts, should i be praising him. Or should i maybe not be calling him, but more focusing on just getting his attention refocused? Meaning correcting him for the hackles and such, and praising him when his attention turns back to me and work my way up from there....sorry but i am a bit confused on this issue. Like i said, i am still not 100% sure of him absolutely coming every time i call, so he is always on a long long lead in the park so that i can control him and the situations.
Suggestions anyone????

As I've mentioned before, I had an extremely dominant, to the point of being aggressive with other dogs, female until I started working with her. I started out teaching her the meaning of the clicker, and used it, along with tons of verbal praise and treats, to praise her when she was not showing dominance or aggression towards other dogs. I corrected her for any display of dominance or aggression, though. However, I found that with her, the hackles going up were almost an involuntary response to the stimulii of the other dogs, so I chose not to correct just for hackling in the beginning. Once she understood that the correction came when she displayed inappropriate behavior, and not just from the other dog, and that she got praise and treats for appropriate behavior, regardless of what the other dog was doing - that's when I started correcting for the hackling. Even now, though, she will sometimes hackle if she sees another dog, but she does NOT display inappropriate behavior otherwise.

ok so i guess i should just be starting off with getting him refocused on me and listening to me in those situations and deal with the hackles part once i've accomplished that. His hackles do come up alot, even if he sees a squirrel in the backyard and gives chase his hackles are up, but he's not barking or growling. The only piece of previous information i have on him is that in one of the Foster homes he was in he was being fostered with a Cocker Spaniel and a Rottwieller, and apparently he went after the Rottwieller,(well thats what the Foster Mother said) but i kind of think it was the other way around and i am thinking he probably got the short end of the stick (not surprising) because when we saw a Rottweiller in the park the other day (far off) his hackles came up, but he went in the opposite direction of the other dog, and he never does that with other dogs, just the Rottweiller we saw.
He is fixed, just in case anyone thought that might be playing a part.
Besides this one little fault, he's a great dog, and i am enjoying having him in my life. I had a Husky/Austrailian Shepherd cross before Tucker. His name was Tazz, but i had to put him down in February (he was 15).
So now my house seems complete once again.

My 10-½ months old GSD does air snapping as well, just the way you described it, and I never understood why. I am glad you asked, as I was going to ask one of these days.

I am very interested in this thread, as this behavior is very similar to my GSD/chow. Her first reaction to some dogs is to stare and tense, no hackles, then she lunges and barks, snaps, etc. In some cases, the only sign is the stare. She is also capable of lunging without any sign (that I am aware of). If I see her stare, I offer a treat to get her eyes on me again, have her sit for it, and that is sometimes enough to prevent an outburst. Obviously, I keep her away from strange dogs, and do not allow anyone to approach or touch her. With this behavior, would you say "no" at the stare, or offer a treat, and use the dominant collar only if she lunges? Would you insist she focus on me at all times? I really want to do this correctly.

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With this behavior, would you say "no" at the stare, or offer a treat, and use the dominant collar only if she lunges? Would you insist she focus on me at all times? I really want to do this correctly.

I'd use a verbal correction for the stiffness/stare, use a leash correction if necessary. (And HUGE praise/toy/treat if the correction is not necessary.)

As far as focusing on you at all times (I'm thinking competition heeling) - that is your decision. It's a wonderful goal.

Offering treats for paying attention to you is excellent. Some trainers use clicker and treats to teach the command "look." (The DVD Training a Competition Heeling Dog will take you through all the steps of this, fixing dog errors and handler errors).

The only place where I disagree with using this training for managing dog vs. dogs aggression is when there is not a "reserve" - a way to correct and control your dog if everything goes wrong.

So, yes, use the treats and clicker. Teach your dog "watch me" or "look."

Another publication describing this training is "Feisty Fido" by Patricia McConnell. This booklet does go through teaching "look" and even explains how to handle emergencies - like a loose dog running up, but it does not specifically talk about maintaining control when the training doesn't hold up in real life.

I'm sure you can imagine why it is so important that you maintain control of your dog, trained or not.

I'd use a verbal correction for the stiffness/stare, use a leash correction if necessary. (And HUGE praise/toy/treat if the correction is not necessary.)

Pardon me if I seem dense, but what type of correction, with the prong, or use the dominant dog collar? Do I wait until she lunges, or correct the stiffness if she does not respond to a verbal command? If she just leaps, I assume I use the collar. This is where I am confused. I am willing to use force, to enforce my will (I am not willing to let her bite) but I want to be effective. I will teach the Look command with treats. She is very smart, and loves treats. I have had her over 8 years, and she is always controlled, we know what she can do. Thanks again for your help.