Hi there, I'm new to this forum (and forums in general) but I really need some advice. I've read a great deal through the Leerburg site and have found it VERY informative, though some issues have come up with my 21 month old purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback (intact male) and I'm not sure how exactly to handle them.

*sorry in advance for a very long explanation of my problem
My dog is a classic Rhodesian - bondless energy, unbelievably athletic, devoted, protective, aloof at times, stubborn as an ox and very independant minded (African in origin, these hounds were bred as lion/big game hunting dogs and thinking on their feet, for themselves, kept them alive and out from under the claws of big cats.) I chose him for all of those breed characteristics, but at 98 lbs (I'm about 125 lbs) he can be a handful when he choses to express that 'independent' side.

From a pup we taught him who the pack leaders were in the house - he sits and waits to eat, he's NEVER allowed on any furniture, he will wait for us (my boyfriend and I) to go through doors and we can always step in and take things away from him, even his food, without ANY sign of aggression - he's never shown any aggression towards us period. He does basic obedience and is HIGHLY food motivated, which has worked well for us. He's mostly fine with other dogs (only other intact males of similar size get a reaction out of him, but we're very careful and, while those occassions are rare, we always remove him from the situation and he's never been in a fight. He also gets relatively good exercise - i trail run with him off leash though our woods for an hour+ at a time (he's quite good off leash and sticks within a 30 ft radius of me, comes when called, mostly, AND HE LOVES TO RUN!)

So he sounds like a pretty good guy, but he has two pretty huge problems.
ONE: He has always been a leash puller on walks. Not just pulling to sniff left and right, but occassionally 'loosing his mind' whenever a squirrell came into view, or another dog. He also occassionaly goes nuts if I take him into local businesses that have given him regular treats in the past. He lunges and cries and becomes intensely focused on whatever the trigger is until it dissappears (as in squirrel/dog) or we physically drag him away from the situation. If i can get him to sit or down when he's in this state he often just whines and stays all wound up, ready to spring. We tried gentle leaders for a little while but realized that they don't actually FIX the problem, AND they were wearing a mark on his muzzle (he has quite short hair). We've also tested a prong collar on him, but it didn't seem to work much better than a choke. We now use a nylon choke (it feels better and more responsive to me than the chain choke) - making sure it's up around his ears, not down around his neck. We've been working for the last 6 months or so on really trying to correct him, both when he lurches, and even more importantly, before he lunges. He's much better than he was, but if he gets a chance to get worked up, nothing i do can divert his gaze from the trigger. My question is - am i not correcting strongly enough, or using an appropriate collar? - and, what do i do once he's completely lost it, aside from hauling him home? i just ordered a DD collar from this site...

My other, slightly more pressing issue is this. My parents live with the family dog (dog we got when i was in high school). He's a 17 year old, 7 lb Pomeranian, is mostly deaf and going blind. He was never neuterd (not wise on our part, but we didn't know much better then). My Rhodesian was introduced to the Pom when he was a puppy and we would visit every week or two. My dog, as a 25 lb puppy, was just too big and playful to really be allowed to play with the little old man, but we taught him to just mind his business by telling him to 'leave it' (leave the Pom) and occassionally squirting him with a squirt bottle as a deterrant. The family Pom is about as meek as they come and has never even approached my dog for a sniff.

Everyone coexisted just fine until this summer. With my dog to my left, standing calmly amongst my family, and the Pom to my left, i bent down to just pat the Pom on the head. Just as i did this my dog dove under me, grabbed the Pom, mouthed him a bit then picked him up and shook him like a rag doll. If Poms didn't have so much bloodly long hair I'm almost certain we would have lost him that day. I pulled my dog off as quickly as I could, because i was closest, and my boyfriend gave him a hard correction and loud reprimand, followed by a seriously obedient walk. Since then we've just seperated the two whenever I go home (the Pom goes into a bedroom and my dog is allowed to stay with the people) BUT I'm going home for more than a few hours over the holiday and the two dogs will have to share the same house for 4 days. It's not fair, or even possible, to lock the Pom away for more than a short period at a time (I think he thinks we're punishing HIM, and he's now intensely fearful of my dog - i would be too!). We tried just last week to walk my dog through the house on his lead - he was completely fine with the Pom at the other end of the room and didn't seem to care at all, but at one point we walked right by the Pom and my dog, with no warning, growled low and dove down for another attack - this one was stopped by the lead, and we corrected immediately, put him in a down and after a few minutes of that, we shut him in the room by himself for a half hour.

It breaks my heart that A. my beloved pup could be so aggressive and dangerous around another dog, and B. that that other dog is actually my dog as well. It would kill me if anything ever happened to the Pom and I don't know what to do now. My boyfriend thinks it all stems from jealousy (our dog is really MY dog and, in his adolescence now, is showing protective tendencies, mostly over me). Is this a challenge from an adolescent still working out his place? Is it compounded by 2 sets of testicles in the same room?

In the Pom's fragile old condition, should I just proceed with utmost caution and always keep them in seperate rooms? Should I keep testing the water and just escalate my correction until my dog learns that it just ISN'T OK to attack the Pom? I just purchased a DD collar and am hoping it will be a step up from the choke we now use. Should i be crating my dog when he's a guest in the family house? would he feel MORE jealous if he were crated and the Pom wasn't?

we are also planning to neuter our dog in January, though at this point, his behaviors are pretty set. I know from reading the many articles on this site that I am no where near the kind of super assertive dog owner that i could be, and Ridgebacks are not known for generally great handler listening/obedience skills - though I've tried my best to be the pack leader and raise my dog with at least a base of good behavior. Obviously I missed some pretty important things...

Sorry that took half of a book to relate, but i would really appreciate any advice from whoever can help. I don't mind being chastised for incorrect behavior on my part either - I just want to do things right from here on out.

thanks.

My opinion is that you should definitely crate your Ridgeback when in your parents' home, let the Pom have the run of the house since it is his home. Put the Pom in another room only when you need to take your dog out for whatever reason (keep time out of the crate short unless you take him outside for exercise). I wouldn't worry about the RR's reaction, he's a "guest" and hasn't minded his manners (so to speak). The Pom's life is at risk when he's around.

Definitely do not keep testing the waters....not fair to the Pom and you could lose control.

Welcome to the board. I'd keep the big guy away. He's the one which needs to be locked up, rather than the little one, since he's going to be on the little guy's territory. Since it's only for a few days, have you thought about putting him in a boarding kennel?

I agree- why is the old man being locked away in his own home while the visitor gets to stay with the people? That's sad; bring your crate in so your dog can be in the living room in a crate, and take him out for lots of exercise. Four days isn't too long for him to be crated with lots of walks in between. When I travel mine are in crates unless outside playing, competine, or walking- if I'm staying with family (all non-doggy) it just means I do a LOT of walking and playing outside with the dogs. It's much more difficult for the ancient pom to endure changes to his routine, please don't lock him away in his own home. If the rr is the one dangerous to the pom, he should be in a crate, and on a leash from the crate to the outside.
Not sure why a properly fitted prong collar wouldn't work. Maybe it's time for an electronic collar?
vickie

I'll chime in with what everyone else has said. Even if the RR was not actively going after the Pom, a big dog like that can kill a little not-so-quick oldie by accident (I've seen it happen and it's HORRIBLE).

Lock the RR up, let someone dog sit him, kennel him, whatever. Since you don't live with these two dogs together, why even bother trying to make them get along?

On the other hand, it does sound like you're spending a lot of time there. If it were me, I would send a clear message to the RR that I, the pack leader, did NOT allow the Pom to be molested in any way. It should be clear to the RR that the Pom is under your protection. You can do that by body posturing (very clear to a dog, if done right), putting yourself between the two dogs and forcing the RR, with your body--not voice commands--to give the little dog space. You can also give him little open mouth "bites" with your "C-shaped" hand if you think your dog isn't aggressive at all (DON"T DO THIS IF YOU THINK YOUR RR IS/COULD BE AGGRESSIVE). Cesar Millan does this if you need an example of what it looks like. It's all non-violent and clear to a dog.

Other people would probably tell you some other ways of dealing with this, but this has worked for me over and over and over again. It's even worked on making my pig-headed and goofy GSD puppy stop harassing my sick Corgi.

But, as I said before, my first response would be to just keep the RR away from the Pom and let the little guy have some peace in his last years!

Best wishes to you, welcome to the forum!

Was your prong collar properly fitted?

http://leerburg.com/fit-prong.htm

A prong would give a much more effective correction than a nylon choke collar in my opinion. I find a prong a good tool to redirect attention back to me, something I'm working on with my 8.5 month old German Shepherd, when other dogs are in the vicinity.

I don't have enough experience to offer advice on the other problem, but I wish you luck!

Thanks very much for all the pretty unanimous words! Maybe I'll try to break down my big home crate and bring it over to the parents (it's an XL wire crate and while this will be a pain in the ass to do, i had considered that it might be the best option). Safety for the little one is priority, though I sort of dislike the fact that none of this really teaches my dog the lesson that he can't attack the Pom. For this reason I appreciate Morgan's response as well (though I will provide any body laguage only on his time from the crate to the outside and he WILL wear a lead the whole time.)

I was a fan of Ceasar before I found this site and know about the hand bite. He has also helped transform our walks into a much more controlled experience. While he packages his logic into the format of the quick-fix infomertial, I do think he has a gift and is spreading a much needed training gospel to dog owners across the country - many of whom have lost complete control.

Could I have subconsciously created tension and made my dog hate the Pom through something like jealousy, or could it be that this is just one of those dogs that puts my boy into 'fight' mode? It's such a bummer, but we're heading over to the parents today - so here we go...

thanks again!

*I will also consider giving a prong collar another try - under the supervision of someone who knows how to fit and use one.

 Quote: Natalya Zahn

Could I have subconsciously created tension and made my dog hate the Pom through something like jealousy, or could it be that this is just one of those dogs that puts my boy into 'fight' mode?

Natalya, I wouldn't overthink it too much. Personally, I don't think dog's are all that complicated. It's more likely, in my opinion, something to do with territorial dominance (they're both intact, right?).

Either way, I don't think it matters as long as you send a clear signal that it won't be tolerated.

RR's are, from my experience, the MOST food-crazy dogs I have ever worked with. Incorporating food into their training as rewards or lures are the most effective for these dogs, in my experience!

I know it doesn't give you the opportunity to teach the dog anything directly, but the risk to the pom is such that he can't be the training tool. Simply by leaving him loose in his own territory while your dog is crated will send a message. The wrong message was sent when he was allowed to take over the poms territory while the pom was sent away alone.
Very large crates can be a pain to haul around- they aren't really all that portable. You might keep an eye open for a used one at a good price that could be stored at your parent's house. I also visit my parents a lot, they don't allow dogs in the house but if I'm there overnight I can crate them in the basement. I'd rather, if weather allows, crate them in the truck we usually travel in- they are familiar with it as a traveling home. When I go down for the day, they stay in there with the doors open so they can see out, or if we are outside they can be tethered out in the shade or with me on leashes. Bring his kong or a meaty bone to chew on in his crate and enjoy your visit- it won't hurt for him to amuse himself apart from the people for a while, and will be good for if you do more traveling with him in the future.
vickie

Just wanted to point out that this is a duplicate thread.