My wife and I adopted a 7 month old ACD from a young couple who purchased him from a pet store. He is a good dog with everyone and every thing except my wife. Aussie was a bit of a bully with the lady of the house. The dog spent his days in puppy day care,
and we think whenever he got out of hand the just put him out in the yard. Which seems to me to be rewarding bad behavior. This is our fourth cattle dog, and as usual they are all different, but this guy has us stumped. My wife took him to beginner and intermediate obedience school, and I am in the process of Therapy Dog classes. In class he is a star, and at home he will do whatever I tell him to do. He has never bitten my wife, but he does threaten to. Then five minutes later he is cuddling on the couch. The problem is more serious when I am home. During the day when I am at work he is much more controllable.

Seems to me that he is the dominant one in your household and is "guarding" you from your wife.

You need to establish that you are the pack leader with this dog and also establish that your wife is above him, as well as any other members in the household.

Here are two great DVD's that will help:

Establishing Pack Stucture

Dealing with the Dominant and Aggressive Dog
And also check out the article section Ed has, there are some good articles, e-books and podcasts on how to work this out with your dog.

 Quote: David D Ganus

Then five minutes later he is cuddling on the couch. The problem is more serious when I am home. During the day when I am at work he is much more controllable.

Just a thought - you allow this dog on the couch? This seems to be a no-no for bossy/dominant dogs.

I agree with the no dog on the couch situation. I have learned that the hard way in the past with of all things a toy poodle.
I allowed him ont he couch, not realizing a dominant dog will love to be on the couch, in his "position of authority'. He would protect me, or I would say jealously guard me, first from my husband and then it happened with the grandchildren. I have since learned that letting your dog on the couch or bed makes them think they are in a high position of authority, as a leader. Now, my dogs are not allowed on the couch, if they want to be with me, they sit at my feet. Sometimes it was hard in the beginning to not let my new dogs on the couch, cause I wanted to snuggle with them, but it is better to restrain ourselves and not let them get on the couch. You will have to make sure he doesn't get up on the couch, and it will probably be hard for your wife to get him off, maybe you could correct him a few times and then have her do it while you are there so your can assert your dominance in case anything happens.
Hope this helps.

Been wondering this for a few weeks now. You mentioned showing whose alpha and all. My understanding is the alpha determines who will fight etc. My chow will growl at, and often times make a stand, against my wife and kids when he is laying down and they need him to move. In hoping to train him that they are higher than he is in the pack order we've been having them continue to make him do what he should. So far nothing terrible has happened and he always goes but with allot of backtalk. I am always right there, try to stay out of his sight, coaching them to say or do the right thing. Still the fact remains neither of them could take him on if he truly went after them. Not to say I could but I think my arrogant male pigheaded attitude tells him different and so I rarely have a fraction of the backtalk as they do.

My question is this....should I, as pack leader, step to the defense of my wife and kids and be the one to make Bruno do what he should or; should I continue to coach my wife and kids so he'll see them as alpha also? Although the term alpha signifies only one. None of them get as hands on with him as I do because they are afraid of him and I think he knows it. If I step in every time will he only listen to them when I am around or when he sees me?

Living with him has been manageable for the last year, he's 3 now. We've accepted that's how he is and learned our own ways to deal with him but are we leaving something out that could improve our relationship with him?

Thanx!

Oh yeah, we follow all of the rules like no furniture, in and out before him, eat first etc.

With my dogs, I have taught them not to kill our sheep, cats, rabbits chickens etc by taking the alpha's privilege of saying who's part of the pack and whose not.(now the neighbors wandering livestock they will..take advantage of, but they wont touch ours) though I dont know about chows, as they are much more stubborn i hear, than some other breeds.(I think) It should be able to work the same way but i dont know tht its a good idea to leave him alone with them. there are some people in my family who cant be dominant no matter how much they're coached so someone else always has to be on the lookout for "naughty thoughts" on the dogs part.

Edited by Mary Velazquez (01/11/2008 03:27 PM)
Edit reason: clarity & spelling :)

I am not familiar with Chows, this is our fourth ACD, never had this problem. Our trainer said to try lemon juice solution in a spray bottle whenever he shows aggression. It took him about two hours to figure out how to avoid that. He is still really good for me in a class situation, he just completed a six week course to become a therapy dog. He never shows aggression to anything or anyone but my wife. I'm not saying he is shy he goes to anyone and has never backed down if another dog gets cranky.

We were given the tip to use a spray bottle filled with water and lemon juice, seems to be having a good effect. The bottle is used ONLY when the dog is aggressive to my wife. We wanted to start slowly, if the effectivenes of this fads our next step is electronic training. We alreadyhave Leerburgs video.

We were given the tip to use a spray bottle filled with water and lemon juice, seems to be having a good effect. The bottle is used ONLY when the dog is aggressive to my wife. We wanted to start slowly, if the effectiveness of this fades our next step is electronic training. We already have Leerburgs video.

 Quote: David D Ganus

We were given the tip to use a spray bottle filled with water and lemon juice, seems to be having a good effect. The bottle is used ONLY when the dog is aggressive to my wife. We wanted to start slowly, if the effectiveness of this fades our next step is electronic training. We already have Leerburgs video.

p.s. how do I add a picture to my posts