This is kinda funny, my rott used to go nuts when he would find me laying down on the floor. he would run around me nuzzel up against my, lick my face, all very frantic. i wanted to see whay my pup (13wks) would do. He climes all over me, if im onmy back he likes to put his two front paws on my chest & stand like king of the mountain looking around. he bumps me & thrown his weight on me sliding to the ground to lay down by me, BUT the funiest thing is when he is on top of me he usually puts his butt near my face & eventually sits on my face!!
am i right to assume that all the above are dominant exressions? if so am i in for a hard time when he growes up <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
for a little pup this bugger is a real hand full. ie: stares right in my eyes while im eating, wont look away. demands (via barking/pawing) things, toys, food treats... his main gole in life now is to climb on the couch while im on it, his legs to short <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> when i correct for things like, eating things off the floor outside, play biting hands (he started this again) it now has no effect on him. i have to lterally scruff lift him up & shake in order to get the message across or seriously slap his snout.
im really getting concerned for the futer when he growes up. he bullys my mother around! barks at her because he wants a treat. its a agressive bark, not a puppy play with me bark. i thought pups are not this way when they are so young!

Hey nick. sounds like you have a very dominant pup on your hands. you need to assert your self over the dog. don't let him sit or stand on you, that is a big sign of dominance. i would even suggest alpha rolling him now before he gets to big and dominant to roll. just becareful he doesn't bit your face or any other part of you. if he is good size already you may need to muzzle him. not every body agrees with alpha rolling, it worked with my dog when it got pushy. good luck.

Yep, I would definately take care of this now while he's young because it's only going to get more difficult. It may seem like a funny game to you because he's so young, but for him, it's serious. As he get's older, he may try to challenge you, as he's already learned how to get a treat from your mother with the aggressive barking.

I agree with the alpha roll as Brian suggested, as I had to do this with mine, and it works. And this should be pretty easy to do at his age. Roll him over on his back and hold him there until he stops struggling. Don't let him fight his way out of it, or he wins. Just hold him there and let him know that you're a lot stronger than he is. Then free him when he realizes you won. I would do this off & on, just to keep it fresh in his mind.

You may also want to have a leash on him when you set food down for him, as I had to do also, if he starts to become aggressive over food. Hold him back with a leash or by his collar, while you put your hands in his bowl. And if he tries to bite, give him a pop with the leash. Keep him back until he gets the point(that he doesn't eat until you let him); then free him.

I think there's an article on this site that explains it in detail.

You mentioned an e-collar in your other post, but that's the last thing I would use for a 13 wk old puppy.

Yes definetly start now by showing you are master. Make him work for everything, has to sit before getting fed, sit before going outside, sit to get leash on, and so on. You go out the door before him, make him wait till you are ready to do whatever he wants you to do, eventually the message gets across and he will stop demanding things. Huge part of this is everyone in the house must follow same rules, otherwise he will bully the other people. My dog is an alpha and now that I have worked with him for over a year he is such a sweet heart, but look out for other alpha males fights will insue.

Ahhhh. . .dominance? Alpha roll?


Are you guys kidding?


You know, most all of this sounds like normal "pushy" puppy play to me. Just about every dog I've ever owned will do things like that when you lay on the ground. . .and thereby have given the cue to play. It is playtime, those are all very normal play behaviors. News flash guys, Alpha members of the pack do play with the rest of the pack in exactly this way. . .and still maintain pack order.


Alpha rolling is stupid IMO, I don't care how old the pup is. I strongly disagree with that kind of handling of pups.


You should be able to maintain your position as the leader in many many more subtle ways. Obedience training, control of food, crate training, and letting him know that when playtime is over. . .its OVER.

As for the bad behaviors, you just need to eliminate them. The barking for treats, nip that shat in the bud with timely good corrections. You don't go over and alpha roll your dog for barking for a treat.

As for roughhousing, I've played similar games. I've even sat on the ground and wrestled a bit with the most rank dog I owned. A real handler aggressive rank dog, and it didn't hurt our relationship because I did many other things that made it clear daily that I'm the one who calls the shots.

You don't have to be a hardass to be the leader, and certainly not with a pup. Talk about good ways to squish a young dog's temperament early.


If you don't like the specific behaviors, get to correcting them using an aversive that the dog will take to heart. If scruff shakes are no longer working, prong collars or other tools are available.

The last thing on earth that I would try is an alpha roll. There is no reason to do that for the behaviors that have been listed above. In fact the list of things Julia mentioned are great for these issues.

Make everything in the dogs life revolve around this equation. You do this, and I'll give you this. NOT he does something and you either have to react by correction, or you give him some form of reward for the behavior without even knowing it.


I hope that makes some sense.


For instance, if your pup wants to run over to you while you're chillin on the floor playing X-box. . .before petting him and engaging in a little play. . .make him down for 30 seconds, or sit then down, or something. . .

Then reward him with the attention and play session that he was after. Then when YOU are done playing make it crystal clear that it is over and no more play advances are going to work. Put him in the crate if he doesn't get the point.

Real signs of furture problems would be, IMO things like toy aggression, food aggression, etc.

You would know those things if they happened I think.


Your pup is surely pushing the limits, but dominance problems I don't see in what you described.

Thanks all for your responses to my post, all are greatly appreciated!
*Alpha roll:
have not done that to him yet, I have snout slapped him (gets his attention best), scruffed him, no effect on him now unless I literally lift him off the ground. the closest to the roll I have done is grab the sides of his face lifted front paws off ground & stare into eyes while growling "no" until he looks away. BUT I feel like im doing something wrong in all these instances. Maybe its my lack of puppy experience, but I keep thinking...he’s just a puppy, he’s just a puppy & I should not be creating this stress on him??? I don’t know. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

*Make him work for everything:
I do, almost everything. I let things slide like in morning when he needs to pee & runs out the door first, I ignore it. He knows he has to sit & lay down for his meal & sometimes give paw. Though he tries to rush to food before I get a chance to say the command. Sneaky little plucker! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

*most all of this sounds like normal "pushy" puppy play to me:
that is what I thought & would like to think BUT sitting on my head I read more into it. He just does not sit on me & that’s it, he turns his head & looks to see my reaction to his action. Like he is testing me. he did this with hand biting (play biting) the harder he would chomp down on me the more I showed pain, the more intense he would get & bite harder. all while watching me very closely, as if emaluating me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

*to top it all off I recently realized he is extremely sneaky/smart. Maybe he senses my insecurity with how I correct him because until a week ago I thought he did not completely understand the commands I was giving, when he would not do it. I thought I had an idiot savant without the savant part! :rolleyes: Last week I started with food & toy rewards for doing a command (before was just praise) & realized he knows each & every command 100% of the time when food & toys/ball are involved! he learned to give paw in about 2, 10 min sessions, so my baby is not stupid he’s, would you say stubborn? He knows, sit, down, Paw, no, out & can come like a bat out of hell if I say cookie with the come command! If no cookie then he might come after leash corrections, depends on what he is doing at the time. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

*Real signs of future problems would be, IMO things like toy aggression, food aggression, etc.
No food aggression, not yet at least. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> his newest toy is ball on a string, the only toy he does not have access to. Only when I bring it out. When he wins it from me I noticed twice he started an action when I reached for it like he was going to bite my hand but thought better about it. In my mind I was prepared to deal with this very roughly, he would not know what hit him. In this situation my mind frame would be “the hell with killing his drive” Its one thing to have scars on my hands from playing with him but I will not accept real aggressive/defensive biting!! Am I wrong on this issue? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Once again thank you all for your advice. I love this forum.
NB

Is there anything about his breeding/bloodlines that would suggest this pup being a truly dominant dog or having handler aggression issues. If not, I wouldn't be too heavy handed with such a young pup. Work on building a positive relationship by "catching" him doing things right and focusing on desirable behavior while ignoring (rather than punishing) undesirable behavior.
You mentioned that he "demands" things like treats. For me, those behaviors are opportunities to build drive and train the dog in a positive manner. I also think him putting his paws up on your chest is a positive thing. You can use that behavior to shape an energetic release in the obedience. I don't believe in slapping a puppy's muzzle. It's too easy, it sets you up to have a disrespectful relationship with your dog. He is a puppy and is learning. Don't slap his face because he doesn't understand. When he becomes "frantic" and wants to lick you, that sounds like a good time to pull out the ball on a string and direct that positive energy into building drive and grip.
It really sounds to me like you are being too heavy handed and not taking advantage of opportunities to shape his natural drives. I'd back off on all the corrections and look for what he is doing right. Of course, you have to have a pretty good idea of what your goals are with the dog, so you know what behaviors to reinforce and what behaviors to stop.
Barking for a treat with a 13 week old puppy is in no way "bullying" your mother. Most likely, she is afraid so your are calling his barking an undesirable behavior. You want your dog to bark for treats.
I'd reassess you ideas about your dog's behavior and think about what your plans/goals are for the dog. Respect your pup rather than trying to make him toe the line. He's too young. If certain behaviors are absolutely unacceptable, and you haven't figured out a positive way to stop or redirect the behavior, you can go to a lightweight prong, but i really don't think you need a prong most of the time.

Oh, I forgot. If you can't figure out how to get your dog to stop sitting on your head, you might really have your hands full!

Quote: I have snout slapped him (gets his attention best) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Now, I don't know about anyone else but the last thing I would want to do with a dog is hit it about the face - in the years to come when you need to vet-check it, open it's mouth for any reason, have a judge check it (if it ends up in the show ring etc) I would imagine that it will, if you persist in that behaviour, come to associate hands approaching its face in a very negative way and you (or someone else) may pay a price.

Anyone else's thoughts on this?