Hello all!
This is my first time posting but I have been eating up as much information as possible. We have two small dogs with dominance issues that I will be ironing out starting today. My husband and I work a lot and we just moved across the country so their obedience sadly fell by the wayside. But I know now what we need to do and plan on jumping all over it.

Here is one question...I understand the no petting rule or that they must earn their affection. One of our dogs is very stubborn and tries to force us to pet him by either weaseling into our lap (yes, they will be banished from the couch starting tonight), shoving his head under our hand or pawing. How do I go about correcting this behavior? Do I just ignore him completely? Put him in his crate (they are crate trained)? He is also an annoying whiner and will whine or whistle when he wants attention or pets and we have kicked him off our laps/couch. It always drove me batty and I now understand that it's his tendency to think he is the master of our universe and must be noticed. I know he should not do it and it should not be tolerated...but how do I make him stop? We have tried saying no in a firm voice, poking him on the hip/butt area, poking him behind the ear, tugging on his leash...yet still he whistles. Eventually, our other dominant dog tackles him and they start wrestling or playing or doing whatever (he is also the focus of our new dog lifestyle). Once we implement all the other aspects of this alpha reorienting, will this just fall aside? I just want to make sure that I am enforcing our position as pack leader the proper way. I also want him to shut the heck up!!

Thanks!
-Julia

Teach him the desired behavior.
When he starts being obnoxious for attention, give him a job.

Give him a command, and then praise and pet him for compliance. Teach him what you want, rather than trying to teach him what you don't want. Often, dogs are just like kids, and any kind of attention will do, even negative attention.

It's far easier to show the dog how to be good, than it is to show a dog how not to be bad.

And don't reward unwanted behavior. Someone is petting him (or did) when he demands it; I guarantee it. If you do it once, just once, he learns that "this can work!"

" One of our dogs is very stubborn" .... no, he is a learner, and someone has taught him that if he tries hard enough, he will get the petting he wants.

"We have tried saying no in a firm voice, poking him on the hip/butt area, poking him behind the ear, tugging on his leash...yet still he whistles. " You are rewarding the whistling. Stop.

"Eventually, our other dominant dog tackles him and they start wrestling or playing or doing whatever (he is also the focus of our new dog lifestyle). Once we implement all the other aspects of this alpha reorienting, will this just fall aside? " I would stop thinking of these dogs as dominant and realize that they are probably pushy, under-exercised, and undertrained. All fixable!

How much structured exercise and what kind of ob work happen every day?

 Quote: Aaron Myracle

... It's far easier to show the dog how to be good, than it is to show a dog how not to be bad.

Another should-be-a-billboard.

They get walks every day and individual run time in the front yard. We also make them "ask" for their breakfast/dinner (we stand over it, make them sit and wait until we walk away to eat) and use a soft training leash on walks and now in the yard. We're implementing no bed/couch/chairs and having them sleep in their crates tonight. They are crated everyday and know to go in when we point to it and say "Crate.", it helps that they get a little biscuit everytime. If we play tug with them (which is rare), we make them drop it by stopping tugging and saying "Drop." We sometimes made them sit and wait to go outside/through doorways/upstairs/exit crate and those were the things that fell off. SO we have some ground to make up...

What breed, and age, dogs are these?
More than likely, the walk isn't enough for them.

What do you mean by "run time". Are you letting them loose in the yard to their own devices, or are you playing fetch until their panting hard?

I've never seen a dog with behavior issues that was getting too much exercise.

One is a 3 year old yorkie mix and the other is a 2 year old....well...we're not sure but we think a cocker poodle mix. They were both "rescues" in their own right and the younger is the more difficult one, we just adopted him earlier this year and he has quite a few of his own problems that are now affecting the older dog.

They could both go with MORE exercise as the terrier force is strong with both of them but we unfortunately both work full time. We have pondered the idea of a doggy day care as the older dog LOVES to play and run with other dogs but am now rethinking that. We also have kicked around the idea of hiring a dog walker to walk them during the day so they can get up to 3 walks per day (basically every 6 hours) but I don't like the idea of somebody who doesn't know what we are trying to implement walking them and screwing it all up. They are very cute and while we are not fooled into the "ooooh but they are just small ickle wittle cutesy doggykins" mentality, it seems like just about everybody else is. Drives me bonkers...

We get them "thinking" toys which is great for the older dog as he is quite sharp but the younger dog...well...he is very cute but I'm not certain all the lights are on upstairs. He just stares at the cube and tries to suck the kibble out of the holes and then looks completely flabbergasted when, in his flailing and air sucking, one accidentally rolls out. It's a good thing he is very cute.

After reading up on Leerburg's site I can definitely say that Max (the younger one) has some serious dominance issues and I know that reasserting who is pack leader will help him. I have inadvertently done some corrections without really knowing I was doing them and seen a positive response from him. At the time, I didn't understand why it helped but now I do. Example, he gets very worked up when he perceives there to be somebody outside (we live in a duplex and share the yard so sometimes there IS somebody outside and sometimes there is nobody outside) and starts barking and LEAPS on to the back of the couch to scream at the windows. When I remove him from the couch, he almost instantly calms down. I feel like asserting that the couch is MINE and NO, he CANNOT bark from it gives him notice that what he is doing is unacceptable and also makes him think twice about freaking out at the mysterious whispering wind outside. Like perhaps it is not HIS duty to protect the homestead afterall. He definitely looks at me like "wait...what?" so I know that the little gears in his brain are turning when I claim the couch space as my own. He gets very....well, I guess it would be aggressive or dominant...if I let him and the older dog run together outside. He tries to control what the other dog does (where he goes, how fast he runs, etc) with his body and grumbles but no biting. At least not yet which is why I am implementing this right away. Max is very vocal...like a black fluffy tornado of sound. Neither dog has hurt the other but I can see that he is definitely bullying the older dog which is why I take them out separately now. I just started taking Max out on his training leash and running around with him. When he starts getting grumbly with me, I slam on the brakes and correct him right away with a sideways tug and firm "NO.". I have also started making him sit and "ask" to go out; opening the door and letting him look from about 3 feet back, sniff the air that comes in, then I exit first, turn around, make eye contact with him, make him wait, and then step aside to allow him to exit. I do the same thing on going back inside after our romping time. I have noticed a change right away in his attitude towards me so I think with everything else and consistency...we will make great progress with him. I think he really operates on that instinctual level.

Louie (the older dog) does as well because he's obviously also a dog but he is more of a thinker and manipulater. He is really the trickier one. Max is obviously rougher around the edges but Louie is going to be the one that will try our patience.

Also, thanks to everybody that's responding! This is helpful, I'm glad to get our pack on track. I didn't mean for that to be a poem...but it's true, nonetheless!

Hi Julia, and welcome to the forum. Kudos to you for recognizing there are things you are doing incorrectly and for being open to figuring out how to correct those issues. That is a great place to start!

The fact that you both work full time has no effect what so ever on the fact that your dogs need more exercise. It isn't a matter of "sorry guys, we're too busy, but you need to be better anyways because we can't make it happen". They have needs which are going to need to be met in order for their behavior to improve. Don't discount the professional dogwalker too soon - you could very easliy find one who knows enough to actually HELP you with the situation! And even if not, someone can exercise your dogs without doing any training.

Again, welcome to the forum. We love pics of the little rug rats.

Haha, yeah I know working fulltime isn't an excuse. I just wish we could walk them more during the day time. They get morning and evening walks, I just wish one of us was home during the afternoon for some walk or play time. I'll find pics of the rugrats...