Perhaps someone can assist me with this issue. I have a three year old neutered male Rottweiler. I purchased Reuben from a reputable breeder and have not had a problem with dog or people aggression. However, a problem does exist when my husband or myself tries to leave our home and Reuben barks as if he is challenging us to leave. Another area of concern is whenever we take him in the truck and leave him while we go into a store, he carries on when we return and challenges us to get back into the truck. It appears as if he is anxiety ridden until we start the truck and go. Now on the positive side, he has been to obedience training and has just received his Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog International Certificates. We take him to hospitals, senior citizen centers, day care centers, abused shelters, schools and he absolutely loves everyone. When he is in the house with us or when we take him to our office, he is a well behaved gentleman. Our trainer and our vet tell us it may be anxiety. Can you shed any light on this for me? I need to mention also that when we take him to work he barks when we put him in the back seat and cannot stand to have the doors shut. When he sits in the middle between us in the front seat, he appears fine, although he will bark when someone walks in front of the truck when we park for a traffic light.

andring,
1.How long has this dog been with you??
2.Was his training prior to you getting him?
3.Has he shown this type behavior in the past or is this a new sitution?

Maybe this will get us started on helping you and your Rott. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hello Butch, thanks for replying. I have had Reuben since he was eleven weeks old. I have been the one that has taken him to obedience class and he learned very quickly. He loves other animals-- dogs, cats (we have two), rabbits, birds. As far as new behavior, I would say for the past several months, it has grown to almost be a nightmare.

Reuben doesn't bite us, nor has he shown any other aggression. When my husband picks up his briefcase in the morning, even to put it on the desk to open it, Reuben goes nuts. Reuben even knows when my husband puts his coffee cup in the sink in the morning, he will start barking. His hair does not go up on his back and he doesn't show his teeth, just barking and jumping.

Rae Andring

Rae,
1.What changes occurred in the home prior to this behavoir change.
2.Why do you say he challanges you to get back into truck(detail his body posture and actions)
3.How does he react when going in and out of the home and not leaving?

Answer this and we will continue, don't want to get ahead of ourself. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Originally posted by andring:
Reuben doesn't bite us, nor has he shown any other aggression. When my husband picks up his briefcase in the morning, even to put it on the desk to open it, Reuben goes nuts. Reuben even knows when my husband puts his coffee cup in the sink in the morning, he will start barking. His hair does not go up on his back and he doesn't show his teeth, just barking and jumping. Putting his coffee cup in the sink and picking up his briefcase are signals to the dog that your husband is about to leave.
It sounds to me like he does not like being left. To know how and why this came about requires more detail. Describe your typical day. Describe how your husband behaves toward the dog when he leaves, and when he returns. Do you or your husband make any apologies or try to soothe Reuben when you have to leave him? Does the dog make any messes when home alone? Chew anything? If so, how do you and/or your husband respond to that? Is there anything going on in the neighborhood, construction, loud neighbors, anything at all that could stress a dog out? Have you considered videotaping Reuben when you're not home, to see what he does?

I agree we need more input into the daily activities of this household. It seems as if dog is queing off the owners when leaving home.

Butch: I think it will be more of an ANXIETY issue, we will have to wait and see how Rae replies.

Butch: I'm courious as to how the dog behaves when going in and out of house and not leaving.

Sounds like a classic case of seperation anxiety issue to me as our good friend Butch has forseen. The title of the thread says it all. It should read Dominate Issue with Anxiety Attatched.

He is letting you know he does not approve of you leaving and let's you know how pissed off he is when you return. A hearding dog really wants to know where all members of the pack are at all times, one who vocilizes his concern is taking on the role of pack leader in IMHO. My GSD is much the same way, he will go back and forth to each member of his pack when we are sperated in the house or outdoors keeping tabs on all of us. But he knows his place is not to complain or bitch us out when we leave or come back. He can keep tabs if he wants but never try and order us.

This is where the crate comes in real handy, crate your Rott a few times when leaving in the morning, (before the coffee cup routine) then ignore any fuss he may make, this will tell him you are in control and you say where pack members can and cannot go and he has no say in the matter. I would crate him in the truck as well. Who needs a barking Rott in your face while you are trying to drive.

I would get him used to the crate while you are home. Putting him in crate when you leave would just give him another signal your going.

Dear Butch and all who responded,

I am going to give you a little bit of a background that may help you as well as me. Reuben was the last pup left in the litter when I purchased him. Both parents were on the grounds as well and they were both very well behaved rotties. Reuben was by himself, perhaps missed the remainder of his litter and when we came, he was all over us, even at eleven weeks. We brought him home and from the beginning was crate trained. He never balked at going into the crate.

Our typical day:

My husband is an attorney and leaves early in the morning to go to work. Bill works in the Pennsylvania Legislature and if he goes to work on the weekends will sometimes take Reuben with him. We also have a law practice and when we go to our office take Reuben with us. I work as a Public Relations Consultant and when I visit my clients also take Reuben with me. He is by nature a very well behaved and happy dog and people love to have him come visit. As I mentioned before, he is also a trained Emotional Therapy Dog and we visit hospitals, schools, day care centers, abuse shelters and he willingly and very gently responds well with people. Neighborhood children come over to ask if Reuben can come out and play and he plays with children from four to fifteen years of age. He plays ball, runs with them and kisses the daylights out of them. Not one time does he display any of the nonsense he displays when we are with people, BUT, when we get to the vehicle we are riding in, it's a different story. He will jump in the truck, become nervous, and begin to bark, he will try to either prevent me from getting in the truck or he will try to pull me into the truck. Perhaps he is trying to get me into the truck. If I tell him, move over and you'll get a surprise, he becomes quiet and sits and waits for a reward. As we travel, sometimes he will try to get the attention of someone in another car (if we are stopped) and bark like crazy at them. If I go to the store, and he is left in the truck, I will tell him to sit and I'll bring back a surprise for you. He likes the word surprise. He will sit and wait and won't act as nervous when I return. He will bark at someone when I have him in the truck (if I am loading groceries for example) and if I take him out of the truck, he will make up to the person, jump up and give them a kiss, beg to be petted and fawned over and the minute he's back in the truck, it starts all over again.

If he is left at home when we leave, he will bark and jump around, put his butt in the air, his front paws down (a playing posture) and try to push my husband out the door. He doesn't bite, no hair stands up, but if I put him in a down stay, (when I am home with him), he will comply and does not act goofy. After my husband leaves, he is fine.

We have checked on him after we leave and he just lies down on his bed in the kitchen, the cat usually with him, and he sleeps until we come home. He doesn't chew anything, he doesn't dirty anything, just stays on his bed and waits for us. When we return, he is so happy to see us, he just wags his butt like mad. One thing someone mentioned that I didn't take notice of was that during the evenings when my husband is home, Reuben is always checking on both of us, he will go from room to room and check on us as well as the cats.

I am fortunate that I work most of the time from my home and when I go to my office or travel to see clients, Reuben also goes. In other words, he is never left alone for a long period of time.

Is it possible he has a strong prey/herding drive as well.

Much thanks to all,

Rae Andring

I forgot to add that if and when we leave, we just walk out the door. I give Reuben a command to stay and wait, as does my husband. We do make a big fuss over him when we return. There is nothing in the neighborhood to upset him that I can see and believe me I have taken notice to that. We live in the country in an old stone house and most noises are not heard on the inside of the house to be a distraction to him.

Thanks all,

Rae