I was wondering if anyone could give me their opinion on some behavior of my new puppy. I think I maybe over-reacting to her behavior, but I’d love a second opinion. She’s a blue heeler mix who’ll top about at about 30 lbs. I got her from the animal shelter about 2 weeks ago, and they think she’s about 4-5 months old. When I brought her home she was petrified of my male dog (who’s a total sweetheart, wouldn’t hurt a fly) and was a bit fear aggressive. Unlike other puppies I’ve worked with, she runs at things she’s scared of with her hackles all raised, and barking. She’s improved TONS in the 2 weeks I’ve had her. We’ve been going to the dog park everyday to the pet store on weekends, and to agility class a couple times a week. I’ve also already started (informally) with basic obedience, and she’s getting to know the agility obstacles after class!
She’s wonderful in all other respects. She’s very quick, and is completely housebroken, kennel trained and knows sit, stay, come and down already. She’s not really possessive over toys or food, they will both chew on opposite ends of the same bone, but she will growl at my male, and takes things away from him. He barks a bit, but won’t touch her. Do you think she’ll become better with time? Or do you think she’ll get more dominant when she matures around 18 months since she can push around a dog 2x her size now? I just don’t want my poor sweet male dog to be pushed to the back burner and beaten up constantly. Any advice would be appreciated!

zYou should read my article on DOG PARKS (BAD ISEAS !!) You should also read the article on HOW TO INTORUDCE A NEW DOG INTO A HOME WITH EXISTING DOGS. You will see where you made mistakes in handling your new pup. Spend some time reading and learning it will have long term implications in the life of your dog. http://leerburg.com/articles.htm

I appreciate the articles, and have read them. When I said "dog park" I'm not talking about a typical city dog park. I live in a small city and the "dog park" here is about 500 acres of biking/hiking trails. There are seldom more than 4-5 dogs in the park at any one time, and they tend to see each other in passing as people are waking or jogging by. It is by no means a free for all sprawling yard.

I also read the article on introducing new dogs, but its not my existing dog who has the issues accepting the new puppy. Its the new puppy who had issues accepting the existing dog. We've had foster dogs in the past, so my dog is used to other dogs coming into his territory and staying for a while. My main concern is the fear aggressiveness of the pup. Will socialization calm this reaction in her? Or will the fear aggression get worse as she gets older?

Thanks so much for your advice!

Lisa

As soon as you have more than 1 dog in a house you are asking for trouble. I t will take a lot of vigilance on your part to correct this. Ed has helped me greatly with my dogs living together, but it isn't without a lot of effort. Read Ed's articles on packs, dominance, and behavioural issues. Remember that once your dog has attacked or been attacked, the dog will be different. What I have discovered is that once I read Ed's web site thoroughly, I felt like a totally ignorant dog owner. I felt guilty for all the mistakes that I made. I own pitbulls so my challenge was big. A Blue Heeler can be a handful as well. Beautiful dogs but high strung. Read the web site and devote a lot of time to those dogs. If you want more than one dog than it is your responsibility to ensure their security.

I don't know if anyone will get to read this, but my pup is now 1 year old, and a bit of socialization did the trick. Her personality has completely changed, she's now happy, and healthy, loves all other people and dogs, is still slightly dominant, but her and my other dog share the same food bowl, and never fight over toys. I brought her to my trainer, who said she probably had never gotten the chance to really interact with another dog in her life and just needed to learn how. Some simple persuasion, gentle corrections, and confidence building exercises helped immensely! She is now running short agility courses and is a first class frisbee dog!

Thanks for your help!

Lisa

Hi Lisa.

I too have an Australian Cattle Dog. Mine is 15 weeks old. The breed is dominant by nature, and unless you are strong with yours they will continue to test you through out their life.

I'm interested to know the method(s) you used to correct your ACD over this past year, if any. Everything I have read about the breed says they do not respond well to hard corrections.

Mine (River), is really testing me. She has learned Sit, Come, Down, and Crate, but often is only interested in doing them when food is a reward. If she even suspects I have food for her she will, sit, then go down, then jump up and run in her crate, and start the cycle all over again. She's truly a comedian. She also likes to ignore me, until I get pissed and then she listens.

I have viewed Leerburg's videos 120-D and 302, but I'm still in the dark on things. At what age is she ready for the correction phase? Also, the prong I have for her is not stopping her from pulling even on the Live ring. She's a tough cookie. The self correcting is not working. When I pop the lead, the prong flies off. I hate it. Any suggestions?

My cattle dog only responded to hard corrections. The rest were beneath her <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I wouldn't use a prong at 15 weeks.

Your puppy is too young for a prong. Training right now should be FUN for your puppy! Everything you do with your puppy should be positive, she is not ready for corrections yet. I don't correct my dog/puppy until she/he knows exactly what I am asking of them. How can you correct them for not obeying, when they honestly don't understand what you want?

I have a 16 week old Rottweiler puppy. I have yet to correct him for anything. The only collar I have ever used on him is his flat buckle collar. I use food and toys during training and the sessions are kept very short and very positive!!! There are only a couple of things that he does without a treat right now. He will bark on command, come when called and give me eye contact when I ask him, with or without a treat. He still needs to be rewarded for almost everything else he does, which is fine, eventually we will phase the treats out so that he isn't getting them all the time.

If your puppy is ignoring you, then you are not making yourself interesting enough <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> It shouldn't take getting mad to get her attention. When I say my puppy Kaleb's name, he stops what ever he is doing and comes running to me. When he first came home at 7 weeks, every time I said his name and he looked at me, he got a treat. It wasn't long before he started running to me when I would say his name. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Good luck with your puppy!!! Have fun with her, they grow up way too fast!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

When is a good age to begin the Corrections phase? This is what is not clear in the videos. The puppy Mr. Frawley used in video 302 was about 6 months old, and he was popping the leash with him/her. I realize that the Learning phase has to be complete before you enter the Corrections phase, but again, what is the age of the puppy associated with the Corrections phase?

I forgot to mention that my puppy is a little wild. She pulls the leash 100% of the time, and jumps up at people. The prong collar was at the suggestion of Ed Frawley for the puppy to SELF-CORRECT. I only popped the leash when I noticed the self correcting wasn't having the desired results. However, she is less wild when the prong is on.

I do not wish to hurt my puppy or my relationship with her. I will take your suggestion and use more treats. I just don't want her to be 100lbs by 16 weeks.