Hello all~
This is my first post here and I also wanted to introduce myself. I have a 2 1/2 year old akita named Bear and I also just added a new pup Kyleigh. She is a 3 month old lab. Everything has been going fine w/ no insidents between the two.

In the past few days I have noticed Bear is becomming possesive of Kyleigh. Not to me or people he knows well, but to people he sees only one in a while..or strangers.
He has always been wiery w/ strangers no matter how much socialization I do.

I do not want this behavior to continue. He does not want anybody other than people he knows to pet or get close to her. To the point that he lunged at somebody. For know I am keeping him on a short leash..when visitors come buy...giving him a down/stay and correcting the bad behavior. Any other ideas??

Ps. He does not seem to be possesive of anything else...toys,food,,I had one insident w/ a bone when he was a pup...but after that one insident he will let me take a bone from him.

Sounds like you are doing the right thing. Along with giving him a firm correction, I would also give him a time out in the crate right after his bad behavior.

I personally would not use the crate for punishment. Besides the fact that the crate is meant to be a "nice" place.. the dog will have forgotten what he is there for probably by the time you have shut the door. LOL

About the crate as punishment: I've never heard or read anyone I respected (in the dog world, I mean) say that the crate should be used as punishment. And I agree 100%. Anyone else?

And "time out"? Time out for a dog? I missed something. Then what? You release the dog from time out and say "OK, now, do you know why you were in time out? Can you say 'I'm sorry?'"

Everything I've ever learned about dog training emphasizes IMMEDIATE (as in INSTANT) correction, so the dog associates the correction with what he is doing right then.

Ok, instead of a crate for punishment, how about just putting him in another room for a few minutes??

I am a big believer (and I know many disagree) that on the whole dogs just don't think alone the same lines that we (as humans) do. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I can send my youngest kid to his room and ask him 3 minutes later if he knows why he is there and he is clueless LOL.. If you are going to correct a dog it has to be done there and then, then dropped. They have no ability to realise why they are in a room, or crate as punishment - the dog learns nothing from it. The only possible good thing to come out of that is that the owner gets some time out.

I know this will sound strange but anytime my dogs do something totally unnacceptable, anything that is aggressive in any way, or can be looked at as them trying to take situations in their own hands when the pack leader should be doing it, I growl and snap at them until they assume the harassed-dog look in their faces that say, "Okay, you're the boss." I also try to push them over, growling and snarling all the way, if they still won't cave. I can say something firmly and it'll work that way too, but I find relating to them on their level works really well when I want to make a point. This, compared to yelling and doing human-stuff, makes the dog respect you in contrast to simply being scared of you. They KNOW what it means.

I do use the crate as well when I'm sick and tired of my puppy, but more so for her protection than punishment. When I get nasty, I *get* nasty.

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I am a big believer (and I know many disagree) that on the whole dogs just don't think alone the same lines that we (as humans) do. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

THE DOG LEARNS NOTHING FROM IT -- exactly! Or at least not what you want him to learn. Might learn that when the pack leader is angry he goes into his crate........but no connection with what he did. And is the crate supposed to be a correction tool at all? Nicely worded, Sammy! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

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I growl and snap at them until they assume the harassed-dog look in their faces that say, "Okay, you're the boss." I also try to push them over, growling and snarling all the way, if they still won't cave.

Sounds like a good way to get bit if you have a dominant dog. I agree with the above, sharp correction and it's over. Keep a leash on the dog so it's easy and quick to get to.

I would assume of course that you're doing everything else properly, obedience-wise, food-wise, etc., and that you know your own dog. This isn't something you do to strange dogs, or to a dog that doesn't know his place yet.

If the dog takes control of the situation when he knows full well YOU'RE the leader, going ballistic on him is more effective then just simply jerking the leash and saying "No". It's a level of correction that I only use if my dogs are in any way possessive, aggressive without my consent, etc. Observe dogs themselves and you'll see that minor mistakes are just corrected by the higher-ranking dog with a snarl, while something worse is given a worse correction. I once thought my older dog would kill a puppy for biting and snarling at him--he was screaming and pushing her so. And aggression, in my point of view, is one of those 'worse' things.

Of course, if the dog does show signs of wanting to bite me, the whole place is going to be torn upside down with me shaking the hell out of the dog and fighting him until he gives in. I just don't tolerate that kind of thing.