Your probably right Mara, im over thinking it probably.

Many Thanks

What are you doing kneeling down when he does that?

You were giving conversation, BTW, not verbal corrections or commands. I'm not saying that incident needed anything heavy, but if you thought you were saying "stop it" in a "stop it" voice, you weren't, IMO. You were chatting at him. I'd have said "HEY!" and marched his butt in the house. JMO, though, and if that's just not you, it won't work if you're hesitant.

Had he had a ton of exercise? Is he still getting a ton of exercise? Tell us how much.

And what Mara said: ".... tether him to you. No freedom in the house. Train him. Exercise him. "

He's a little bratty, IMO. "Dominant aggressive," I haven't seen or heard. A bit pushy and allowed to be, yes. I see some of that. That too is JMO.

I could be wrong. I'll look at some more of your clips. And I'm interested in others' opinions.

But I'd make it a point to stand up tall and use a happy praise voice, a command voice, and a "Hey, knock it off" voice. Of course, that's just me.


ETA
I meant you, not kids. Just being clear.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (10/01/2012 11:16 AM)
Edit reason: eta

Also, has the tail-chasing stopped? That was a huge frustration/no exercise red flag.

Just re-read your post. Where is the drag line? Why all these collar-grabbing incidents?

If he is not tethered to your belt, he's crated or he has on a drag line and is in the same room with you, closely supervised.

And the leash-dislike. The real leash (not the drag line) hangs by the door. It's his procedure to get outdoors.

How do you go about this? In detail? I ask because I expect (and have) dogs who come running happily when the leash jungles.

Also, I agree with Mara about consistency. Again, he obviously has free reign that he has not earned, and too many events where a decision has to be made about remove//correct/take. Not enough preemptive management.



Did I mention the pack structure for puppies DVD?

http://leerburg.com/puppy-pack-structure.htm

hey brian ,

i don't see a lot of change in you from previous vids .

the dog is saying , " let's do something " , and you are just kind of there . either you have a tug , or some food , but at this stage he has to want what you have for him to be motivated to do the things you want , or to go where you want him to go .

when you take the dog out , you are leading the action . you are actually doing something constructive with the dog , or you are providing something meaningful for him to do , which you are also in charge of .

you need to be working hard to engage the dog with you . this was the biggest lesson i got from ME .

as soon as he comes out of his crate in the morning , lead gets snapped on . you take him out , he does his business , you do some engagement work , he goes back in the crate . do not allow him free unsupervised time where he does what he wants .

do not worry about what the kids think of your handling of the dog . . . you are in charge .

i asked this question in my first post , but i'll ask it again . . . . how did you come to get this dog ( breed ) , and what are / were your plans for it ?

that backyard should be full of things for him to climb on , through , over , etc .

raising a BC in an urban environment requires a lot of work .

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

What are you doing kneeling down when he does that?

You were giving conversation, BTW, not verbal corrections or commands. I'm not saying that incident needed anything heavy, but if you thought you were saying "stop it" in a "stop it" voice, you weren't, IMO. You were chatting at him. I'd have said "HEY!" and marched his butt in the house. JMO, though, and if that's just not you, it won't work if you're hesitant.

----

But I'd make it a point to stand up tall and use a happy praise voice, a command voice, and a "Hey, knock it off" voice. Of course, that's just me.

Yes!! Agree! If one of my teenage dogs started nipping at my heels they would have gotten a "what the heck do you think you're doing?!?!? Knock it off" And I'd remove them from the situation. And their attitude would have been "oops..."

He needs you to be very proactive. Very definite. Very clear.

When he is barking at you he's saying "lets do something". Then when you talk to him he get the message that what he's doing is working. He barks, you interact with him.

You have to be proactive in making it clear to him just what he needs to be doing. You also have to be proactive in providing an outlet for his physical and mental needs.

Hey Brian, I don't want to say too much because if you're over thinking it now, more reading and different ideas won't really help. I don't think a dvd on dominant and aggressive dogs is going to be much help to you either.

One thing you do want to keep in mind though, with corrections, its not always the harshness of it, its the timing so that its clear to your dog what the correction is for. Thats why you need to control the contact with things like bikes. If its just random, you'll only confuse him. A herding dog is hardwired to want to chase things, its going to take time and being consistant.

Structure and routine Brian, he looks like you'll have a great dog.

Ian's kinda saying what I'm seeing: a drivy dog (natural for the breed you chose) with no engagement, not enough to do, unclear inconsistent corrections, no real pack structure or management.

Are you doing lots of marker sessions? Getting his brain going?

I pretty much agree with Steve that videos about D/A dogs will help. This isn't the issue, but reading about and thinking about D/A dogs sure can make you worry about aggression.

I forget: Have you watched marker videos?

steve , agreed with the timing of the correction . . . hugely important , however . . .

the opinion i share with ME , unless it is life or death or something real dangerous to the dog or persons , it is not fair to the dog to correct him for something unless he has a clear understanding of what it is you wanted him to do . but i agree , brian must actively discourage the behaviour he doesn't want , but provide opportunities for the behaviours he does .

i'm reading too many opportunities for the dog to be " bad " , and not near enough situations for the dog to be rewarded . other members have stated " be proactive " , instead of reacting to what the dog has just done .

brian , with this dog , at this stage , everything needs to be planned and thought out so that every interaction will be constructive and hopefully positive . sure there will be errors , but you need to evaluate each one and learn from it so that it doesn't happen again , or at the very least , you see progression in a positive direction ( example bike interactions ).

BTW , we don't refer to them as " cages " , they are crates . . . think of them as the dogs' den / comfort zone .

chasing bikes is dangerous ian. m.ellis may even agree.