Quote: carol boche

Carolyn,

You have definitely done a wonderful job at working on this.

I think that the week of "spoiling" probably had a lot to do with the situation as well. It is important to explain to whoever is going to watch the dog that the rules be followed, especially since you have small children.

I agree with this completely!

I have found that when we have large family gatherings or BBQs that most other people find it hard to listen to my rules (simple, just ignore the dogs...). They want to pet, rub, hug and feed them. The pups are fine and safe with all of this, but by the end of the day (just one day!) I can see little pack structure issues popping up. More demanding behavior, being pushy or begging . Now I make sure they are in a back room, alone.

Your pup got an entire week! Think of a child going to grandmas for a week. Ours always come back spoiled and, when rules are reinforced, somewhat surly . But the rules are there for a reason, and very quickly everyone is back to normal and happy.

It sounds as if you have a great grasp of how to live with him . Now you have learned you dogs boundaries with the baby; just respect them. And keep up with those rules!!

Good luck.

Jennifer
Thank you for the feedback and the "Thank You". These last few weeks with Riley have been very trying for us. We are affraid he will never be the same, and will be a sad defeated dog. Of course we get no sign of that when he is out of his crate, he is so happy to see us and is minding us wonderfully. I agree with you 100% that our son, and young kids in general are not capable of establishing pack order, and that its our job as pack leaders to do it for them.
What is so upsetting, is that we did the training courses through our local shelter, we took advice from our vet and it was all wrong. I think each puppy in the world should come with Ed's training videos. I am kicking myself for not finding them when Riley was a puppy. We would have had a more respectful relationship with him and most of all, he would know his role in the pack and what we expect of him. I am so sad that this has been difficult/confusing for him, and we are to blame.
Thanks again for all of the feedback and I will keep you posted on our progress
Carrie

Carolyn, just a word of encouragement.

I, too, am new at 'the Leerburg way' as in crating, training.

Your dog will not become sad and defeated. To the contrary he will become much more balanced with this type training.

At first, I thought I would break my dog's spirit when I crated her so much (we were working on potty training, too), but instead she is becoming the most adorable thing that is really easy to manage and she is not at all intimated by the crating.

I always give her a treat or toy when she goes into the crate and she always goes happily.

At first, I was humanizing thinking she was sad because 'I' wanted to keep her out of the crate.

Hang in there and I promise in a couple of weeks you will be pleasantly surprised to find a happy, balanced dog.

Good luck.

Don't look back. As Cesar Millan says - dogs live in the moment.

 Quote: Nora Ferrell

Your dog will not become sad and defeated. To the contrary he will become much more balanced with this type training.

I agree 100%

I also think that a vacation can cause a setback...I experienced it myself with my GSD after a 10 day break.

I didn't do the crating...I chose to tether him to me instead. But he snapped back into shape in no time!

Now a growl at a child should never be taken lightly so while I say that I think the vacation could have certainly contributed to that, not all dogs will do something like that no matter how long they've been away from the family. So you are dead-on correct in going back to the beginning and being firm, fair and cautious on this, IMO...just in case there is something else going on here. Better to err on the side of caution and I think you're doing a terrific job.

I predict good things coming from the work you're doing. Your dog WILL be a happier dog for it, IMO.

Now I'm certainly no expert (not having children and being new at dog ownership) but maybe you could try doing some of the pack leader stuff with your children involved.

Just the safe things like having them go through doors first or up and down stairs first. You could get Riley to sit and wait until they are safely ahead and then allow him to go. Or you could try taking them on walks with you and have them in front - for instance if they are in a pram have the pram in front of Riley.

Feel free to ignore me or to correct me.

Wow I am so impressed with all the work you are putting into your dog.

We have a client with 5 spoiled children and a Weim. He finally bit (out of defence) a neighbor child. I saw all the warning signs but they didn't discipline their children let alone the dog. Of course they blamed the dog and gave him to a rescue.

We actually had them find a new stables for the horses due to lack of respect the children had while here. I just heard they just got a new Weim pup.

I forwarded this site link to them. Poor dog.

I didn't mean to ramble. Just nice to read of a person who steps up to their respondsibility.

All the best of luck to you. Your dog is lucky to have you as his owner.