In my other house I built up a room with absolutely nothing in it. no furniture no toys no people no other dogs. And that is were I started my puppy training. I used no correction until she was at least six months old. I increased the distractions slowly and kept the training sessions short increasing them over time and kept it fun.

 Quote: stephanie bishop

ok..so here i am again lol

my pup (13 weeks if i remember right) is very much pushing my buttons. I am being patient and calm with all training..but he has this fascination of biting my other family dog (2 year old st. bernard) my St. just lays there and ignors the behavior, or come to me for protection from the pup. EVERY time he goes for my St. I stand between them both (calmly and assertively) snap my finger, and say "No" (which he understands the meaning of) and he will stop, back up, and bark at me. seconds later will return to his bad bahavior. we do this daily. Yesterday I followed through with a higher correction as directed by a video i watch on here. calmly stood between them. said no, he barked and started again and i grabbed him by his cheeks and firmly and CALMLY said NO. set him back down and guess what..he barked at me again waited a few more secs and was back to his maughty buisiness. Now mind you I DO not let my dogs play together, sleep together, eat together, or anything unless i am there making sure my St is ignoring the puppy (which he happily does) and that my pup is not toturing my St. 70% of the time all is well. but every time Ace (my pup) gets a wild hair up his butt he jumps on my St. trys to hump him and bites while growling a high pitch barkish growl. I worry about dominance in the future and want him to grasp the fact that my St. belongs to me.. there will be NO dominance behavior shown because I am the pack leader. But at the same time I dont' want to dammage my pup's future in the schz sport. I make sure to do OB and bite work and crate him for a while before letting him out going potty and then when he comes in he has a few mins of what I call family time where he can be in the home in the same room as i am and learn family life behavior. He is great with my daughter never has once mouthed her. He recovered VERY quickly when i corrected him with the grabbing of his cheeck makeing direct eye contact and telling him NO. How much more of a correction can i give this young of a pup?

Are both these dogs the same sex?? ie, both males?
The odds are More in favor of Not having dominance issues with opposite sexes, ie male & female, upon maturity.

This is a "problem" for farther down the road, ie dogs 1 to 2 years of age;
but some same sex dogs Can Not Be Managed, without Non contact!

 Quote: Dennis Jones

In my other house I built up a room with absolutely nothing in it. no furniture no toys no people no other dogs. And that is were I started my puppy training. I used no correction until she was at least six months old. I increased the distractions slowly and kept the training sessions short increasing them over time and kept it fun.

Exactly!!!

I did the same, I used my breezeway!!

And as a suggestion, if you have any desire to do Schutzhund whatsoever, I would let go of the idea of incorporating eye contact into your "corrections".

Unless you want a dog that heels like it's dying a slow, painful death.

For years before we adopted Jethro and Skipper, I watched Dog Whisperer videos and became convinced that I could do what Mr. Milan does. I also, within a very short period, became convinced I had adopted a red zone pup, because I didn't know any better about big pups with a large bark, and a sensitive, reactive nature. I started trying to correct him as if he had a major problem, and, he got worse. Finally, my husband pointed out to me that he is a sweet natured dog, young, and in a totally new situation. Cut him some slack! Also, Leerburg folks reminded me recently - everything is okay!

If your St. Bernard is going Kujo out the back, that tells me he is not handling the mauling from the pup as well as you might think. He's just directing his tension out the back instead of at the pup (or you).

I tethered Jethro for awhile, whenever he was getting on my nerves and wouldn't settle down (I knew he had had enough exercise, etc.). It is a great way to tire a pup and help pup attune to you instead of the other way around. If you keep your clicker and treats handy, you can be clicking and treating him whenever he turns back to you to reorient (through doorways, changes in direction, etc.). That is gold.

Also, having to follow me around tired him out in a very nice way. It was tedious, and he wasn't allowed to act up. After tethering he would always lay down and have a good nap.

 Quote: aaron myracle

And as a suggestion, if you have any desire to do Schutzhund whatsoever, I would let go of the idea of incorporating eye contact into your "corrections".

Unless you want a dog that heels like it's dying a slow, painful death.

...I LOL'ed when I read this -just the visual...but then, I thought as always, that's a really good point Aaron is making and one you don't hear often. Remember the old saw in some training circles of staring contests to "prove rank over a dog" -God, I hope that old chestnut is starting to go away. But sustained eye contact is powerful to a dog -mine is particularly soulful about it and it's very moving actually. Using eye contact and face-to-face contact in pointed anger/annoyance could definately damage this tendency to seek the face in a positive way couldn't it?

I cringe a little when someone talks about establishing "rank" over a dog. I like to think my dog understand we have a partnership or commensal relationship. Or at the very least the dog understands who signs the paychecks around here.

I am just going off of this

http://leerburg.com/flix/player.php?id=239

..direct eye contact while holding by the cheeks. this is what i am going off of..and only have used that once. because i was scared to death he was a soft pup. Turns out. he's not.

it's towards the end of the recording..but i totally forgot to wait till he looked away.bet he wouldn't have barked at me if he had totally submitted.

oh and with my Kujo and the neighbors: he did that waaaay before the puppy came to our house. they are scared to death of dogs..big or little and i keep him in when they are in their own yard because he feeds off of their fear. He doen'st react that way to ANYONE except them. and i tried and tried to figure it out..i mean my cat tells Moses what to do. Finally found out they are scared of dogs. I too watch mr milan lol..try to use that as a way to read dogs..although i don't use his methods in training in all things. Ace*(my puppy) is not affraid of anything,used to run like crazy up and down stairs barking and God forbid i ran with his tug in my hands. then i would have multiple rips, cuts, and bruises just trying to hold him back from attacking me. He has mellowed out quite a bit with managing his time better and making sure he knew I WAS NOT the prey or toy..and that the toys he play with are my toys..that we play together with. (thank's to all those who helped me with those issues)