Quote: lauren jeffery

Personaly, I wouldnt make a big deal of it at all. She wont connect the down stay to the action of not walking, plus if you percieve your dog to be a pushy type the down stay is not something you want to carry a negative connotation.

Hmmm...interesting. maybe you are right. She does down with no problem, but keeps yelping/screaming at me. It really will be a bad memory if everytime I use "down" when she is in the process of misbehaving. It's actually impossible to just continue walking, she writhes on the ground and she IS heavy.

Today in view of her yesterday's 'tude I was very strict with her, meaning no fawning over her, just sit-stay-let's go kinda communication, and she attempted two very slow preludes to her temper tantrum that I immediately caught in the act and corrected her and walked faster, problem solved. But I guess today she was not in the mood to argue:-). Sometimes she is in the mood though. I think we have a tricky handling situation. Recently my husband was allowed to handle her (just a little bit), we started walking with him together etc., he trained her once, too, and immediately when he steps into the picture Yume starts to get weird with me. I mean, it happens EVERY single time after he walked/fed/handled her, gave her a command, even buckled her collar or walked together with us. She immediately tries to test me again. I really don't know what to do about that, he needs to be able to work with her too. Any amount of freedom for her also sets her off, she gets noticeably worse in terms of pack structure behaviour.

 Quote: maria martynchik

Recently my husband was allowed to handle her (just a little bit), we started walking with him together etc., he trained her once, too, and immediately when he steps into the picture Yume starts to get weird with me. I mean, it happens EVERY single time after he walked/fed/handled her, gave her a command, even buckled her collar or walked together with us. She immediately tries to test me again.

Any chance that you are giving her different, very subtle cues? You are more tense... nervous, anticipating a problem, etc...

GOOD work on trying to interrupt her today before she went full blown on you! The more you have a plan and are able to see the first nano-second where she might be getting ready to act stupid, the more effective you'll be at coming up with ways to get her attention elsewhere. It might be walking faster or changing directions with a happy, upbeat "good girl!" or something along those lines. Just a thought.

I understand your frustration.

You really haven't had her for very long, and some dogs the bonding process and learning what is expected takes longer. Plus, Not to get all racist or anything, but your dog is of a breed that is notorious for independence. It might take longer with her than it would for other dogs.

Be as consistent with her as you can be, and remember to be fair. She is an animal, and not capable of morals or premeditated plotting.

You guys will do good. It sounds like you have already come a long way and its only been a month!

A month and a half of working with her really seriously. Three months of having here here in total, though.

I think we still have a pretty big leadership problem. Today she started biting the leash after I corrected her lightly, and I am being very serious with her and do not correct for no reason (three times running ahead of me was enough in my book, she is not allowed to do that. She was much, much better for the last whole month and I took her on super long walks everywhere I could think of, but now with the teeth again and I am honestly tired of this work that doesn't seem to pay back. I DO understand her predicament and that she is stuck in a situation when It's better with us than abandoned or dead. But there's been nothing but solving her aggression/bossiness issues for 3 months straight since late December and we don not even talk about anything but dog problems. I do not mind talking about dog and dealing with dogs ALL MY LIFE, I love being around, training, grooming, working with dogs but one big NO exists in my book-and that's my dog NEVER even tries to be aggressive with ME. Not much to ask, considering I don't own a coyote.:-) Won't ask it from a coyote.

She didn't bite me but was climbing up the leash fast trying to nip at fingers, and I had to jerk the leash and walk quick to get her out of this state, again, had to wait till she got a bit less zealous about it and corrected her seriously, but moments like this make me much less attached to her-and I started to, already. My husband says I handle her really well-he is not a dog trainer though, and I think she needs a much stronger-minded person.

Just..really tired of this.

We have spent probably a few thousand dollars on her already :-) not considering the fact that we PAID FOR HER! (I am not kidding) and had to sacrifice or own medical help, my doctor appointments, had to seriously tighten our belts even food-wise (we are pretty poor) and have to save on basic needs. for all the tools/goodies/DVDs and her sensitive stomach=constant fancy food changes needed investment. I don't mind to give everything to my dog, but when this dog keeps getting aggressive with me despite all the financial and emotional investment it makes me sad. She just turned a year old, and not really a puppy anymore, so when she wants to get the best of me, she probably will. I know we are stuck with her now, but honestly, should have gone with the shepherd puppy like we planned in the first place. They are not a mystery to me.

By the way, she as we discovered came from a backyard breeder..Some rave kid had an Akita, his friend had an Akita..there you go.

I understand fully the idea of putting up with just about anything until they start to direct the aggression toward you. My dog and I came to a really bad place a few months ago, but help from Forum members lead me to the best dog I ever owned, so I urge you to do what people suggest . The corn ball saying, "The night is always darkest before the dawn" really applied to my dog. He is just terrific now.

He is also only 25lbs so it was never such a "big" problem.

Maria,
I've read through this entire thread, and I'll ask this question again; how much DAILY OB do you and the dog do?
I don't mean walks, I don't mean behave in the house 'good boy'. I mean real honest to god ob; heel, sit, down, heel sit, down, stay, come, finish, heel, blah blah blah.

Enre to the relationship between your husband and the dog. Be prepared for the very real possiblity that the dog has decided your other half is his human. Akita's while they become very attached to their so called pack, they are also noted for being so called one person dogs.

As to the dog's, ahem, attempted bite. From your description, don't take it so seriously. That dog didn't try to bite you.
Believe me if that dog had wanted to bite you he would have. Biting dogs don't nibble their way up a leash. They just bite.
So calm down.
How much daily OB do you two do?

We have to go for a long walk about now, but I just have to say this thing regarding "she has chosen her human" is really bothering me. She is our dog, we got her for US. She is really not the one to "choose" here, sorry. I understand and heard ALL good trainers say that such thing as "My wife's dog", or "My husband's dog" does not exist. Dog in the house MUST listen to everyone, and hold everyone as the highest ranking member. Period. I sure hope it's right. If she chosen somebody in particular, and I do all the work I would not bother anymore. Seriously.

We do obedience ALL the time, it's incorporated in all we do-walking, being at home, she is JUST out of isolation stage of groundwork so in our room it's only down-stays on a leash, though. No games. I do train, we do her known and new commands, I mark it, give her treats, correct the known if she refuses , if it's something new she does not know well yet, just withhold the treat. She is smart. Taught her to crawl yesterday:-). When I have a session with her, it's only a few minutes, easier on her. Can have a few ones like that and it's not overbearing.

Clipped her nails with Pedi-Paws,she did a little bit of struggling but very submissively, and seems like she is not afraid of it that much anymore. I don't need a muzzle anymore for that, I sit on a rug in the bathroom :-) and she stretches over the floor and closes her eyes and lets me file her nails.

All of them? Seriously?? I wonder why it isnt always like that in my house.

With all due respect to all the trainers.
I could train my dogs to follow all orders from any human being. It still would not make them their dog.
See the distinction?

The dogs order within the pack is not it's choice, but that doesn't mean there isn't some members (or a single member) of that pack it's more than willing to please. And sometimes for seemingly no reason. Shrug, who knows why? It just is.
Don't take it personly, do as the dog does. Accept it and be happy.

So your problem is what again?
Your last post says the two of you are happy.

Maria,
You say you're a long time dog owner. Well okay, then you should know it takes longer, much longer then 3 months to grow a dog to you.
And particularly with (what amounts to) a rescue.

Don't take it all so personally. It's called puppy love for a reason.
Chill. It all takes time.