Last night I let our dogs sleep with us. Not often but as a treat. Must have been alot of activity outside, because my 2 year old pit mix could not lay still, every 5 minutes was walking all over us. After 3 hours, my wife got up, and put her finger through the ring on his collar and he pulled away. Then he attempted it again and he growled and quickly bit her index finger knuckle. He broke skin, but no stitches needed. He has never done this to me or my wife before. He has resisted going in the crate a few times, after being on the bed, but we have always gotten him in there. He has been with us since he is 5 weeks old so, i cannot say he was an abused rescue dog. There is another dog in the home who is the complete opposite. They have their good and bad moments, but do get along. I am the alpha figure, more than my wife in the home, she is a softy, and have trained them in basic obedience. Any ideas on what may have caused this behavior. Please dont respond if your answer is put the dog down. Thank you, Jerry <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Sorry, you can't post on here and dictate what type of response you are going to get. Doesn't work.

There are about 19 things in this post I would like to address. However, I don't know if I can do it diplomatically. Could someone else help this poor soul.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

It just goes to show that you can't let just any dog into bed without problems.

Crate the dog, do obedience, get the wife involved in obedience...

Another dog taken at 5 weeks... am I noticing a pattern here?

Jerry:
No I dont want you to put down your pb mix, but the thought may have occurred to you that its not a good idea to have your adult dog sleeping with you.

I guess we know where the wife ranks in your household. If my dog bit my wife it would meet the business end of a shotgun. Sorry couldn't resist. I know I know. You and the wife sleep on the floor. Let little poochie sleep on the bed. That would be a kick.
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Hey you guys help the poor guy out! - I think that this particular pup needs to go back to boot camp - this means no getting on the bed, no getting on furniture, no supper unless there is a nice polite sit and down and only eat when you say ok, continue the obedience drills and no toys,
play, walks, attention etc unless he works for it with obedience, no door bolting, no going out of the doorway or up stairs ahead of you, instant compliance to a "move" command if he is lying on the floor in your way. Basically no free ride and work for everything. The wife has to be involved in the process and be the bearer of all good things(and bad things if he screws up) and has to be the human he really has to be a nice dog for if he wants to get anything. Like others suggested use the crate and make sure his life is kind of boring unless he behaves nicely and toes the line.

I'd go with what tiggy mentioned, find a trainer that can work on some things if you can. Also on the Q&A section of the website there's some articles written on dominant dogs.

Tiggy is correct - your brought this on yourself and learned that there is no such thing as a"A LITTLE TREAT TO LET THEM SLEEP WITH US" especially with a dominant dog.

Read my articles on Dealing with a Dominant Dog - A very important issue on this dominant dog issue is that the problem needs to be solved by the wife and husband. Dominance can not be solved by a proefessional trainer. It's simply a rank issue and we all know where this dog sees its rank in the family pack as compared to the wife. He made that very clear.

If your wife is afraid of the dog - muzzle him during training.Your wife should feed the dog in the crate. This dog should find out that the crate is his life and the only time it is not is when you and your wife are making him do something.

If he continues to show aggression there are extreme measure that can be taken but I am not going to write them in a public forum - not because they are a secret but because they should not be the first course of action on any dog. I think I will write them down and send them to Peta :-) just to clear it with them first.

Something I have tried with the greatest of success with this kind of aggression is this:

Only your wife should feed the dog from now on and for the 1st month she should
1. Fix the bowl and call the dog to the feeding place.
2. Give the down command and leave the bowl in front of the dog ONLY if he obeys within 3 secs after the command. IT IS IMPARATIVE for her to only say it ONCE and to not say ANOTHER word!
(no: 'What did I tell you??', no 'Your not eating unless you do this' etc)
3. If the dog passes the 3secs without obeying her command to "down" she should put the food away and leave and ignore the dog for at least 2 hours.
4. He will get a chance to eat again THE NEXT DAY.
5. When he has been great at lying down at 3 secs
for 3 days she should give him less time -2secs before she gives the food or leaves.
6. When he is great at 2 seconds she should make it only 1.

After a month of this (by now he should be lying down before she says anything -which is wonderful)
she should join an obedience class.
If she does it before the food exersise it will be harder for her.

Meanwhile, he should not be allowed it the bed room ever again under any curcumstances and either should your other dog (to avoid a confrotation between everyone involved).

If your wife isn't up to this, then I am afraid your only choice is Ed's advice or a divorce! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for your training tips. He has not had another episode since that night. I will get my wife to use the down method when feeding him.Jerry