Maybe one of you animal behaviourists can explain something. When I attempted to crate train Max I instructed my wife to let him out for a bit to pee and play with him and let my one and and half year old son play with him strictley supervised, I explained that Max was a puppy and didn't understand not to nip,bite and scratch etc. and when they are done or Max starts to play to rough, put him back in the crate. This all happened before I discovered Ed's sight and bought his DVD's. Well, that's not what happened.
Max and Brain spent a lot of time in the crate together. My wife would just leave the crate open and my son would play in his new "fort" or whatever he thought it was. Brian, my son, would share his breakfast, lunch and snacks with Max. Brain would pull the dog biscuit out of Max's mouth and help him eat it. They both would get tossed out to the back yard together and "poop" together. I swear, it's true, Max would go to the designated area in the back yard and poop and Brain would do the same, in the diapers of course, I was tempted. Needless to say, Max spent more time with Brain than any other person. Nothing else distracts Max, only Brain. When Brain starts to wonder off on the playground, Max starts his whiney barking. when I let him off leash Max stays within 5 to 10 feet of Brain. I'm working on Max's BH right now. I'm joining a SchutzHund club in my area. Max's obedience is rock solid except when Brain is around. I am convinced that Max is imprinted with Brian in the most scientific sense. I had to remove Brian from his sight in order to train. I also used Brian to get Max to do some jumps. Any comments and advice would be appreciated. Is they any way I can exploit this?

oh shoot, it's BRIAN not BRAIN, what sort of knuckle head would name there child BRAIN

have no suggestion but it sucks cause your dog appears to be bonded with brian not you(ouch).

good luck you might be able to work through this but it may take phasing brian out all to gether(he is not allowed to particepate in the training caring of max) thats what i do with my wifes dog i have to other wise i will do everything and she loose her dog. so just ignore him. hope this helps and hope you can work through it.

good luck

Thanks for the PM Mr. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> S

Hey just use Brian as a track layer for your tracking work, since he is so attach to him, you probably don't have to use food, save money there, or you could use him as a reward toy (-:, do some obedience if the dog do it right reward by letting him play with the boy (-:

I think it's great that the kid means that much to the dog.