[DogSoldier]

i know you guys must answer this question a thousand times, but the pup me and the wife got is about 3 months old and while he occasionally mouths my hands, i heard him growling at the wife and holding on to her sleeve not ten minutes ago! it wasn't even a little puppy growl! what do i do?

 

[PeterC]

LOL.........nice puppy.

Seriously, nice little sucker! :lol:

OK, first get him a toy SO HE CAN BITE ON SOMETHING. TEACH him what is ok to bite and what is NOT ok. Simple solution.

So, when he bites your wife's sleeve, so NO immediately and put him in is crate. Stop all play. Then, about 2 minutes later, bring him out again. Give him a tug toy or any bite toy. When he goes for it, go nuts! Tell him how good he is. play tugs with him.

With a pup, there is no middle emotion. Either you are very unhappy (low low voice no physical punishment) and into his crate or BOZO the clown happy. Black and white.

This works with even the most BRUTAL pups. It all depends on YOUR consistency and persistance.

Remember. the tougher the dog..........the LESS physical punishement you must use. People often ask me why. They think the tougher the dog, the tougher the punishement to get into its head. LOL. I ask them.........." what happens if this dog is REALLY tough and it is 3 years old. Do you think it is going to take your so called punishment, then?" Real tough dogs will NOT and the aggression issues will grow. If the dog is really nice, he will not take the crap and take you to the hospital. :lol: This is why so many good dogs, in my opinion, end up in shelters with "aggression problems".

Tougher the dog the trainer must possess more brains, persistance, and consistency.. I don't say love here. I think you need more mutual respect. Respect for the dog (and even the pup). I think this is people's GREATEST mistake. They don't respect the dog/pup they are training. That also means you have to be the alpha. A great leader (pack leader - alpha) always respects and cares for his pack/subjects. Once we have that, we can try love.

Whenever people say, "the dog has to listen.....I am the ALPHA!!!!" I know that they do not understand this concept. Every great trainer I have worked with. They all had deep respect for the dogs they worked with. Now these trainers ask, "hmmmmm why should this dog listen to me. I have to find out. When I do, I can control him." Fundamental difference and a shift in thought. AND a much more FUN way to train!

 

[Puregrover]

Re: LOL.........nice puppy.

Seriously, nice little sucker! :lol:

OK, first get him a toy SO HE CAN BITE ON SOMETHING. TEACH him what is ok to bite and what is NOT ok. Simple solution.

So, when he bites your wife's sleeve, so NO immediately and put him in is crate. Stop all play. Then, about 2 minutes later, bring him out again. Give him a tug toy or any bite toy. When he goes for it, go nuts! Tell him how good he is. play tugs with him.

With a pup, there is no middle emotion. Either you are very unhappy (low low voice no physical punishment) and into his crate or BOZO the clown happy. Black and white.

This works with even the most BRUTAL pups. It all depends on YOUR consistency and persistance.

Remember. the tougher the dog..........the LESS physical punishement you must use. People often ask me why. They think the tougher the dog, the tougher the punishement to get into its head. LOL. I ask them.........." what happens if this dog is REALLY tough and it is 3 years old. Do you think it is going to take your so called punishment, then?" Real tough dogs will NOT and the aggression issues will grow. If the dog is really nice, he will not take the crap and take you to the hospital. :lol: This is why so many good dogs, in my opinion, end up in shelters with "aggression problems".

Tougher the dog the trainer must possess more brains, persistance, and consistency.. I don't say love here. I think you need more mutual respect. Respect for the dog (and even the pup). I think this is people's GREATEST mistake. They don't respect the dog/pup they are training. That also means you have to be the alpha. A great leader (pack leader - alpha) always respects and cares for his pack/subjects. Once we have that, we can try love.

Whenever people say, "the dog has to listen.....I am the ALPHA!!!!" I know that they do not understand this concept. Every great trainer I have worked with. They all had deep respect for the dogs they worked with. Now these trainers ask, "hmmmmm why should this dog listen to me. I have to find out. When I do, I can control him." Fundamental difference and a shift in thought. AND a much more FUN way to train!

verry true but i have been told by some traines that an agressive dog needs an agressive trainers

 

[PeterC]

With respect......

.........they don't know what they are talking about.

I have had dogs that I aquired because it tried to take out its "trainer" owners. Just because they call themselves trainers does not mean they are.

LOL. I shudder to think what would happen if my boy, Chucky, was with an "aggressive" trainer. :lol:


YOu need to be brave, have no fear of being bitten and to a certain degree, need some strength. I do REALLY believe it is called "presence". That is why some very small quiet decoys scare the crap out of competition dogs. Dogs know if you are scared. They can smell it. There is a BIG difference between being assertive (being BLACK and WHITE) and being aggressive. One gets you respect. The other sends you to the hospital.

When working with certain dogs, you get bitten. That is a fact of life. However, if you try to overpower a dog, bred to take on man, you will not win. Many tough guys think they can......but without the stuff between your ears and experience, you get hurt.
Fortunately, there are not too many of these monsters around. However, the system of training lesser dogs are the same.

Isn't respect and trust given freely defined as "love"? I think so.

 

[Maria W]

Peter,

Thank you for your replies to this post. You are absolutely correct in the "you can be assertive without being aggressive". We (I am) are taking our Chopper, 2yr old AB, to a professional trainer because we need to learn how to be assertive. The 1 1/2 hrs we spent with him 2 weeks ago was such an eye opener. I'm going with Chopper for the 1 on 1 training because hubby is the "softie". I can pick out the times when I'm correcting Chopper & just know that I'm not doing it properly. The trainer trains police dogs along with individual training sessions. We've had dogs since 1974 & Chopper has shown us that we've been doing it "all" wrong.

You don't want to "overkill" in the corrections or the dog will assert himself & you're up the creek w/o a paddle!

Thanks again.

Maria

 

[Tinkerbell]

Re: LOL.........nice puppy.

Seriously, nice little sucker! :lol:

OK, first get him a toy SO HE CAN BITE ON SOMETHING. TEACH him what is ok to bite and what is NOT ok. Simple solution.

So, when he bites your wife's sleeve, so NO immediately and put him in is crate. Stop all play. Then, about 2 minutes later, bring him out again. Give him a tug toy or any bite toy. When he goes for it, go nuts! Tell him how good he is. play tugs with him.

With a pup, there is no middle emotion. Either you are very unhappy (low low voice no physical punishment) and into his crate or BOZO the clown happy. Black and white.

This works with even the most BRUTAL pups. It all depends on YOUR consistency and persistance.

Remember. the tougher the dog..........the LESS physical punishement you must use. People often ask me why. They think the tougher the dog, the tougher the punishement to get into its head. LOL. I ask them.........." what happens if this dog is REALLY tough and it is 3 years old. Do you think it is going to take your so called punishment, then?" Real tough dogs will NOT and the aggression issues will grow. If the dog is really nice, he will not take the crap and take you to the hospital. :lol: This is why so many good dogs, in my opinion, end up in shelters with "aggression problems".

Tougher the dog the trainer must possess more brains, persistance, and consistency.. I don't say love here. I think you need more mutual respect. Respect for the dog (and even the pup). I think this is people's GREATEST mistake. They don't respect the dog/pup they are training. That also means you have to be the alpha. A great leader (pack leader - alpha) always respects and cares for his pack/subjects. Once we have that, we can try love.

Whenever people say, "the dog has to listen.....I am the ALPHA!!!!" I know that they do not understand this concept. Every great trainer I have worked with. They all had deep respect for the dogs they worked with. Now these trainers ask, "hmmmmm why should this dog listen to me. I have to find out. When I do, I can control him." Fundamental difference and a shift in thought. AND a much more FUN way to train!

AWSOME advice! I've also heard that it takes a tough trainer to train a tough dog. Your way makes so much sense.