[LunasDad]

Hey all, I recently got a female form the pound that appears to be a AB/APBT mix. She is 11-12 wks old and is doing very well in her new home. She seems to be really smart, picking up new ideas and commands on an almost daily basis. The one problem we are having is that I seem to have A GREAT DEAL more control over her thatn my wife and son. The son is only 3 1/2 yrs old so I can understand that and I'm trying to help him learn how to "talk" to Luna so she'll listen. It is my wife that I am worried about. From what I can see she is doing the right things but the puppy is just not very responsive to her commands. For example jumping up onto the furniture. Where as I can say "OFF" form accross the room and get results, the wife must actually push her back off of the couch while saying "OFF" inorder for the command to sink in. Nipping is another. She won't bite me, but feels the need to constantly mouth the other two.

Any suggestions for getting the puppy to see the wife and son as other alpha's and not "playmates?"

Thanks

 

[Kate]

With your wife, it can be pretty easy, but your son will be more difficult.

Start having your wife feed her, even possibly hand feeding her. That way she will see that her food also comes from your wife and that will help build respect.

Also, have your wife walk her and do OB with her on a walk. I would say have your wife keep her in a heel position but I believe Luna is very young to start forcing the heel command on, but do not let her pull

 

[Bogart]

I don't have an answer for you, but I have noticed that with many couples, it seems the male usually has more control over the dogs (of course this isn't always true).

Does your wife participate in training sessions with your dog? Maybe you could enroll your puppy in obedience class and your wife could be the one to participate in these classes.

 

[nanniesrock]

We have almost the opposite here. Harley is very much MY dog, and doesn't listen as well to the hubby. My 3 1/2 year old is a wonderful little "pack leader". She takes absolutely no crap from my dog, and my dog really seems to respect her. Hailey (my daughter) watches me work with Harley, and will actully sneak off with a few bones for her own training session :lol:
I definatley agree your wife should participate with the training. Think about what would happen if you both disciplined your child differently. Chaos wuld ensue. In parenting Mom & Dad MUST have the same rules with the same consequences, forever and ever Amen. Same with dogs. I make child/dog analogies all the time, it's easier for me (a first time dog owner), to make good decisions. I've been a Nanny for 10 years, and I know kids front and back. If I can make an analogy, I can usually find a solution to my problems.
Keep us posted :wink:

 

[Carrie]

It is quite common for a bully to bond more strongly with one member of the household. And it is also quite common for the bond to be a female dog to a male human, and a male dog to a female human. All of my dogs are like that...the only difference is all of my dogs respect both my husband and myself..they just prefer to spend thier "relax" time in the opposite sex pairs.

Here is a link from this forum to a similar situation (only in the link, the female was having separation anxiety) but, the basics apply...such as no human priveledges for the dog, the wife taking over feeding and OB work, etc.
http://www.bulldogbreeds.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=7876

 

[angie7349]

Craig has the same problem....I am the one that my bully listens to, but I don't ask anything of her unless I am serious....I agree with what everyone else has said but I just wanted to add that Craig's problem is he will give a command multiple times and sometimes not enforce it..........I think that one of the biggest in training a bully is consistancy!!! Say the command once, after you are confidant your dog knows the drill them....ENFORCE it

 

[Alt]

We are seeing progress (4th complete day with us). My wife and kids will get Roxy out of the crate and get her outside when arriving from work while I stay in the vam. So she sees them and can't ignore their presence. I pop in 5 minutes later and she's quite calm.

Little background - Roxy spent 12-14 hours crated in the previous owner household (he's a paramedic). So of course, she'd have tons of energy to blow when he arrived from work (working different hours/days - so no real routine/structure). Getting into things, overly excited was a daily thing with her. Now with us, she's crated 4-5 hours less and we have more time to spend with her. Like this morning, I woke up my daughter and she hop in the bed for a nice little kiss on the cheek as oppose to getting excited and playfull like the previous days. As mentioned in the other posts. OB training is a must to get the best benefits and rewards for both the dog and family.

She did scare me yesterday. My wife ran outside to the BBQ in thinking something was burning too much he Roxy followed her unleashed. Needless to say, she wanted to play with me, but I couldn't get within 2 feet from her (my fenced swings doors we're open give her access to the "outside world". Now I didn't want to shout (useless at this point), so I stood around in the backyard letting her run around in the front lawn and what not. Reason I didn't run after her when she left the backyard is this. If I run, there's no way I'll catch her, worst she'll still think I'm playing thus maybe make her run down the street. So after a good 2-minutes she came back to me and I pulled a old branch to play Tug-of-War with her (she likes it - but not us). Playing ToW made me within reach of her collar and grabbed her! Phewww! Was I happy to see that she was more interested in playing with me then going about the streets...