Help! Dog getting too big for his boots! ;)

Hintza

Interesting thread.

I am with the camp the see this as a dominance thing especially the growling and biting. This is intolerable and I would have the dog submit one way or thye other. Normally by pining it on its back and holding it down until it stops fighting.

The dog must know who the boss is and his place in the pack at this stage he is top dog and has been getting away with murder.

foreign_correspondent

Hintza wrote: »

Interesting thread.

I am with the camp the see this as a dominance thing especially the growling and biting. This is intolerable and I would have the dog submit one way or thye other. Normally by pining it on its back and holding it down until it stops fighting.

The dog must know who the boss is and his place in the pack at this stage he is top dog and has been getting away with murder.

That is interesting - I think the dog always needs to know who the boss is. However, I have never, ever pinned a dog on its back and held it down till it stops fighting. If a dog decides it is going to bite you, it will, and this is very dangerous advice to give, as it may well end up in someone being hurt.

I think getting into a battle of wills is futile and breeds mistrust. I work with kids and feel that with both kids and dogs, getting alongside them and leading them with assertiveness, confidence and kindness is the way to get respect, rather than having to fight them for respect, which if you win it is based on fear anyway.

I have never had a dog who has had dominance issues, despite having had everything from a jrt to a golden retriever, a staffy x, a jrt x and several collie x's. Perhaps I have just been lucky, perhaps being less combatative with them and just being the leader has been the reason.

Hintza

Having had dogs coming out our ears all my life. I only ever needed to do this once to a GSP I had in South Africa. Hemade a play at being the boss when when he was just over a year old and had a go at my ex wife. Thje children were very small at the time and I had to make a decision very quickly.

If I had not sorted it out there and then I reasoned that the dog could not be trusted and it would be a one way trip to the vet. We had a battle for a good 5 minutes until he submitted and from that day onwards was the perfect family dog.

I might add that at the same time we had a Ridgeback who was quite a timid dog that made her aggressive to strangers but you had to treat her very gently as she was liable to go to pieces.

I guess what I am saying is it's horses for courses and for some dogs it will be the worst thing you could do, but for a cocky JRT I very much doubt fear will enter the equation. And if it is biting he has the potential to become a liability that needs sorted out PDQ especially with very young children around.

Kerriebaby

Raksha wrote: »

The temperament of a Newfie is waaaaaay different to a JRT. I doubt a JRT would stand still long enough to by pushed over (and the alpha dog doesn't push anyone over, the submissive dog rolls on its own accord to offer an apeasement behaviour.) The whole idea of rolling a dog to show your dominance is very old fashioned and flawed, and has lead to a lot of humans being bitten in the face when they've timed it wrong, or taken on the wrong dog Ofcourse, in the end, its the dog which has paid the price.

Agree

The whole dominance theory is so flawed it is laughable. My dogs eat before me, go through doors before me, sleep on the sofa, and I do not have any issues with them.

Kerriebaby

Hintza wrote: »

Interesting thread.

I am with the camp the see this as a dominance thing especially the growling and biting. This is intolerable and I would have the dog submit one way or thye other. Normally by pining it on its back and holding it down until it stops fighting.

The dog must know who the boss is and his place in the pack at this stage he is top dog and has been getting away with murder.

a very very dangerous thing to suggest IMO

Kerriebaby

First things first, anything you do not want your dog to have, must be kept out of his reach ( no matter how much of a challenge for you it may be )

Second what are you feeding him and how much and what exercise is he getting? JR's are very active on the go ballsy dogs, they need stimulation, training and exercise and lots of it

I have pm'd you

sammy_kaye18

I agree with Kerrie. I have a rescue JRT and he is 7 years old now and unneutered.

He destroys everything and anything even if we are in the house with him so we know its not boredom.

He has several walks several times a day, ranging from a quick 15 minute blast round the local football field in the morning after we've dropped my 4 year old off in school, bimbling round the comunal garden whilst im out putting washing out etc, to a 2 hour long woodland walk where he is offlead and free to do as he pleases (well within reason obviously) but he gets to potter/bimble/run etc in the middle fo the day, another 15 mintue blast once we've collected ben and a 40 minute walk in the evening - despite it being cold adn him objecting slightly - the only time we miss these is if its torrential rain but even just plain raining i wrap up warm and out we go.

He has plenty of kong toys to amuse him, a playmate after school in the week in the form of my 4 year old son, dad is home on evenings so he fusses him too and then our step son on weekends. So he has plenty of company, plenty of exercise, things to keep him amused, he gets treats but not lots as we use these as training aids on walks but he does occassionally get his kong filled.

and yet he still chews.

Should also add I have never had the slightest bit of aggression form my dog, he has never once growled at any of us, nipped any of us, no nothing.We do get the odd scram now and then but thats because of us plaing with him and him being a JRT makes him extra bouncy!

he does know his 'leave' command, although this is tested when hes out on walks and finds something dead he shouldnt have but he does leave it when told but will push the limit and go back to it a few times but he is pretty good and once distracted form it tends to leave it well alone.

He is not neutered either. We did use the pebbles in a bottle trick to aid our 'leave' training which he wasnt keen on but it worked. He also has his designated area too - our allway which is his room and their is nothing chewable in there (other than his bowl of biscuits) but he only sleeps here or is left here after a wet walk to dry off.

We have an established routine too though that he is only allowed on furniture if one of us invites him on it - this goes for our 4 year old too (not hes not allowed on the furniture but he has to invite the dog up to him).

Our dog is not allowed in our bedrooms (he has a marking issue) and so his bed is his bed and our rooms are our rooms and he doesnt come in them.

Also my 4 year old is in charge of feeding the dog so he has the dog 'sit', 'stay' - he then places his bowl on the floor, tells the dog 'stay', then 'get'. Bruno has no problems with this and i think to him it has exstablished that Ben is just as much boss as me and my bf.

Hintza

Kerriebaby wrote: »

a very very dangerous thing to suggest IMO

Why do you think it's dangerous?

Raksha

I wouldn't suggest it because it's based on flawed theory - as I said in my post above, a dominant dog does NOT 'roll' a submissive one, the submissive one flops over on it's own accord.

Humans are not park of the dog 'pack' and anyway, domestic dogs evolvement means they don't have full pack status anyway, they are permanently immature beings. Being different species means humans can not possibly give off all the signals a pack leader does - scent, hormones etc. Yes, it is possible to give your dogs 'hints' using a kind of dog sign language, but to get physically involved, especially with a highly strung breed like a JRT, and to advise this approach when you don't know the dog or the families circumstances is irresponsible IMHO.

All it would take is for a child to observe the adults doing it and then try it themselves for a serious bite to the face, ending in the destruction of the dog, when all it was trying to do was defend itself in a way it has been taught to do by humans...........

Hintza

As I have said before it will not work in all cases and one has to make a judgement on this.

The OP in this case has a young baby and I suspect drastic action might need to be taken sooner rather than later. When I was about 1 we apparently had a dog that took a dislike (most probably justified) to me and nipped me and that was the end of him.

I am currently running an ESS and he would not react well to my suggestion. Having said that his sheep training when quite young did involve an hour of training wherby he chased (not nastily) and was given a shake and a smack. Was repeated 3 times and he still chased. He was then taken home and put in his cage for the rest of the day (I thought it had failed) but the next day he was fine. Living in a rural community with sheep in the next field it was vital to instill in him this lesson as fast as possible.