Possibly Dominant Puppy

sarabe

RuthnJasper wrote: »

Your dog HAS to understand that the human is the pack leader. If you have time, sit with all occupants of the house (including dog) together in one room for an hour at a time (maybe an hour a day, to start with). At the first sign of trouble, step in. Gently but firmly force the doggy-troublemaker to the ground and pin him/her down for a moment while shouting "No!" and then release the dog.

You are kidding, please tell me you are kidding.

Clair3934

Firstly you cannot use the word "Dominance" to describe dogs you can on the other hand use the word "Assertive", some dogs are more assertive than other the same as with humans, if you as a human are not being assertive then the dog may step in this is not dominance it's assertive, you just need to assert your self more but you need to do this in the right way.

Secondly you cannot apply wolf pack theory to dog packs and the dogs relationship to humans they are totally different things.

Yes dogs should respect their owners but the owners have to earn the respect of the dog and vice versa, the best way to do this is to treat and praise the positive, if your puppy reacts in a manor your not happy with then don't do what ever it was that caused the bad behaviour again, if you pick your pup up and it bites you, don't pick it up, it probably doesn't like it, or you have scared it, take things slowly.

Please please don't take any advice form someone who suggests you become physical with your puppy, you should never ever pin a dog down, not only is it scary for the puppy it's very dangerous for the human... the puppy or dog will only become for scared and may well bite.
You do not want your puppy to shut down around you, you want a loving friendly relationship where you both enjoy your time together, so may I suggest you quickly seek advice from a reputable trainer or behaviourist, someone who can see the dog and you and can guide you carefully through the problems that you may have.

Pugs are known for being very clever and willful little dogs, my cousin has one she has had similar issues with him but with a little help from and a few pointers from me she now has a wonderful little lad, and they love spending time together.

Clair3934

RuthnJasper wrote: »

Your dog HAS to understand that the human is the pack leader. If you have time, sit with all occupants of the house (including dog) together in one room for an hour at a time (maybe an hour a day, to start with). At the first sign of trouble, step in. Gently but firmly force the doggy-troublemaker to the ground and pin him/her down for a moment while shouting "No!" and then release the dog.

Seriously, Seriously BAD advice!

Zoe_Anne

Hi you have a beautiful little pug puppy 12 weeks is a difficult age she can go out for walks now and use her clever little brain now the clever ones are always cheecky all puppies at that age chews hands get your self a clicker and teach her some little tricks and let her be a puppy you have a clever little girl their that's your only problem enjoy her they grow up so quick

Kiramanic

FabSascha wrote: »

She's doing better with the biting already; we've started a zero tolerance approach to it by completing shutting down for a few minutes when she bites and then going massively over the top with encouragement when she licks. She's letting me kiss and touch her face and head already, so I'm really pleased/relieved!

Sounds like you're really trying your best for the pup, kudos! Too many people get annoyed at the first sign of difficult behaviour and decide it's too much hassle to fix, it makes me a sad panda

I'll not get into the whole dominance argument going on here, but the approach I quoted has worked a treat for a few of my dogs so definitely keep up with that...there's nothing a misbehaving puppy hates more than being ignored when she's trying to get your attention.

From what I've seen of pugs, having never owned one myself, there are two things I've noticed.

1) They are seriously energetic. Even the most mild-mannered doggie will get annoyed and aggressive if they're not getting enough exercise, and most puppies are energetic anyway regardless of breed, so hopefully you're finding enough time to walk her every day.

2) They're attention-seekers. It's affectionate and lovely but try and see if there's a pattern to when she bites/gets angry, and if it's anything to do with her feeling a bit ignored. Ingoring her when she's naughty as a punishment is one thing, ignoring her when she's being good and wants a hug is another.

Whingy animals! :rotfl:

TonyDev

sarabe wrote: »

I used to subscribe to the old dominance, hierarchy theories. I had well behaved dogs that knew their place.

I have learned a lot over the years though and now have a relationship with my dogs that is based on cooperation not competition.

There is nothing that cannot be taught using positive reinforcement.

I don't need my dogs to 'know their place' anymore because they are happy to comply with my wishes and there is now no danger of them challenging me over anything.

What is a dominant personality?

I saw a family last year that had three dogs and I'm sure they weren't as bothered about the dogs' problems as they were about wanting me to settle a family argument.

At mealtimes the Labrador scoffed his food and then pushed the other two off of their bowls and nicked theirs as well.

On walks the Collie usually always got the ball first and if one of the other two got it he'd attack them and they'd drop it so he could have it.

In the evening the Chihuahua would sit between Mum and Dad on the sofa and dare the other two to come near.

Of course the solutions were easy and I won't insult your intelligence by telling you what they were but it had diddly squat to do with dominance.

I agree. There was a time when dominance/pack theory was THE way to go in dog training, but over time it has failed to stand up to any form of scrutiny. The links that have been posted are telling us training regimes based on dominance and pack hierachy are pseudo-science are best steered clear of.

PLEASE don't pin your puppy to the floor. You may think you're curing her problems but a) it propably won't and b) you WILL create a whole new set of problems.

My advice is book yourself into a GOOD puppy class who will be able to show you how to bring the best out in your relationship with your puppy.

Enjoy her!

threemuttleys

Originally Posted by RuthnJasper
Your dog HAS to understand that the human is the pack leader. If you have time, sit with all occupants of the house (including dog) together in one room for an hour at a time (maybe an hour a day, to start with). At the first sign of trouble, step in. Gently but firmly force the doggy-troublemaker to the ground and pin him/her down for a moment while shouting "No!" and then release the dog.

that has to be one of the worst things I have ever seen posted on a pet forum. This is nothing short of animal abuse, this is a 12 week old puppy we are talking about.

OP please do not go down the "dominate your dog, and alpha roll at every chance" road. Right now, you have the choice to make teaching/training your dog a pleasure for both you and him, or make it a confusing, scary nightmare for you both. Please please choose the right road, and you will be rewarded with a happy contented life together

FabSascha

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your (mostly) helpful advice. Just to clarify, there's no way I'd ever consider pining the dog down on the floor, partly because that to me sounds far too aggressive but also because I want her to learn from positive experiences - meaning that I want her to do things because she wants to do them, not because she's scared not to. I don't think any kind of aggressive power play would benefit either of us.

I think, on reflection, I may have used to the term 'dominate' too loosely. What I'm keen to do is to get her to be a bit more reactive to my commands and trainable. I'm aware that she's still very young and is not going to learn everything straight away, so I think maybe I'm over-worrying. The biting was a big concern because they weren't little play nips, they were proper 'I'm going to latch on and not let go no matter what you do' bites, but the approach we've taken appears to be working, so whilst I'm still going to bring it up with the trainer, I'm much less concerned.

Unfortunately, I'm inclined towards over-worrying and have been consuming myself with hours of research and reading on a daily basis out of fear that we'll somehow muck-up her upbringing if we don't get it exactly right. My partner thinks I'm being completely OTT and to a certain extent I'd agree, but I've seen people who take a really casual approach to bringing a puppy into their household and how wrong it's gone, so I just really want to get it right! The downside of this is that I'm now overloaded with a huge amount of information, the majority of which conflicts so I often feel no wiser than when I started, which isn't helpful!

Anyway, to conclude I'm just going to crack on with a trainer and see what she says. I hope I didn't offend anyone with my use of the word 'dominance', I was just looking to get some advice but I can assure you that I'm not someone who wants to spend my days overpowering a puppy, I just want to make sure that we lay the groundwork for her so that we can build a life together with as few hassles as possible.

Thanks again for all your replies

threemuttleys

have you read Gwen Baileys the Perfect Puppy? might be a good idea for you. Also where are you based, maybe someone can point in the direction of a good trainer

Raksha

Gwen Bailey has set up Puppy School puppy classes in many places all round the country. This would be a good place to start. BTW - be careful with puppy socialisation classes offered by vets - some allow 'free play' which is totally unrestricted and a great way to turn a dominant pup into a bully, or a submissive one into a dog who snaps when frightened