DAC
Member
Hi everyone,
I need some help... desperately. I am so tired of not knowing what to do for my dog and my family. This is going to very very long because I think the more info given about the issues the better you might be able to help me. I sincerely appreciate anyone who takes the time to read and respond.
I am going to give a run down of the issues I have been having starting with the first email I sent to the trainer I hired -
March 29th, 2013 -
This couple breeds Dogos and they are certified dog trainers/behaviorists. I hired them to come to my home to help me and my dog. They basically explained that due to the lack of obedience that my dog thought he was the pack leader and this was dominant behavior. They reassured me that I could fix these issues with proper training.
Prior to meeting with them I took him to the vet for full blood work to rule out any health problems. My vet blamed it all on him not being neutered. The trainers told me it wouldn't help anyway.
They came to my home and we all talked (this couple along with my husband and I) about my dogs history and the commands he knew, etc. They had us put a choke chain on him along with a flat collar and 2 leashes. We all met at the local park. When my dog got out of the car he obviously went crazy for a few minutes and out of exhaustion they were able to take him - each of them took one of the leashes. They walked him around the park alone and when they returned my dog was totally fine with them. He was even acting submissive (they said) when he would lick their hands or roll onto his side to be rubbed on the belly. Then they taught us how to teach him heel with the "pop" of the collar for correction when he went too far.
The 2nd day they came to my home and we all met in the yard. The dog went crazy when he saw them in the yard but calmed down when they took the leashes. We went inside and they taught us to always make him sit before going out the door and coming in through the door. We always need to go first through doorways. Same thing with the car, same thing with the bedrooms and hallway. They said for the next 6 months everything he does needs to be a command from us. He is to always have a leash on and is to never roam the house, always in a down stay if we are not training or he stays in his crate. No longer sleeps on the bed. And the NILF technique. And no pets unless it is used for praising during training.
We went back to the park on the 2nd day and they taught us to teach him "leave it" when he is going to bark at people (whether through the windows, at the park, or people coming into our home). They explained we need to have him focus on us and "leave it" to the distraction. We were at the park and my dog was laying on the ground with the trainer holding the leash, they would ask people to stop and talk to us. When my dogs ears would perk up they would say "leave it", give a "pop" of the collar with the word no until he lost focus. My dog actually behaved pretty well while people stopped and talked to us.
They told me I need to do this whenever someone comes in my home (which is when he acts the worst). My husband and I tried it when we all met back at my home. They entered the house and my husband kept popping him and commanding him to "leave it" and it was not working at all. He wanted to attack them, it was terrible. The trainer walked over and grabbed the leash and basically choked him into submitting. He laid down after that with only small little muffled growls. They told us if he isn't listening after 3 or 4 commands we need to move on because he is not succeeding. They said we may have rushed it and moved too fast at that point. If he isn't listening we need to give a down command or a "heel" command to one of the other rooms. They said we should start with people just knocking on the door or looking through the window and then move into the house.
They told us it will take a lot of time and patience. But with obedience and guidance he will look to us as stable pack leaders.
So to present day - he is now 2 1/2 yrs old, intact, 110 lb. So to this day we follow this guideline the best we can.
There have been a few incidents in between all the training.
One time coming home from the park he urinated on the front gate and not really yelling at him I said "ohhh, that was bad", his hackles went up and he growled. I think he got defensive over the word "bad" from the time my husband yelled at him for urinating on my sisters bed. I never again said the word bad to him.
Once I found him laying near a rug he chewed up. I was not going to reprimand him since I didn't "catch him in the act" but I said in a playful kind of voice "what did you do?", his hackles went up and he growled while staring at my husband. Again - I think he got defensive by the words I used. I never again used those words with him.
In both situations we commanded him to down and moved on. The trainer said this was the exact thing to do - stay calm and he will be reassured we are in control of the situation.
Another time I needed to look at his paws underneath, he growled when I had his paws and tried to roll him onto his side. - this was probably dominance? the others I think were fear.
The "leave it' command has worked very well for strangers he sees passing by the house or the neighbors that are in their yards. I don't really have to pop him with the collar anymore because he listens to the command. He actually gets happy when I say leave it and praise him. He runs over to me, tail wagging, ears back. Kind of like he's glad I reassured him about the strangers.
We don't have many visitors, only my father-in-law comes over a couple times a month. Prior to the trainers we would restrain him with a leash, he would bark his head off for a few minutes and then calm down and we would release him and he would be fine, playing and licking father-in-law. Now when he comes over he barks like crazy and my husband tries the "leave it" command but has to pop him with the choke chain multiple times before he stops. It takes about 5 minutes to calm him down, then he will lay down and just whine. He knows the father-in-law and his tail is wagging as he's barking but we don't trust him anymore so he is restrained with the leash the entire visit. If I crated him (in the living room) he would bark the whole time and we wouldn't be able to talk and if I lock him in another room he'll bark the whole time and tear the room apart.
I want this barking to stop with one leave it command but the father-in-law doesn't come over enough. We don't have anyone to help us with it.
I haven't taken him to the vet (no issues - thank god) since the blood work, 8 months ago. I am not really comfortable popping a choke chain there to train him not to bark at the assistants/vet. When he had the blood work done he was muzzled and barked the whole time backing himself into the corner.... it was a mess. It took 3 people to hold him to draw the blood. He used to love strangers and their attention they gave, up until about 18 months old (this is about when he 1st growled at me seriously). Then he started barking at everyone. I kept him restrained from people, afraid of him biting someone.
Honestly I'm not really comfortable popping him in front of strangers at all. I think maybe I need to get over this though so he can move forward. Passing by people at the park or in public only needs a little pop but strangers talking to him/us or people coming into our home definitely needs stronger pops. I feel like they would judge me and I know I shouldn't care but I do.
A weird thing is with people at the park - if they have a dog he doesn't even see/hear the stranger because he is so distracted and involved with their dog. But if there's no dog he goes crazy.
In the house he always has a martingale (nylon) collar on and he drags a leash around. He still jumps on the furniture to sleep (we used to let him before the training), he doesn't always listen to the "off" command so we have the leash if he needs a correction. Sometimes he has these spaz moments (even when exercised) when he runs around the house back and forth, jumps on and off the furniture. We can't command anything because we know he will not listen in this mind state until we are able to grab the leash and calm him down.
I also think he still has fear issues. He occasionally has accidents in the house and I know they are accidents (hasn't been let out for a while and too much excitement). So I do not reprimand him but when he urinates his hackles near his butt go up immediately without me even saying anything. He very rarely goes # 2 in the house but if he does I do yell "outside" and he could care less. I think he gets nervous/scared when he urinates in the house and I think it stems back to when he peed on my sisters bed.
My sister is rarely here, she works a lot and is not really involved with the dog. She does not do well even when she tries. She gives commands all the time and doesn't follow through. I think the dog actually pushes her around a little. But she's not around enough to be that involved. My husband is home indefinitely due to a disability and I lost my job a year ago and haven't been to work since. I am very involved but my husband does most of the obedience training.
Here are some other things he's really good with that he never was before the training -
If he needs to go out or wants pets he will nudge my hand once and then sit (I don't even give the sit command).
When I let him in and out of the house he downs automatically without me even giving the down command.
When I feed him, I put his bowl of food down and he won't move until I say "get it". I don't even give the stay command anymore.
The "drop it" command with toys is immediate when before he would just want to play tug instead. When we do play tug, he always drops it if I command him to.
When we're in the yard playing and he has a toy, I will give the "stay" command and he won't move as I approach when before he would always run from me with the toy.
When my husband and I are playing around and he wants to get involved (jump on us, bark) he will listen to the down stay command and not jump all over us.
These things he does seem submissive to me but he also shows dominance in other ways?
So I thought everything was actually going ok until 2 days ago there was another incident that has really disturbed me. I'll copy and paste the email I sent to the trainer -
We have been "inviting" the dog up on the bed occasionally to sleep sometimes (usually during the day). He will "off" when we tell him (sometimes we need to correct him with the leash) and never jumps up without us allowing him. He will sometimes pace the bed and nudge our hands for an invitation up, sometimes we say no, sometimes we invite him up.
She responded with this -
This answer made no sense to me and none of my questions were answered. And she sounds like she is kind of telling me I failed at everything and need to start o
If it was dominance, why didn't he growl when there was 1st contact? He did a lazy stretch when I laid on him and kissed his face. His head perked up and he still didn't growl. I was close enough for him to growl and bite my face if he wanted to. The growl didn't happen until I got off the bed and he sat up.
With all the other growls, there was always a low, short growl while in contact with the dog. When I grabbed his back legs from behind and pushed him, instant low, short growl. When I hugged him from behind and lifted him, instant low growl and then bite. When I was handling his paws to look at his pads, low quick growl. The other times - when he peed on sisters bed, when he peed on the gate - low quick growls. This was most definitely different.
My dog is very very smart and knows certain words. I wonder if something I said spooked him.... like maybe he tuned into the word "here" and thought someone was in the house? , but the nasty growl doesn't make sense. This was like I wanna kill growl. Usually when he thinks someone is here he barks, little growls in between.
Does obedience/commands really have to be 100% in check for him to see us as the leaders?
Could my sister not being involved be the problem? And if it's my sister not being a leader, how do dominant dogs live with children?
I admit his obedience is not 100%, it is MUCH better but he still doesn't always listen. We were told to stop using treats once he knows a command and then he needs a correction if he doesn't listen. So we did away with treats, except we use them sometimes for the come command.
He will jump on the furniture and lay down, we give an "off" command and he ignores it and tries to get more comfortable. We then need to give him a correction with the leash (usually just the martingale is on). He will not listen if that leash isn't in our hands. Same thing in the yard if he is very playful... he ignores the come/stay command and this is why he is always on a 30 ft leash so we have that to correct him with.
His heel still needs corrections - even after training it on point, exactly how we were taught for months and months. If he wants to pee somewhere he will pull so hard to get to that spot. He still moves up past our leg occasionally too. Although he will "down,stay" in mid-walk, he will do u turns with us with no pull of the leash and he occasionally auto-sits when we stop walking.
I have been walking him with this choke chain for almost a year now, and I still need to occasionally correct him with a pop of the collar. This can't be good for his neck/throat. I tried to switch to the martingale but the corrections with that are useless and if he wants to pull to something, the collar doesn't hold him back at all. I thought about trying a prong but heard that they are not good for already aggressive dogs and I would be worried if something arises at the park. I will not use a head collar/halti/gentle leader - I do not trust the secureness of them. There are not many issues at the park. I am usually good with getting him to "leave it" but sometimes I am not quick enough. Like if someone comes around a corner unexpectedly, a girl riding her bike stops suddenly near us. He will go nuts and it's hard to get him to calm down.
He never really seems relaxed either. He is always on alert and it seems like it's gotten worse. He barks at every little noise (even me doing the dishes or a bang from the bathroom). He never cowers or hides. When he hears something he will jump up and bark while trotting around the house, head high, tail high. He watches our every move, even peeks around corners to see what we are doing, follows us everywhere.
I am walking on eggshells again. Every time something like this happens I feel sick over it. And this was so much worse (even though he bit before) because I have never heard this noise come out of my dog before .... EVER. My husband never wants me or my sister alone with him. We are scared of our own dog. This is obviously not what we expected or wanted out of our dog but we do not want to give him away and I do not want to euthanize him. I will exaust all options to try to help my dog and my family. This post is very lengthy because I feel like I need help with so many things.
I am in southeast Pennsylvania if there is anyone you want to direct me to. I know I may need another trainer. Or maybe mine is right. She said it is dominance/pack issues. She said sometimes he is submissive, sometimes dominant and sometimes fearful. She said I could more submissive sometimes too and he could pick up on it.
Thank you to anyone who took the time to read my post. Any help, advice, opinions would be so appreciated.
I need some help... desperately. I am so tired of not knowing what to do for my dog and my family. This is going to very very long because I think the more info given about the issues the better you might be able to help me. I sincerely appreciate anyone who takes the time to read and respond.
I am going to give a run down of the issues I have been having starting with the first email I sent to the trainer I hired -
March 29th, 2013 -
I'm hoping you can help me. I don't know who to ask these questions to except one who truly knows the breed and I honestly do not trust the breeder I bought him from. I have a dogo and he will be 2 years old in June. He is not neutered (yet). I'm going to try to explain his lifestyle to the best of my ability. He has never been to obedience/puppy classes or any professional training classes. My husband and I trained him ourselves. I will admit that we may not have put in as much effort as we should have because he does not always listen when we give him commands or we need to be very repetitive with him. We do exercise him on occasional walks but mostly just runs around in the backyard. We have no other pets and no children. We let him sleep in our bed and we try to keep him off the other furniture although he will run around the house frantically and jump on and off the couch. We feed him twice a day but sometimes throughout the day he will get some apples or if we had chicken for dinner we will save him some and give it to him after we are finished dinner. (I'm only telling you all this so you have an idea how we treat him and his character). He constantly barks at people through the windows. If someone comes over he will bark at them the entire time they are here. We usually keep him in the bedroom or we keep him leashed (fearful that he may bite someone). He's never bitten anyone but I never gave him the opportunity to either. When we take him to the park he is fine passing by other dogs and people but if we stop to talk to someone he will start barking at them. He is not dog aggressive.
So here is the main concern. About a month ago he was licking his feet (he has allergies) and this really irritates me so I kind of pushed him out of the room while grabbing his legs at the same time. He growled at me and kind of went to snap and bite but he didn't. 3 days ago he urinated in the house, on my sisters bed where he is never allowed to be. We usually keep the door shut but he snuck in. He jumped off the bed and my husband was right behind him screaming "bad" or "no" (I can't remember) but the dog growled at him which made my husband very angry. The dog was then laying in the living room and my husband went to reprimand him again (mainly for the growling) and the dog growled and attacked him and it lasted a few seconds until I screamed. My husband has 3 holes in his arm and it swelled like golf balls. We blamed it on him being fearful of my husband. Thought that he maybe felt threatened. My husband has scolded him this way once when he was a puppy for sneaking out the front door but never again after that (except this time when he growled at him). Last night I was sitting in the living room and the dog came over to me to be scratched, he sat in front of me and I was scratching him and all was fine except when I wrapped my arms around him and lifted him a little (front feet off the ground) He growled instantly, I let go and he turned around attacked me. He bit both my arms and hands and I was bleeding everywhere. I now have 4 holes in my hands. Neither of us needed stitches but we bleed pretty bad. I don't understand because I have done this to him before (held him from behind). When he was younger he hated us to do this (he would growl and try to bite) but we eventually made him comfortable with this action to where he would let us hold him this way. He also hated for us to pick him up from underneath (levitate him). He would growl lightly but again we continued to do these things so he would trust us. He became comfortable with these actions - which is what I thought we needed to do for him to trust us.
I am being told (by friends and family) I need to euthanize him. I don't want to but I am scared of my own dog. Now he is unpredictable. It's like he is a different dog. He's not the same dog. Things that never bothered him before could bother him now (like when I hugged and lifted him up from behind). I really need your advice. What do I do? I'll admit that maybe this breed of dog was too much for us to handle but it's too late for that now.I read that something could be wrong with his thyroid. I read I need to see an animal behaviourist. Would neutering him help or is it too late? Have you heard of this type of behavior before? I'm so upset because I love him so much but I don't trust him now. I am actually scared to reprimand him or touch him the wrong way. And I feel like an animal behaviourist would not help my fear of him. How am I supposed to know what he is uncomfortable with and what is ok?
I would sincerely appreciate your advice on this situation. I don't know what to do.
This couple breeds Dogos and they are certified dog trainers/behaviorists. I hired them to come to my home to help me and my dog. They basically explained that due to the lack of obedience that my dog thought he was the pack leader and this was dominant behavior. They reassured me that I could fix these issues with proper training.
Prior to meeting with them I took him to the vet for full blood work to rule out any health problems. My vet blamed it all on him not being neutered. The trainers told me it wouldn't help anyway.
They came to my home and we all talked (this couple along with my husband and I) about my dogs history and the commands he knew, etc. They had us put a choke chain on him along with a flat collar and 2 leashes. We all met at the local park. When my dog got out of the car he obviously went crazy for a few minutes and out of exhaustion they were able to take him - each of them took one of the leashes. They walked him around the park alone and when they returned my dog was totally fine with them. He was even acting submissive (they said) when he would lick their hands or roll onto his side to be rubbed on the belly. Then they taught us how to teach him heel with the "pop" of the collar for correction when he went too far.
The 2nd day they came to my home and we all met in the yard. The dog went crazy when he saw them in the yard but calmed down when they took the leashes. We went inside and they taught us to always make him sit before going out the door and coming in through the door. We always need to go first through doorways. Same thing with the car, same thing with the bedrooms and hallway. They said for the next 6 months everything he does needs to be a command from us. He is to always have a leash on and is to never roam the house, always in a down stay if we are not training or he stays in his crate. No longer sleeps on the bed. And the NILF technique. And no pets unless it is used for praising during training.
We went back to the park on the 2nd day and they taught us to teach him "leave it" when he is going to bark at people (whether through the windows, at the park, or people coming into our home). They explained we need to have him focus on us and "leave it" to the distraction. We were at the park and my dog was laying on the ground with the trainer holding the leash, they would ask people to stop and talk to us. When my dogs ears would perk up they would say "leave it", give a "pop" of the collar with the word no until he lost focus. My dog actually behaved pretty well while people stopped and talked to us.
They told me I need to do this whenever someone comes in my home (which is when he acts the worst). My husband and I tried it when we all met back at my home. They entered the house and my husband kept popping him and commanding him to "leave it" and it was not working at all. He wanted to attack them, it was terrible. The trainer walked over and grabbed the leash and basically choked him into submitting. He laid down after that with only small little muffled growls. They told us if he isn't listening after 3 or 4 commands we need to move on because he is not succeeding. They said we may have rushed it and moved too fast at that point. If he isn't listening we need to give a down command or a "heel" command to one of the other rooms. They said we should start with people just knocking on the door or looking through the window and then move into the house.
They told us it will take a lot of time and patience. But with obedience and guidance he will look to us as stable pack leaders.
So to present day - he is now 2 1/2 yrs old, intact, 110 lb. So to this day we follow this guideline the best we can.
There have been a few incidents in between all the training.
One time coming home from the park he urinated on the front gate and not really yelling at him I said "ohhh, that was bad", his hackles went up and he growled. I think he got defensive over the word "bad" from the time my husband yelled at him for urinating on my sisters bed. I never again said the word bad to him.
Once I found him laying near a rug he chewed up. I was not going to reprimand him since I didn't "catch him in the act" but I said in a playful kind of voice "what did you do?", his hackles went up and he growled while staring at my husband. Again - I think he got defensive by the words I used. I never again used those words with him.
In both situations we commanded him to down and moved on. The trainer said this was the exact thing to do - stay calm and he will be reassured we are in control of the situation.
Another time I needed to look at his paws underneath, he growled when I had his paws and tried to roll him onto his side. - this was probably dominance? the others I think were fear.
The "leave it' command has worked very well for strangers he sees passing by the house or the neighbors that are in their yards. I don't really have to pop him with the collar anymore because he listens to the command. He actually gets happy when I say leave it and praise him. He runs over to me, tail wagging, ears back. Kind of like he's glad I reassured him about the strangers.
We don't have many visitors, only my father-in-law comes over a couple times a month. Prior to the trainers we would restrain him with a leash, he would bark his head off for a few minutes and then calm down and we would release him and he would be fine, playing and licking father-in-law. Now when he comes over he barks like crazy and my husband tries the "leave it" command but has to pop him with the choke chain multiple times before he stops. It takes about 5 minutes to calm him down, then he will lay down and just whine. He knows the father-in-law and his tail is wagging as he's barking but we don't trust him anymore so he is restrained with the leash the entire visit. If I crated him (in the living room) he would bark the whole time and we wouldn't be able to talk and if I lock him in another room he'll bark the whole time and tear the room apart.
I want this barking to stop with one leave it command but the father-in-law doesn't come over enough. We don't have anyone to help us with it.
I haven't taken him to the vet (no issues - thank god) since the blood work, 8 months ago. I am not really comfortable popping a choke chain there to train him not to bark at the assistants/vet. When he had the blood work done he was muzzled and barked the whole time backing himself into the corner.... it was a mess. It took 3 people to hold him to draw the blood. He used to love strangers and their attention they gave, up until about 18 months old (this is about when he 1st growled at me seriously). Then he started barking at everyone. I kept him restrained from people, afraid of him biting someone.
Honestly I'm not really comfortable popping him in front of strangers at all. I think maybe I need to get over this though so he can move forward. Passing by people at the park or in public only needs a little pop but strangers talking to him/us or people coming into our home definitely needs stronger pops. I feel like they would judge me and I know I shouldn't care but I do.
A weird thing is with people at the park - if they have a dog he doesn't even see/hear the stranger because he is so distracted and involved with their dog. But if there's no dog he goes crazy.
In the house he always has a martingale (nylon) collar on and he drags a leash around. He still jumps on the furniture to sleep (we used to let him before the training), he doesn't always listen to the "off" command so we have the leash if he needs a correction. Sometimes he has these spaz moments (even when exercised) when he runs around the house back and forth, jumps on and off the furniture. We can't command anything because we know he will not listen in this mind state until we are able to grab the leash and calm him down.
I also think he still has fear issues. He occasionally has accidents in the house and I know they are accidents (hasn't been let out for a while and too much excitement). So I do not reprimand him but when he urinates his hackles near his butt go up immediately without me even saying anything. He very rarely goes # 2 in the house but if he does I do yell "outside" and he could care less. I think he gets nervous/scared when he urinates in the house and I think it stems back to when he peed on my sisters bed.
My sister is rarely here, she works a lot and is not really involved with the dog. She does not do well even when she tries. She gives commands all the time and doesn't follow through. I think the dog actually pushes her around a little. But she's not around enough to be that involved. My husband is home indefinitely due to a disability and I lost my job a year ago and haven't been to work since. I am very involved but my husband does most of the obedience training.
Here are some other things he's really good with that he never was before the training -
If he needs to go out or wants pets he will nudge my hand once and then sit (I don't even give the sit command).
When I let him in and out of the house he downs automatically without me even giving the down command.
When I feed him, I put his bowl of food down and he won't move until I say "get it". I don't even give the stay command anymore.
The "drop it" command with toys is immediate when before he would just want to play tug instead. When we do play tug, he always drops it if I command him to.
When we're in the yard playing and he has a toy, I will give the "stay" command and he won't move as I approach when before he would always run from me with the toy.
When my husband and I are playing around and he wants to get involved (jump on us, bark) he will listen to the down stay command and not jump all over us.
These things he does seem submissive to me but he also shows dominance in other ways?
So I thought everything was actually going ok until 2 days ago there was another incident that has really disturbed me. I'll copy and paste the email I sent to the trainer -
We have been "inviting" the dog up on the bed occasionally to sleep sometimes (usually during the day). He will "off" when we tell him (sometimes we need to correct him with the leash) and never jumps up without us allowing him. He will sometimes pace the bed and nudge our hands for an invitation up, sometimes we say no, sometimes we invite him up.
Let me 1st explain that when the dog is sleeping (anywhere, on the floor or on the bed), since he was a puppy, we would always lay and cuddle and kiss his face. He never cared and would just lay there. Sometimes he'll do a lazy stretch or even roll onto his back.
So this afternoon the dog was sleeping on the bed. I went into the bedroom and laid on him (kind of halfway), gave him some kisses and he stretched a little. I started whispering "baby like" - "why are you in here, what are you doing in here". His head lifted slightly off the bed, eyes widened. He wasn't looking at me. I wasn't sure why the alertness so I stood up away from the bed. He sat up and started growling (I wasn't even near him at this point). His head was real high (he was still laying on the bed), growl kept getting deeper and deeper and it lasted like 10 seconds (the other growls we've dealt with were 2 seconds, and not this deep). He wasn't looking at me, he was like staring into space while growling (almost like he was TRYING not to look at me). I said "HEY" when it started and I slowly backed myself towards the door. I seriously thought he was going crazy with the way this sounded and how long it lasted. I was terrified. My husband was in the room also and we both walked into the kitchen (with the dog still on the bed) when he stopped growling. A couple seconds later the dog came into the hallway, hackles up his entire back, stiff as a board, tail high, walking slow and stiff. I had to command "down" 3 times before he downed in the hallway. Maybe 5-10 minutes later the dog walked up to my husband, ears back, tail wagging, started licking his hand. His hackles were up so stiff that I could still see them 10 minutes after all of it.
I am very disturbed by this behavior.
Was it me laying on him? He perked up when I started whispering but no growl.
If it was me laying on him, why the nasty growl after I was standing up?
If it was my words, why the scary growl? (he barks at strangers and noises, maybe little small growls in between barking - nothing like this)
Nothing different happed today. It was a normal day. He seems to be barking more over noises lately, like the past month or so. We've been doing knocking exercises more.
Need your advice again and thank you.
She responded with this -
The first thing I see is when you add more into the things he is allowed to do, like a privilege, you have to be aware of what comes with it, like being allowed on the bed.
Go back and make sure his obedience is in check and do not allow him on the bed. That may possibly take away his feeling of a higher rank in the pack. Otherwise, your energy may be provoking him the more nervous you feel.
If you feel he needs another evaluation and training session to go further with allowing new things for him to do, let us know and we can schedule something. Otherwise, the only thing is to go back to square one with training.
This answer made no sense to me and none of my questions were answered. And she sounds like she is kind of telling me I failed at everything and need to start o
If it was dominance, why didn't he growl when there was 1st contact? He did a lazy stretch when I laid on him and kissed his face. His head perked up and he still didn't growl. I was close enough for him to growl and bite my face if he wanted to. The growl didn't happen until I got off the bed and he sat up.
With all the other growls, there was always a low, short growl while in contact with the dog. When I grabbed his back legs from behind and pushed him, instant low, short growl. When I hugged him from behind and lifted him, instant low growl and then bite. When I was handling his paws to look at his pads, low quick growl. The other times - when he peed on sisters bed, when he peed on the gate - low quick growls. This was most definitely different.
My dog is very very smart and knows certain words. I wonder if something I said spooked him.... like maybe he tuned into the word "here" and thought someone was in the house? , but the nasty growl doesn't make sense. This was like I wanna kill growl. Usually when he thinks someone is here he barks, little growls in between.
Does obedience/commands really have to be 100% in check for him to see us as the leaders?
Could my sister not being involved be the problem? And if it's my sister not being a leader, how do dominant dogs live with children?
I admit his obedience is not 100%, it is MUCH better but he still doesn't always listen. We were told to stop using treats once he knows a command and then he needs a correction if he doesn't listen. So we did away with treats, except we use them sometimes for the come command.
He will jump on the furniture and lay down, we give an "off" command and he ignores it and tries to get more comfortable. We then need to give him a correction with the leash (usually just the martingale is on). He will not listen if that leash isn't in our hands. Same thing in the yard if he is very playful... he ignores the come/stay command and this is why he is always on a 30 ft leash so we have that to correct him with.
His heel still needs corrections - even after training it on point, exactly how we were taught for months and months. If he wants to pee somewhere he will pull so hard to get to that spot. He still moves up past our leg occasionally too. Although he will "down,stay" in mid-walk, he will do u turns with us with no pull of the leash and he occasionally auto-sits when we stop walking.
I have been walking him with this choke chain for almost a year now, and I still need to occasionally correct him with a pop of the collar. This can't be good for his neck/throat. I tried to switch to the martingale but the corrections with that are useless and if he wants to pull to something, the collar doesn't hold him back at all. I thought about trying a prong but heard that they are not good for already aggressive dogs and I would be worried if something arises at the park. I will not use a head collar/halti/gentle leader - I do not trust the secureness of them. There are not many issues at the park. I am usually good with getting him to "leave it" but sometimes I am not quick enough. Like if someone comes around a corner unexpectedly, a girl riding her bike stops suddenly near us. He will go nuts and it's hard to get him to calm down.
He never really seems relaxed either. He is always on alert and it seems like it's gotten worse. He barks at every little noise (even me doing the dishes or a bang from the bathroom). He never cowers or hides. When he hears something he will jump up and bark while trotting around the house, head high, tail high. He watches our every move, even peeks around corners to see what we are doing, follows us everywhere.
I am walking on eggshells again. Every time something like this happens I feel sick over it. And this was so much worse (even though he bit before) because I have never heard this noise come out of my dog before .... EVER. My husband never wants me or my sister alone with him. We are scared of our own dog. This is obviously not what we expected or wanted out of our dog but we do not want to give him away and I do not want to euthanize him. I will exaust all options to try to help my dog and my family. This post is very lengthy because I feel like I need help with so many things.
I am in southeast Pennsylvania if there is anyone you want to direct me to. I know I may need another trainer. Or maybe mine is right. She said it is dominance/pack issues. She said sometimes he is submissive, sometimes dominant and sometimes fearful. She said I could more submissive sometimes too and he could pick up on it.
Thank you to anyone who took the time to read my post. Any help, advice, opinions would be so appreciated.
