Brownie04

Thanks everyone, I am feeling much better today after a call to AWL. They realy are so nice and helpful. I was told that it is very common for dogs to start to test boundaries at the 2 week mark in a new home. I have to establish myself as a pack leader, it is obvious Daisy is trying to be the boss with me as she behaves well with my partner. I got lots of advice on how to do this. We are also starting obedience classes tomorrow so I hope that helps too. We are in brisbane if anyone can recommend a behaviourist if our training does not begin to work. I was also talking to the guy at AWL about Daisy's hesitation with people and dogs and he agreed that she has not had much contact with people and dogs and that we should continue to socialise her in controlled environment. He said they saw no signs of aggression in her and that I may be miss reading the situation and she is reacting to me being nervous. We are obviously going to watch her closely and talk to the trainer about it tomorrow aswell. We are not ready to give her up even though AWL would take her back if it came to that. I think I made it sound like she is never good but we realy do enjoy having her around some of her bahaviour is just a bit nuts. I think it will take longer than two weeks for her to settle so I want to work with her and see how she goes. We didnt expect Daisy to be the same as our old dog, I think we were first drawn to her because she has a similar look but in the end chose her because she was so sweet when we met her. I agree that she probably has not been in a house before as when she is outside on her own she is calm where as indoors she cant relax. I have also downloaded the puupy book and will read that on the weekend. Does anyone have any specific tips on how to get out of the gate without her?

I think I will give AWL a call for some advice tomorrow. We are not the type of people to return a dog because it wasnt easy and I think my partner would be devastated. I am so hopeful we can teach her to behave and even I would be so sad to see her go. I am looking forward to any suggestions.

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum and was hoping for some advice about how to train our new puppy. We got an 8 month old Bullmastiff X boxer (this was best guess by AWL) a week and a half ago. We have called her Daisy. When we first met her she was nervous but after a while seemed more relaxed. She didnt show any signs of aggression and was very gentle when meeting my almost 2 year old daughter. We dont know much of her history as she was an unclaimed stray. Since we bought Daisy home her behaviour has got steadily worse. At first she was quite scared of my partner particularly when he came home from work. This is slowly improving and she behaves ok for him. It is me Daisy is having issues with, now that she is comfortable with me she jumps on to me and at 29kg it is painful . She takes a run up and jumps pritty much on my head and trys to grab me by the neck with her paws. She does this when shes excited. I am trying to turn my back to her and walk away but sometimes I cant help pushing her off because I cant get her off otherwise and telling her no. This seems to make it worse. I tell her to sit but she doesnt. I also cant get back in the house without her jumping and trying to push her way in. She also does this when I leave to go out the gate and I have to literally drag and wrestle her back in the gate. This is very difficult to do with my daughter there. Daisy is also very restless, inside she will not sit still at all. I have her on the leash but she still trys to leave and I have to tell her what to do the whole time she is indoors. She now has the fur on her back raised when she sees new people and dogs. I am not sure if this is aggression or nerves. I do some basic training with her everyday and she has absolutely no attention span. If she is not over excited she can sit to get pats so she is capable of learning but nothing seems to sink in. She will start training classes soon. She goes on daily walk and is getting better with a halti head collar. I would realy appreciate some advice on our situation. I feel that we have made a mistake with getting her but we are committed to her now. Before Daisy we had a rescue bullmastiff X Great dane who died at 4 1/2 years old from lymphosarcoma (cancer). She was a very calm gentle dog and never aggressive. This is why we chose Daisy as she is similar breeding and when we met her she was so sweet. I now know that we probably should have got a small dog but it is too late now so we will work with what we have. I feel that if we get the current issues sorted Daisy will be a lovely dog. I say that sitting here bruised with a swollen lip and my thumb nail half ripped off and bloody due to being jumped on.