George my Doggie

He tends to just focus on one thing and guard it, or try to get what the other dog has, so I don't think that would work... Maybe if I could focus his attention on something more interesting like a game while the other dog is chewing or whatever. But then the other dog would probably want to play too and trigger the behaviour again. I could try throwing lots of balls for him to chase one after the other so he can't focus his attention on just one object, the only problem with that is I don't have an endless supply of rubber balls. This wouldn't be such an issue if I weren't going to get a German Shepherd sometime in the future. He wouldn't be able to boss a dog like that around...

I'll try that...But it would be hard to reprimand him before he went to attack the other dog. I've tried all the rescource guarding things that apply to people (eg, handling food bowl, trading high value items for treats etc, etc) he still does it with dogs though.

He's a five and a half month old puppy and he's been like this since I got him. He is an only child but has lots of contact with other dogs, but he wasn't socialised before I got him (at ten weeks). I think he was removed from the litter at 8 weeks then sent to animal rights and rescue then up until ten weeks he only had his sister for a companion and he was the dominant one. I think that's the problem. Anyone else got any ideas?

But how do I stop it? He's actually hurt my friends dog doing this.

Come on...Someone please help...

I haven't read all the posts here, so sorry if this has been suggested already... In correcting any problem behaviour, you have to find out what is rewarding it. With pulling, the reward is moving forward faster than normal, so you have to teach your dog that: Pulling=You stopping Give treats when she's walking nicely with the lead loose and without pulling. Do not use this method in combination with a check chain. Haltis will not work with pulling unless you practice loose lead walking as well. The idea of them is to work with the dog's natural refexes and reduce the strength of the pull, and there is another kind that give you a bit of control over your dog's head. The idea of this type is 'where the head goes, the body follows', but they don't work well with older dogs that have a tendency to pull. You need to know how to use them properly or you can do serious damage to your dog. They are sometimes used for training assistance dog puppies.

I hope that all made sense...

when my dog is chewing something, like a bone or toy, and he sees another dog, he becomes aggressive, barking and growling at the other dog. He is fine with people coming near him when he's chewing, but not other dogs. I have tried taking away all 'high value' items like bones and toys when others dogs come over to play, when I take him over to my friend's house or when mine and my friend's dog play together in neutral territory, but as soon as the other dog shows interest in something eg. a stick, my dog suddenly decides he wants it and bites the other dog. This then starts a small fight between the two, and often ends up with my dog whimpering and slinking off, but he still does it. How do I stop this?

What part of discussion over do you people not understand? I'm not going to use a check chain, get over it. You're wasting your energy on me. I started using a clicker in my training sessions a few days ago, and I'm beginning to see results. He is more responsive with his sits and downs, and I'm going to start trying the clicker with lead walking.

Of course, you don't jerk a head halter, you'll break the dogs neck, but it's not designed to actually hurt the dog, it's just some people get frustrated and use it incorrectly. used properly, it is a perfectly humane way of controlling pulling. A check chain is designed to hurt the dog and tighten around its neck so it says to the dog, "if you pull, this is what you get"...At least that's the concept of it. I do not use puntive methods and I will never ever ever use a check chain on my dog, I don't care what anyone else does (although I do feel sorry for their poor dogs). Discussion over. My dog is a cattle dog cross border collie, although because he was a rescue, that's only a guess and he may have other breeds in him too. I do love him for who he is, he's my beloved little doggy woggy. It's just sometimes its like "Who are you and what have you done with the real George?" But I do still love him, I just don't want him to have any serious problem behaviours when he is older. I think I'll just keep with my training and not let him play off lead with other dogs untill he is desexed, and if the problem persists...Well, I'll be back...

I think bigger dogs mature later than smaller dogs, and George isn't all that big of a dog. He lost all his teeth a while ago and now has all his adult teeth. With the pulling, I tried to use a head collar (which are a lot more humane than check chains, which aren't supposed to be used on pups and small dogs anyway) which allowed me to control his head and where the head goes, the body follows. However, George is the kind of dog that doesn't like to have anything extra on him (again, lack of early socialisation), the only thing he will tolerate is his regular collar. I have seen people that use check chains on their dogs, that go past me and George most mornings when I take him for a walk and have to keep jerking that chain every time the dog gets distracted and tries to go after something. They've been using that thing for ages and the fact that the dog still tries to pull shows it is learning nothing. There is another guy in puppy class that jerks his dog around on the lead, and you know what happened? His dog now refuses to move! When he tries to jerk that lead the dog just resists and lies down on the ground. Now we have to teach him the reward based methods. A dog should be beside you because it wants to be there, not because you are forcing it. I have already taught the attention command, he learnt it in puppy class and I used it to stop him from trying to chase cars (which he has stopped now, thank god.) Except I use the que words 'George, watch' instead of just his name because I say his name heaps of times anyway and it stops him from getting confused. He responds around the house very well, but when he is in a distracting environment its a different story. To gain his attention I start running, but sometimes this only makes him pull more when he tries to go on ahead. With other dogs he always takes submissive postures, tail down and looking away, rolling on his back, sometimes pawing at the other dog, crouched posture. etc, etc, etc... I agree that humping can be a dominance issue, but I don't believe it is the case for George. He was being all submissive with a labrador the other day and then tried to hump it. A submissive dog doesn't suddenly show dominance behaviour without reason. It may over time come to think it is dominant, but not in a single one-off encounter with a much bigger, stronger and heavier dog.

Little George is five and a half months old, so its definately adolescence. The reason the vet won't desex him is becasue his testicles haven't fully descended yet (they've only just started to). I am already enrolled in an obedience club and George finished at the top of his puppy class (in fact he did so well, I'm now helping out the instructor with her classes. I would ask her about this but her dog has a humping problem too...She recommended early desexing but as previously mentioned, the vet won't allow this.). I am now waiting for the intermediate and agility classes to begin and there will be a four week refresher course later in the year. I don't believe in puntive methods such as check chains -they don't work. I only use reward based training to ensure a good relationship between me and George. I ask him to do things, I don't command him. If he doesn't do it, I use a firmer voice and he usually does it. If that doesn't work, I push him gently into position. He never rolls other dogs onto their backs, infact, he is always the subordinate. Even with terriers and toy breeds, because he was a rescue puppy and wasn't socialised before ten weeks. He is usually quiet except when he is very excited, he only nips when he chases me (which is part of his blue heeler genetics- they are bred to nip at the heels of livestock) and he doesn't challenge me. He never shows any agression toward me, even when I take away his bones and toys, because he trusts me. he just ignores me sometimes and pulls on the lead. So i believe I have established that, in George's case, it isn't a dominance thing.

But desexing would stop the humping wouldn't it? I just want to nip that in the bud before it becomes a habit rather than just a normal adolescent thing. My friend's five year old labrador still tries to hump other dogs even though it is desexed because it has become a habit. I don't want my dog to be like that... I really don't want it to be like that...

My border collie x blue heeler named George is just hitting adolescence. I haven't had any problems with his traing yet but he has begun to exhibit undesireable behaviours. I no longer trust him off lead because he'll try to hump other dogs. I want to get him desexed, but my vet won't give him the snip untill he is six months old. even then, will desexing get rid of all these behaviours right away? He is also begining to ignore me. I worked hard to get him to walk nicely on the lead, but he has begun pulling again to try and follow scent and sniff everything. Any ideas as to what I can do?