Martha, The Standover Merchant

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At puppy school my gorgeous little Martha is THE BOSSY ONE. She's the biggest (although the youngest), and tends to stand over the smaller pups and push down on them with her paw. She seems to want them to lie down and show they are submissive.

With adult dogs, she is initially submissive but very quickly becomes quite playful, jumps maniacally up into their face and initiates play. It often annoys older dogs. A dog growled at the very sight of her at the vet last night and she, undaunted, continued to want to approach him. She hasn't met that many adult dogs (it's still another four weeks until her final shots).

At home, I do pack training. I always eat something before I give her her meal, and she must sit and wait until I say so before she can tuck in. I have her toys in a toy box and I give her three everyday. I never chase her, she follows me and I go through doors first. The one thing I have done is play tug games with her. I played tug LOTS, because she loved it. I made sure to always win and I have taught her the "off" command which means give up whatever she's tugging. She's good at this. We do lots of training cause she loves it. (I know everyone thinks their dog is intelligent, but she's very intelligent.)

She play growls when she plays tug.

She bites a lot and barks. She barks sometimes to get our attention (we usually leave the room if this happens). Sometimes she barks for her own entertainment — at a toy or with what appears to be general joie de vivre. As for biting, in the beginning I did the yelping thing, but this just seemed to rev her up. Now I usually stuff something she can chew into her mouth instead. She won't persist. If she really hurts me, she either goes into the bathroom for some time out, or we leave the room. Despite all this, I feel like there's only been a small improvement. Her first instinct is still to chew on me. (I know there's another thread about biting, I'm just trying to give you a picture of her personality so as to better discuss her dominance issues.)

The only thing that ever seems to bother her is when she hears dogs barking in the neighbourhood. Then she'll come running back to wherever I am and sits next to or on me.

So, how much do I accept dominance is a part of her personality? How much do I try and change her? How can I train her? If she is being dominant with another dog (at puppy school, for example) do I intervene, or let them sort out their roles? I've stopped playing tug games — is that right? What else can I do in the home?

Any advice would be helpful. She is eleven weeks old, so I'd like to nip worrisome behaviour in the bud. But I'm not even sure if which behaviour is worrisome and which isn't. She's such a gorgeous girl and I want others to love her; I don't want her to be thought of as a bully.

PS. Youse chaps are really terrific. I feel like I'm a bit of an irritating puppy, starting threads all over the place and leaving my smelly comments everywhere. I'm sure this sounds paranoid, but I hope I'm not "talking" too much on this forum. I'm just at that exciting stage of learning about dogs and training where I feel like I can't cram information into the brain quickly enough. So thanks for helping me out, both me and Martha 'preciate it.

[Kavik]

From my experience, Labs can be very pushy when it comes to playing with other dogs. No offence but it is one breed I will avoid with my guys unless I know the dog.

I would try to teach her to play gently with other dogs, so that she does not learn to steamroll/bodyslam them later. You could try taking her away when she starts getting too rough, so that she is only allowed to play if it is appropriate behaviour.

You can continue to tug with her - if she loves it have you tried training in drive? There are several threads on this in the training section. Tug can be a great motivator for obedience work.

[LoremIpsum]

You can continue to tug with her - if she loves it have you tried training in drive? There are several threads on this in the training section. Tug can be a great motivator for obedience work.

I keep hearing the expression "in drive" but I don't understand what it means. I'll check the training section though as I'd like to keep tugging with her if possible.

Thanks for the advice.

[je33ie]

PS. Youse chaps are really terrific. I feel like I'm a bit of an irritating puppy, starting threads all over the place and leaving my smelly comments everywhere. I'm sure this sounds paranoid, but I hope I'm not "talking" too much on this forum. I'm just at that exciting stage of learning about dogs and training where I feel like I can't cram information into the brain quickly enough. So thanks for helping me out, both me and Martha 'preciate it.

You're not being a pain, I love smelly irritating puppies :p :D

As for answering your question, I wouldn't have a clue. But I'm interested in hearing people's responses!