Advice Needed

[bl0nd3y]

I finally got my rottweiler puppy, and shes absolutley gorgeous, and cute, and somewhat energetic which suits me fine. Iv read up alot in regards to rottweilers, and have taken note their not for all dog owners- as they as sooo strong willed. And being just 5 foot tall, im trying to establish ALPHA position from a young age.

At 7.5weeks old she learnt to sit, and give me her "paw" in less than 5 mins, she has now learnt to come, sit, stay, drop, paw at the age of 9.5 weeks.

However after teaching her to drop, which is the last exercise we have worked on, shes starting to growl at me. She does the command however im not to sure what this growl is spose to mean... is she questioning my authority? or is she being a typical "teen" and winging about having to drop.

This is my first rottweiler, and is very gutsy of me to go from a chihuahua (who was stolen) to a rottweiler, but im doing my best. However advice on the net is very mixed up....

for example- a dog who sleeps resting its head on your neck is being dominent?? is this true, as this is what treu does. I however concider it to be a puppy thing...am i wrong?

also dont let your dog sleep on the bed with you- i do however, and always have, however she (on her own accord) will move to the bottom of the bed to sleep, is this ok?

Iv followed most rules when it comes to feeding time. I eat first, but often share with her during dinner time. However when i feed her AFTER i eat, i make her sit, and wait until i say "din-dins". I handle her food while she eats, to show im the boss....however will sharing the scraps from my dinner give her mixed messages?

Also when i tell her to do something, or stop biting or "gentle" when we play fight, she stops, waits 5 seconds, growls, barks then does it again. Have i failed in keep myself ALPHA or is this normal puppy behaviour.

Its really hard to establish whats puppy behaviour or dominent behaviour. Should i let the little growls slip, especially as if i call of play time- she gets the message.

If anyone has any advice for me, on raising a rottweiler its greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Steph

[PAX]

Awww cute.

Nothing is a problem unless it bothers you. Don't get to hung up on the whole Alpha thing at this young age.

She is just a baby and a very cute one, do not let her do things that you wont want her to do when she is 40 kilos. Make the rules fair, and black and white now.

She is lovely.

[persephone]

There will be others along with helpful advice I'm sure ?

one thing I will say.........

Start as you wish to continue.

For example...having a tiny puppy clamber up onto your lap is cute. Do you want a 60kg rottie doing the same thing?

Oh, and putting your hand in the bowl doesn't really mean you are alpha ;) IMO it just means that if she DOES snap- you will get bitten.

Try getting her to sit, and feeding her piece by piece .

also try

THIS

maybe just me- but I do not like my dogs to expect food when I sit down for a meal- so I never feed scraps from the table.

I do save them up and feed them later

How old is your puppy?

She certainly doesn't look like a 'teen!

At what age did you get her?

notice you said she learned to sit at 7.5 weeks....

Has she been thoroughly vet checked after purchase?

Do the parents come with all their health clearances?

I ask this in particular because she may be hurting when she does 'down'. How did/do you teach her this?

baby puppies joints are soft..and if she does maybe have some problem- yes, it will hurt.

if she is doing jumping on&off furniture etc she may also be causing some soreness.

Maybe get her checked.....

We once had a rottie pup- she started growling at us when we picked her up/nursed her.

then she bit us.

She had to be PTS due to very bad hip dysplasia, and also badly healed fractures in her shoulder

[persephone]

Don't get to hung up on the whole Alpha thing at this young age.

zackly! She's not about world domination just yet!! "D

[Aidan]

Hi Steph, my best advice would be to enrol in a good puppy class with a qualified and experienced instructor, your local vet is a good place to start your search but I'm sure if you state which area you are from some locals can recommend a good one. You will get a lot of helpful advice and it is a great place to add to pup's socialisation experiences.

The "dominance" model used to be very popular and some people still like to use the sorts of rules you are talking about but it's best not to take it too far. For e.g, cuddling into your neck is not a dominant behaviour.

Sharing dinner from the dinner table can encourage begging which some people find very annoying (myself included). This is a practical matter and my suggestion is to have her laying down on a bed or mat nearby, and that you only "share" when she is laying calmly on the mat. I wrote an article on this which is at clickertraining.com , there is also a free video demonstration.

The growling as you have described it is most likely just playful but I wouldn't reinforce it with attention or continued play. A good puppy instructor seeing it in person should be able to give you an opinion.

Rotties are not particularly difficult dogs to live with except for obvious things like their size and ability to drag you around so you need to teach good, consistent leash manners. Socialisation is very important. If you go to siriusdog.com there are free puppy raising manuals from Dr Ian Dunbar which are an excellent instruction manual for all the things you need to do to raise a happy, well adjusted pup.

[corvus]

What everyone else said.

I teach my dogs "acceptable begging", which means if they want something from my plate they will need to lie down quietly and wait. This is easy enough with one of my dogs, but the other it's a bit of a balancing act. It takes something happening after something else about twice for him to learn to predict it, and if he predicts he's getting something he can get thoroughly over-excited. So even if I do plan on giving him scraps, he doesn't get anything anywhere near the area we eat or while we are eating. I take the plate into the kitchen and wait for him to quit hanging around me long enough to practice a recall and use the plate scraps as a reward. I think that it's much easier to just have a blanket rule of no hanging around while people are eating and no food off plates.

[Nekhbet]

I take it from the age you did not get her from a registerd breeder? What were the parents like? Stable, friendly etc

Remember your dog is going to grow into a very large dog. Probably pushy, stubborn and not afraid to tell you what to do

I'd be more afraid the dog falls off the bed and hurts itself. I would be teaching something that grows that big to use a bed or a crate (or you end up with 50kg trying to snap your knee in half at 1am like my rottie)

Iv followed most rules when it comes to feeding time. I eat first, but often share with her during dinner time. However when i feed her AFTER i eat, i make her sit, and wait until i say "din-dins". I handle her food while she eats, to show im the boss....however will sharing the scraps from my dinner give her mixed messages?

Sharing creates begging. Feed the dog out of it's own bowl when you're done or you will end up with a pushy beggar of a dog that harasses you when you eat ... and rotties LOVE food

she stops, waits 5 seconds, growls, barks then does it again.

a bit of confusion, you then dont tell her what she is to do (is she now right, wrong etc) so she goes 'aaaah bugger it I'll try it again'. Puppies will try everything, if they can get away with it they will push harder or try another behavior to get to the end goal they will try it. That is a dogs nature, and the process of learning.

She is in no way a teenager at all yet. If she is growling when she drops get a vet check, if nothing then she doesnt want to drop. I qould ignore her growling, turn around and discontinue attention if she's going to be like that.

Read here

http://leerburg.com/ebooks/puppygroundwork.pdf

http://leerburg.com/housebrk.htm

http://leerburg.com/pdf/Training%20Puppies...20to%20Bite.pdf

as a start for rotties

as for people not touching the dog, you are better off teaching the pup that people are great, but we sit and behave before they give us attention. You are not going to have a working dog so ignore that part of Eds advice I agree you need a good puppy preschool with someone experienced in large breeds and will show you how to deal with unruley behavior efficiently but also how to train your dog properly and clearly.

[perfect partners]

I finally got my rottweiler puppy, and shes absolutley gorgeous, and cute, and somewhat energetic which suits me fine. Iv read up alot in regards to rottweilers, and have taken note their not for all dog owners- as they as sooo strong willed. And being just 5 foot tall, im trying to establish ALPHA position from a young age.

At 7.5weeks old she learnt to sit, and give me her "paw" in less than 5 mins, she has now learnt to come, sit, stay, drop, paw at the age of 9.5 weeks.

However after teaching her to drop, which is the last exercise we have worked on, shes starting to growl at me. She does the command however im not to sure what this growl is spose to mean... is she questioning my authority? or is she being a typical "teen" and winging about having to drop.

This is my first rottweiler, and is very gutsy of me to go from a chihuahua (who was stolen) to a rottweiler, but im doing my best. However advice on the net is very mixed up....

for example- a dog who sleeps resting its head on your neck is being dominent?? is this true, as this is what treu does. I however concider it to be a puppy thing...am i wrong?

also dont let your dog sleep on the bed with you- i do however, and always have, however she (on her own accord) will move to the bottom of the bed to sleep, is this ok?

Iv followed most rules when it comes to feeding time. I eat first, but often share with her during dinner time. However when i feed her AFTER i eat, i make her sit, and wait until i say "din-dins". I handle her food while she eats, to show im the boss....however will sharing the scraps from my dinner give her mixed messages?

Also when i tell her to do something, or stop biting or "gentle" when we play fight, she stops, waits 5 seconds, growls, barks then does it again. Have i failed in keep myself ALPHA or is this normal puppy behaviour.

Its really hard to establish whats puppy behaviour or dominent behaviour. Should i let the little growls slip, especially as if i call of play time- she gets the message.

If anyone has any advice for me, on raising a rottweiler its greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Steph

Rotties are big dogs and definitely need training (good training that is) but are not necessarily strong willed. My sister had a female Rottie and she had a wonderful temperament - not at all strong willed. I don't like labelling because you often 'get what you expect' as the saying goes. It's like with kids - they all have different temperaments but it's the upbringing that has more bearing on the end result. Your puppy is very cute - enjoy her - and never stop looking for more information!