MuckyPug Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 I think he's displaying dominant behaviour towards me, I could be wrong but either way it's behaviour I don't like but he just won't listen to me. Here's a few of his 'habits'. - when he want to play, or even when he's sitting next to me he pushes his face (nose) against my thigh (if I'm sitting) or my calves if I'm walking, and pushes me. It's really irritating. - he jumps up on me, no matter how many times I tell him no he just keeps jumping. - he is bitey with my hands when he's playful, not hard bites, very playful, but I don't want him mouthing at all and it seems no matter how many times I say no he just doesn't listen. I suppose my questions is, why won't he listen to me? He doesn't do any of this to my husband. He just has to growl at Max and he knows to stop. He will do as I ask him when it comes to sitting for his dinner and waiting for me to give him his permission to eat, he sits when I ask, he rolls over, etc - but he has such terrible manners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 when he was tiny & cute ... did you have him on your lap? did you pat him when he came to you /patted you with his chubby paw? Did you play with him, using your hands (with or without a toy? ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Q Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 What Pers said. I don't really buy into the dominance theory, dogs do what works. If biting and nipping at you is something he finds fun or like a game then he will continue to do it. If jumping up gets your attention then it works. A lot of these sort of issues can be fixed through just ending the game, if he jumps up just turn your back and wait until he's calm, if he's biting and nipping just remove him or yourself from the situaion. Biting = end of game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzy82 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 No, he's not dominating you. Dogs don't dominate humans, 'dominate' is an intra-species term, and doesn't make sense at all for inter-species relationships. All the things you listed are bad habits. Nosing you while you sit or walk is affectionate in a sort of timid, insecure way. One of my dogs do it too. I ignore it. Jumping up is just because it's fun and he can reach higher up on your body when he does it. Ignoring (turning your back, leaving the room) works well. Mouthing is a puppy thing, it's good that a puppy mouths, means you can teach him bite inhibition. If he already knows it, just increase the criteria until he stops mouthing altogether for fear of hurting you. If he mouths during play, play time is over. If he mouths during cuddles, cuddles are over. Etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 perhaps try Nothing In Life Is Free click here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Sounds like a basic lack of manners to me. Show him how you'd like him to behave and reward that. Discourage what you don't want him to do by not rewarding that. Sometimes it can be as simple as ending a game when he's being rough or walking away when he jumps on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diva Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 They all sound like things that are within your control, but you need to change how you react to him and what you reward with attention - good or bad, it's all attention and of value to him. Whether it's dominance or not matters less than the fact that he is behaving towards you in ways you find rude and unacceptable, and he continues to do so because it works for him. You don't have your OH's strong body language and deep voice to deter him but NILIF, which pers linked to, will help set the right tone. You also need to remember that you are in control, he will respond to the boundaries you set if you are authentic and consistent about it. It's not just something he is doing to you, you have allowed the behaviour and are complicit in it, and you can fix it by changing how you react. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Point of interest - my 27.5kg entire male Dally won't do much at all for Mr TSD. I am not strong or loud but I am consistent and do a lot of positive reinforcement based training. Some good advice given. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 A question for you... If you were to ask Max what the word "no" means, what do you think he would tell you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzy82 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Nothing in life is free, or NILIF, is a good idea. Not only does it form good habits and manners, but it also builds confidence in the dog. Basically it teaches the dog to manipulate its environment to get what it wants, and in the process it does what the human wants, so it's win-win. My poodle x was a timid little thing when I got her, NILIF instantly built confidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 (edited) I'm not sure if you would call those behaviours 'Dominant'.....Dogs only do what is rewarding.....your dog wouldn't be doing any of those behaviours if they hadn't worked in the past and still work. when he want to play, or even when he's sitting next to me he pushes his face (nose) against my thigh (if I'm sitting) or my calves if I'm walking, and pushes me. It's really irritating. Try ignoring (not even looking) at any unsolicated attention and apply 100% NILIF. he jumps up on me, no matter how many times I tell him no he just keeps jumping. Dogs can get off on even the negative form of attention. When the dog jumps if you act like a dead tree until the moment the dog has all feet on the ground and then praise that can work, you could also clicker train for all 4 feet on the ground. Try and be pro-active to the problem rather than reactive. Recently with my pup she was jumping as pups do and she had figured out that everytime she jumped that I would stop and then I would ask her to Sit and then she would get a treat so she ended up jumping because it was a way to get me to stop and interact with her. he is bitey with my hands when he's playful, not hard bites, very playful, but I don't want him mouthing at all and it seems no matter how many times I say no he just doesn't listen. Have you tried redirecting the dog to a toy and then praising? Or you could simply stand up and walk away and seperate yourself from the dog, you could put the dog outside....there's a lot of methods depending on which you feel suits your training style. Edited April 28, 2011 by MEH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 when he want to play, or even when he's sitting next to me he pushes his face (nose) against my thigh (if I'm sitting) or my calves if I'm walking, and pushes me. It's really irritating. Try ignoring (not even looking) at any unsolicated attention and apply 100% NILIF. Don't forget to reward the heck out of anything he comes up with on his own that is to your liking. When Erik was a puppy he used to sit in front of me and bark bark bark for attention. I taught him "shh", but it really got a lot better much faster when he discovered sitting quietly in front of me and just watching my face got him the attention he so badly wanted. The one time he did it on his own for a second I pounced on it and gave him lots of cuddles and attention. I made sure I reinforced it every time until he was offering it more often than barking. Now his default way of asking for attention is to sit quietly in front of us and watch our faces. He takes it to extremes and cocks his head to the side every time you say something, make eye contact, move, or breathe. We are helpless to resist it. It's extremely cute and funny and not at all annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuckyPug Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Thanks you all. I think he has very bad manners. He's like a blinkin' teenager at the moment. Something he does is steal teddies from the kids room and plays with them (roughly!) so I sternly tell him no, take the toy and then send him outside (figure he can run his energy off out there) - he stands outside his doggy door looking in, barking at me! Okay, I'll take it all as attention seeking behaviour and only reward his good manners and ignore or redirect his bad. He's just 2. We got him from the pound at 10 months old so I'm not sure how he was played with as a pup. This place is a wealth of info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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