Presexual Dominance

[Natashja]

I have recently started taking my 13.5 week old mini Poodle pup on walks around our local area (and before you say anything, there have been 0 cases of Parvo where I live).

While he’s 100% well behaved on the leash (stops and sits when told and heels without request rather than pull ahead), he tends to try and dominate any dog we meet on our walk! There’s an 8 year old entire male Rough Collie down the road, and my boy had managed to get the Collie on his back before sitting on his neck There’s also a 1 year old Standard Poodle x Lab (read: woolly, furry monster) bitch in the street and my boy has done the same thing to her. Both these dogs are at least 4 times the size of my pup. He has also "boxed" (pawed in the face) the two Mini Schnauzers across the road, growled at a long haired German Shepherd while on the opposite side of the street and tried to go after an adult Kelpie. Is this normal??!!!! My boy appears to play nicely at puppy preschool…

My neighbour reckons I have an alpha personality dog. Do you think she's correct? I expect that the sooner I start training to manage this, the better. What do you recommend?

[TURBOTERROR]

your pup is just testing the limits of the older dogs, if they dont like what the pup is doing . they will soon tell the pup off without hurting the pup.

Obedience training could help .

But i would really let the pup be , and really would 'nt intervere with it.

JMO

kelly

[t-time]

I'm with your friend and Austogo

Your pup DOES have a dominant personality and like Austo said, I'd leave the pup to its own (supervised) devices.

There will be an adult dog who will sort out the pup soon enough. Do allow this to happen (supervised). It is highly unlikely that your pup will get hurt as adults nearly always recognise a baby. I say nearly which is whay I say supervise....a friend's dominant dog which is also a placid dog, will be a good starter for your baby. My friend's have a bitch who is the leader of the pack - has just had pups of her own and has never been aggressive towards another dog - that's the kind of teacher your boy needs...

Obedience training will definitely help with all the other dogs around and the socialisation. I've noticed from other posts that you are training your pup anyway.

Although when you go to training, it may all seem simple as your pup already knows so many "tricks", do listen and pay attention as you want to be sure that his socialisation and dominance is also kept under control in the future.

Good luck

Edited to get Austogo's name right!

Edited April 24, 2006 by t-time

[Natashja]

The need for socialisation was one of the reasons why OH and I have decided to start walking him so soon. OH and I were just so surprised to see much larger dogs in our street allow Chomsky to make light work of them. Just goes to show that size isn't everything.

A friend has a 9 year old entire male Doberman that is very dominant and we've arranged a play date for tomorrow with the hope that the Dobe will give our boy a run for his money. I'll be surprised if this Dobe allows Chomsky to muck about too much.

You both mentioned obedience training. What should I be looking for? Chomsky won't finish puppy preschool for another couple of weeks... is there a class you could recommend that we take him to after that?

edited for spelling

Edited April 24, 2006 by Natashja

[Dol_sam]

I'd be looking for a local kennel club. There's a list on the RNSWCC website that will tell you the closest to you. Our local one is brilliant, only costs a pitance for each session and you can continue on forever if you want, moving up through the stages to trialling if you so desire. Just make sure you look for one that is using positive learning rather than the more old fashioned compulsion based learning.

Good luck with your pup's play date with the dobe!

[Natashja]

Thanks for the advice Osteosam. I've been able to find a dog training club that's affiliated with the Royal NSW Canine Council - they're called the Northern Suburbs Dog Training Club and are endorsed by my municipal council. The earliest we can get Chomsky in for classes is 20th May (2 weeks after his final vaccination).

Will let you know how it goes with the Dobe tomorrow!

[Muttaburra]

Little Chomsky is a legend in his own lunchtime

Read something in the training section about the 3 second introduction. Just a quick sniff of each other and move on. This works well for dogs getting the hang of socialisation. Remember, you are pack leader not him, so its your perogative to show agression to other animals not his, he should follow what you do, not insitigate agression.

An off lead play and romp is a different situation, since there pack order is being sorted amongst many.

[Natashja]

He's such a ballsy little bugger Abergavenny, I can't even begin to tell you. I have never met a pup quite like him (and I swear that there's no owner's bias in that statement).

I'll be more proactive about the dominance issue from now on. Until recently I had no idea that our boy was an alpha personality - he's always very submissive with OH and I, and does exactly what he's told when he's told to do it. I guess that's why we were so surprised to see him bail up the adult dogs in our street and even more surprised when we saw them comply.

Chomsky is not allowed off lead yet as I'm not confident of his recall outside the confines of our yard (and the local dog run is not completely fenced). Despite his seemingly accellerated learning, I reckon the distraction of other dogs would just be way too much for him.

3 second rule, here we come.

[Natashja]

I'd be looking for a local kennel club. There's a list on the RNSWCC website that will tell you the closest to you. Our local one is brilliant, only costs a pitance for each session and you can continue on forever if you want, moving up through the stages to trialling if you so desire. Just make sure you look for one that is using positive learning rather than the more old fashioned compulsion based learning.

Good luck with your pup's play date with the dobe!

The Dobe did what I'd hope he'd do - put Chomsky in his place. After the pack heirarchy was sorted out (with a lot of restraint from the Dobe) they played very nicely and very gently together. At one stage the Dobe even lay down and allowed Chomsky to climb all over him.

It was such a relief to see my boy being sensible and submissive after being told off. Am curious to see if he's the same when he meets the adult neighbourhood dogs at the off leash area tomorrow morning.