Problems With My 5 Month Old Pups

[dannypark]

So, me and my brother bought two amstaffs in december last year.

My brother had planned to move back out once he got the dog, however problems arose and that wasn't an option.

We are having a lot of trouble training the dogs.

When we have food right, the dogs will sit, stay, stand, drop, come, wait, and go on command..but if there is no food they will not obey me at all. I can say "come jed" for two hours and he won't come, nor will gatsby.

Also, they know to go to the toilet in the bark area of my backyard, but whenever it rains they are too scared to venture into the rain and do it there, and instead they'll do it right where they are standing!

They are walking on a lead perfectly, but when they see another person or dog they start bounding on their leash and crying, any ways to stop this?

And finally, the vet told us to not stop them fighting unless it's really bad as they are just finding dominance. We now seperate them at eating time because a big fight (blood etc) always happens when we do. The other day at the dog park we were putting their leads back on and they were quite happy until suddenly they started fighitng, blood all up their necks and side, im scared of this happening with another dog? We have socialised these puppies sooooooooooo much to ensure that this wouldnt happen.

[SoL]

First off, they are 5 month old BABIES, so you would have to expect some cheekiness. Also, being 2 dogs together, you would have to expect one to egg another on in regards disobedience and also some tusselling regarding hierarchy.

However, I would like to know how much training you are putting into your dogs. Training one dog on its own is work, training 2 together is really hard. It needs to be every day, little and often, with rewards and praise where and when appropriate. Consistency is key. And I would train them seperately. If you give a dog a treat every time he comes when you call, pretty soon he will listen for you to call him. What I would do also is pick one thing to train at a time - don't overload them, keep it nice and simple to begin with. I would also take them to a training school and socialise them even more. If you can't trust them with leads off (and you yourself said that they are unreliable at coming back to you without food) then don't take the leads off and I definitely would not do that in a public area. If they are happy to fight to that extreme between each other, what would they be like with a strange dog?

I would also not feed the dogs together (put a decent space in between them) and change your vet. OK, Amstaffs and staffs were bred to have balls about them, but that doesn't mean it's acceptible for them to start fighting over dinner. Our boys started facing off to each other when they were about 2 yrs and even then, as now, we were on top of them and stopped the fight so 5 mnths IMO is way too young to accept that behaviour and it should never be encouraged (and the fact that your vet has condoned that kind of behaviour is quite boggling). They will sort out dominance in time and you will find that one is naturally more of a leader than the other. It's ok to let them play-rumble but you should know how quickly a game can become serious. What if somebody else's dog was at the end of those jaws? Always stop them when it's getting serious and separate them to cool off.

Look, I'm by no means an expert so it maybe a good idea to contact a good reputable trainer.

[Cosmolo]

You must get some training witha qualified reputable trainer sooner rather than later. All of the problems you mention can be resolved if you get on top of them but will escalate if you don't. Perhaps if you mention whereabouts you're located, we can recommend a good trainer for you.

[dannypark]

Ah thanks, I'm in Southern Brisbane (Logan)

[Staff'n'Toller]

Desex ASAP too - or Suprelorin Injection if they are both boys, it won't fix all the problems, but they are coming to an age where it will only go downhill from here (the fighting) if you don't remove the hormones.

Some dogs just can't eat together, my lot are very heavily supervised they all have their place to eat- but they would scuffle if there wasn't a human there.

Mel.