A Behavior Problem with Prince.. - Page 7

Hi,,Thanks for the posts everyone,,

 Prince's door charging is no longer an issue at this time..I think my husbands initial correction and our consistency in correcting him for the behavior has taught him that it is unacceptable..

I have talked with Kelly and Jim about Prince's behavior. They continued to impress on me the importance of being consistent with my expectations of appropriate behavior. Kelly wanted me to come up for a weekend, but my schedule would not allow for it at that time..

Just to clarify, I am not afraid to step on Prince's foot..I stepped on his foot in the past and he got snarly..So I worked on desensitizing him by stepping on his foot intentionally..lol,,Now when I step on his foot he just looks at me..The rest of the family has stepped on his foot and he has not reacted. Sometimes you can tell he is thinking about becoming offended, but quickly changes his mind..If someone outside our family stepped on him he would probably react..I do think that Princes first initial reaction when experiencing pain is to retaliate..,,

I have spent countless hours reading and asking questions trying to figure him out,,lol,.. I think the longer I get to know Prince, if I had to guess I would say he has a sharp/shy temperament with a low threshold to become defensive...The shy part I am not 100% convinced about, but I can not explain his extreme dislike for people. He does not "appear to be shy/afraid of people, but I am not completely able to determine what the reasons are behind his aggression..

As far as him being stable??..IMO. I do think he is stable, but because he is so suspicious of people he is always looking for a problem to react to..If that is shy or a learned behavior I can not be sure,,,When he was sent for an 8 week training evaluation Kelly did not think he was unstable..

I have been contacted on a few occasions by people who have dogs that are siblings on the sires side..They tell me their dogs are very people aggressive too...But other then that they are quite happy in every other way,,,


 

I fully agree with the "nothing in life is free" world for a dog, even getting a drink of water.  Once a puppy comes into my home, for at least the 1st year, everything requires an obedience.  Depending on where they are at in their training, depends on what I ask of them.

From reading your other posts on this thread, I am thinking that this door issue was just the straw that broke.  It sounds like you still have an issue as a whole about who rules the home.

I too had to learn some hard lessons with my big guy Baron.  It took me lots of money and time, but now we are on the same page.  Do I trust him around kids and strangers, no.  How we deal with the situations is based on my terms now though.  Does Baron and I still have "discussions" on who rules? Yes, usually about once a year.  Once we are done "talking" there is no doubt in Baron's mind or my own who is 100% in charge.

IMHO, if he was a mentally stable dog, you wouldnt be having these issues with him.

I'm glad you were able to get this issue corrected!

Here are some suggestions on how I dealt with Baron.  PLEASE make sure you run them by your trainer before using them.  They know you, your home, and your dog.  They will know if any of these will work.

1.  Change you before you change Prince.  
            You love the dog.  Nothing you will do (unless you have an evil side) will permanently hurt him.
            Get it out of your mind that you have to be stronger than he is to control him.  My drama queen puppy is proof.  She is the smallest of the litter by at least 10 lbs.  She is always on top and she takes nothing from any other puppy.  It is all about the mind and how you perceive yourself.
            Prince will never stop loving you.  Even the most cruelly treated dog will come back to its "leader." That is what makes dogs "man's best friend."
            Be selfish when it comes to Prince.  Make it all about you.  He eats what YOU want him to.  He sits where YOU want him to.  He greets who YOU want him to.   He goes to the bathroom where YOU want him to.  He ignores what YOU want him to.  
            YOUR house, YOUR yard, YOUR family, YOUR world.  None of this belongs to Prince.

2.  Read #1 3 times a day until you live, eat, and breath the mind set.
3.  Once you have above, now you can move on to making Prince everything you dreamed of.
            1.  Nothing in life is free.  Make him earn everything, including getting a drink of water.  You may have to go to this extreme for a year or more or even forever.  This is not cruel, this is life.  You are a good leader; you will make the best decisions for Prince, not Prince.
                 The command can be as simple as going into a Sit/Stay while you set the pan of water down.  For when you are at work, you can make Prince work for his water too.  Get a "lick" bottle; I am not sure the correct name.  It is sometimes used for rabbits.  Put the bottle in the position that Prince has to go to a down position to get to it.  There is his "earn;" he went into a relaxed down position before he could get a drink.
                 Make Prince earn it before you to touch him.  Easy enough: always have him sit before you touch him.  This needs to be for any reason you touch him.
                 Make him earn getting to lay down.  This is the hardest, especially if you work out of the home.  Nothing you can do there (not that I have figured out anyway).  When you are home though, you give him the command to go lay down.  As soon as you see him lay down, make him come to you.  Walk him around the room a couple of times, the tell him to lay down.
             2.  Leash, Leash, Leash.  The leash is now part of his collar (when you are at home).  This will help you to always be in control.  Eventually you can take this away.  I would keep it there at least 6 months though.
             3.  Crate or small room.  He does not get free roam anywhere, inside or out.  If he is not with you, he is in the crate or small room.  Use common sense here.  If you are going to be gone for hours, don't leave him in the crate.  If he is an outside dog, make his yard/kennel small.  Just enough room for dog house, potty area, and him to stretch out on the ground.  
             4.   NO bones, NO toys.  Again, not cruel.  He is old enough that he does not need consistent entertainment.  When you are home, you can give him these things.  You control when he gets them AND you control when you take them away.  In the beginning, do lots of "here, you can have"; then 5 minutes later, you take them back.  This is not cruel; you are not teasing him.  You are simply controlling his world.  Do not give him bones he can chew up before you can take them back; that can come later.

This method will take time.  Plan at least a year.  You might not ever be able to 100% trust him, but that can be workable.  Do not set him up for failure. 

If you do not trust him around children, do not let him around children.  He is still your beloved dog. 

If you do not trust him around your guests, do not bring him around them.  The guest have no need to see "how well Prince is doing."  This is the price you will have to pay to have allowed this situation.  Neither you, Price, or your guest will be harmed by not having this exposure.

Fawndallas,,Thank you for the lengthy post. I appreciate the time you took to communicate your thoughts and ideas,,,I will consider how I might incorporate these into my handling of Prince.


 vomtreuenhaus,,Your point is well taken...

For the love of God, do NOT put an e-collar on him until/unless you see me, please. What a thing to tell someone.

I should have taken video of Prince working with me as I intended do before he went home, as proof of what he is capable of, but Deanna, you know what you saw. You know how he can behave. You saw the way he behaved at the kennel, in your home with me there, and the pet stores we took him out to with me present. His age, however, means that window of resolution we discussed is closing rapidly, and the window to get some time with me is closing just as fast. For the record, he is not shy. He also does not have a low threshold for pressure, in fact, quite the opposite.

For those wondering- in a matter of a few weeks, I could (and did) take Prince anywhere, he came to my house on my days off, and behaved beautifully with my dogs, and my family. I could have him sit politely and have anyone pet him. He was not aggressive in my yard when people would walk by. He could work off lead in any training class and calmly ignore all dogs and people in the room. It was not easy. He did challenge me and I had to back him down, but once I earned his respect we were fast friends. He does not dislike people, he likes bullying them.

I think those who give training advice to novices on this and other boards should think long and hard about it. I know you mean well. Keep in mind you are trusting an owner's take on what/why something is happening, which is often off base by at least a little, and often a lot. You base your advice on what the owner *thinks* they see. Then they take what they *think* your advice means, and apply it in a way they *think* is right. The advice Deanna got with this dog the first time around was horrendous, and it led to her being afraid of what her dog was, and a fearful handler is destined to fail. Between the PDB and the godawful excuse for a trainer she had in her first class, I had to cajole her just to get him out the truck when I met him.

Aggression should never, never be advised on sight unseen.

Kelly,,I would never incorporate anything without consulting you first! ..

I do remember not wanting to take him out of the truck! I was certain he was going to hurt you! Instead, within 2 minutes he licked you and allowed you to lead him away...I get choked up just thinking about it..

Thanks for your input here on this thread. :)

VonIsengard and Ruger1. 

Great post Von Isengard.

Between the PDB and the godawful excuse for a trainer she had in her first class, I had to cajole her just to get him out the truck when I met him.

I do remember not wanting to take him out of the truck! I was certain he was going to hurt you! Instead, within 2 minutes he licked you and allowed you to lead him away...I get choked up just thinking about it..

There should be a word for this, the sudden fear that your dog is a doomed, genetic aberation, known as maneater, because of a combination of newbieness, paranoia and all around bad advice.