A Behavior Problem with Prince.. - Page 1

Well, it has been a while since I have posted much about Prince. Things have been relatively quiet. I am not pleased to have to submit this post, but I need some advice and I am looking for opinions . ..

Prince has developed the habit of rushing to the door when family members or guests walk towards the door to leave. He barks/growls and then when the door closes he jumps on the door with a vegence ...

I have noticed this as being a potentially dangerous behavior. He does not do this to me or my oldest daughter because we dicipline the behavior. My husband on the other hand thinks I cause the behavior by holding him back when people walk out to leave. So needless to say he does not disipline Prince for this behavior. When my husband walks out the door he lets Prince growl/bark and lunge at the door without addressing the behavior.

Anyway, tonight my husband walked out the door and when he was almost out the door Prince did his typical barging to the door and barking. However, Prince bit him in the butt as he closed the door behind him..No blood, but a bruise not that it makes a difference...

Needless to say I have a problem,,or had a problem that was not addressed properly from the start. My husband gave him a stiff correction and Prince DID NOT follow him to the door a second time.

I am not sure what is best way to handle this behavior??....

seems like Mr. Prince thinks everybody is the "leaving mail man".

clc29,,Thanks for the post..:)
GSDpack,,yeah,it appears that way..

How old is Prince now? 2 years/intact

How long has he been exhibiting this behavior? This particular behavior about 6 months

Was there a particular instance (that you can remember) that might have started it? When I go out he expects to go out too. I assumed it was his way of protesting about not being taken out. I assumed he behaved that way with visitors because he does not like people in the house.

Has the behavior escalated? Yes, it started with him getting alert when people would walk towards the door,,Then rushing and barging the door, then barking when you shut the door. Now he slams up against the door and barks  ( a biilgerent type bark),,today a bite..

Are you and your husband on the same page with Prince's training? No, my husband does not want to believe that Prince is aggressive. He thinks that I create the behavior. He says, "just let him go he will be fine "  I am glad it was my husband who got bit. Now, he might take the problem more serious...just sayin..

 

I see it as a pack order thing. Anyone higher in the pack than "you" is allowed to come and go as they please without permission. If he is not doing it tO you or your one daughter he knows that you are above him and that you do not need his permission to leave. In the same sense he views your husband and guests as lower in the pack and not allowed to come and go as they please. I vaguely recall some of the issues you had with Prince and various trainers last year. I do thi k he needs a firm and authoritative pack and needs to be taught that ALL two legged members are above him. For some dogs this takes firm negative corrections as opposed to a "clickers and cookies" approach. That seems clear to me as you said your husband firmly corrected Prince and Prince did not make a second attempt to rush the door. So that is how I see it. I am definitely no pro and the dogs I have now respond extremely well to positive reinforcement training so that is what I do, but I had one GS who was just a hot mess and the only thing that worked for him were strong negative corrections. Different dogs respond differently.

My Old male was the same. I couldn't give him a firm enough correction to get a change in behaviour. My husband could but no matter how hard I tried he just would.not.listen to me. We didn't have any aggression issues. He was just a very high energy dog with a ridiculous prey/play drive and deaf ears (LOL). He died just a couple months before he turned 9 in a tragic accident but he was every bit still an insane teenager at almost 9 years old. He never did chill out. He was not a beginner GS and I was a beginner GS owner. I look everywhere for a dog like him again but can't seem to find it.

My guy went thru that kind of behavior when he was 10 months or so... He'd charge anyone coming into the yard from the house, especially the other dogs.  It was him stretching his limits, and that ole testosterone kicking in.  He wanted (and still at times does with the other dogs) to prove that he was boss. 
   Training Him the Command LEAVE IT... to mean stop whatever you're doing, and being sure to enforce it 100% of the time got it under control.  He's a bold alpha working fellow, and sometimes needs a reminder to cool his jets.  During the worse of it he was barking as he charged, and I had a couple of very colorful bruises on my thigh, and the back of one arm...  Both times he got a hard correction, and then did a 10 minute time out in his crate with a blanket over it.  He was quite penitent over his behavior, and only needed a hard NO, to stop for  some time after. 
   The big problem that you have is that there's a conflict over the cause and correction for this behavior.  Unless he gets the same reaction from both of you he'll continue to have breaks of bad behavior because he will know that he can get away with it.  Good luck training your Husband.... LOL.

I can only give you an example of a dog from decades ago. He was a grumpy Springer Spaniel. Growling and moody but he was just that, a grumpy dog and he never bit nor tried to bite. He was a pain in the ass with the other dogs though including females. He was a house dog but he was a hunting dog not a breeding dog. We neutered him late at about 8 yrs of age and it made a big difference.

With Prince having what you said might be anal gland issues or possibly fistulas, I thought I read that they both were more common in intact males. Maybe it'll take care of both that and his aggression to a degree if you neutered him. 

Only going on one dog, the old grump but thought I'd mention it.