[bubbadog]

Hello,

I adopted my dog 8 months ago. His paperwork said he lived with all kinds of pets / kids with no problem. At the shelter, they said he was 'Assertive.'

I had him alone with my cat for most of the time until now. Now, we're staying at my friends house and some issues have come up that I am trying to work on.

The biggest issue I want to work on is that he likes to control the other pets. For example, if a cat scratches on the cat tree he wants to growl and go after the cat. If another dog is sniffing the floor looking for crumbs, he wants to go after the dog. If another dog is playing with a toy, same.

I've put him on leash for chasing the cats, and it seems to have helped a lot. He will start to chase and then turn around, or not chase at all - if he chases, he goes back on leash indoors.

Now I am thinking of keeping him on leash at all times, in and out, until he stops going after the other animals for doing things. If they're all calm, quiet, doing nothing - he's great - but if they're moving around and doing things he wants to stop them.

I am just wondering if the leash idea is good in this case and what to do if he's on leash and starts growling or trying to go after another dog / cat. I'm thinking right now he needs to be with me at all times (or, in the bedroom if I'm gone) - I'm just not sure how to correct his behavior when I catch it.

Also - he growls if he is touched / moved while he's relaxing. I've gotten him to be much better with me. I bug him a lot and he has gotten to the point where he tolerates it. He still has times when he growls, and I try to whisk him off the bed or dog bed asap when it happens. But, if he's on a bed and another dog wants on, he will growl.

And toys - he LOVES toys. When he was first here, he would growl like crazy over toys, especially tennis balls. So now I play a drop game with him and he's gotten much better dropping his toys with me. (Right now he doesn't have any because of the above behavior - but at night I let him have a tennis ball after dropping it 5 or 6 times nicely).

Thanks for any advice / ideas!

 

[Savvvylu]

Hello,

I adopted my dog 8 months ago. His paperwork said he lived with all kinds of pets / kids with no problem. At the shelter, they said he was 'Assertive.'

I had him alone with my cat for most of the time until now. Now, we're staying at my friends house and some issues have come up that I am trying to work on.

The biggest issue I want to work on is that he likes to control the other pets. For example, if a cat scratches on the cat tree he wants to growl and go after the cat. If another dog is sniffing the floor looking for crumbs, he wants to go after the dog. If another dog is playing with a toy, same.

I've put him on leash for chasing the cats, and it seems to have helped a lot. He will start to chase and then turn around, or not chase at all - if he chases, he goes back on leash indoors.

Now I am thinking of keeping him on leash at all times, in and out, until he stops going after the other animals for doing things. If they're all calm, quiet, doing nothing - he's great - but if they're moving around and doing things he wants to stop them.

I am just wondering if the leash idea is good in this case and what to do if he's on leash and starts growling or trying to go after another dog / cat. I'm thinking right now he needs to be with me at all times (or, in the bedroom if I'm gone) - I'm just not sure how to correct his behavior when I catch it.

Also - he growls if he is touched / moved while he's relaxing. I've gotten him to be much better with me. I bug him a lot and he has gotten to the point where he tolerates it. He still has times when he growls, and I try to whisk him off the bed or dog bed asap when it happens. But, if he's on a bed and another dog wants on, he will growl.

And toys - he LOVES toys. When he was first here, he would growl like crazy over toys, especially tennis balls. So now I play a drop game with him and he's gotten much better dropping his toys with me. (Right now he doesn't have any because of the above behavior - but at night I let him have a tennis ball after dropping it 5 or 6 times nicely).

Thanks for any advice / ideas!

I think you're doing everything right. I read that using a leash till a dog learns to behave especially in the house is recommended. Are you following the Nothing Is Free in Life approach? I do that with my bossy lab, it helps. No freedom with toys or food. She has to work for everything.

 

[Dawnben]

May be resource guarding. Read and see what you think.

http://www.dogforum.com/training-be...guarding-causes-prevention-modification-7511/

 

[BubbaDub]

Thank you both - and Another Question

Thank you - I will look into nilif. I've heard about it, but worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up and my dog would end up confused. Also, he definitely has resource guarding tendencies, in the beginning I couldn't take toys from him at all (now I can), and he is very defensive when eating (something I haven't worked on too much, but he eats alone in a separate room).

Anyway, I have another question. We live with several older, smaller dogs. One of them likes to play sometimes. It lasts for *maybe* a few minutes, and she's very contained (meaning, she plays in a very small area - she attacks the toys, but doesn't run around with them). My dog wants to go after her when she plays, and I don't know if he wants to play or if he's being aggressive (either way, it's way too rough for her).

What I have been doing is making him sit next to me, or hang out with me and ignore her. He usually barks and growls and tries going toward her - after a few tries of trying to get his attention on me, I put him in the bedroom.

Is it too much to ask of him to ignore others and let them play? I'm not sure if he's trying to join in or trying to take over (I think take over). He does get play time too, I take him to the park where he can play with other dogs and play fetch in a separate area.