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My puppy is a jerk!

2089 Views 4 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  kmes
Hallo Everyone,


Okay I said it - Coraline is a jerk. Not so much with people, though we are still working on personal space and bite inhibition (she is getting better a tiny bit every day).

but with other dogs- with other dogs she is jerkymcjerkerton. She is constantly snarky, constantly pushing, and it is very unbecoming.

She spends all her time running around taking things from other dogs. She doesn't play with it mind you. She just goes takes it away and drops it and moves on to taking whatever the other dog has! and then goes back to the first dog and takes their new thing away.

Also when it comes to food - we feed all the dogs separately in their crates (it makes life easier) however Cora spends the first 10 minutes of meal time lunging at the sides of her crate and barking/snarling at the other dogs before settling down enough to eat.

She will also growl and nip (quite hard) at the other dogs if she wants attention from a person and they are getting attention. She gets immediately corrected for that and is slowly learning she has to wait her turn.

Really I am just looking for opinions/ideas on how to tune down her general snark?


Now I am talking to some Borozi people and of course a couple of local trainers but I figure the more people to ask the more ideas I will get.
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Following this thread because Delilah's a bit of a jerk too. She likes to steal whatever Mia or Sophie has (food and toys) even if it's not something she wanted in the first place. Even "yucky" kale or lettuce that we give the bunny- Delilah hates it but she'll steal it from Sophie if she gets the opportunity. Right now I'm just trying to prevent her from having the opportunity to steal things.

One thing that's worked for me for giving Mia and Delilah treats and attention is saying "Mia's turn" and giving her a treat or a pet and then soon after saying "Delilah's turn" and giving her a treat or a pet. Delilah's learning that even if I do something nice for Mia it doesn't mean that I'm going to ignore her. At first I had to give them both a treat/attention at the same time and then I staggered it a bit, giving one a treat first and the other one immediately after and gradually increased the time in between (while saying whose turn it was). Delilah tried to steal Mia's treat a few times but I had her on a leash so I pulled her further away and had her sit and wait and then I rewarded her once she started focusing on me and stopped focusing on Mia. I don't know if this is a good solution but it's been working for me and now I'm able to train them together and bring them on hikes without Delilah trying to steal Mia's rewards.

We still have the stealing problem with toys though- things that are easier to take. Haha, the other day I was playing frisbee with my dad and the dogs were running back and forth trying to catch it and Mia caught it and Delilah wanted it so she yapped at her and Mia growled back and Delilah backed off and I was like, "Good for you, Mia, stick up for yourself." Mia usually lets Delilah take her stuff.
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I'm sorry, but this made me lol. Our little angel, Roscoe, has more than a few of his own jerk moments. He's a bit sassy and he's an instigator with our son's dog, Otis, who has recently moved back in with us. He'll be starting part-time doggy daycare soon to be exposed to some other dogs who will correct him gently, yet firmly (I hope). Otis doesn't correct much, and he's still a bit of a puppy himself, so they actually instigate and encourage each other's bad play behavior.
Yep, owner of a jerk as well, lol. Ember is handful sometimes for poor Riley. She ALWAYS wants whatever he has, always pushes in for attention when he is getting it, and will relentlessly pester him when she's in the mood to wrestle. The only thing she does do nicely is take treats... she knows that if Riley is getting a treat she gets one too and she waits very politely for hers.

We're working on redirecting the other behaviors. Curious on how others have approached.
Lol I have a couple jerks too.;)

I supervise/manage a lot of it and my crew gets along pretty peacefully, but no doubt wouldn't if not managed. It's honestly just become second nature and I rarely think much about it unless needing to a address a new issue...

For addressing stealing with my guys, I teach meal locations and to settle in specific places. Normally the only time they have valuable stuff is under direct supervision (crated or in separate locations w/o access to each other if unsupervised). When it comes to chews, I send them to their spots (previously trained), hand them out, and watch. I give bonus regards, especially early on, for staying settled. If anyone even thinks about getting up to steal I calmly redirect them right back to their place and chew. Oh! With new dogs I often use ex-pens, tethers, and tab lines to help manage this.

If being a brat and trying to steal a found item from another dog, maybe a stick or something, I normally just call the offender. Reward for the recall. Then redirect them to their own similar item.

For your mealtime issue, maybe try covering her crate to block the visual of the other dogs? If that doesn't work, I would then move to feeding her is a different room entirely.

For waiting turns, I play the name game with multiple dogs and a multiple dog settle (eventually switching between who is working/getting attention).
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