Hi all, Captain Jack is six months now, finally dropped a testicle and for the most part is doing good. I do have a few behaviour issues I would like help addressing.

Food. He is obsessed with it. If anything is left out and the door is open he will get it. He even got into the cupboard of dog food and helped himself. Is there anything we can do to stop this or simply prevention?

Another aspect about food, he used to sit down and wait nicely whilst we ate our food. Now he is starting to try nudging our trays, putting his paws on the table and climbing on chairs to get the food off our plates. We always correct him and make him sit again, and sometimes lock him out of the room with a baby gate. Is this him being a stubborn teen and trying his luck?

Another behaviour which has been bothering me is his occasional 'temper tantrums'. This is often when I am stopping him from doing something he wants to do; such as bark at the cat, chase the cat, bother our older dog or move him away. He'll bite my hand, or jump up and bite at my arms, nip my shoulders, stomach and jump on my back. He also occasionally does this on a walk, and hadn't done it to such an intensity that he did today. I have him on a halti and when he jumps I bring the halti up to force him to sit. Sometimes during this he'll grab his lead and thrash about with it. I feel like this is frustration but don't quite know how to tackle it. His bites aren't hard, but his nips do catch my skin.

He also sometimes does this if he wants his toy, and I've taken it off him. Usually to try to get him to calm down as  he gets overexcited and overly aroused.

I've been very busy lately with revising for my exams and have more free-time from Wednesday so will be walking him more regularly and for longer periods. I can't ride a bike/rollerblade and would be unsure doing that on our roads anyway. What I tend to do is take him down the park and kick a ball/throw a ball about to get him running back and forth. When he is bigger I am considering a backpack/ scooter-rig to run him with.

Another behaviour, is his obsession with chasing leaves. He has a huge prey drive, and looks very intently at other dogs, cats and birds. Leaves make him pull on a lead with no regard. Is this just a puppy thing and what can I do to make him calmer around such triggers (especially cats). He will chase our cats if they run, most of the time he barks at them but usually only if they growl at him first, swipe at him or if he is hyper.

So any tips on helping with training or general advice is appreciated. I have a feeling he may be starting to go through a teen phase as well. Other information I should probably write is that he is a very dominant dog. His ears are held high and erect, his tail over his back. He nudges and pushes you to play, even bringing you his toys. He has never play-bowed to me to get me to play.

I would like to know how to establish a good relationship out of respect and not dominance. I have read many things and the last thing I want his him reacting out of fear. I have grabbed him by the scruff, held his mouth closed and pushed him down; mostly out of fear and frustration on my part and I hate it. I want to do good for my dog and for myself.

OMG you have your hands full. Not that this helps, but makes me even more glad I got a year old dog and not a pup!

Getting into the food cupboard - you need to prevent that. My mom had an Old English sheepdog that broke out of his kennel one night and ate himself to death on most of a large bag of Eukanuba! Lock the food cupboard...

The leash behavior - I know it well  With Ami, it's him tired of the walk and wanting to play...I just stop, go still, and hold his leash on the traffic lead portion and wait. But Ami is older - puppy, I don't know if this will work.

Have you crate trained him?

Also, major exercise may help but others have commented on the 5 minutes walking per month of age so look into that. Definitely sounds like a pup that needs to be tired out.

I know all about the bites - I was lax this winter with Ami and thick clothing. Now I'm paying for it with multiple bruises (I have thin, steroid skin and can tear my skin just reaching into a cereal box  ) For the moment, when he starts to get hyper, I stand completely still and ignore him. Since he wants to play and interact, that is usually sufficient. And I try to time playtime after a 3-4 mile walk, not before.

You might designate a safe, secure place as "time out" and place him there when he acts up.

Good luck - other people here, I am sure, will chime in - hopefully those with more puppy experience thanI Gotta go - big boy just took of with the leenix box

We've sorted out the food cupboard by moving where the food is. He will still try stealing food from plates, so we have to keep an eye on him when eating. If he tries to jump up or puts his head on a tray I tell him to sit. He usually does after a minute or so. If he does it again he goes into the hall locked between baby gates so he can't nose around in the kitchen either.

Household behaviour is not much of a problem and is manageable, but the biting on the walks is getting worse. Perhaps it is because he is teething, perhaps it is because he is hitting a teenage phase?
He will jump up hit my with his nose and wind me, jump up and bite my arms, nip my back and if he doesn't get a reaction goes for my thighs. It's brining me to tears as I find it difficult to continue the walk and get him the exercise he needs. I've tried telling him no sternly (doesn't listen), tried directing him to a sit (doesn't work he jumps anyway), bringing my knee up (gets him more excited and he starts humping as well), standing on the lead, being a tree. Perhaps I haven changed the methods too much as I want a quick improvement as it is disheartening, not to mention embarrassing when a large dog jumps up on you and is visibly biting at you. He has caused so many rips in my clothing...

If you are up for a read, I cannot recommend this book highly enough! It has done so much for Diz and I, and I'm going up to Vermont at the end of this month to spend the weekend working with the author, and then going to a train the trainer retreat there in August. It can be a bit difficult to get used to his style of writing, but it is totally worth the effort. I just always felt like there was something missing from a lot of the traditional approaches to dog training. Positive only, seems to boil our dogs down to input/output machines and ignore basic drives, but dominance never made sense either because dogs are historically working partners, so assuming that every misbehavior is coming from an effort to dominate, doesn't compute.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/natural-dog-training-kevin-behan/1005496757?ean=9781257134069

Also, for what it's worth, Diz and Cap Jack seem to have very similar personalities. I have dealt with just about everything you described, especially the jumping up and biting out of frustration on walks. I didn't see his ears back until he was at least 9 or 10 months old. This book deals with where that frustration is building from, and how to work to channel it, how to use his prey drive to your advantage, and how to dissipate frustration/charge it so that he doesn't explode. He sounds like a very high drive dog, which could be a great thing if he's worked with properly, but could also be a disaster (btw my pups nick name is Dizaster), if it goes unacknowledged or suppressed.

You are describing some very familiar behaviors.

I've actually had considerable success in the kitchen by, first of all, no food or dirty dishes around when the big boy is in there (and only in there with me!) THen, he was still jumping up and sniffing and I read on the ASPCA site to use empty soda cans in a pyramid on the counters as a booby trap - I didn't have any cans so I very precarious leaned cookie sheets up - the first time he climbed up and knocked one over was a stictch  That big boy ran so fast with his hind end up under his snout as far away as he could get. Then hubby bought and drank some soda - used the cans, one bang, same run and now I just line cans up on the edge of the counter, stove and sink and he sniffs, but no paws or mouth up there  

As for jumping, nipping. This became a problem this spring for me when I was no longer wearing heavy clothing - and with steroid skin, I am bruised, torn and bleeding. Also, husband, son, son's fiance and little boy in the backyard and the jumping-nipping is a no-go. I read somewhere online (a lady oriental vet behavior person, can't remember her name) a way of training to come and sit. I adapted this, spent only 1 afternoon and he is much better now - I always keep treats on me (pockets or waist pack).

The training: let him roam. Keep treat in hand, elbows at waist, kibble in my fist, wrists crossed with arms against my chest. He doesn't get kibble until he sits. Poof. He sits. Advance to letting him run around - when he comes flying at me, my arms assume to above position - now has become sign language for sit. Then gets treat. This has progressed to now, when he comes flying around the yard at me, all I have to do is extend my hand out with the palm facing him and say a quiet "no" - he will come really close, do a flying leap but won't actually contact me. Thankfully, Ami appears to be an extraordinarily quick learner as long as I can communicate the behavior I want to elicit.

Another thing I have found - saying a loud "Ouch", loud no, trying to restrain him in the heat of excitement just generates more excitement. On walks, I used to have the same problem - I solved this by using the traffic lead part of his leash and holding him what I call "Close Hauled" (we sail) - I even use the term like a command, and if his really snakey, we just stop until he settles. You need to recognize over-excitement and become slower and softer, not reactive (I know, easy to say, much more difficult to practise  ) I suspect it helps that I use a prong collar - search prong collar and see my use of it)

I wish you luck, you have your hands full!

Thanks guys, I'll look into it all. He's a lovely dog most of the time, ears back and wags his tail when you come in or wake up. He's a daft bugger sometimes too and will roll over for a belly rub sometimes. He just has his moments.

CrownedWolf wrote:

Thanks guys, I'll look into it all. He's a lovely dog most of the time, ears back and wags his tail when you come in or wake up. He's a daft bugger sometimes too and will roll over for a belly rub sometimes. He just has his moments.

Sounds just like my boy  Who is a real love - just have to watch what over excites him and how to cool it down...