Ziva has been with us for a few months now and she is a very good girl. I've been able to stop most of her minor food aggression, and she gets along very well with Wolf. However, when they are wrestling (which is most of the time), she can sometimes take it too far and begins to bite a little too hard (especially by the lip and cheek). She behaves as if she was removed from her litter too early, as in she doesn't really know when to stop, even when wolf yelps. Only when I stand up to intervene does she back off. I haven't been able to teach her bite restraint with other dogs. She's fine with me. I've tried distracting her briefly to calm her down, as well as stern no's. I'm wondering if an e collar would be beneficial. What are your thoughts?

Graham, do you spend a lot of time with other dogs? Like at dog parks? My husky mix girl is the same, came to us very young at 5.5 weeks old and she still does play rough, although my gsd rarely yelps, so for me it looks far worse. Other dogs, most when have had enough just ignore her. The only training I did with this is what you are currently doing. I did e-collar train her, however, I did not use the e-collar for this issue, main reason it would be so difficult to time it perfectly, because, you do not want to punish for playing or even to rough house, you want to punish for the excessive mouthing, very tricky in my mind to achieve proper moments. Now if you are experienced with an e-collar and or you have already used it with her, then a vibration or tone may work more favorably in breaking her focus.

I've actually never used an e collar, but my thoughts were the vibe/ tone would be beneficial. It's hard tell between normal rough play, but when it escalates you can hear when her breathing change (to snorting type noises), and she's vocal, but her growl intensifies. I'm thinking it's a dominance behavior. Wolf surprisingly doesn't yelp much for how big of baby he is, but he's too nice to put her in her place. Maybe I should let them learn on their own. At the dog park she doesn't really do it to other dogs, but can get possessive with objects such as sticks.m, so an e collar could help there as well. Mind you, these are pretty minor issues, but they still need to be corrected. She's only about a year, so still learning, and probably was not socialized much.

Personally, I would continue in the direction you are working on. Interrupt play, I also use the command "enough" which makes Miya focus on me and calm her down. I agree she is young, and was in rescue which means she has to unlearn some things and learn new things. Oddly enough, I have noticed that females tend to have a more dominate personality and probably will take more time to break old habits thru interruption and redirect focus somewhere else. You may want to look up the "place" command, that may be of help to you with her, it encourages the dog to learn calmness. If interested in the e-collar I would go to Lou Castle's site http://www.loucastle.com/ wealth of information on training using the e-collar. Also curious, do you feel and did the rescue feel she is all husky? Her muzzle in your avatar reminds me of a mix vs pure husky, and that may also play into her dominate behavior, Miya, my girl is mostly husky but also has some gsd and some smidge of another breed

I'm pretty certain that she is all husky, judging from her personality, coat, shape etc. I also have some paperwork from the previous including Akc registration (not that that means much). I agree, females seem to be more dominant in their behavior. She's also definitely grown since I got her.

Graham, I too have a pup who thinks anytime is play time and being true to the Husky breed only knows how to play rough - in the middle of the living room floor.

I tend to use two commands - one of which is overused - I use "easy" when I don't mind the play but I'd appreciate it if they'd leave the walls intact; I also use "enough" when it's time to stop. Avalanche is my instigator and when I say enough, he knows that it's mostly directed at him though Sky has been starting some play and is gradually learning that "enough" means enough!

I normally let mine play it out Graham. At first I was going to agree that yeah, the females are ruthless, haha, but when I watch mine play, they take turns being ruthless, seriously! It will normally be me that finally breaks it up (they do it on their own I'd say a good 80% of the time, but sometimes, I'VE had enough, haha) and I'll just say "enough" "let's go inside" or something to that affect. And they'll just stop, and follow me in and go to their water bowl. I think with more time, Wolf and Zeva getting more used to each other, it'll all calm down to a certain point.

I'd also agree that Ziva is fully husky. Id say if anything, her markings might give the illusion of a different muzzle (Renee's example) just cuz it can throw shadowing in and stuff, but I would never guess anything but husky for Ziva. Kohdi has those two lines that come down on each side of his muzzle, and even I will sometimes think it narrows the look of his face, but it's an illusion, he's got a fat husky face, LOLOL, I'm kidding, but he does have a husky face...cuz he's a husky!

Yep Jimmy you are spot on, the pic Graham posted with her on the bed I clearly seen the black faded lines that in the other pic made her muzzle look different to me They make a fantastic looking pair!

The "enough" command seems to be helping distract her when she starts getting wound up. The next little issue is; she has Picked me and I am hers. She gets a little possessive with me when I get home and Wolf is saying hi. She gets a little feisty and wants him to stay away. Nothing serious though, but I want to correct it. Any tips? I just push her away and ignore her when she does that. It also doesn't help that she has pent up energy from being in her kennel all day. I also have to remember that she's still a puppy.

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Graham, are they both crated? If so let Wolf out first greet him then let Ziva out and greet her. Yep she is a baby still so she will be overly enthusiastic. You can also employ sit and stay, working on a long stay, that will also help with future company, since I am envisioning her jumping up on you to say hi. Working on sense of calmness certainly helps. I did post up 2 articles for Amy in working with her Z'ev and I can repost here............. http://www.reboundhounds.org/place-command.html

http://sanityshome.blogspot.com/2010/01/sit-on-dog-aka-long-down.html Hope they can be of assistance to you.

I can't help you here, although I do think Renee's advice is good. When I get home, Mishka is SO happy, and she will greet me first while Kohdi just woo woo woo's from behind her. I let Mishka give me her big hug and kisses but I always pull Kohdi in and give him a big hug. Then Mishka will run into my room, jump up on my bed, and wait for me to go in there, and as soon as I do she's up in the air to give me a big hug from my level, and again, I pull Kohdi in to give him his loves. I try my best to make them both feel equal at all times.

When it comes to learning appropriate play styles, the best teachers are other dogs. My girl was also too rough as a pup. She lived with a submissive, old dog and learned that she could do as she pleased (even though we treated him as the alpha).  She began doggy daycare at 7 months age and quickly learned from other dogs how to greet, initiate play, and take no for an answer. She never could have learned those skills at home. If I were you, I'd find a daycare that focuses on behavior and groups dogs by play style. She'll blossom.