Beahvior probs with Keno....

[Kenosmom]

Behavior probs with Keno....

Keno will be 6 mos old on the 18th of this month..at first he was only growling and snapping at our Jack Russell (every once in awhile--usually over food or bones) but now he's starting to do the same thing to us...if we need him to move from a spot and he's not minding and we try to move him ourselves he will growl and even snap at us...he's almost gotten my husband in the face a couple of times...I am so scared that he might bite one of our skin kids...he has even snapped at my son once when he was trying to move him out of his room and shut the door..we've been working on showing him that WE are the boss and he is the dog..can it be that he is feeling like he is in control and that's why he's behaving like that?
..when he acts like that we firmly tell him "NO bite"...what else should we be doing? and would obedience training do any good with this type of behavior ?
Plz tell me what we can do to get Keno to stop behaving like this...he's really scaring me ! :(

Thanks!

 

[lafsalot]

Your furbaby is at that age where they tend to challenge authority. Here is a site that has a lot of helpful advice: http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/nilif.htm ~ Cathy

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

You have not established yourself as leader of the pack in the dog's eyes and is therefore beginning to feel his Power and use it. I suggest you get a copy of "The Dog Listener" and/or "How to be Leader of the Pack and Have Your Dog Love You For It" as soon as possible and put an end to this behavior ASAP

 

[Jade010103]

My Jade acted like that when she was younger when it came to moving her off the couch so we could sit or moving her in our bed. She wouldn't move and when I would physically try to move her she'd growl and snap. My trainer told me that she was thinking that these places were hers and she wasn't willing to share so we needed to remind her that she's only allowed up if invited. We started by not allowing her on these places for awhile and then when she was allowed back up we would call her down right away with a treat and if she got down she could go back up if she wanted. After doing this for awhile she began to learn that she can be on the couch or bed but if we tell her to move or get down she'll get up and she knows that after we sit where she was then she can come back up and get comfortable again. She's so funny now cuz she'll sometimes look at us like 'are you serious, do I really have to move' and after telling her 'yes you have to move' she gets up slowly and gets down. It took some time for her to learn that these spots were mostly for us human but she eventually understood that she's not always getting kicked out of her comfortable place and when she does she usually gets to come back up and be comfortable again. Good luck, I know it can be scary when they act like that, you just have to keep letting them know that you're the boss.

 

[Kenosmom]

My Jade acted like that when she was younger when it came to moving her off the couch so we could sit or moving her in our bed. She wouldn't move and when I would physically try to move her she'd growl and snap. My trainer told me that she was thinking that these places were hers and she wasn't willing to share so we needed to remind her that she's only allowed up if invited. We started by not allowing her on these places for awhile and then when she was allowed back up we would call her down right away with a treat and if she got down she could go back up if she wanted. After doing this for awhile she began to learn that she can be on the couch or bed but if we tell her to move or get down she'll get up and she knows that after we sit where she was then she can come back up and get comfortable again. She's so funny now cuz she'll sometimes look at us like 'are you serious, do I really have to move' and after telling her 'yes you have to move' she gets up slowly and gets down. It took some time for her to learn that these spots were mostly for us human but she eventually understood that she's not always getting kicked out of her comfortable place and when she does she usually gets to come back up and be comfortable again. Good luck, I know it can be scary when they act like that, you just have to keep letting them know that you're the boss.

We do use treats to get him down off the furniture, but so far he isn't learning to just get down when he's told to...he still looks at us like "uh, I don't think so, this is MY chair" and then he growls and snaps when we proceed to move him ourselves....now he's even doing it if we do anything he doesn't like (like nail clipping,etc)...
I'm going to read the books that Tulsa-Dan suggested and hopefully we can get ourselves established as the leaders of the pack to Keno...I know we've really spoiled him (me especially since I'm the one who spends the most time with him) so I take full responsibility for him behaving like he does sometimes...geesh, it's just so hard NOT to spoil them, ya know!?!! :rolleyes:

 

[kassa]

Obedience training absolutely will help. What you need to establish is exactly who is in charge in your house. Dogs generally don't care, so logn as SOMEBODY is. If they think nobody is, they will step up. It sounds like Keno has decided this job is his, and now is the time to REMOVE that idea.

A good trainer will help you in addition to the books recommended. You don't need to be harsh with the dog, but you DO need to become strict, so that all good things (food, treats, toys, privileges like being on the furniture) come from you and you alone. There are various approaches to this, but the famous one is NILIF - Nothing in Life is Free.

However, the best thing is to get a good trainer and formal guidance in instituting your new way of interacting with your dog. That means no pet supply store classes, but someone with extensive experience training dogs (a training club is a good place to start, or ask your vet).

Neutering is very important if that hasn't been done yet.

At 6 months, this is fixable. In another 6-8 months, it might not be. Deal with it now. You won't regret it.

 

[Jade010103]

However, the best thing is to get a good trainer and formal guidance in instituting your new way of interacting with your dog. That means no pet supply store classes, but someone with extensive experience training dogs (a training club is a good place to start, or ask your vet).

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with this statement about pet store trainers, I brought my Jade to PetSmart for training and she had a VERY knowledgable trainer, she constantly went to seminars for dog training and has trained dogs for a very long time. She always had great advice for problems that people had and most of the time her suggestions helped. I wouldn't have traded my pet store trainer for nothing. Granted I'm sure that there are plenty out there that aren't nearly as good as the one my Jade had but I just had to let it known that even at Petsmart you can find a good trainer, you just need to ask them alot of questions to see how knowledgable they really are and how much training themselves they've had.