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Post by DMVKCM on Dec 13, 2004 18:47:50 GMT -5
I have a pair of male littermate labradors that are about twelve weeks old. The problem I'm having lately is that the alpha male tends to growl and snap at my youngest two daughters when picked up or when playing and he's not winning at playtime. My vet has told me to be worried, but the trainer he uses says its normal. We've tried the stern "NO" with the youngest kids and he still growls. With any adults or my oldes two kids, he pretty much obeys. Any help would be great!
thanks, Don
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Post by Rowan on Dec 14, 2004 3:45:29 GMT -5
What comes after NO? The reason I ask is your right to direct the behavior to stop but what are you doing to teach the dog what to do instead, how should he interact with them?
As the adult one option is you sitting down just like a training session for any other ob session with the pup and your child and be right there to define the pups behavior in common interaction to a child. Child has the ball, the pup is pushy goes to jump up on the child to take the ball, you step in inforce the pup to wait, put him in a sit and he learns how this game is played by the behaviors you set for him. And that goes for any behaviors that are not acceptable. Set a goal of what you want, set up training for the pup to learn specific interaction skills, boundries ect....and be there to enforce them during learning so the pup has something else to apply in real life situations.
The child also has to learn during this pups learning stage not to induce situations that the pup is unable to handle at this time. That will only set your training back before it has a chance to benifit the pup. It's not an easy situation your are working with two very spontanious unpredictable factors in the environment to keep control of, kids and pups lol
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Post by Laura on Dec 14, 2004 14:18:45 GMT -5
The first thing that I have to ask is, why did you get littermates? Raising one puppy is difficult enough, two pups are extremely hard, and littermates are almost impossible. I never recommend people get littermates for the fact that unless you can separate them for the first 6 to 8 months of their lives, they will bond very tightly to each other and not to you. And that means separate crates, separate training, separate rooms. Your best bet is to rehome one of the pups unless you're willing to put in the massive amounts of time required to pull this off.
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Post by Rowan on Dec 14, 2004 21:55:49 GMT -5
Laura is very right about time consuming ..., you have to train each individual as well as train them as a team. 10 of my GSD's are groups of litter mates smallest is 2 from the same litter, one is 3 of the same litter and the other is 4 from the same litter. I am one for being very strict with my goals for a household, it's my way only and I don't accept anything that falls short of it, I keep account they are pups and conduct my training and my environment at a level that is productive to learning and building a positive strong relationship for a life time. I have never had to use bullie tactics, all I have ever had to do is take the time to show them what I want. Everyone of my groups had needed their own space as individuals somewhere around 11/2 years of age for 2 or 3 months then being able to bring them back into the group a functioning member. It can seem like alot of work but when you set your mind and awareness to do something it becomes second hat to just the way you live. so yes time given and awarness to help them is a strong point of accomplishing this.
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Post by Aussienot on Dec 15, 2004 0:18:29 GMT -5
Puppy mouthing is very normal , very fixable, and not a sign of aggression. I'd like to ask more about the context of the growling as that's concerning me just a little.
What's happening when the growling occurs?
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