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Post by thatdarndragon on Mar 22, 2006 18:51:07 GMT -5
Hi. Just a little bit about me, my family and my dog so you know about me..
My family and I (me and parents) adopted a small mutt from the North Shore Animal League back in november. Right now he's about 7 months old, neutered. We arent entirely sure what he's a mix of, but he def has jack russell in him by his hyperness and his jumping habits.
Now, his aggression is generally around dinner time. My parents and I dont eat together at the table. They eat on the couch in the den, and i eat in my room alone. The dog (Rocco's the name) is always with my parents since he knows I never feed him people food, my parents does. He jumps on the couch, stand on my parent's legs, claw at them and sit within 2 feet from their dish. He does not go after the food.
But when I go in, and I go near my parent's food, he growls, barks and bites me. He'd even make an effort to run across the room to attack me if I take some food from my parents.
I believe its because he knows I dont feed him people food, but my parents feeds him the left overs, and he fears if I take the food, he wont get any, if that makes sense.
I am upset because my pup bites me when I dont even do anything to him. He and I get along great, we play, we snuggle, he doesnt mind it when I take his bone away from him (he loves to play with his treats with me), but when it comes to dinner time, I am his worse enemy.
I told my parents from the start to train him NOT to take people food, but like most parents, they dont listen to their kids (no offense to those who does..), and now they think I abuse him for him to act this way towards me alone, and that gets me more upset.
What should I do? I know my parents wont teach him, because this been going on for 2 weeks, they tell him "no" when they see him attack me, thats it, they never put in 100% effort into training him. Its pretty much up to me. How do I go about getting him to be friends and trust me with my parent's food?
I think I am even more upset over the fact that my parents dont seem to care. They're just like "I dont know why he does it" shrug and walk away, even when they see I am upset and in tears.
Thanks for listening and helping..
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Post by willow on Mar 23, 2006 9:41:49 GMT -5
Hi Dragon,
Your dogs problem is not that he is being fed "people food", his problem is your parents not diciplining him for his obnoxious behavior. He feels (and he is!) the Alpha in the pack and thinks he "owns" every thing in your house. That is why he "corrects" you when you come into the room where "his" food is.
I can't believe your parents are putting the dog before you, their child and allowing him to get away with biting you. Shame, shame on them.
Unless you can make your parents understand that he is a dog and should be treated like one, his behavior..which can be easily changed, will only continue and get worse.
Any food, including "people food", given to a dog like yours should be fed in the dogs food dish and he should not be allowed to "beg" for food.
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Post by Aussienot on Mar 24, 2006 1:13:55 GMT -5
Sorry to say you are in a tough situation. The "why" is simple, you are competition for food which he thinks is rightfully his. But 'why' is not the problem. The dog's behavior is thugish and ill manered and that is the problem. He is acting perfectly normally for a dog that is in charge, which is not the behavior you want in a pet dog.
The solution is to start Nothing in Life is Free for the little man, and show him through your actions and control of resources that you are above him in pack rank. However, I think everyone in the household will need to do NILIF, so until your parents realise his behavior is a problem the best idea I can think of is to convince them to put him in another room when they are eating until the dishes are cleared.
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Post by thatdarndragon on Mar 24, 2006 10:31:35 GMT -5
thanks guys. I forwarded this topic to my parents so they can read it. Hopefully it'll help them realize.
I think I sorta got through to my dog the other day. My dad was eating popcorn, when I went to get some, he glared and growled at me. When he went to bite me, I shook a bottle of pennies and he backed off. Then I went to get another handful of popcorn, he ran across the room to attack me, he jumped up and I kneed him in the chest since he jumped up at me, then he ran under a bed and refused to come out when I called for him. A little bit later, he did come out, and this time he did nothing when I went to get some popcorn. I hope that was a lesson.
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Post by sibemom on Mar 24, 2006 12:31:21 GMT -5
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Post by thatdarndragon on Mar 24, 2006 22:05:55 GMT -5
the dog isnt aggressive over his own dog food. He doesnt give a damned if I stick my hand in his bowl while he's eating or take the bowl away or tug his tail or whatever. Its just the people food he's aggressive over, so Im assuming North Shore didnt realize that bit.
and I think that kneeing in the chest helped because he did not snarl at me tonight. I'll keep ontop of him to be safe, do little tests in between.
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Post by willow on Mar 25, 2006 12:03:19 GMT -5
I am glad to hear you are making progress, but I am sure you will have to "remind" him from time to time that charging you to bite is a no-no, so if I may give a suggestion.
Rather than kneeing him when he exhibits an unwanted behavior (any unwanted behavior) say, "Shhhhhhhhht", while pointing at him, and go towards him until he backs off and gets out of your space. You are the Alpha and he is not allowed in your space in an aggressive manner.
This will work much better than kneeing him. There will not be the possibility of injuring him and he will not become afraid of getting close to you for fear you will knee him again. ;D
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Post by thatdarndragon on Mar 26, 2006 9:35:43 GMT -5
Yep, I had to remind him again last night. He would NOT GIVE UP last night! Literally, I felt like another dog getting into a fight. It went on for probably a good 20 seconds (which is a long time). I stamped my foot, said "no" firmly, scruffed him, shook my hand at him, pushed him off the couch, advanced on him, and even shook a bottle of pennies. He only stopped when he hit himself on the coffee table, and that wasnt my correcting him.
Shortly after when the food was all gone, he crawled into my lap and snuggled with me. Should I let him snuggle with me? I dont want him to think I am his enemy after such a fight. He and I get along great, except the food bit.
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Post by willow on Mar 26, 2006 10:43:58 GMT -5
Well, if you decide to become your dogs Alpha, you have to "fight to the finish" if it takes 20 minutes or however long it takes, to get him to submit to you, which he has not done yet.
When you "scruff him", you have to hold him down until he quits struggling, and lies calmly, then you release pressure on him, but he must lie there calmly until you tell him he can get up.
Any affection given to the dog should be on your terms, not his. By his coming and crawling into your lap, he is telling you he is still the Alpha, so if it were me, I would not let him do this, but then after a minute or so if he stays away, call him over to you and give him affection as a reward for coming to you.
A dog should only be given affection when they are calm and happy or have complied with some thing you asked them to do. Not when they want it.
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Post by Nicole on Mar 26, 2006 11:07:05 GMT -5
It may help a great deal if you didn't eat alone in your room. Can you eat your meal with your parents for a while. Eating alone tells the dog that you aren't really a significant pack member. I think you all should eat together and the dog should not be able to participate at all in the dining experience.
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Post by willow on Mar 26, 2006 11:40:47 GMT -5
Excellent point Nicki, and I totally agree. ;D
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Post by thatdarndragon on Mar 26, 2006 12:40:26 GMT -5
hmm.. as boring as it may be, i suppose I can try eating with them. I hate the shows they watch, lol. I'll bring a book!
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Post by willow on Mar 26, 2006 13:01:47 GMT -5
Ah, come on! You can suffer through a 20 minute meal with them. ;D My husband and I don't watch the same t.v. programs either, but we do eat together, in front of the t.v. . The dogs are in the room with us, but do not beg and when we get done, I give them a little bit of some thing I left for them to make ME happy. ;D
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Post by Richard on Mar 26, 2006 15:58:49 GMT -5
hmm.. as boring as it may be, i suppose I can try eating with them. I hate the shows they watch, lol. I'll bring a book! How about a dinner with everyone at the same table and no TV and the dog in a down/stay near the table?
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Post by Laura on Mar 27, 2006 0:39:24 GMT -5
Ann, NSAL is one of the biggest, most well funded shelters on the east coast with one of the WORST reputations , I am neither shocked nor surprised that they adopted a dog out that has issues (and I know damm well that they probably knew it too). See my update about the stabbed Siberian, and you'll see why I've got my knickers in a total twist at the moment . Anyho, Dragon, if you're anywhere in the northern NJ or western NY area, let me know, I'll give you a hand personally with the dog if you'd like. I can shoot you my info via PM through this board. But everyone here is right on the money, if this escalates and goes unchecked, you will have a very dangerous dog on your hands in no time, now is the time to work on obedience training and a behavior regimen that will put him on the bottom of the totem pole . The only thing that I'm going to disagree with is the Alpha scruffing, this dog is too new out of the shelter and you're not ready to attempt it without professional help. But definitely start him on NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) a behavior modification program that will help you and you're family regain control and leadership of the dog. Here is the link for NILIF dogden.proboards21.com/index.cgi?board=articles&action=display&thread=1079736429 .
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