Bad days with dogs!

[Lisa/Colin]

We all have bad days with our canine friends, last week I was in despair, thinking that I had bitten off more than I could chew with an adolescent Great Dane.

Hektors latest few tricks are jumping at me (only me so far, thankfully). As he is now eye to eye with me (and I'm not far off 6 ft) its a bit of a worry.
He's also chewing and pulling at his lead which kinda defeats the purpose of having a Halti.
I'm needing to get him back out on the walks with other dogs as he gets really focused on other dogs when we are out and starts pulling all over the place, he's needing Kaiser, Basil or Diesel to put him in his place.
Another concern is the way he is treating old Ollie. He's REALLY rough with him, biting him all over the place, its getting so they cant be out in the garden together.

His neck is almost healed so hope to get back to class on Sunday.

Any suggestions/help gratefully received!

[Lorna]

Get him on a prong collar.
He will chew the other dog. If you keep chastising him for it you can break what is a bl***dy puppy Dane play habit. He probably won't do it to Kaiser and co. Poppy only does it to Basil.
Remember how calm Basil is and think about a wee while down the road.
Sympathetic hugs.
_________________
Regards,
Lorna, Basil & Poppy
Great Danes are not substitute children. They are much more important than that!

[Lisa/Colin]

Thanks Lorna
I dont want to curb his wonderful puppy behaviour really, I just feel really sorry for Old Ollie. I wish I'd got Hektor 2 or 3 years ago when Ollie would have been more able for him (hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it?!).

Am planning to go to class on Sunday, hopefully John still has Hektors prong and his neck will be healed by then.

I'll just keep thinking about big Basil, if Hektor is half the dog that Basil is I will be content

[marcella]

Lisa, Hector's prong is here, we've been taking it everywhere with us just in case you're at the glen or come up to class to get it!!!!!

As soon as he's out walking with the others and back at classes I'm sure he'll start to calm a bit. Just a big adolescent with tons of energy!!!!!

[Suzanne H]

I think you just take one step forward and two back with them at this age - specially big boys with big energy.

We noticed a deterioration in behaviour, particularly off lead, in recent weeks and it was disheartening, but he's just pushing his luck and his confidence is high in most situations now - i know he knows how to behave.

But it was mostly our fault - the pack order and exercise wasn't good enough as we'd been busy doing up my old flat to sell. We went back to basics, including the long line, and he behaved better.

It's hard not to despair though!!! Try having a human version in the house at the same time!!

[Lisa/Colin]

[StuartW]

Lisa, I just realised that I think I passed you and Hektor in the glen today.. sorry I didn't know who you were

[Suzanne H]

[Suzanne H]

I was rumbled at twice this weekend: once for removing Otto from our bed and once from the Teenager's. He was dragged off and told off.

Now he doesn't get on our bed or on the sofa, so I was wondering why does he think he can and why's he thinking he can stay there. He also chewed my bra to bits at some unknown point.

Normally he's very good and we do NILF - but he has been at it recently and it directly corresponds to the time the Teenager has been out of work.

Didn't take long to work out - my stepson's way of "keeping an eye on the dog" is to let him lie on his bed while he sleeps or is on the computer, he doesn't always monitor what he's up to and he plays too rough with him - and being a bit of a social climber, Otto's already dismissed him and targeted me.

So have printed off the pack leader stuff on the forum, and will have to train the Teenager...but if he's targeting me, I think we probably all need a wee reminder of the rules.

How do you train a Teenager though. Think we get suckered in by good behaviour and back off and the Dog/Teenager aren't grateful. Same rules apply, all the time methinks.

[Lisa/Colin]