Nebo issues

[wolf_Q]

Nebo isn't quite as snotty as he was the last time I posted about him, but he still is. I know about trying to teach him who is the boss (we're still working on that...) but I'd like to know what to do the second he is doing the behavior.

For those who don't know, Nebo is a 2.5 month old male siberian husky.

Sometimes if I try to pick him up or grab him and he doesn't want me to, he'll try to get away, and also growl and bite at me. If I try to calm him down and restrain him, he just gets more upset at me. I've tried holding him belly up and looking him right in the eye. This makes him try to get away even more.

So what is best to do at that moment? Whenever he growls or bites at a person (besides play)? Do I just yell no? Grab the scruff of his neck? Ignore him and let him run away?

Sometimes I think he doesn't even like me. Today he wouldn't come to me at all. When he was under the deck I called and called very nicely, and he just sat and stared at me. So I then had to crawl halfway under the deck and he ran off. Before, he was starting to do his tricks (sit, shake, lay) often and without a treat. I've been trying lately and he just completely ignores me unless food is involved. I don't want him to hate me, but I can't just let him get away with everything without getting yelled at (I only do it if I catch him in the act)

He *is* kind of sick right now, which could be why he is so moody. And I'm not the only one he growls/bites at, he'll do it with anybody when he doesn't want them to grab/hold him. He really can be friendly and sweet, but only if he feels like it.

It's not as if he's lacking attention. He's inside most of the time, and he sleeps in a crate in my room at night. He's had to be on a leash all day today because Reggie was just neutered and I don't want him bugging him. But I was taking him for a walk with Lady every morning, but I'm waiting to start that back up when he's over his sickness and has had his 2nd shots. I take him and run with him at the church every night. He has tons of toys to play with.

Ugh, sorry I'm just getting frustrated again...I wish he'd at least *pretend* to like me lol....

[Aspen and Misty]

I knwo how that feels. Liveing in a family of 3 brothers and 1 sister it is impossbile to get Cheyw to like me! He acctauly lieks my sister better then me. . She takes him swiming all the time its liek a 15 min drive and well I can't drive. I take him rollerbladeing and spend alot of time with him btu liek if I liveh im fro a second to get adrink my mom yells at me to put him away when eh is unattended. I can't even leave the poor guy fro a second without him being put in his pen. I feel bad cause he is in there most of the day when I need to be doing other things cause my family will yell at me. Well I don't know if yuo are an only child but be glad there is no one to mess up your traing. I had chewy house trained (didn't pee in the house for a week!!) and my brother saw him pee in the house laughed and called Chewy to hi mand started to praise him cause he came. Well Chewy took it as o if I pee I get attention so he pees everywhere now. . When chewy runs away from me I turn my back and walk teh otehr way, he then is like hey your supossedto be payign attention to me andwill chase after me to get my attnetion again. I fidn that he now likes to be picked up. Chewy also bites when he wants to get defensive but we just say no and leave him alone, it bothers him so much when we aren't paying attention to him. I hope that helped I don't know if it did but o well. Good luck with Nebo (love the name) and give hi ma kiss for me.

Ash

[ChrisAK]

You have siberian puppy problems. Key word PUPPY. You are fustrated because he is a puppy. This is what puppies do. Don't expect them to be little dogs who are well disciplined....ain't going to happen anytime soon..... he's a puppy. He has at least another 3 months before things really get going mentally. PUPPIES also communicate with their mouths, they don't have hands. You need to learn to read your puppy as a puppy first.

Lets work on your first problem: Growling and snapping when you pick him up. If he doesn't want to be picked up, don't pick him up. He snaps, because he wants/needs space, or just wants to play he's a husky puppy. You can't punish him for YOUR doing. It's like having someone invade your personal space when you don't want them to. They don't know it and you would not normally snap at them for not knowing.

2d problem: Snapping & Growling at others outside of play. Right now, there is nothing but play. He is trying to establish his pecking order in the pack and this is how they do it. To begin getting a hold of this now, when he does this, grab him by the scruff, look him in the eyes, and command NO. Don't let him go for a few seconds. Then give him a toy and command something to the effect of "Good Chewy". When he comes to you all mouthy tell him to get his chewy (then give him his chewy), then praise "GOOD CHEWY".

When he gets older don't continue to allow this to happen. At about 6 months, this will require quick, strong discipline. If he growls, grab him by the scruff, look him in the eye and command NO. DO NOT ALLOW HIM TO TAKE HIS EYES OFF YOU. IF HE TURNS HIS HEAD, REPOSITION IT TO FACE YOU AND COMMAND NO. Then put him in a DOWN STAY and don't release him for a few minutes. He will probably slink away and hide, let him. He has been punished and he needs his time out to recover.

3d problem: FIX HIM. As soon as he gets all of his shots or at the next earliest time. This will elimate future problems of trying to reposition himself in the pack.


REMEMBER: ALL PRAISE SHOULD BE DONE IN HAPPY GOOFY TONES. This way they relate to actions being good.

Remember he is a working breed, gets bored real quick, and needs a firm ALPHA to keep him straight.

I hope this helps.

[Dixieland Dancer]

Amy, I hope Nebo is feeling better real soon.

My only addition to this conversation is to use positive reinforcement with this strong willed dominant little boy. He is showing you right now that he is dominant and as he matures it will get worse if you don't get it under control now.

The best way to do this is to teach him that you are the giver of all great things in his life. How can he not love you to pieces if you are the one who controls the good things in his life. Basically in order to get him to understand when he does something bad, he needs to know when he does something good.

Use the nothing in life is free approach. Make him work for everything he gets. Put his toys up where they are not readily available to him. Make him do a sit before he gets one. When he is done pick it back up so he realizes that if he wants it he is going to have to earn it. The same with his going out (provided he has accomplished house training). Make his sit before he goes out. Make sure you go out first. Never let him go out before you. This reinforces he is after you in the pack order. Again you need to do this with food. Use this one more thoroughly since eating is something he has to do (make sure his health issue is ok first). Only feed him AFTER you have eaten. Then offer him some of his kibble for doing a sit. Offer more for doing a down. When you feel he has done it satisfactorily give him the bowl. I work obedience before Dusty's meals for 10 minutes using his kibble and then what's left he gets. Right now you are working basics (sit, down, come) for his rewards. As he learns he will be required to offer more behaviors for his needs.

Try to stay away from the negative approaches to training. Alpha rolls (putting the dog on it's back and forcing him to look at you) is only effective in naturally submissive dogs. Doing it with a dominant dog can back fire on you by making the dog fear you. How would you like someone to hold you down on the ground and force you to look at them. I know I wouldn't like the person. I also don't like picking a dog up by the scruff of the neck and forcing it to look at you. A firm, authoritative NO is sufficient if the dog is building trust in you by realizing you are the giver of all great things in his life! I do a firm NO and give a look that my dogs realize means I am NOT happy. If the behavior continues, I put them in a down that is mandatory without reward or praise. This is only effective though if the dog understands down with rewards as being a great thing.

In short, you need to gain the dogs trust as an alpha who gives good things when pup earns them and doesn't when he is bad. Having a dog who will listen to you joyfully means having a dog that is not fearful of you. Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative!!! Don't be afraid to reward with treats at this point. He is only 2 1/2 months and food is a big thing in his life. When you start formal obedience classes you can learn to fade the food reward for desired behaviors but you are not there yet.

[wolf_Q]

Ash--I know how you feel. Somehow it seems that everyone else is always nice, and since I disipline him he thinks I'm mean or something. I'm not an only child, I have plenty of people to ruin his training, lol. Actually, its not really my brother or sister, mostly my parents. You'd have to know them, but they definitily don't believe in training dogs the same way as I do. And my dad has a problem with playing with him to make him growl, and playing tug-of-war which I keep telling him NOT to.

ChrisAK--I know he's a puppy...a rather large pain-in-the-butt one at that....I know he's not trained well yet or anything, but still....I've been around many puppies, and I haven't seen on as dominant as this little guy. I just want to stop it now before he gets big. If he growls at me when I pick him up (I HAVE to pick him up sometimes, when he needs to go outside or whatever) I've now been saying a stern "no" or "hey." If I don't get really upset, he doesn't seem to get any more upset. He IS going to get neutered as soon as that is possible. The Humane Society said they would neuter him at 4 months...isn't that a bit early?

Candy--I read your post yesterday, and today I tried to be more positive with him. You know, sometimes (like yesterday) I just get really frustrated with him, and I'm probably yelling too much. He's just real good at figuring out which strings of mine to pull lol. But he was nicer today, and we didn't have too many issues...except he peed in the house 4 times. I grabbed him, said "outside" firmly, then put him outside to finish his duty. I tried the ringing the bell thing. I thought he was really getting it at first, he's rang it a few times. Apparently he didn't feel like ringing it today.

I know he really needs the positive reinforcement, because when you are negative with him, he seems to get more angry or afraid. I do give him a lot of treats, he has quite the variety. I'm going to have to try putting all of his toys away inside. I still have to leave a few in his dog run, so when I have to leave him sometimes, he won't get *too* bored. I've been trying to make him sit before anything, such as getting his food and water...being let outside, etc.

Also now he's taken to biting at Reggie and Smokey. They won't leave his food alone. At first he didn't care, but today he was biting at Smokey if he even got NEAR it, even if Smokey wasn't going for the food. Their food is in an entirely different room, they KNOW where it is. I guess I'm just going to have to always feed him outside, away from them. I just hope he'll stop biting at them, they are old and grumpy, they can't take it. Most of the time he just wants to play, but when he bit Smokey today, it wasn't play.

I think my family is making me even more frustrated with him. If I try to talk to my mom about anything with him, she just tells me "Maybe you should sell him. You should have got a female. So-and-so told me to never get a male, they are always aggressive." When I told her today that I was going to enroll him in puppy kindergarten she said "Why are you doing that? You don't have the money for that! I thought you wanted to get rid of him. You should get a female." GRRR! I DON'T want to get rid of him. Maybe I should have gotten a female, but well, it's too late for that now. I'm not just going to sell him and get a new dog, I'm going to help the dog I have with his problems.

[Aspen and Misty]

Originally posted by wolf_Q
Ash--I know how you feel. Somehow it seems that everyone else is always nice, and since I disipline him he thinks I'm mean or something. I'm not an only child, I have plenty of people to ruin his training, lol. Actually, its not really my brother or sister, mostly my parents. You'd have to know them, but they definitily don't believe in training dogs the same way as I do. And my dad has a problem with playing with him to make him growl, and playing tug-of-war which I keep telling him NOT to.

Yea. I hate when people destroy everythign you have worked for. It really stinks!

[Dixieland Dancer]

Amy,
I have had both boy and girl dogs and they are both equally precious. I personally think the boys tend to be more lovey dovey. However they take a little longer to "get it" in training. Once they do though they are more willing to always give you what you want. The girls tend to get the "humph" attitude of I'll do it when I get ready. I guess that is why they are referred to as "bitches".

So far, I do not think you have expressed any concerns that are not normal puppy behaviors. They do tend to test your patience. Four months is not too early to have Nebo neutered. I recommend between 4 and 7 months to our new puppy owners. You want to do it before the hormones kick in. In females before their first heat. They come in season as early as 6 months but more common is around 9 months for the first heat. It has also been know to be as late as 18 months in some girls.

You are doing a great job. Just keep thinking positive and establishing yourself as the giver of all good things and you will see Nebo bond with you completely at around 6 months of age.

Puppy Kindergarten is excellent. If you find a class and need help in expenses, please let me know. I would be happy to help out if your parents won't help you out. This class is very important to his socialization of other animals and will have a lasting impact on him for the remainder of his life. We could consider it a down payment on the portrait of Dixie and Dusty you are planning on doing for me.

[wolf_Q]

Hi Candy, thanks for your advice on everything. You should start charging for it LOL. I was originally going to get a female, but well, I ended up with Nebo. I have to admit, I chose more for looks then personality (shh! don't tell!). We did look at quite a few pups, but really, Nebo and his brother were the 2 that I just couldn't stop thinking about. His parents were very calm and friendly too. My opinion was that either could be trained to be a good dog. We've had mostly male dogs, the female dogs we had were before I was even born. My mom seems to think that getting a female instead would be a "quick fix" for his aggressiveness. Apparently one of our neighbors has a sibe, and she talked to him--he went on about how he'd never get a male, and whatever, so now she's got that set in her mind. I think a female would have her own set of problems, and could also be aggressive. Out of the sibes we looked at, the females seemed more high strung and demanding of attention...as the males were more laid-back, which Nebo is sometimes, he's just also dominating.

The girls tend to get the "humph" attitude of I'll do it when I get ready. I guess that is why they are referred to as "bitches".

LOL at that.

I think I will get him neutered at 4 months then. The humane society will do it for around $47. I'm trying to convince my friend that she needs to have Lady (german shorthair) spayed soon...she's over 5 months old, so it's possible she could go into heat at 6 months. We've been joking at what german shorthair/siberian husky mix puppies would look like. LOL I don't think so.

Candy, that was so kind of you to offer that. You have to be one of the nicest people I have met, seriously. I did dig into my bank account today and enrolled him in the class. I think it will be good for the both of us. I think I need some human socialization too, lol, I'm too shy. Sorry I tend to boob about money alot. I was planning on getting a job at the beginning of the summer to earn up money to go to college in the fall. But well, I had the pancreatitis, and was in the hospital...sick...tons of tests...I really couldn't get a job at the time. I'm trying right now to get a job, the problem is, that I don't have much work experience, plus I'm young...there's too many others they want to hire. Heh. So now I'm not going to college this year, and I guess I'll attempt to be working instead. Ok sorry for the life story there. Anyway, I'd still love to do that portrait for you, but you can order it whenever you are ready. I'm just finishing up a portrait of a Briard, it's taken me forever...it was a freebie (charity)...I'll do those, but I tend to take my time more.