Laurie119
05-07-2007, 12:41 AM
Has decided that he should be the boss of the house, he left a nice little puncture wound in DH's thumb tonight, sooooo, we talked to a friend who stated that he needed to be removed from the furniture, start over with training and just make sure that he knows who is boss in the house.
Anyway, on to the rest of the story. I had shooed him off of the couch ooooohhhhh, about 10 times, then he decided he was going to climb up with DH, so he shooes him off. We heard a funny noise and looked, and he was laying in our suitcase, on top of the clothes. I guess he wanted something to lay on. So, I threw an old blanket on the floor and he is good to go......LMAO.
Miss B Hav'n
05-07-2007, 07:30 AM
Good luck -- and good for you for recongnizing the problem and working to rectify it. Dogs who don't know their place in the "pack" can be a hazard - and at best are a pain in the butt to live with.
In addition to not being allowed on the furniture, etc it can also help to have him see that he eats AFTER you (the Alpha in a pack always eats first - if he sees himself as eating before you he sees himself as being over you on the totem pole). This can be accomplished simply by pretending to eat some of what is in his bowl before you give it to him or feeding him directly after you eat your regular meal - just so he sees you eat first. Whatever you are doing you have to be seen as the "leader" - this includes YOU going out the door first when you go somewhere (even if only out to the yard). Again, it is all about setting things up in his mind so that the humans are the Alphas of his "pack".
Mindy
05-07-2007, 07:36 AM
My mom and stepdad had a similar situation with their dog, Maggie. Maggie saw my stepdad as the alpha male so she was very submissive towards him. My mom on the other hand, she kept trying to dominate. It took some time, but they got her to realize she wasn't going to run the house. Good luck!
FrothySilvette
05-07-2007, 08:42 AM
Yep - I agree with that!
Chihuahua's are dominant little squirts - if you're not dominant enough with them they'll wizz and nip you all over until they're out of the house (like my chihuahua found himself)
If you're too soft for too long they'll just puffpuffpuff and start to think they own the place.
Just grab him by the jowl and demand *no* whenever he does wrong - that'll mean more than shooing him off the furniture and stuff.
Cats are easily trained with a bottle of water - dogs are easily trained with firm *no's* and a jowl-hold.