Dogs and Sibling Rivalry

My two dogs have been fine for years and all of a sudden they have become aggressive and possessive between each other.  I have heard this could be caused by sibling rivalry. I know I had this with my sister and brother, but can this happen with dogs?

The answer is "yes", dogs do have the ability to display sibling rivalry.  This might a simple snap and growl from time to time to a full out brawl almost every time they get close to each other.  The important thing is to try and correct this as soon as possible or you may have to rehouse one or both of your dogs.

Here are some tips that we have developed over the years:

• Keep your dogs separated until you are comfortable that they no longer act on aggressive tenancies or display dominance posturing.   
• Before you begin, you must clearly understand that the most important relationship that needs to be reestablished and strengthened is the relationship between you and each of your dogs.  Remember that sibling rivalry is often caused because the owner has not demonstrated enough leadership.
• Distance control is a very important exercise that you must practice with each dog on an individual basis.  Put the dog on a long lead and then throw something he will run after.  Gain his attention and have him come back to you.  If you cant easily get your dogs attention, give the lead a slight tug to get your dogs attention.  If you cant get their attention when they are going after a toy or bone, you will never get their attention if they start to go at each other.
• Sibling rivalry is also caused because one of the dogs feels that there has been a special alliance established between you and the other dog.  Make sure that you treat each dog equally. 
• Always have leashes on the dogs when they are together.  This will allow you and another family member to always be in control.  If you see too much staring or posturing between one or both of the dogs, redirect them back to you and have them do something on your terms.  A good idea is to have them sit in front of you and give you focus for a few moments.  After that, release them and continue to observe.
• If your dogs dont become aggressive when you are with them, always make sure that they are crated when you are gone.  As the leader, you can create any environment you wish.  You have decided that they are crated when you are gone and will take the opportunity for aggression away.  This helps to diminish the inappropriate behavior.
• As stated earlier, you need to build up respect between you and your dogs.  The term that I like to use is that you must be resolute.  Signs of respect that you should look for are:
• Head down
• ears back
• quick licking of the lips
• complete focus

The important thing here is to go slow and stay consistent.  Never put the dogs in a situation where you are not in complete control.  As the boss, you are in charge.  If you have more questions, please dont hesitate to contact your local Bark Buster Trainer at Great Dog Training in South Florida.

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Teaching My Dog to Come When Called

I am really frustrated with my dog.  Just as soon as I think I have trained him go come to me when I ask, he ignores me completely or I have to say it over and over again.  I must be missing something.  What am I doing wrong?

This is a common complaint that we hear many times when we visit our clients for the first time.  They think that their dog understands “come” if he comes to them a few times.  Now, when the dog is at the dog park or in the back yard, he completely ignores them.  The client normally gets mad and yells at the dog.

It is obvious that this method does not work.  In order to understand what will work, we have to understand how our dogs learn.  Dogs learn through repetition and consistency.  We could compare this to the same way we learned our times tables.  Every time we “flipped the card”, the same answer would be on the other side.  Eventually, we didn’t have to flip the card because we knew what was on the other side. 

To relate this to our dog’s training, we have to make sure that every time we give the command “come”, out dog will go to us.  With that said, let me explain, exactly, what you must do to assure that your dog understands and consistently obeys you when you tell him to “come”:

• Have your dog in the house with a six foot leash.  Make sure that you are in a calm and quiet environment.  Go down low and say “come” in your regular voice.  If your dog doesnt come, give the leash a slight tug.  Once your dog comes to you, praise him in a high voice and stand up.
• Leave the leash on your dog and just walk around the room without paying attention to him.  Next, go to the end of the leash, put your foot on it, stoop down, grab the leash, and tell your dog to “come”.
• Repeat the above process until your dog will always come without the need to give the leash a tug.
• Now, switch the six foot leash with a twenty foot training lead.  Use about ten feet of the lead and have the rest wrapped up.  Go down low and say “come” from ten feet in your regular voice.  If your dog doesnt come, give the lead a slight tug, repeating the tug until he comes to you. 
• Repeat the above step until you no longer have to tug on the lead to have your dog obey you.  Extend the training lead to fifteen feet and repeat the process.
• Extend the training lead to twenty feet and repeat the process.
• Now, take your dog to the back yard.  Repeat everything you have done above with both the six food leash and twenty foot training lead.

Now you have your dog consistently coming to you outside.  Since you arent tugging on the leash to get your dog to obey, it has now become unnecessary.

• Continue telling your dog to come to you, but do not hold the leash anymore. 
• Now, have someone unhook the leash from your dog and tell him to come.  He should come to you without the need of the leash.

What you have done is to program your dog in a consistent and repetitive manner.  You set the scene so that every time your dog heard “come”, he went to you.  You initially used the leash to assure the outcome.  As the programming took hold, the leash became superfluous and could be removed.  If you have any questions, we are always available at The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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