drakka

Horsefeathers: being an alpha is not about having your dogs fear you. It's about the relationship with them, about their respect towards you...and I don't need to have my dogs perform fifty tricks to gain that respect. This is no way a mechanical thing, it doesn't depend on how many times they do 'sit' or 'down'. I'm not opposing in that we are often 'overnaturalizing' things, but in this particular case it serves its purpose very very much. We all have different goals with our dogs, mine is to have good companions who will obey me not because they're robots or because they know they'll get a treat afterwards, but because they want to, because they trust me and they trust my judgement. The link I put here belongs to a guy who is able to communicate with any dog just using his eyes and hand gestures and a few words. The dogs will follow him, away from their owners... I have a comparison with the 'classical' methods and this really suits me much better. But if you have any more questions, I suggest you send this guy an email, I'm sure he'll reply and explain everything into much more detail. Rotten_two: I have to admit it's hard to judge the situation from that brief description. I read the question once more and I realized there was really nothing about feeding, but about treats. That's a huge difference. I really suppose everything may settle down if Abbie's mom starts giving the treats first to her shi-tzu and then to the labrador. I don't really see it as a sign of food aggressiveness...

technically speaking, yes, the puppy is an it. On the contrary, it is of course my beloved baby girl and I usually refer to her as "she" :-) on the other hand I prefer to 'get down' to the dog level when communicating with her. It's more natural and definitely more efficient :-) Try it as well! :-)

horsefeathers: The logic is following-if I want to talk to Chinese and I know they have only limited ability (a very limited ability) to talk my language,while for me, Chinese isn't nearly as difficult, what do you think my choice will be? Yes, we can teach dogs understand some of our words, they will certainly be able to read our emotions, but they will always respond best to what's natural for them - their own language. If you've ever heard about Monty Roberts or Pat Parelli and what they do with horses, this is that kind of stuff but with dogs. Even though dogs have lived with us for thousands of years, they're still not like us - and our methods of communication are still quite different. Back to the problem - first, I wouldn't call an eight-month old dog aggressive just because it snaps on a fellow dog. Second, if I want to have one pack with all the dogs in and not two or more separate pack living under my roof, I cannot separate dogs during such an important activity as feeding or giving treats. This is something that would never ever happen in a natural pack. What I should do is correct the dog properly (in case of feeding) or give the treat first to the more dominant dog (may as well be the shi tzu) and then to the less dominant dog (in case of the treats - different from feeding!). If I respect natural hierarchy within the pack, there shouldn't be any problems with feeding or treat-giving.

why doing it in the human way when you can teach your dog much faster in the dog way? I have two big dogs myself, one of them is a 6-month old puppy and I can tell you there's a big difference between having your dog sit down and come to you. the first one is a command, the second one lagely depends on your dog - as long as it has a choice. At your puppy's age, however, it should still more or less follow you and stay close to you. If it doesn't, then there's a problem. Not a training problem or obedience problem, but a pack problem, a relationship problem. That's what you need to work on, there's plenty of time for starting with commands. Yes, my puppy has also been through the biting and nibbling phase. I'd say it'll partly pass and partly you need to show your puppy it's wrong to bite on people. A "no" is a good way, but it must be authoritative enough (but not yelling, calm but firm voice and show the emotions), however, as I really think it's much more efficient to talk to dogs in their own language, I press my puppy's mouth or growl at it when I want to show dissatisfaction. This is something their mother would do and they don't need to learn it as with human words... And by the way, if you're interested in the natural dog's behavior and communication, here's a link to my favorite site [url]http://psiskolafalco.web3.cz/index_en.htm[/url] good luck with your puppy! :-)

I'm afraid that separating dogs who live together during feeding and other activities will only make things worse. It's true, that an 8-month old shi tzu is an adolescent and that's why she's now trying to build her position within your family pack. It's true you should correct her in some way to enforce your alpha position, but not by separation or sending her away. If you're keen to know how dogs really communicate among themselves and if you want your shi tzu to really understand you, try this website [url]http://psiskolafalco.web3.cz/index_en.htm[/url] I sincerely recommend! :-)