Hi everyone, As some of you may know, I have a 12 week old Labrador named, Felix, along with a family dog over a year old who is a Pom. Now, the problem is, these two just don't seem to get along. They've been together for a good month and things changed very much. I actually believe Felix is becoming more of the dominant one. He steals our pom's toys, sometimes he will even try to eat the Pom's food, and whenever we are having play or training sessions, Felix would interrupt and steal our attention away from the Pom. Everytime Felix sees our Pom, his first reaction is pouncing onto the Pom and biting & dragging him at his neck and tail causing the Pom to yelp and cry out frantically. He doesn't let the Pom up ever and he's actually mounted/humped the Pom once while on top and behind. Everytime the Pom is out of the crate to play, his first reaction is avoiding and running away from Felix. He wants to play sometimes, but Felix is always too rough. Felix has bit off some of our Pom's hair and has left some marks on his neck What advices can you guys give me to help fix Felix's problems & how to correctly socialize these two? I can tell our Pom wants to play with Felix but he's always too scared of Felix.
Re: Socializing our puppy Have you tried training Felix next to Poms crate and rewarding him for attention on you? You could also do some training with Pom and Felix in his crate and reward both of them for attention on you? Or you could put Felix on a house line which would make it easier for you to intervene prior to Felix leaping on the Pom? Just a few thoughts
Re: Socializing our puppy Felix's behaviour sounds perfectly normal lab puppy play to me. Everything you've described, I've seen with my two puppies. I'll see if I can address a couple of the issues. Feeding time - my two would always try to steal each other's food when they were eating. Perfectly normal doggy behaviour. I fed them a little bit apart to start off with, standing between them and blocking them from getting to each other's bowls if they tried. They learnt that they could only go and see what was in the other bowl when that puppy had finished with it. You could use a lead for this if you wanted, or just distract Felix. They learnt within only a couple of days that they had to wait and now eat right next to each other with no problems at all. Stealing toys - yup, toys are valuable, especially the one the other dog is playing with right now! I actually removed all toys when we first brought the second pup home, so there could be no guarding issues. I introduced them again slowly and as soon as there was any behaviour I didn't like, I'd take the toy away. Now, they're pretty good at playing nicely, although they still do a funny thing where one of them will go and grab a toy and wave it around in the other one's face in a "look what I've got and you haven't" sort of way. But, there are enough toys and enough attention to go around Training sessions - while you're training your pom, put Felix in the crate. Treat him regularly for being calm. Every time the pom gets a treat, he gets a treat. He should get the idea pretty soon that being calm is a good thing and eventually, you'll be able to have him out of the crate and settled on a bed while you're training the Pom. Help this with teaching an "on your bed" cue now and rewarding calm behaviour. Playing too rough - Felix needs to learn the boundaries, but if he's not learning this properly from the other dog, you need to step in. Whenever you feel that he's going in too hard, separate them. He'll get the idea. Humping is normal, too, don't worry about it, but try to distract him when he's doing it, because you don't want it to become a habit. I hope that helps a bit!
Re: Socializing our puppy Yes, I know this is very normal for puppies. It's just the Pom is my boyfriend's mom's dog :-\ & she does not like Felix's around the Pom. I don't know how they train or correct these two when they are together, especially, when I'm not home with them. I do know that they like to grab Felix by his mouth and hold it close. But he hates it. He gets scared, confused, & super defensive. He barks back at them and just goes right back to the Pom. I personally don't like doing that so I stay away from the mouth grabbing and closing method. Especially since it startles Felix as well. Not to mention, the Pom is a very fearful, over excited dog. He gets scared at every loud noise and yell even if it is not directed towards him.
Re: Socializing our puppy Is Felix your sole responsibility or a family dog? I would not tolerate anyone holding my dog's mouth closed like that, even if it is living under their roof. In those circumstances, I wouldn't leave him with them if I couldn't trust them not to behave in an acceptable manner to a small puppy. That method of "training" will only lead to bad things. If they want to keep the dogs apart, so be it. Put them in separate rooms so they can't interact but there is no need to be nasty to Felix - he's only doing what comes naturally. Given the chance and the correct handling, he'l learn very quickly to temper his excitement and behaviour around the other dog. By scaring him the way they are, they will only make the situation worse
Re: Socializing our puppy I agree that Felix sounds like a normal, boisterous young labrador. Separating the dogs, having Felix wear a short lead so he can be gently led away from trouble, and rewarding calm behaviour is the way to go. [quote author=amyrockss link=topic=9750.msg141136#msg141136 date=1422885716]I do know that they like to grab Felix by his mouth and hold it close. But he hates it. He gets scared, confused, & super defensive. [/quote] Oh dear, I'm not surprised poor Felix doesn't like that. I'd try to ban that if I were you, it's not good at all.
Re: Socializing our puppy Yes, I know I really do not like the mouth grabbing! I don't do it, EVER. His teething and puppy biting has gotten very good but even when it first started, I never ever grabbed his mouth. Now that I think about it, Felix rarely ever tries to bite me. Yes, he mouths me in terms of wanting to play but he's quite gentle with me. I'm able to allow him to nibble and mouth on my fingers and hands when he's calm. But I do see that he always mouths at the other family members. Especially, the ones who grabs him by his mouth :-\ And obviously that only leads to them wanting to grab his mouth more. Most of his time, training sessions, and grooming are done by me and my boyfriend. So I would say, both of us spend the most time with him. But, he is back at home with the Pomeranian and other family members when we are at work & school.
Re: Socializing our puppy Can you try to talk to them about it? Such frightening experiences are really to be avoided - so many dogs have issues around fear, and I truly believe a lot of it is to do with what some people think is a normal way to treat a dog. Lead jerks, scoldings, water jets, rattle cans....then they wonder why their dog barks at everything on his lead and is afraid of fireworks and loud noises, never making a connection to their own actions. I would expect a puppy who repeatedly had his mouth grabbed and held shut to start developing a fear about hands approaching his head. Which is not at all desirable...fear leads to defensive reactions and biting.
Re: Socializing our puppy Now that you've mentioned that, he does seem fearful of hands. Especially when a kid or person wants to pet him. His eyes would widen and he'll open his mouth to mouth at their hands. But once he realizes that they're just petting him, he relaxes and proceeds to sniff and lick their hands. Yesterday, was actually the first time that I've seen a family member grab his mouth. I don't know how often they do that, but I'm guessing it's quite often.
Re: Socializing our puppy If I were you, I'd have stern words with them about it. Print off some articles from the main site about positive reinforcement training methods, how and why they work. Hopefully they'll be receptive to learning a better way of doing things.
Re: Socializing our puppy Just sat everyone down and informed about the mouth grabbing! I will definitely share these information with them!
Re: Socializing our puppy snowbunny, can you give me a link to those articles please? I can't seem to find them.
Re: Socializing our puppy Here's a good one: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/dog-training-methods/ And here: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/training-treats-should-you-use-them/ Some information about clicker training: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/ten-great-reasons-to-start-clicker-training/ About dominance: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/is-your-labrador-in-charge/ And a kikopup video about dominance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIEjuu0STf4
Re: Socializing our puppy Also, all police dogs are trained using only positive reinforcement (with toys rather than treats http://www.btp.police.uk/about_us/our_people/dogs_unit/training.aspx As are Guide Dogs: https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/media/5581536/pw_dog_learning_theory.pdf And another page from the sister site of The Labrador Site: http://totallydogtraining.com/the-evidence-for-positive-reinforcement-training-for-dogs/
