Please don't take any criticisms I'm about to make personally. Take them objectively and in regards to the dogs, not the dog owners. :)
> 1) yes..(and the bed) frequently, although Mac, with his size and > abundance of fur gets hot pretty quickly and will retreat to the floor > where it's cooler. This can cause problems. Kind of blurs the line between humans and dogs. We have a 100% "four on the floor" rule with dogs. Beds, chairs, couches etc are for people. You may think it sounds mean, but trust me, the dogs don't see it that way. At first the dogs may whine but just stay consistent and they will forget about it altogether. Remember that dogs live in the moment. They don't think "I used to be able to go on the couch and now I can't. My owner is mean." Buy or make your dogs each a bed. Generally dogs love it when they have their own little spot. Also, you'll have a better sleep with a dogless bed. > 2) not often enough.. This will help a lot to enforce that they are all a pack and that you and your family are the leader. > 3) Protects his food, first one out the door (unless I'm going out with > them), bark and growl when either my wife or myself isn;t in the room, > were interpreting this as "Mom and Dad aren't here so I'm in charge". > 4) He will protect his food, though not from my wife and I, we can > simply walk up and take it from him You need to try and put a stop to this. Growling is the early warning system before attacking. You need to try to snap the dog out of that frame of mind altogether. It will require staying by the dogs during meal time and use the discipline method I described last time to try and break this habit. I don't know if you have kids but this is one of the biggest reasons to put a stop to this behavior. Children have no qualms about sticking their hand in a dogs food bowl while he eating. This could obviously have dire consequences. And don't only correct the dog that's growling, correct the dogs that are trying to get to his bowl too. It's a little harder to enforce behavior when they are in the yard alone, but if you hear/see any of your dogs posturing as alpha you need to get in there and remind them all that it's you. Correct the dogs, make them sit. Dogs can't be aggressive while they are sitting. With all of this it just takes a bit of dedication and a lot of consistency. Try to relate all your dogs behavior to how a pack would operate. With you of course being the alpha. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:281221 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
