11 mth old jack russlle
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11 mth old jack russlle
our 11 mth old male jack russlle has started to be aggressive towards our 2 yrs old black female lab when he is sitting on someones lap .When the lab walks in the room ,he goes for her ..She does not seem to put him in place ,so I call him out of that room and put him in his bed , I'm I doing the right thing ?
Hmm, nearly - but not quite.
When he reacts, you are paying him attention. Your attention is on him, and not her and whilst perhaps his most favoured out come would be that she stops entering the room completely, this is still fantastic for him.
Next time hes sat on a lap, she walks in and he gets nasty, the person whose lap he is on, tips him off and walks away from him. Ignore him, pay attention to the nice dog, pretend the stroppy one doesnt exist.
If every time he is horrid he gets ignored, ousted from a comfy spot, no attention, hes going to realise his behaviour is NOT rewarding.
For this to work though, EVERYONE must do it. And you must do it instantly, the second he so much as tenses up to even pull a nasty face. If you wait for him to get a good big growl in or even a snap, you've waited too long.
This applies even when you are knackered, or theres something good on the telly...... every single time.
If NOT, he will increase the bad behaviour as *sometimes* it works, and if you think about it, if a thing works SOMETIMES youll try it every time and if it doesnt work instantly, you'll try harder.
Also, be aware that at first, he WILL quite probably, try harder. So be prepared for that. If needs be, put a lead on his collar that he can safely trail, so you can hoick him out of a room to elsewhere with minimum interaction wtih him.
Hth
Em
When he reacts, you are paying him attention. Your attention is on him, and not her and whilst perhaps his most favoured out come would be that she stops entering the room completely, this is still fantastic for him.
Next time hes sat on a lap, she walks in and he gets nasty, the person whose lap he is on, tips him off and walks away from him. Ignore him, pay attention to the nice dog, pretend the stroppy one doesnt exist.
If every time he is horrid he gets ignored, ousted from a comfy spot, no attention, hes going to realise his behaviour is NOT rewarding.
For this to work though, EVERYONE must do it. And you must do it instantly, the second he so much as tenses up to even pull a nasty face. If you wait for him to get a good big growl in or even a snap, you've waited too long.
This applies even when you are knackered, or theres something good on the telly...... every single time.
If NOT, he will increase the bad behaviour as *sometimes* it works, and if you think about it, if a thing works SOMETIMES youll try it every time and if it doesnt work instantly, you'll try harder.
Also, be aware that at first, he WILL quite probably, try harder. So be prepared for that. If needs be, put a lead on his collar that he can safely trail, so you can hoick him out of a room to elsewhere with minimum interaction wtih him.
Hth
Em
he is getting better . We have also but a small dog bed in the living room and he is happy to sit in it , so he is not sitting on your laps so much now .And he gets more cuddles when he is sitting on the floor
He was at the vet's the other day and was happy sitting next to this other dog ,then my daughter picked him up and put him on her lap . Then he went for the other dog ... it sure is a lap thing with him
He was at the vet's the other day and was happy sitting next to this other dog ,then my daughter picked him up and put him on her lap . Then he went for the other dog ... it sure is a lap thing with him
Yep, you pick him up, he has 'something' probably the elevated position, the assumed back up from the person hes sat on, to defend.
Sat on his own hes just himself, he has nothing he values so highly he feels he must defend it in anyway.
If he really does almost 'need' to sit on laps, you can allow this BY your invitation only, and on the understanding that he doesnt abuse this privelidge, the second hes a nasty-pasty, off he goes, you want nothing to do with him if hes going to behave like that.
In the long run though, it will be better off if you can convince him that sitting on the floor or in his bed is a better, more rewarding place to be.
Em
Sat on his own hes just himself, he has nothing he values so highly he feels he must defend it in anyway.
If he really does almost 'need' to sit on laps, you can allow this BY your invitation only, and on the understanding that he doesnt abuse this privelidge, the second hes a nasty-pasty, off he goes, you want nothing to do with him if hes going to behave like that.
In the long run though, it will be better off if you can convince him that sitting on the floor or in his bed is a better, more rewarding place to be.
Em
