power struggle

[sakirby]

oscar is trying to test me lately. he is 8 months old now. he has been jumping up and nipping at my hands when he wants attention. he also barks at me when he wants attention. he has been doing this ALOT lately. jump up, bite, bark, run away. and then he comes back and does it again. any suggestions aside from just ignoring him?

also, he does something else these days when he wants my attention. he goes to a shelf in the house by his toybox, grabs whatever he can off of it (he knows he isn't supposed to have those things) and he runs around the apartment with it. i was chasing him, yelling, trying to get him to sit or stay. that was horrible. made it worse. of course :) he thought, what fun it is to see mommy so pissed off! :D any suggestions for this behavior? i oscar proofed that shelve but, now he just goes for other stuff around the house, runs around with it in his mouth, and looks at me like a little evilicon what can i do????!!!! he is driving me crazy these days!

one of the reasons i think is because our dog park we used to go to every morning, is under construction. so, no park. we just go on a half an hour walk in the am. and then an hour walk at night. so, he isn't sufficiently tired is my guess. any help guys?! ;)

[sakirby]

oh, and i am home in the day, so i play with him throughout the day. :D i mean, COME ON! what more does he want from me?!!! :lol:

[J20]

Monty is as good as gold all though if we all go into a room he can not go in he will pee out side the door! but he has started the annoying habit of dropping to the floor when we take him out and laying with his legs in the air rubbing his back on the pavement (side walk)

people laugh and find it funny (i do for the first 10 mins) :lol: but then if i pull him he will lay spread eagled and that is where he will stay until he wants to move. I've tried pulling him but i don't want to incase he gets scratched.

He has only been doing this for the last 3/4 weeks. It seems they all have their own funny ways.

Good luck

Jx

[UFshutterbabe]

lol - again, Maxwell and Oscar are the same dog, I swear. Maxwell has been doing the "hey, chase me" thing, and he's got into the habit of pulling things off the coffee table. Latest was my glasses. He destroyed those before I realized what he had done. Urgh. Anyways, I tried a version of the doggy time out earlier today. After I caught him on the table and told him "get off", and he did it again right in front of me, I put him in the kitchen for a 5 minute time out. Worked very well. After I gave him some lovin' and let him out, he was a perfect angel for the rest of the night.

[miserlou]

My Amstaff used to steal socks and gloves when she was a puppy (other things too, but these were her favorites) and then run around triumphantly.

My solution to this was to teach her to give them to me - voluntarily. I took some old glove, some treats and started pointing at the glove and told her to give it to me. After a lot of pointing from my part she finally realized what I wanted her to do and gave me the glove. I then gave her a lot of praise and the treat, and then put the glove on the floor and asked her to give it to me again. Took perhaps 10-15 minutes for her to master the command. Now if she has anything in her mouth that doesn't belong there, she happily brings it to me. ;)

Honestly, it's very useful skill! I have even taken advantage of this by making her to pass me wet socks when I'm putting them to dry! :lol:

[morriesmom]

Sharon, I have been watching your posts because my Morrie is the same age as your Oscar and I go through with Morrie almost everything you write about. If I leave my glasses or a magazine or a book on a low table he will take them and run (I was embarrassed when I had to go to doggie class with my copy of General Obedience chewed up on the corner). I finally got wise to the fact that he is doing it for attention and so I just ignore him and he abandons them after a while. Treats do not work for Morrie. Annoying me is so much more appealing than treats. BUT Morrie has been so much better for the past couple of days. Maybe it's the heat or maybe he's outgrowing this phase, but his energy level seems to have dropped. He spends time alone and plays with his own toys. I even feel a little neglected when an hour goes by and he hasn't even come to chew on my pants leg once.
I have a few questions about dogs at this age (8 months) that maybe someone can answer from experience.
Morrie is a chewer - he will chew anything he can get his teeth on. He even chews the corner of the walls and does serious damage. Bitter Apple works for about 10 minutes but once it's dry it's like it's not even there. Forget Boundry - it's like I didn't even use it. We have to keep everything out of reach and have had to put away all our rugs and even our wooden furniture. Having people over is a major production: Put away the dog, lug out all the rugs and nice furniture, place furniture strategically to cover chewed parts of the walls. Will he outgrow this or am I doomed to never having a nice house again?
One more question: Morrie humps his bed and his pillows - A LOT. I know it's natural and not sexual but dominant behavior, and I'm not a prude, but I don't like to have to watch him going at it constantly. We are having him neutered next week. Will this stop this behavior?
Good luck with Oscar. These guys could be twins separated at birth (we got Morrie (Maurice) in France).
Christina

[sakirby]

christina. morrie and oscar must be brothers. hehe. hmmm, the chewing morrie does is amazing! oscar used to do that as well but, he doesn't anymore. have you tried raw marrow bones for morrie? oscar will chew on those for hours, and then once he has gotten all the meat off, the bones live in his toy box and he will go get them out and chew on them. maybe morrie would like those. but, i don't know if he really isn't into treats. don't know what else to suggest except maybe crating morrie more often but, i know that is a bummer. maybe someone else will have some more suggestions :) hope he stops tearing your house apart! what a bugger. :D

[Hudson]

One more question: Morrie humps his bed and his pillows - A LOT. I know it's natural and not sexual but dominant behavior, and I'm not a prude, but I don't like to have to watch him going at it constantly. We are having him neutered next week. Will this stop this behavior?
Christina

We have had two vets tell us that once they start this behavior, neutering will not stop it. Same thing for marking. The new vet said to neuter by 6 months at the latest, not earliest, if you want to avoid it. At just over 4 months, Tank humped my arm last week and lifted one leg an inch while peeing.

We'll be making the snip-snip appointment real soon.

[sakirby]

christina....

i know you can't go back in time but, get morrie neutered asap. this is just my opinion. it won't stop this behavior but, it will prevent it from developing further. in my opinion, dogs should be neutered/spayed as soon as possible. it prevents all kinds of problems. especially here in the u.s., there is no reason not to spay/neuter. we don't want to contribute to the pet population and there aren't negative side effects to doing it.

i would suggest negative associations for morrie when he humps. oscar does it occasionally (to his cow squeaky toy) and i say "no"and take away the toy and give him something else. he does it much less now. have you tried a new bed? maybe if you got a different one, he wouldn't "love" it so much :) or if you catch him, distract him with a firm "no" and give him something else to do. not sure if any of this will work. but, it is worth a try. also, try spraying morrie with a spray bottle when he is doing unwanted behavior. if you have one laying around, grab it and spray it at him so he doesn't know where it is coming from. sometimes this is enough to distract them, or get thim to not like what they are doing. good luck!!!!!