Hi Sandy…..Some dogs are a little more protective of their personal space and whether or not they want to interact with people than others. The best way to help Buddy is to always allow him feel like he has a choice in these interactions, by verbally inviting him to you to receive that affection. If he would rather be left alone then he won’t come to you, but if he is happy to interact then he will. The saying ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ is one I recommend. When dogs are asleep or resting they can be startle by a pat or stroke and their reaction is one based on instinct and survival……before their brain has a chance to calmly analyse the situation. All the best….Doggy Dan

I have two dogs both raised when they were 8 week old puppies. One is a boy Shitzhu (Buddy) and the other is girl a Maltese (Rosie). They will be 2 years old this year.

Buddy, our boy was and still can be the most wonderful happy affectionate relaxed dog you could ask for but in the last 6 months we have found him to be aggressive towards us if we touch him at night when he is resting or even in the day when he will be sitting near us and we go to pat him. It is odd because sometimes he is happy for us to pat him, but at other times he is not. During the rest of the time we can cuddle and pat him and there is no problem. It just seems like he has a brain snap. At first he would warn us with a growl and show of teeth, but now he really lashes out and bites. He is now doing this growl snap around his meal time if he thinks I am going to take his food away. However, after he has done the growl, snap, bite he then comes back and gives us kisses. It’s like he knows what he has done and then says sorry.

How can we help him? I note from your previous website that it looks to be fear-based aggression. He is not aggressive with our Maltese, rather she might growl at him if he comes to close to her food, but he always backs down from her without any reaction. She really is the boss between the two.

Rosie on the other hand is only aggressive with other dogs if they come to close to Buddy when we are walking in the park – she is very anti-social with other dogs, but a loving and affectionate dog to us.

Please advise what video we need to help our Buddy & Rosie.

Kindest regards
Sandy

Hi Kate….choosing when to spay or neuter a puppy depends on a few factors but mainly relating to the individual dog’s breed or sex. The best piece of advice I can give you would be to consult your Vet who will know all the pros and cons, or maybe ask your puppy’s breeder for their advice. It’s essential that a puppy is allowed time to grow, especially larger breeds, so many Vets do advise holding off until closer to 12 months. Best ask you Vet! Doggy Dan

Hi Willa,
In the dog world possession is 9 tenths the law…..in other words who owns the possession indicated who is higher ranking. Unfortunately Lulu is setting your other dogs up and they are falling for it! If she reacts aggressively towards your other dogs then she needs to know this is not ok. It sounds like there’s a bit of a transition happening between your dogs and this can certainly account for increased aggression. The key to calming things down is for you to show both dogs that you decide how they get along and if there is any pushy, aggressive behaviour then they will be spending some time on their own!
My website TheOnlineDogTrainer.com addresses aggression between dogs living together and how to restore calm…maybe take a quick look…its a $1USD trial for 3 days…all the best Doggy Dan

Hi Becky,
Separation Anxiety is one of the more common behaviours we deal with and my membership website does explain it in detail and give solutions about how to overcome it. It’s not a complex process to put in place at all, but it does require you and your husband to change your behaviour first so that you can help Licorice start to relax. We currently have a free 3 day trial on my website TheOnlineDogTrainer.com …maybe take a quick look and see what you think……all the best Doggy Dan

The other issues would be covered in the training as he likes to “hump” legs of humans and he also thinks that animals on tv are real and jumps at the tv every time one comes on. The final thing he does is he likes to pull our pillows off of the bed and roll around on them on the floor.

We love our Licorice, but are most concerned with his separation anxiety. Would this training help to alleviate some of this anxiety?

Thank you for any suggestions you can give us.

Hi Jackie…it certainly sounds like you have your hands full! Applying the rules in a multiple dog household can be challenging but it’s really all about being consistent with all of your dogs. Some will test you more than others and some will require more input due to their developmental age. If things are a bit hectic then it can help to have some one-on-one training time where the distractions of other dogs being present don’t become an inhibiting factor. I guess the best piece of advice I can give you is to be very clear and consistent with the information you give them all! Good luck, Doggy Dan!

Hi Dernesha…ooh this is one I haven’t been asked frequently before but I do know why it happens.. it’s all about instinct. If she is mainly trying to bury bones or chews then try giving them to her outside or create a space where she can have them but not have access to any carpeted areas. If she is taking pieces of food out of her bowl and trying to bury them then I would recommend not leaving food down for her to freely access and if you are feeding her and she walks away from her bowl then remove it. This will show her that if she tries to hide food then she will actually lose the opportunity to eat and it may motivate her to stay with the bowl and eat. If she has walked away from her bowl then only offer it to her again at her next scheduled meal-time, if you are currently only feeding her once a day then it would be a good idea to increase that to two just to allow her another chance to eat if she refuses one of those meals. Best, Doggy Dan

This is a common scenario Sherry. Sometimes all it takes is one negative encounter with another dog and all of a sudden (understandably) we have a dog who reacts defensively when other dogs are nearby. Often this isn’t made any easier when owners allow their dogs to rush up to other dogs without recognising that the dog is uncomfortable. Before heading into a park or onto a dog beach it may be a good idea to do a bit of a survey of the other dogs present to see how they are interacting with each other…..if you see any concerning behaviours, that the owners are not managing, then it may be a better idea to head to another location. It’s unfortunate that we can only control our own behaviour and not that of other dog owners who may not be doing the responsible thing! Best, Doggy Dan

Hi Amy, that would actually be exactly what I recommend you do! Young puppies often have what I call a ‘witching hour’ and it can brought on by a number of factors….generally being over-tired or over-stimulated. When they get in this state they can find it hard to control their impulses and placing them in their crate or puppy pen for some calm time can be really helpful. The less fuss and commotion you make the better as well! Best, Doggy Dan

Thanks for your kind words Terry..we still remember Peanut every day in our house. The passing of a dogs does have an effect on us but also other dogs in the family and they do go through a mourning period of sorts. I know we got quite a few questions from our remaining dogs after Peanuts passing and it’s actually really normal behaviour. I hope you’re enjoying the online course! Best, Doggy Dan

Hi Lynne, greetings from The Online Dog Trainer Team. Thanks for getting in touch…and a great question.
Unfortunately, until our TVs let us properly browse the internet, you won’t be able to ‘cast’ or watch our content on your TV.
You see our content is played and protected via web protocols, which don’t translate onto our TVs.
The only thing we could do is publish our own TV channel via something like ROKU or AmazonTV, but this is a massive effort for a small company like ours and not on our to-do list for the coming year.
Sorry to bring you disappointing news…we are all waiting for technology to help us get onto TV so we can also share our videos with our families.
We appreciate your support, and will announce any advancements we make in this regard as soon as we can.
Wishing you every success!

Lynne

Hi Kerry,
Separation Anxiety is one of the more common behaviours we get asked about. It can be really distressing for owners to see their dog in such a state and not know what to do about it, so i absolutely understand why you feel overwhelmed. The good news is that the behaviour is certainly one you can solve, by giving your dog the right information at the right time. A great place to start is to check out the Blog I put together to help owners whose dogs suffer from this behaviour, I will post the link below. It contains an audio as well as some really great content to review. Also, my website TheOnlineDogTrainer.com shows you very clearly how to start to work through this issue…maybe take a quick look…its a $1USD trial for 3 days…all the best Doggy Dan
http://theonlinedogtrainer.com/barking-when-left-alone/

Haha, yes it can be a little tough sometimes trying to work out the genuine products from the not-so-good ones, and reviews can be helpful but I do understand why you treat them with a degree of caution. I’ve put together a broad range of video resources, covering just about every behavioural issue you can imagine, based on decades of professional experience. Our aim is to educate our members for the long-term so that they develop the skills and knowledge to tackle their dog’s behaviour, no matter what it may be. I explain the real motivation behind a dog’s behaviour and then give owners the most effective and appropriate way to solve issues, without the use of force or intimidation. So I help build better relationships between dogs and their owners! We have a comprehensive Forum where help can be sought if needed, but I guess the best way I can convince you to try my website out is for you to take a look yourself….we have an introductory trial for just this reason…it’s a $1 trial for 3 days…all the best Doggy Dan