Calling all dog behaviorists

[coachgrd]

Hello all.

Not sure If I posted this but we lost our golden retriever Bailey in January when we had to put her down. We always thought how nice it would be for her to have had a buddy to pal around with. Recently I heard about a litter of Goldens locally here in town and we got two males which are now 8 weeks old. Sadly I am no longer the love of my wife's life. These little guys are great so far and while they do have their accidents, the house breaking seems to be going well.

I do have a question for all the wise folk here in Rural Living. These two brothers love to play rough. They seem to trade off and on who will be the aggressor. How much of this rough play to I allow? They do let each other know when the other has gone too far. Should I let them police themselves as far as this play goes?

Finally, I'm curious what interesting things you been able to get your dogs to do over the years. We're trying to teach these two little guys to jingle a bell hung from the door when they want to go out rather than barking at the door and it seems to be working remarkably well so far...while they don't ring it on their own, they do know that when they hear it, they are going out. We'll keep working on it. How about all of you...any great things you've taught your dogs?

On a related note, if I can find a video of Patches the horse, I'll post a link. You will simply not believe what this horse can do.
Here it is: YouTube - Patches the Coolest Horse

Thanks in advance,
Gary

 

[Tororider]

I'm no Dog Whisperer but I figure as long as they aren't tearing each other apart, its just rough-housing. They will figure out their pack order.

When I was a kid, I was able to get my dog to play dead with no words, I would just make a pretend gun with my hand, drop the hammer (move my thumb), and he would fall over "dead". I was a teenager so I thought it was cool.

 

[DarinRay]

Yeah I too am NO dog whisperer but can add that we bought a brother and sister (both fixed of course now ). They are 10 months old now and still have there growling and carrying on but NO real damage. I hate the sound of it because they sound wild and scary and a terrible sight really. Sometimes I do step in and break it up. This is all part of knowing how hard to bite and not cause harm I have been told. The best thing is that they are each other's buddies for life and would get 2 as pups again for sure. Double the work but double the pleasure too. Have to admit though we haven't really tried any extensive training like I do hear about. Guess I am just lazy or too busy. hmmmm

Darin

 

[ToadHill]

I have 2 Bassets and while one is 10 months old and the other is 8 years old, they still play at fighting every day, no one gets hurt and after a few minutes I step in and let them know who is the leader of the pack. They get the idea right away and both go off in different directions. I don't think it's anything to worry about they just have to re-establish the pecking order now and then.

 

[RonMar]

That is normal behavior, and from what I under stand an important development tool to learn limits and when they are hurting one another. I think they will mostly grow out of it.

Our yellow lab Sadie rings bells hanging on the door to go outside. We mainly did this as she didn't find her voice untill she was probably 9 months old. She picked it up in about 2-3 days what the bells were for. If you are crate training, as I am sure you are aware, as soon as they come out of the crate, they go right outside to build that routine. For Sadie, this meant a brief stop in front of the door. There I would pick up her paw and ring the bells with her paw, give lots of praise and open the door for her to go out. She took right to it and still does it. She does the basics sit, stay, heel, playdead, loadup, ect(all said as a single word). I have trained quite a few dogs over the years, but have never tried it with two. You may need to schedule some separate time to train each individually to avoid distraction. The biggest thing is consistency and timing on your part. If you are consistent, the dog quickly learns how to learn, then a new skill is the work of a few half hour sessions or less.

Have fun, they grow up so quick...

 

[CurlyDave]

When we took our second female yellow lab to obedience training (the first one was trained at a different school), there was a handout that went over specific characteristics of various breeds.

About the first thing on it was that retrievers (all the different kinds) love to roughhouse right on up to full body slams. Ours are now 5 & 6 and still sometimes get into that mode of play.

I suspect that males are more prone to roughhouse, and young ones more so than old ones.

We never had a problem with injuries. The dogs seemed to know how far to go.

Just sit back and watch in amazement.

 

[schmism]

let them play as rough as they want as long as its play.

watch the behavior. A tucked tail is always a give away that someone isnt having fun. My 2 labs play ROUGH, when they bite ate each others fir around there neck and shake it hurts just to watch, but waggy tails and no wimpering means its all in fun.

Also, dont be afraid to get in there. As pack leader there is no better time to assert your dominance than to get in the middle of a rough housing play and become the aggressor yourself. pinning both, chasing them around etc.

Just about anything can be taught with positive reinforcement.

at the top of my list is
-dont jump up on people
-dont run in/out the door while im walking through (they will either go ahead with a comand, or follow behind naturally)
-proper leash behavor

a huge one which is one of the most difficult.
recall. Nothing better than a dog that recalls.

personally ive never saw the point in the "stupid" tricks. play dead, roll over, walk on 2 legs....

you want to show me something, recall your dog off a rabbit/squirrel/cat/duck chase 1.5 seconds into it. or drop a stake trimming on the floor, give a "leave it" command and have the dog ignore it (till you say)

mine dont nuisance bark (or bark much period) nor whine (although i did have a whiner which took some doing to break)

 

[riptides]

Interesting that someone comments they grow out of it. I think they never grow out of play mode.

Two of ours, brother and sister, both over 110 pounds go at it quite often.
Usually one hears teeth snapping together, I guess their sign of "play". But man, when they come together it is like two suma wrestlers. The female turns her fur up and looks like a horror movie dog. Kind of makes her look bigger! Unreal.

I try and stay out of their way, I have been knocked over just by a brush against me.

Teach basic commands so any friend can control them - down, sit, back, no, good. Reward accordingly. Enjoy.

-Mike Z.

 

[riptides]

you want to show me something, recall your dog off a rabbit/squirrel/cat/duck chase 1.5 seconds into it. or drop a stake trimming on the floor, give a "leave it" command and have the dog ignore it (till you say)

mine dont nuisance bark (or bark much period) nor whine (although i did have a whiner which took some doing to break)

Excellent points.

Good typo!
Mine tear into "wood" all the time. I never taught them that.

-Mike Z.

 

[Blagadan]

I second the idea of you getting involved with their play. I do it all the time with my two goldens. The oldest is a male, 14 years old and he still manages to play even though he is really slowing down these days. The younger female, 2 years old, is the real fun one. She loves a good wrestle. I always let her win a few rounds to keep her confidence up. She will get her teeth around my wrist and bite down, but not hard. If I say "ouch" she stops instantly and licks me to death as a kind of "sorry boss"!!
She body slams the older dog because she knows she is stronger than him. If he has the toy, she will run at him and WHACK into him, full side on body slam (I'm sure she has seen WWF some where). He drops the toy and she picks it up triumphantly... I cant get her out of this habit no matter how I try..
The older male loves a tugging match. He'll bring up a toy and tease me. Say a tennisball... He'll have it on the tip of his mouth as he approaches me, almost as if he is about to offer it up to me. As I put my hand out to get it, he'll take it in deep in his mouth and wait for me to try get it... tug of war begins!! If I say drop he does let go instantly but I rarely ask him to drop, no fun in that is there!!

As for your dogs and their fighting, I personally would step in straight away to stop them. You are the pack leader. You tell them what is right and wrong... I treat mine like I do the kids, I wouldnt let the kids fight, same goes for the dogs.

Good luck!!