Someone is currently really pushing my buttons. He is behaving so oddly and I can only put it down to hormones, age and testing the water. Believe me mate, test it all you like but you push me and I'll throw the bucket and the bloody water over you .. lol
Generally Orin is a lovely dog, affectionate and obedient but like I said I think he's trying to see if he can push any boundaries. There is tension between him and Ross on a walk, all his own doing as he bites Ross in the back when they are running, or he grabs at his tail. (Look at the bottom photo) This is now a work in progress, and going back to what would be considered "old-fashioned training methods" no doubt I think we are getting there. I can't risk Ross being pushed to his limits and turning on a teenage Orin, he may well now respond with aggression. Keeping an even keel is paramount, I am all for reward based training, but dogs need boundaries and in this case I think Orin needs to discover the consequences of his unacceptable behaviour. What may not help is that he's now Kaiah's blue-eyed boy, she's dumped Ross for the younger model. Obviously this makes Orin feel very important. Saying that maybe it's her way of controlling him, he does now follow her on walk instead of biting Ross. I do set Orin up for a fall by picking up the kong and pretending that I'm going to throw it, if he grabs Ross then I take charge of the situation, if he backs off he's praised. I know I'm repeating myself but I really do not believe in only praising the positive and ignoring the negative. Imagine if I'd done that with Ross? OMG!
Orin's aggression towards Jezi was building, again another work in progress. As much as I'm aware that Jezi has issues which all the other pack members pick up on, I will not have her bullied. She has to pass Orin's crate to get to her crate and his aggression coupled with my dissatisfaction at his behaviour meant she could not pass comfortably. Again I'm working on it daily, but Orin needs reminding every time for success. 
Another of his current odd and out of character behaviour is to refuse to do a recall when out on his own. With the pack there are no problems. This all started last week after I used the blaster on him. All I did was put him on the lead and make him face his fear. Following that he decided that I was not one he could trust. This is a behaviour I am happy to ignore, sulk all you like mate, I will be using the blaster on you when I need to.
The most annoying of the changes of behaviour has been Orin's early morning calls. This all started because I was feeding them at 6.30am whilst I was sleeping with the litter. They all had an early breakfast, Steve got up and I went to bed. Since then Orin belly is telling him it's time to get up, I guess coupled with lighter morning he is just confused. He barks one woof, he's silent for about 20 seconds, he does it again over and over. A"Shut Up Orin" scream from the bedroom helps, but only short term. I'm unsure what to do about this one to be honest. When Dexi was doing the same we got black out curtains, it is an option, as is covering more of his crate overnight. I must find a solution though as he is driving us insane from about 6.30am every day.
Now one thing I can categorically say is that there is no jealousy from Orin towards Siska. He is besotted with her, he adores her ... Ross on the other hand is a little jealous, as is his nature. I have no concerns regarding Orin's long term behaviour, he's just at an age where he's finding his feet, growing up and just checking out where, as a young adult he belongs in this pack.
