Last night Orin and Ross had words! Ross really is too big for his boots these days. He is possessive of Steve and of any toys scattered about. He tried to push Orin, and Orin will not be pushed. There was a lot of bravado, noise and flashing teeth, but no contact. I think it happened because Orin dare go over to Steve whilst Ross wanted to be centre of attention. Steve grabbed Ross and I grabbed Orin, with lots of profanities I told them both exactly what I thought of them. But thankfully, boys will be boys and within 5 mins everything was forgotten. Fighting bitches are vile, they don't back down and hold grudges, squabbling males usually make up and move on. Worse case scenario, not something I want to do, but something I would if need be is to neuter Ross. As is often the case with living creatures, after all my research Ross did not turn out to be the show dog and stud dog that I was hoping for, but he's a huge part of the family and keeping things peaceful is necessary!
I was chatting to a friend last night about all the issues coming to light with dogs these days. She had taken a four month old puppy back as the owners said he was unmanageable. They had been taking him to a positive reinforcement training class, only positive behaviour is addressed and dogs are redirected from any negative behaviour.
In principal I guess it sounds good, but at 4 months old this pup still had not learned to walk on a collar and lead, he lunged and barked at other dogs and stared at the owners hands constantly for treats. He was bighting them and their children at home ... but the training method doesn't even allow a "ahh" for negative behaviour followed by distraction and praise for good behaviour ... OMG, what the hell is going on? No wonder kids and dogs are running riot! Anyway this puppy has been back with her for 4 days, he has learned not to bite, is mixing with her other dogs and learning and accepting his place with his pack. I'm all for positive training, I really am, we know forced training can seriously damage some dogs .. but surely there has to be a balance? There are rules here to follow. I teach right from wrong with praise and discipline when needed, but I doubt I every enforce discipline as harshly as "mothers" do. I mainly use my voice and my posture and I have learned how to control my pack from living with them and doing as they do. It's truly fascinating to watch how they interact as a family, personally I think we should continue to learn from them and not the experts who learn everything from books!!!
