Originally Posted by svt_geek  Ok, so I'm inheriting a new member to the family by marriage. I have a 1.5 year old Westie and my fiancee has a 7 year old Yorkie. With this new member of the family, I can already see that there are going to be new problems inherited too.
The first problem isn't necessarily a real problem, just an annoyance. The dog (Pepper) gets overly excited when you put him in his crate. He was never crate trained and only used the crate for travel. Any time you get his crate out he turns circles, barks, jumps at the crate, and barely will wait for you to get the door open before he gets in. Immediately upon entering the crate he turns around and braces himself and begins a barking frenzy. Once he realizes you aren't going anywhere, he settles down but still remains tense. If you do infact load him in the car, no matter how long or short the trip, he immediately begins pawing furiously at the crate's door (it has a metal square grid door which is now rusted, you'll see why shortly), continues his barking frenzy, basically hyperventillates, begins foaming at the mouth, and licks the crate all over, including the door. After about 20 mins the dog is covered in slober...soaked in the stuff. If you allow him to roam free in the car he foams at the mouth and begins licking windows and air vents and makes a complete mess and will not allow you to hold him, lest you be clawed to death.
That is problem 1, I have no clue what this is about or how to solve it. I'll chalk that one up to being possessed by deamons or dementia if no explanation is given for that....I can deal with it even though it is a pain.
Problem 2 is, Pepper appears to like me, but is EXTREMELY territorial, protective, and dominant. He has bitten me twice in the past month, snapped at me several times, growls at me on a daily basis, and fiercly growls (showing his teeth) at me on a weekly basis. He is a really bad marker. He pees all over the house...especially if something new is placed on the floor and left there for longer than a day. We were working on our wedding invitations and sit the boxes in the floor after we were done (we did put the covers on them thankfully), and a couple of days later I noticed he had peed on them. He does this very sneakily, we are never able to catch him in the action. Since she is in the process of moving her stuff here (wedding is in a month) she will leave him with me for a few days at a time while she tends to stuff back home, packs more things, and then bring another load of stuff down. As soon as she leaves and he realizes she is going to be gone for an extended time, he turns sour and won't play, mopes around, barely eats, and is pretty defiant of anything I say to him. If I command him to sit, he just stares at me with a glazed look. If I try to force his bottom to the ground, he resists it with everything he has (I even heard his joints pop a few times when I did this). Also, if he is laying on ANY piece of furniture and you want to join him, he growls, just a low growl, but a growl nonetheless and then most of the time he will claim a new piece of furniture by jumping down and going to lay on it. He is especially bad about it if my fiancee is sitting/laying beside him and I want to sit/lay beside her and even worse if I take his place beside her or he is required to move. One of the times I was bitten was when I went to sit down beside her on the bed and tell her bye as I was leaving to work. He showed his teeth at me as I reached to move him and he bit my arm. I don't know what to do with this dog, he is determined that I do not belong and I am not his superior.
Help please! What training methods do I need to start? I have already begun crate training like I did with my dog when she was a pup...he is allowed out to play, eat, and potty, that's it. I have also started making him sit before he gets his food and I take it up after he gets done. I also try hard not to allow him to eat within an hour before I eat myself. Before I start to eat I take his food away and I give it back after I get done. What can I do to stop his aggressiveness is my main concern. The marking would be my second concern. The car/crate madness is my last priority. |