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Old 10-03-2010, 06:06 PM   #13
QuickSilver
Thor's Human
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: San Francisco, CA
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Again, you are providing a lot of information, which is great, but it's hard to respond to it all.

Let her bond with the maids. The more people she likes, the more comfortable she will be.

Do not worry about being her "master". This is very easy to accomplish. Before you feed her, have her Sit for about five seconds. Don't put her bowl down until she has "four on the floor." If you control the food, you are the Boss.

While I agree that walking is a great way to bond, I disagree that males are typically the leader. There is a lot of controversy as to whether dogs actually order themselves as "alpha", "beta", etc. The studies that suggested this were done quite a while ago on unrelated wolves forced to live together in limited space. This is not a natural environment for them. Also, even in these wolf packs, there was both an alpha male and an alpha female.

Another fun way to bond is through trick training. Teach her to Sit, Stay, Down, Up, Touch (with her nose), Leave It, Drop It, etc. These should be pure pleasure for your dog: they teach her that human behavior is meaningful; she gets food; she bonds with you; and she learns what's expected of her, which provides order in a scary world.

I know you've said you've spoken to two trainers, but you need to find one that will come to your house and work with both you and your dog. Biting is a very serious behavior problem, and you need to have a good long term plan in place to deal with it.
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Last edited by QuickSilver; 10-03-2010 at 06:09 PM.
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