I have a neutered male, a spayed female, and two intact females. The NM and SF fight the most (with each other). I have rules in my house... one of which is 'no fighting'. I just interrupt and redirect their attention. Now I just holler 'Hey' and that's enough to stop them, even when they're in another room. When I separate them, I keep it going until they forget what they were doing. If I let them back together too soon, the fight continues.
Pinning, or 'Alpha Roll' should never be done on a young puppy. It was developed for use by professionals to use on vicious dogs when all other training methods failed, as a last resort to try to prevent the dog from being PTS. When it does work, it needs only to be done one time. It's not a method that requires repeating.
Alpha rolling a puppy destroys their self confident, and can make them 'act out', and be more aggressive. They can become fearful of their owner (the person doing the AR), and will tend to hide away from people.
Puppies need nurturing, and gentle reprimands (reminders). They need to be rewarded for their good behavior first and foremost (verbally and with a treat), or they won't understand what you expect from them. And persistence is very important, don't keep changing the rules on them. I found out that by giving my male (the attacker) more good attention, he actually attacked the other dog less often. Now it rarely happens anymore. |