rescue terrier....dog dominance

by Marianne
(Lombard, IL)

hi

I recently adopted a 3 year old toy rat terrier possibly a jack Russell from a family who purchased him as a first dog - which was a big mistake on their part. He is very active, loves to play, and is generally friendly and sweet.

According to the surrender family, he was fine until they introduced a 14 month old baby into the mix, and the dog dominance behavior came started.

He began marking furniture, the baby and stealing toys. Then the real aggression began. Showing teeth, growling, biting the air. very scary around a baby.

The surrender family was not given good advice from their breeder and did not have him neutered as a younger dog. He has since been neutered.

Since his adoption, he has stopped marking, learned the sit command, and releases his toys on our own command - gentle.

He shows aggression when I am eating. He tries to steal food from my plate when he is sitting on the floor. It starts with barking. When I ignore him and tell him no....the aggression begins.

I have firmly told him no. I keep a harness on him at home so that I can safely pull on it without getting bitten and without hurting him.

Moose is my fourth terrier. All of them were adopted. I have never had to deal with aggression of this sort. I would really appreciate some help with this

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Mar 03, 2018
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Nothing In Life Is Free
by: Adam G. Katz

Employ the "Nothing In Life Is Free" approach, so that your dog starts to view you as the "pack leader." If your dog doesn't see you as the leader, then your corrections will be meaningless. So, if you're doing subtle things (inadvertently) to undermine your leadership role around the house-- it will be counter-productive.

All the best,
Adam

Adam G. Katz is the author of, "Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer!" -- which you can find at DogProblems.com.