Training Class and Play Dates
Sherlock is 10 months old. We went through a ten week training class when he was around 6 months old. He understands all of the commands from the class, although we're not the best at practicing with him. I would love to do another class so that he can get a chance at more socialization, but throughout EVERY class, Sherlock would spend most of the time barking and nipping at the other dogs. After looking through a bunch of previous posts, it looks like it's an issue of Sherlock wanting to control all of the other dogs in the class. (He was one of the youngest and the only Sheepie.) I know that it was really distracting for all of the other dogs and their owners, so I don't know what the best option is. I tried a lot of different tricks in the class, that the trainer suggested, but nothing seemed to have any effect (other than just waiting for him to become tired). This also has carried over into how he reacts with other dogs. He is constantly barking and nipping while playing, which makes other people really nervous as it makes him seem so aggressive. Is this normal? Will it wear off with age? Or do we just have a more aggressive or dominant pup? Any ideas/tips would be greatly appreciated! |
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Welcome! Congrats on your addition to your family  We've never had trouble with nipping, Sunny dropped it after teething, but we did have trouble with Sunny focusing at puppy training. She's a dog lover, and wanted to play play play. We always took a spot on the end, and near one of the dogs that gave her the cold shoulder (as opposed to egging her on with playfulness). It helped. But what helped the most was to take her for a big walk right before class. The old adage on this site is that "a tired sheepie is a well behaved sheepie" and it's so true! If this still doesn't work, you may need private lessons to get over the worst of it, remembering to socialize lots in the park, pet store etc. And especially while they're puppies, practice, practice, practice! We've been told by trainers that OES's are STUBBORN, and we believe it with ours. So practice and consistency are the only things that can break that stubborn streak! (it's really just an intelligent way of doing things they're own way, due to being bred to be independent thinkers in the pasture )About other dogs thinking he's aggressive, we went through this too. Sunny had poor dog skills from the start. She's like the really tall friend that doesn't realize she's a "close talker". She's always up in other dogs faces. We had to teach her to sniff a dog's rear end and such. It's important, because dogs kept biting her because they thought she was aggressive-she always sniffed noses before bums, how rude!. (FYI, we just restrained her until the other dog had sniffed Sunny's rear end when she met new dogs, until she did it on her own. Now she's a very happy bum sniffer, and hasn't been bitten in a very long time! ) |
| Maybe its a sheepie thing. Tiggy would rather go right on up and stare another dog in the eyes to say "hello" too. We're still working on the bum sniffing routinue. Sigh! |
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