Re: My 6 month old doberman

Question
Hello,  I just found your site yesterday and you are a wealth of information.  My question is my six month old male Doberman is relentless with our two older dogs.  He is pushy and even to the point hurts the smaller dog that I keep them separated always.  I did get a response to that issue but wanted to run another by you.  My Doberman acts like a good dog if he is with my husband and I am not around.  All three dogs are fine with each other until I come home.  Once I am home, my Doberman will physically push the other dogs away from me.  He will then pull newspapers off the coffee table and start to shred them.  He will grab at any and everything he is not suppose to grab and he knows he is not suppose to have those things.  He then goes back being belligerent with the dogs.

Why does he act this way only when I am around.  I walk him daily, play ball with him daily, feed him in the morning, my husband feeds them at night.  All the dogs will follow me room to room and if I leave the room they get upset.  

When I walk my Doberman nightly I work with him on heel and sitting.  As soon as he had all his puppy shots I brought him around my neighbors dogs and he wants to play with them but again he is too rough with them.  

I just had my Doberman neutered so hoping that might help in a few weeks.

Some people think that my Doberman thinks he's head honcho and I am under him.

This is my third Doberman and I have never had one this stubborn.

I know I have asked several questions in this post which they are all important to me.  I've been reading out of four of my books I had with my first puppies but they don't address what I am experiencing now.  Any help is much appreciated.

Lisa

Answer
Every dog is one of a kind, and may need different types of handling. It sounds like this little guy needs a lot of consistency and clear boundaries. I'd be doing "thinking" type games and training with him, instead of games which are over-stimulating. Instead of allowing him to play with the other dogs, I'd be doing on-leash training near them to enhance his self-control. And I'd be working on a really good recall/leave-it, so you can call him away when he startsd getting aroused. And you might benefit from a really good positive-based puppy class. Sandy Case BFA MEd CPDT www.positivelycanine.com