Positive Petzine

I have 3 cattle dogs :) none of them are related and 2 of them are female. We bought the 2 girls at the same time, about a year and a half ago. Most of the time they are the best of friends...they are practically joined at the hip. I usually catch them every other day having a growl at one another (one puts its head over the others and they both growl....it doesn't escalate from there though). However, it is becoming increasing more frequent...i'd say once every week or 2, that they have a massive fight. Last night they had another one.

L. David Mech is one of the world's foremost authorities on wild wolves, and has spent the better part of his life observing wolves in the wild. He is also partly responsible for introducing the term "alpha" into scientific literature, which then trickled down into dog training.

In this video he explains when it would be appropriate to use the term "alpha", and how scientists no longer refer to the breeding pair in a pack of wolves as the "alpha" male and female.

Hi, please help. I adopted a dog 2 years ago, and from the start, he has learned that I am the alpha dog through proper training and leadership which is great. When we do to the dog park, he usually meets and greets and everything is fine for a little while, big dogs, small dogs, whatever, but after a minute or two of running and getting dogs to chase him, he thinks he is "park police" and starts to charge at dogs who are playing together, and will try to mount the dog who is playing the roughest. i do not let him.

I have a 45 lb 3 yr male Boston Terrier which we fixed at 2 yr. Buddy loves attention and loves people and loves to run around BUT sometimes he has unpredictable behavior in the off-leash dog park and we don't know how to correct it.

Scenarios

1. Weak/submissive dogs or dogs who he wants to play but who are ignoring him - sometimes he will fixate on one dog, maybe a puppy who is scared to be in the park, or a little dog hiding under the table, and he won't leave them alone.

2. Dogs who he wants to play but who are playing with a different dog - he will get in the middle and force the situation physically by breaking up the play between the 2 dogs and basically just jumps in.

Please tell me your thought.

Buster's cousin Elliot, a 15mth toy poodle, literally walks all over his owners, if they are sitting on the lounge he walks over the top of them and climbs onto the back of the lounge and practically sits on their heads.
When they are in their bed he walks up and down their bodies as if they are his mattress to get where he wants to go.

Is this a dominance issue and should they try to prevent it or is this just normal behaviour?

By the time resource guarding becomes a problem it is learned behavior. It starts off as an insecurity, the pup is insecure about losing the resource, so maybe he growls. The pup or person who looked like he was about to steal his food backs off.

This is "negative reinforcement", the aversive (dog about to steal his food) goes away when he growls.

I'm looking for suggestions! I have my 4th Airedale. My first 3 were 20 inches tall, Chuku is 25 at 9 months. We've been in puppy and obedience classes, and we have several commands pretty well, including Get Down and Off (which means Leave It). For me he sits when I fold my arms. Sit and Down are solid commands with hand or voice signals. Stay is up to 30 seconds. I use a clicker.

I've had a few questions about The Positive Petzine Collection, so I thought I'd put together a FAQ -

Q. How does it come?
A. It's a printed and bound book, more like a manual. Pages are printed singled-sided A4 (Letter size) to allow plenty of room for notes.

Q. How long does it take to get to the USA, Canada, UK?
A. We post from Australia, it can take up to 2 weeks for postage, but you can expect your package in 1 week.

Q. What does it cost?
A. USD $24. Add USD$9 Postage and Handling (please note, credit card orders will be charged in Australian Dollars, converted from US Dollars in your favor).

Q. How much have I already read?

What qualities do dogs look for in their leaders? Adopt these 3 simple qualities to turn your dog's behavior around almost literally overnight!

It probably won't surprise you to learn that dogs look for the same leadership qualities that people look for - consistent leaders who lead by example and who reward good behavior.

1. Consistency: communication between different species is not an easy task, especially when one species can talk and the other can't! Inconsistency makes that task all the more difficult. By adopting consistent behaviors in yourself, setting consistent boundaries, and keeping some sort of consistent routine - your dog will have an easier job of figuring out what you expect.

2. Lead by example: dogs tend to mimic our actions. Don't rely on them interpreting our intentions correctly. If we yell at our dog for being aggressive, this can lead to more aggression from our dog. They don't necessarily understand that we are angry and upset with their actions, they just follow our lead. When we learn calm approaches to dealing with this sort of problem, our lead is followed with calmness in return.