teaching puppy manners

[Bruce Lanthier]

I'm curious as to whether anyone has found that males or females are better at "teaching" puppies manners and rules. I have not had enough multiple dog instances while raising a puppy but have noticed that Buster is very good at "teaching" Betti the rules of the road and manners. Micky (12 yr old girl) essentially teaches Betti to leave her alone LOL so most of the interaction is between Buster and Betti. Is teaching sex specific in dogs, or is it more dog specific. Do some dogs, male or female, make better teachers than others? I would assume that a dog of stable temperament, normal confidence, and average intelligence would make a decent teacher. I'm sure puppies learn from interaction with all pack members but do some pack members "teach" more than others?

[WorkinDogz]

Hiya Bruce :)

In my experience; I've found that there is very little that can replace having a good bitch in the house to teach the young ones manner...but fast.

Aik sired a litter that I whelped. I kept the dam here as well as the pups and obviously had the sire. By 10 weeks..... the pups instinctively knew that it was just dandy to climb over PaPa's back; yank his tail, chew on his ears, climb on his belly and gnaw on his paws when he'd roll around with them....... but MaMa.....just doesn't put up with those games.


Aik did teach them a lot..... How to have fun more than anything... but when MaMa appeared; it was almost comical to watch 10 youngsters straighten right up.

She would walk past poor Aik and just glare at him.....like he's dropping the ball in the parenting department because he allows such behavior from the brood.

He didn't care though... he always had a great time with his "kids" :)

[Bruce Lanthier]

Thanks, that's pretty interesting. Like I said Micky doesn't tolerate much monkey business although they do interact to a degree. Buster certainly does teach her how to play though. I've read that males are more tolerant of puppies at a young age and this seems to be true in my limited experience. It is interesting how the play has evolved though. When Betti was 8-12/13 weeks Buster used to lay on his back and let her jump and crawl all over him. He also used to let her hang on his lip and the most he would do is whine loudly, as if to let her know that isn't fun. Now, Betti is almost 20 weeks and he no longer rolls onto his back although he will let her climb onto his back and bite at his ears (not as often thought). Mostly he will stay above her now. She also no longer bites his lip. It has, IMO, been a great help in teaching her not to mouth humans (we've also been diligent in re-direction) and in having a "soft" mouth. I have seen her push his button a couple of times and she doesn't seem to go back there again LOL. It is interesting to see all of the theory and pack dynamics, etc. that I have read about being played out in front of me.