food aggression?

[aphoto]

i've been reading all these posts and i'm worried now.
here's my situation. MOJO is the best rottie ever! we have no children, just our 110lb mojo. he's always been passive. we've been taking pet therapy classes and are/were very close to joining DELTA. anyway, about 2-3 months ago, the breeder asked if we wanted to raise a "show" puppy. of course we did, Mojo would love the company. He is the submissive one (no suprise to us!) about a month ago i gave them both pig ears, (i could tell something was off with him that day) she had finished hers and i was taking his away when he snarled at me. we are best friends, i've NEVER EVER been afraid of him. we've done all the alpha training and ob. classes since we first got him. i really thought he was going to bite me and he knew it. since then i've been very careful to look out for those little "tests" i thought we were doing alright... when just an hour ago, he did the same thing to my husbands brother (who has lived with us since we got mojo.) only he wasn't trying to take it from mojo, he was just walking by him.
my brother-in-law flipped him, and he learned his lesson...maybe.


what do i do? oh, the second time it wasn't a pig ear....he'll get no more of those....ever. this time it was just another kind of bone thing.
i was wondering what role the puppy (elise) is playing in this? or is she?
what do i do? i thought i'm doing everything i know to do.

should i give him something else and try to take it away myself?
should i test him or should i not push it.....

by the way....i only outweight him by 10lbs.
any advice would be wonderful.
thank you,
amanda

[Judi W]

might be helpful to say how old this dog is, what kind of formal training he's had so people will know what his foundation is.

[aphoto]

i'm sorry, i've been so upset about it, all that helpful info just slipped my mind.
he's 2yrs old. he's been neutered. he has his CGC and we're working on his CD.
we're also planning a big move so perhaps all of our stress is being felt by him.
he has been in classes since he was 14wks old. i work from home so he's always with me and i take him everywhere that i go. he's wonderful with children and adults alike. i'm just worried that he will not stay that way.

thank you Judi, for having an interest.

[Judi W]

Well, he's not had any perceived competition before and now with the puppy there he's decided that he might not "own" everything after all. I know it seems misplaced if he was unhappy about the pup thinking about his stuff, that he would threaten you, but that is the way things work sometimes. That he would "love" the company was your assumption and certainly not his and it has thrown the balance off in your household.

I'm assuming that you did not trash his ass when he threatened you and that is unfortunate because that was why he decided that threats were a great option for him. You'd better quit thinking of him as submissive and the best Rottie ever. He is not, he is acting like a punk. Looks like you folded the first time he issued a threat which is why he repeated it and he will repeat it again as long as you are afraid of him. Easy to say you've never been afraid of him when he's never given you a challenge, but at the first challenge, you did become afraid which instantly gave him the upper hand in all areas. (I know it sounds like I am repeating myself, but you get my point?) Your BIL gave the dog an immediate and strong correction for daring to threaten him and I'll bet he doesn't threaten him again. Although I don't recommend you flipping him, I would recommend you put the fear of god into him using your body language and very big voice and a long effective tongue lashing. Oh dare he! NILF and little exercises do not substitute for true being in charge. In other words it is not so much what you do, but how the dog thinks about who you are. You need to change your body language, voice tone and emphasis and put him into some serious obedience beyond CGC expectation. Also start putting him into the 30 minute dominance down stays once or twice a day.

[aphoto]

i don't think i 'folded'...i mean, i did everything but flip him. as soon as he snarled, i stompped and yelled and then when i saw him cower, i flipped him. after that i put him in a down stay. even now, if i say down in a serious voice, he cowers and goes down. i just don't know, is it good for him to be afraid of me all the time? not submissive but afraid?
and one last thing, i just gave him a bone, to test him. he won't chew on it. what does that mean?

[Judi W]

Glad you didn't fold. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like he was as impressed with your display as you would have liked him to be.

He should indeed be afraid - of threatening you! That does not mean he will be afraid all the time and don't let him manipulate you by acting cowed, and then repeating the sin.

Put the things up for a while. This is not the time for testing. He will not die without having something to chew. He is not a baby. If the pup needs something (she is the one that is teething, not him) give it to her in her crate and then take it up and put it away when you let her out. Let things cool down, while you get over the "best dog in the world" syndrome, and just work on who is supposed to be pleasing whom. Relax, do the 30 minute downs and more serious obedience (the real kind as opposed to the if you want to kind), quit admiring him so much. He is having some cultural shocks at the same time that he is entering adulthood. He's gotten off pretty scott free up to now by not having anything come up that drew lines in the sand. He is trying his strength. You might need to treat him with an attitude of your own for a while. Don't worry about it. He obviously thinks fairly highly of himself and you are going to disabue him of those ideas.

[aphoto]

i know, i do have to stop adoring him. i'll start the 30min downs. that's a wonderful idea. thank you for all your advice. i'm not a push-over when it comes to him, but i see that i will have to be much more strict with him!

i said earlier that we are moving. out of the country, do you think he's feeling that stress?
thank you

[Judi W]

Originally Posted by aphoto

i said earlier that we are moving. out of the country, do you think he's feeling that stress?
thank you

No, I don't. I think he has been so impressed with your high opinion of "himself" that he has believed it and is taking his importance along with his newly developed adulthood to heart.