11 month old female, change in behavior...

[pennygirl4107]

Our female rottie, Penny, will be a year old on april 1st. We just finished our second 8 weeks training course at a positive reinforcement training center. Our trainer is great and we plan on moving on to a cgc prep course next, but my husband and I have noticed a change in her attention/alertness the past couple months. She is 'on guard' more often and very alert to what is going around at all times which is great, but we've noticed only on a few occasions where is has gone over the top. The one incident that has got us concerned was at her obedience graduation last week. Our trainer brought her two border collies in for a demo to show us various directions we can take in obedience/agility and we all had our dogs sitting with us on the side. When her dog's came out, Penny was fine at first, but some of the other dogs started barking as the collies were running for a frisbee and Penny went off in a fit barking and trying to run over to the dog, as my husband pulled her back on the leash she barked at him and continued pulling to get to the dogs. Our trainer told us to get her attention and feed her treats, but she was in like a 'red zone' and paid no mind. She has been socialized with dogs since 9 weeks and plays very well with all types of dogs so I'm positive she didn't want to attack the dog, just wondering if anyone might have an idea of what could be going on in her head ? She is normally a very playful dog, but also very obedient which is why we're concerned in her change of behavior. Thanks in advance.

[Alura]

I will let more experience forum members address your concern fully, but I do recall 11 months being particularly tough as it is their "teenage" stage. Ours tried "pushing the limits" a bit more around that time, but constant and consitent training helped tremendously.

Good luck!

[themaster]

Have there been any other instances of this "changed behaviour"?

Not sure what sort of barking it was from your post but sounds like it was an excited sort of playful barking. I'm not sure your trainers suggestion of feeding treats was going to help until you had her attention back, I think you should have just walked off in the other direction away from where she wanted to be.

If on the other hand it was aggressive braking then that should have been corrected immediately. Positive reinforcement is great but sometimes you need the correction too.

[Shelby427]

I agree, welcome to the teenage months - where I swear they forget their own names! Hudson is around 1 and he's been acting up as well. We're extra vigilent with him right now, and we don't lighten up on him at all.

It seems as though he has forgotten ALL manners and ignores us. We then do a bunch of quick commands with him ON LEASH - so he knows we mean business - to get him to pay attention to us. This has been ongoing for a few weeks now, but we're not letting up at all! Just trying to get through it. Good luck!

[pennygirl4107]

Thanks for the replies. It was a playful bark as in "I want off this leash now" but her bark is so deep and she gets very fixated that I'm sure it would get other people nervous. My husband did end up taking her to the other side of the gym, and we both agree that corrections as well as positive reinforcement are needed for a well rounded strong rottie. Other instances where she displayed this behavior is when she is restricted on leash when another dog is present and she wants to run over to greet them.

[dipper]

Sounds like you have a pretty normal Rottweiler and I wouldn't call this behavior "over the top".
This is when you have to take charge and be prepared to give corrections and teach/train your dog what is and what is not acceptable---it's part of responsible Rottweiler ownership--you must have the mental toughness to stick with it and never give up.
If you haven't already, get some training on the proper use of a prong collar----properly used, they are a great training aid.
Some people do not have this mental toughness and determination and the dog can suffer--you must be fair and firm and consistent in her training and don't let her get away with ANYTHING that is not proper behavior.
You have a Rottweiler, now all you have to do is train her.

Rich

[themaster]

I don't think you have anything to worry about, all sounds quite normal just keep up the training and the teenage excitement will start to pass before you know it and Penny will start to calm down, but the ongoing training and immediate correcting of unwanted behaviours will help.

I only mentioned corrections as some positive reinforcement trainers are very much against corrections and that seems to be what your trainer is suggestion.

Sounds like things are going very well in the training so keep up the good work

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by dipper

Sounds like you have a pretty normal Rottweiler and I wouldn't call this behavior "over the top".
This is when you have to take charge and be prepared to give corrections and teach/train your dog what is and what is not acceptable---it's part of responsible Rottweiler ownership--you must have the mental toughness to stick with it and never give up.
If you haven't already, get some training on the proper use of a prong collar----properly used, they are a great training aid.
Some people do not have this mental toughness and determination and the dog can suffer--you must be fair and firm and consistent in her training and don't let her get away with ANYTHING that is not proper behavior.
You have a Rottweiler, now all you have to do is train her.

Rich

Very well said!
This is not a Golden Retriever in a black and tan suit...you have a Rottweiler and you are just starting the teenage stage.
Your dog may get worked up when there are excited dogs, or barking dogs...may even think that little dogs are prey. These are all things you are going to be training to get through.
Your dog may one day decide she does not like other females dogs (very common in this breed)...and you will have to train for her to ignore.

Around 12-18 months things can be hard...they tend to test you and to forget every obedience command that they ever learned. You just have to get through it with them.

Gina

[dipper]

Thank You Gina!!

Rich