I need help with a very strange problem

[iluvrotts]

I have a new problem with my 10 month old male rottweiler pup. This behavior has just started within the last week. I don't know if he is going through some bizarre stage or what, but I am at the end of my rope with him.

We have a large fenced in backyard in which he plays in for several hours per day. He enjoys being out there; he has lots of toys, a shady area, food and water and he is great friends with the beagle in the next yard. They kiss each other through the fence.

Last week, I noticed he was spending alot of time in the very back corner of the yard. There is a pine tree in the neighbors back yard that is near to the fence. He repeatedly charges the fence back there and jumps up on it. I'm not just talking about five or ten times, I am talking about for hours on end. He runs to the middle of the back yard and charges back there like a bull. Like he is crazy or something! He is not a fence jumper either, in fact, at 10 months old, he still cannot jump over the baby gate that I use to keep him in the kitchen when I am not able to keep an eye on him (he still gets into things occasionally).

When I go to bring him inside, he will not come and he has always come right away when I call him. He totally ignores me like he is deaf and charges the fence again. I've never seen anything like it. Finally, I end up having to go back there and put the leash on him. Sometimes this takes a half hour or more before I can catch the little renegade. He fights me tooth and nail and as we're walking back towards the house, he tries to turn around and charge the fence again!

I cannot understand what is his fixation back there. I went back there and looked to see if there was anything in the neighbors back yard that looked appealing to the dog and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. There is never anyone standing in the neighbors yard when he does this and they do not own a dog (he is not at all dog aggressive anyway; he loves other dogs).

I have never seen anything like this. He has always been a good boy, except about the barking at people at night thing.

Does anyone have any advice? My husband wants to put a trolley up in the backyard to restrict him to a small area to eliminate the problem. But we have a beautiful backyard that is nearly a half acre, all fenced in and I know he enjoys being loose back there. I do my training back there, off leash (with the gate closed), but the past week, it is a lost cause because he goes totally spare when I try to get him away from the fence.

A friend has suggested an electronic collar to solve the problem, but that seems a little cruel to me. I don't want to hurt him, because he is a good and loving dog most of the time.

I am really worried about this situation because it obviously is not normal dog behavior! I'm afraid when he gets a little bigger that he is going to go right through the fence. He never does this in any other area of the fence and the whole yard is fenced in.

I do correct him vocally when he does this but it does no good at all. I will also pull him down off the fence by the scruff, but this doesn't help at all either! Naturally, at this age, he is a very strong dog and I am a small woman.

If anyone has any good advice, I would certainly appreciate it. I thought that I had some control over my dog, and that our training was working, but obviously I have no control over him in this area.

[K9-man]

Did you try putting him on lead, and going over into the neighbors yard with him to see what he's trying to get at?

[Burnsway]

Sounds like he shouldn't get any more off lead fun time in the back yard till he learns to come when called. And when you finally do catch him after all that calling do you correct him or yell at him. Because that will make it worst. I bet if you had a great big juicy steak in your hand and yelled come he would come. If not then I too would need to go see what is so fun at that fence line....LOL!

[moondog]

I had a dog at one time that did almost exactly the same thing. She would go as far back as she could, charge across the yard and launch into a spiral trying to get something in the peach tree. I thought she had lost every last one of her marbles! While I stood at the tree, baffled, trying to figure out what she was doing, I heard "peep, peep...peep peep peep". It was a nest of tiny birds and their tiny little chirps were driving that dog to distraction!

That's the day I learned that dogs never lie. I'd be willing to bet that there is a nest or some form of wildlife in the pine tree that your dog can hear and you can't. They disguise well and can be very hard to spot.

If it is a nest that is catching his interest, your charging the fence problem with resolve itself when the babies fly off, but that recall will still need some practice! ;)

[anna&jacksmom]

My beagle mix is totaly obsessed with one tree in the yard also. He barks and jumps all around the tree. Well one day I saw a squirrel run up the tree and finally figured it out. He goes after the tree if there is a squirrel or not just to check and he checks for 10 minutes sometimes. So while your are checking for nests look for a live squirrel also. Maybe the beagle next door to you told him how wonderful they were.

[Burnsway]

Finally, I end up having to go back there and put the leash on him. Sometimes this takes a half hour or more before I can catch the little renegade. He fights me tooth and nail and as we're walking back towards the house, he tries to turn around and charge the fence again!

Hey you guys, although it is pretty obvious that there is something fun at the tree, the dog still needs to learn when called to come. If she calls the dog and he is ignoring her and she keeps calling he is learning that it is ok to not listen. I admit that Psyche, too finds things much more interesting then me but no way would 30 minutes of chasing go bye before I enforced my calling. If it did it would be the last time in a long time she was allowed in the yard with no lead.

I would call once and make sure I had something funner then whatever is in that tree. If she still didn't come I may, depending on my mood...LOL and because I'm not as hard as some trainers, give her a chance or 2 but she would loose the freedom. I can not stand having to chase a dog around. Once you get into this habit they soon make a huge game out of it.

This is a 10 month old baby, he is going to test you, don't let him win... ;) One day that "Come" command could mean saving the life of your dog.

[Burnsway]

Originally posted by iluvrotts
I will also pull him down off the fence by the scruff, but this doesn't help at all either! Naturally, at this age, he is a very strong dog and I am a small woman.

If anyone has any good advice, I would certainly appreciate it. I thought that I had some control over my dog, and that our training was working, but obviously I have no control over him in this area.

I would like to comment on this too. First I'm not a big person either and there are many here even smaller then me doing protection and Schutzhund work with much older, bigger, stronger dogs. It is a matter of respect and obedience, not size. Or at-least thats the way I feel. My dog listens and obeys me much better then my husband and he weighs much more and is much stronger...

Second, you *did* have control over him, he was a baby, he is growing up...:D

[moondog]

Originally posted by Burnsway
Hey you guys, ....., the dog still needs to learn when called to come.

Absolutely. Which is why I said ....but that recall will still need some practice :D

I think it's also important to mention that the dog is most likely very sane and knows exactly what's in the tree. ;)

I think I'd use a long line to teach him to come. Doesn't do any good to chase him around or use a command you can't enforce. :)

[iluvrotts]

Thanks for the great advice! I am off to Petsmart to buy a long line to practice "come" with. Maybe this will help. I did not let him in the yard today, unless I was back there to supervise him. I corrected him everytime he engaged in his bad behavior and had a pocketful of treats to reward him when he was good. This seemed to help a little, but he was still not really obedient.

I'm pretty sure that there must be something back there, I have walked back there and cannot see anything at all, so I'm really not sure what his problem is. It is a big pine tree, I don't know if squirrels or birds nest in these type of trees or not. Obviously there is something back there though that he can see but I cannot.

I guess he should lose his freedom in the backyard for a while until he learns not to disobey.

I guess I'm just unsure of what correction to give him. Basically I just yell, "Leave it! No!" Or if I catch him in the act of standing on the fence, I will pull him down while saying, "NO NO!" But this hasn't been really effective to tell you the truth.

I don't really like to use force with a dog. I have another rottweiler, as well, a 4 year old female, who listens really good. We've had her since she was a real small pup (7 weeks- unfortunately, she was purchased from a BYB, we just didn't know about that stuff then!) and she tested us as a young adult too, but never this bad!

I may have to resort to the trolley idea to restrict his area for a little while. I work with him everyday in the backyard, but I can't stand out there all day and he really enjoys the fresh air and sun, so it is not fair to keep him inside all day.

Do young male rottweilers go through a disobedient stage where they test you at this age?

[Roscoe's dad]

Guido was the same way and I dont think my method is the best. I did not like the tree from the get go it was blocking all the sun from my garden. The tree is now firewood for the winter. But your dog really needs to listen. I used to go out with treats in my hand and call her name. she saw the treats and came running. I also used to have to chase her around, what fun that is for the dog. Try not to chase her you are making a game of it for her.
All depending on how thick the lead is you may want to wear gloves of some sort. I like left and right handed golf gloves to prevent rope burns.

[moondog]

I found my dog face to face with a possum one night. They both were silent until I started moving in with the flashlight and then Luna started to bark at it and the possum started to hiss back. I REALLY didn't want Luna to push it to the point of defense and the only thing I could do was tell her to come. I said "Hey!", I said "Get Over Here!", I said "Luna!". Nothing . Then I recalled MY training :D and said the magic words "Luna, Come!" I was completely surprised when she left the possum and came right over to me! You see, she was taught that "Luna, Come" means "Luna, Come" and there's no way around it. She NEVER gets away with shining me on, and it wasn't done by force, it was done by attention, consistency and being smarter than she is (anticipating). It doesn't matter what words you choose, it matters that you have one for the behavior you expect, use them consistently and make sure EVERY right thing your dog does gets rewarded, either by praise or food/toy or both. I find it so much more satisfying to praise for a deed well done (or done at all in the beginning) than punishing because I didn't prevent a behavior from occurring in the first place.

As far as testing goes, they all will test, and test, and test, until it becomes very clear who the boss is. Hopefully that will be you! :) There are lots of phases that they will go through as they mature, similar to kids, and if you remember that a phase is only a phase if you do something about it, you'll do fine. If we passively wait for a phase to pass it becomes a way of life instead. Say what you mean and mean what you say. :)

[Karyn]

Cromwell would do that when we lived at our other house. I would take him out around 7:00 a.m. before breakfast - and he would go like a shot to the tree in the back of the yard. One winter morning while it was still not very light out - he went back to the base of the tree putting his nose right up under the brush and was clawed by an opossum. It was a real nasty claw mark from the inner corner of right his eye to his nose. A little more and he would have lost an eye. Needless to say, I did not make work that day and had an emergency visit to the vet. Something is definitely in that tree - be careful - it could be raccoons, a bunny nest or whatever.

[ilikerotties]

I spent alot of time teaching Jessi "back" "stay back" "wrong" "wait" and "come" . I tried to think of all the different situations I could use them on. Back and stay back I use at the fence line. It works well for me.

[ZeusAndBubba]

Originally posted by iluvrotts
Do young male rottweilers go through a disobedient stage where they test you at this age?

YES! my 7month old is still testing me, but not the smae way yours is.& my older rott is starting to think she can to.

But the most inportent thing is to teach him you are the boss...the way i leared to do this is to take him by the scruf of his neck & give him a lite shake like him mommy would do, & say "no"
work on the come EVERYDAY.also try walking him next to the tree & when he starts to jump pull him away saying "NO, leave it"& make him walk away from it, then tell him good boy, & pet him.give him a treat everyso often so he never knows when hes going to get it. that will give him something to work for.

[Caesarsmom]

We have huge spruce and pine trees here, and you can't believe how many critters use these trees for their homes or for hideouts! I'd say your boy has seen/smelled/sensed something there, and he really wants it. Can't say I'd put him on a trolley, but that's just my opinion. Others may disagree with me.

My male would kill a possum in a heartbeat if one crossed his path, as well as birds and mice. My girls haven't been quite so hard on the local population.

I agree with the other posters to make him more solid on his "come" command. This won't happen overnight, and will take persistance as well as patience on your part. I was fortunate enough to have a training school which used lots of distractions during our classes. That made our dogs extremely solid on their sit stays and down stays, but come is so valuable, you will need to really work on this.

Good luck, and let us know if you ever find out what's bothering your boy.

~Cris