Hand reared behaviour problems!

Hi,

I was reading another thread, and noted with great interest that Mahooli (I think!) said that pups that had been hand raised were notorious for having behavioral problems. Now for those of you who are unaware, Jack is a rescue, we know a certain amount about his past, he's been bought by a young couple (Teenage/20yrs) with very young children, he had been beaten up, thrown across the room, had lighters flaired up in his face, all that kind of thing, but also that his mother died giving birth to him, and he was hand raised, then he was in a kennel untill he was bought at 3 months.

We got Jack at 11 months, and have had all sorts of problems with him, far too many to mention all of them, but just a few, he has a problem with other dogs when he is crowded, I've had to use the alpha female techniques to put him in his place basically, we cant raise our voice to him or get cross with him, as he just runs and hides, and turns into the nervous boy he was when we first got him, it's taken a long time to get him to the stage he is now. I was just wondering how much of this is down to being hand raised, his appaling treatment at the hands of his first owners, or just because he's a BC, mind you I've had many BC before and never had this sort of thing with any of them, he's now just over 2yrs old, and seems to be very well adjusted, and all bar making sure he knows I'm the alpha female all the time, and his being crowded problems, he is a very happy confident boy now, sorry this is long , and if by know you've forgotten what the original question was , how much of this can be put down to being hand reared!

Christine

I think it's down to the fact that they don't get the 'older' dog interaction that a mother raised litter will do.
Whether your Jack's problems stem from his hand raising or his appalling early treatment is going to be very difficult to work out.
I don't believe in 'dominance' or the need to be 'top dog'. I do believe that ground rules need to be set and the dog needs to be trained to understand these rules and this is where consistency in training is a must.
Sorry can't be of more assistance but the fact that he was probably very isolated for the first 3 months of his life may well have had a huge impact on him.
Becky

Thanks Becky, the only reason I do the alpha female thing with him is because when we first had him, I couldn't move with him putting himself in front of me and growling at me, couldn't go near my son, with out being snapped at, if I wanted to go somewhere which ment having to go past him, he would stand rigid in front of me, bearing his teeth, if he wanted something he would make it known what he wanted and snap/grow/ bear his teeth, I knew this had to be addressed, and knowing that if I grumbled at him or tried to correct his sternly, he would run and hide for the rest of the day, I decided to look into this alpha thing, and put it into action, and whether a coincidence or not within 24hrs of starting it, he's never snapped/growled/or beared his teeth at me again, and I found this the kindess way of dealing with this, and this had laid the foundations for the ground rules you mentioned, his training has been very constitant, and he just loves to please, which makes training very easy and there hasn't been a day go by that I've regretted taking him on, in fact I'm very proud of the dog he's turned out to be thank you again for your input, very much appreciated

Were there other dogs in the litter? I had an only who was partially hand reared & so I got him socialised with a friend with many dogs. People often commented on how well socialised he was for an only dog in a litter so I'd think Jack's whole traumatic beginning would have a lot to do with his problems. All the more kudos to you for your success with him.

Oh, thanks GSD-Sue for your kind comments, I have no idea if there were any other pups in the litter, and my guess is he was never socialised! I'm just pleased that we were given the background details we were, I'm sure that he went through much more than we know, also this young couple lived in a flat, so he never had the space to run and play either!