dog growling

hi hope someone can help, my siter has 2 jrt a male and female. the female is nearly 6mths and the male is 1 half years.

the problem she is having at the moment is the female will lay with her but if the boy walks past or goes to lay down next to my sister she growls and shows her teeth.

the silly thing is they sleep all together on the bed at night with her OH as well and there is no problems it is just in the day, she has also started to do with the OH as well if she is laying with him.

Is she just being over procted and how can we stop this.


we have been telling her NO when she does this and make her go on the floor to let her now this is not right.

Please any help would be great as they are both great dogs just need to sort this out. I must say my sister is disabled and the female is her life as the boy is the OH's.

thanks for any help you can give.

sam

Hi Sam I would say the bitch is being possessive rather than protective . At six months she is in the middle of learning and yes the behaviour needs to be stopped right now.
I can only tell you what I would do in this situation

Some general ongoing training should help too, reinforcing the sit/down/stay/leave. Remember training should be a part of everyday life and ongoing throughout a dogs life so it is never forgotten.
Here is an article by Shadowboxer on puppy training that might be of use to your friend .http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=14526

Great advice, I hope the situation improves for your sister

hi mini

thank you so much for the reply i will pass this on let you now how we go.

thank you again

sam

thanks wysiwyg

i hope so to

JRTs are quick to become "one person" dogs and whilst it's nice to have such a loyal companion, it's actually not a good idea to create "his and her" dogs precisely because this can lead to undesirable over-possessiveness. Obviously your sister's dog can't be allowed to get away with growling - and you've had some very sensible advice already - but it might help if both dogs received similar amounts of attention from both humans.

hi squibber

thank you so much for your reply i have passed all the advice on and they have started to put in practice.

thanks for all the advice will let you now how we go.

Great advice.... but just a little puzzled ...

Not sure why you think that?
With Jake, and with all other dogs in the past, I always made a point of teaching "NO" this is used in any instance which I find unacceptable. Jumping up on people, eating something they shouldn't, pulling on lead... endless list. He has learned that "NO"means it's wrong and instantly stops whatever he's doing when it's said. Seems simple enough to me as opposed to loads diff commands meaning same thing?? Just wondered why you think it's overused....

Not a critisism just my opinion and I'm interested in diff opinions

I'm another person who prefers more specific requests than "No" which I agree can be greatly over-used and may not help a dog realise quite what you want from him.

So if I want a mucky Jack Russell terrier to remove himself from the sofa he's told "Off". When we were in the puppy biting stage he got a sharp "Ah-ah" which he associated with teeth and my desire for a lack of them! If I see a small dog rapidly hunting down a plateful of chocolate biscuits he's told "Leave".

Obviously there are times when the only practical alternative is "No" but I try my hardest to be more specific.

My opinion is that all three examples can be passed to the dog and only one word needs learned... No means no... works for me.... soon as I say no Jake leaves whatever it is I want left....