Lozzi, I realy feel this needs to be addressed, your understanding of how to fix this problems, is dangerously misguided, and I am sure others more qualified and are better at explaining will tell you the same.

1) Jake is resource guarding (the bone) he had a bone your niece , lay next to him, and he warned her off... no amount of you trying to elevate her position over him, will stop him "guarding " his next bone, and it could escalate to a toy! so you need right now to understand the danger of allowing your niece to go anywhere near Jake while he has a valuable possession !

2) it also throws up the fact, you have more problems with Jake than you realise, you keep saying its only on walks he ignores me, yet we now understand he "resource guards" "has no recall" and now the "ignoring commands" one things it escalating into another,

I may be wrong , but I see it this way, getting your niece to give Jake his foo d.treats, will not stop him "guarding " any valuable objects , if she comes to close to him, and would hazard a guess he will then do the same (if he does not already) to other people who get to close to his possession.

Until you have help, you must no allow Jake any possessions he regards as valuable , when your niece is in the room/near him, either that or remove him from the room, when he is eating /playing with anything.

The last thing we want to hear is "Jake bit my young niece"!

There is a lot going on here with Jake, so maybe you can now try to understand it is more to do with your relationship with Jake, his teenage rebellious age is with him, he IS challenging you , he has no direction in his life, and thats why you are getting the problems you are.

Pleas, if you dont want to listen to any advice here.....get some one in to help you.

You must listen to someone, for your sake and Jakes!

P.S , sorry its so blunt,and I probably be shot down for this, but it needs to be said, we can all see the problem, and are becoming frustrated to the fact, you are not!!

I can guarantee you one thing Lozzi, (if you continue to ignore the help)

Jake will be come a statistic, he will become a dog with a record of biting, and as you know, some shelters will not rehome a biter!!

Lozzi please don't think people are getting at you no one thinks you are physical with Jake as a matter of course but they do want to give advice to stop the situation happening again.

I never saw the need for a house lead until I got my rescue boy but even now six years after he came to me I will use a lead to guide him rather than put us into confrontational situations.

My boy is strange very clever but not nearly as confident as he appears to be. I have never been harsh with him but he will still growl at me in certain circumstances. I got him at 6 months via rescue as he had "bitten" the child in the house over food dropped on the floor. He was very guardy with food when I got him and to this day he isn't always comfortable with close contact or his collar being held. I wonder if the child was a bit too hands on and cuddly?

I have learned to watch his body language so I can avoid or defuse situations.

I hope you get things sorted out you've had a lot of great advice from people.

Hi Lauren before you follow the good advice given here it is important to make sure the painful condition Jake had which began in November and which cleared up temporarily only to return has now cleared up properly.
http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=118128
If there has been no improvement in the condition since you went last week you need to return to the vet.

ok, a wee while ago (the beginning of november) jake developed a very red right eye (not the actually eyeball, just right above the eye), and the fur began to fall out above the eye. then the fur fell out above the left eye too. I took him to the vet, and the vet thinks it was just coz he was rubbing his face coz he had an ear infection, although I thought it could possibly be an allergy. So he got some antihistamines and ear drops. They ear infection cleared up and the redness in his eyes went, but the hair only grew back a wee bit, and less grew back above his right eye.
I noticed the other day, that his right eye was starting to go red again. So I started giving him antihistamines just in case it was a wee allergy he was getting, and planned to take him to the vets on Monday. But yesterday, his eye got much worse, and his left eye has gone the same. All around the eye looks red, and some bits look like that are bleeding, but its not… if that makes sense lol. And it looks wet and slimy… again, if that makes sense … and today, I have noticed it is around his mouth a wee bit too, so will be keeping an eye on that getting worse.

I have continued to read this thread with interest but am so very short of time lately that I couldn't comment further, plus there is som fabulous advice on here already.

LB...I can see why you are feeling 'got at' but no one on here is actually 'getting at' you, they are offering very sound advice. From what I can see people are saying:
1) There is a reason for Jake's behaviour, part of it is medical but part of it is behavioural. Given you are also having recall issues at the moment it would seem there is a break down somewhere in your training with Jake. This happens to everyone at some point, often at the age Jake is, when you think they have cracked a lot of commands and things settle, they start to question you...I've seen it so many times (and experienced it first hand so many times). As a result of it, you need to 'up' your training. Not 'up' your position to him that's a load of old twaddle. You need to just retrain and reestablish rules and consistency BUT......

2) You, by your own admission, are an inexperienced dog owner/handler. As a result of this and the fact that Jake has now bitten, you must get face to face help and support. It is all very well people giving advice over the internet...but this is a serious issue. He bit you. Twice. You HAVE to get help and get it soon. It will be fairly easy at this point to sort it out...but you reall do need face to face help. Did you look at the link I posted to the trainer in Airdrie?

3) Read some of the books suggested. I would highly recommend the one suggested by Wys on Calming Signals. It is a 'must read this' book for all dog owners I think... it is eye opening.

I just wanted to comment on another couple of posts....

I disagree. Mental stimulation will tire a dog much more quickly and effectively than physical exertion, which tires a dog quickly but only in the short term. I also think with Jake he is getting stressed and wound up in the situations you describe so needs some work before he is reintroduced to those activities. In the meantime he needs short training session regularly in the house...and the opportunity to sniff and be a dog on onlead walks...he could be taken to new places on lead to explore them. 20 minutes round Tescos car park sniffing what he wants and exploring will wear him out more than 20 minutes offlead charging and playing with other dogs.

but the recall is the only thing he isn’t good at. I know people, who have dogs where they are excellently behaved but there recall isn’t good. im sure there are plenty members on here who have that problem. Jake is a very reactive dog, and I read a book I was recommended and that said some breeds actually do seem to go deaf and wont respond to a human call but will respond to a whistle so I am working with jake to respond to the whistle. So far it is going well, but I don’t want to take things too fast so haven’t tried him off lead responding to it. I haven’t tried to up my position to him.



I looked at the link thanks, I think I will give her a wee call and asks her some questions.



I usually try to vary jakes walks between offlead and onlead so he gets both physical exertion and mental stimulation. Just now all his walks are onlead though.

I have continued to read this thread with interest but am so very short of time lately that I couldn't comment further, plus there is som fabulous advice on here already.

LB...I can see why you are feeling 'got at' but no one on here is actually 'getting at' you, they are offering very sound advice. From what I can see people are saying:
1) There is a reason for Jake's behaviour, part of it is medical but part of it is behavioural. Given you are also having recall issues at the moment it would seem there is a break down somewhere in your training with Jake. This happens to everyone at some point, often at the age Jake is, when you think they have cracked a lot of commands and things settle, they start to question you...I've seen it so many times (and experienced it first hand so many times). As a result of it, you need to 'up' your training. Not 'up' your position to him that's a load of old twaddle. You need to just retrain and reestablish rules and consistency BUT......

2) You, by your own admission, are an inexperienced dog owner/handler. As a result of this and the fact that Jake has now bitten, you must get face to face help and support. It is all very well people giving advice over the internet...but this is a serious issue. He bit you. Twice. You HAVE to get help and get it soon. It will be fairly easy at this point to sort it out...but you reall do need face to face help. Did you look at the link I posted to the trainer in Airdrie?

3) Read some of the books suggested. I would highly recommend the one suggested by Wys on Calming Signals. It is a 'must read this' book for all dog owners I think... it is eye opening.


I just wanted to comment on another couple of posts....



I disagree. Mental stimulation will tire a dog much more quickly and effectively than physical exertion, which tires a dog quickly but only in the short term. I also think with Jake he is getting stressed and wound up in the situations you describe so needs some work before he is reintroduced to those activities. In the meantime he needs short training session regularly in the house...and the opportunity to sniff and be a dog on onlead walks...he could be taken to new places on lead to explore them. 20 minutes round Tescos car park sniffing what he wants and exploring will wear him out more than 20 minutes offlead charging and playing with other dogs.

Brill post.

Exactly. If my OH pushed me when we are being daft and winding each other up I would think nothing of it. If he was trying to get me to do something but I didn't want to do it and he pushed me with the same force as in the 'playfight' it would be entirely different and provoke and entirely different reaction from me. Context here is vital.


I just wanted to say I agree with Joedee. That doesn't happen a lot. I do think this is a great post though.

Good luck LB. PLEASE try to take a step back and not feel so 'got at' ironically, your reaction to the advice offered in the thread (feeling backed into a corner and threatened) is exactly the same as Jake's reaction to you moving him...

Each to their own, but that doesn't work for every dog. Mine get plenty of mental stimulation, too much probably, but that doesn't mean they don't need physical exercise as well. The reality is that training and just mental stimulation is boring for some dogs. I respectfully disagree that running off lead, playing, and generally having fun is 'stressful' for them. The OP's dog, Jake, is a mix of some very active breeds. Mental stimulation is necessary, but there needs to be some good physical exercise in there. What is more stressful, being kept on a lead and never being able to run around and be a dog, or running/playing/swimming freely? I know which one mine would pick if given the choice.

How do you stretch his mind ? What do you do to make him use his brain ? I don't mean obedience training, but getting him to work things out himself.

Have you taught him to touch your palm ? The method is simple & once he has worked out the touch you can use the word touch to teach him to do so much with him working out what you want him to do.

All my dogs do the touch & it can even be used to get a really fast good recall.

It does take patience & doesn't involve you physically touching the dog.

If you do not know realise that you may not be able to give Jake a quality of life he needs & deserves.

You really must step back & have a good long think about what you are doing wrong because Jake has no consistency in his life.

You see, this is just what I knew you were like with him, when I said about being too soft. If you give a command to a dog, you don't laugh, laughing is for when you're playing or out and about, but not when you're giving him a command that you want him to adhere to, and that's where I think you're going wrong Lauren. The thing is, Jake doesn't understand "get off you big lump" they only have a vocabulary of 150 words or so, and although he knows the word "off" when you put it together with a string of other words, it just confuses him. You don't have to shout or raise your voice, you just have to say it like you mean it in a normal voice and he will understand, just like he has before, but you made the BIG mistake here of adding other words and laughing of that I am sure and I already knew that!

Sorry, but I had to step him again here, because this is exactly what I was getting at, you're not consistent enough with your commands imo. In my mind, off means just that, get off, no silly talking or tapping or stringing out a sentence, leave that for when you're dishing up dinner or something and you're actually talking to Jake, or playing, but never when giving a command that you want him to obey, it only confuses them, or from what I can see now, puts fear into them for what might be coming next.

That book sounds brilliant that Wys and Ramble have picked out for you and you can only learn by reading and reading you can never have too much knowledge, I'm still learning at my ripe old age! Experience will come Lauren, but it can only be learned by trial and error I'm afraid. Good luck with Jake, try and think on what everyone's said I know it's a lot to take in!