Social dominance and hand biting - corollation?

[Jax08]

He's adorable!!!!

Personally, when they are lunging and going berserk at the end of the lead, I turn around and walk away. It does a couple of things. First, you are breaking their concentration on the object and you are taking them to a distance that is within their threshhold. I work closer to the "object" using Look At That and rewards. Your goal should be that they look to you for direction instead of fixating on the object.

What happens when he's off lead? it looks like he's just excited to get to the other puppies and play.

[wolfy dog]

Originally Posted by Jax08

He's adorable!!!!
it looks like he's just excited to get to the other puppies and play.

Yep, interested, full of life but relaxed expression

[Thorny]

I must admit that there was a lot going on out of the frame of that top picture, but his drive against the harness is fairly common when he sees something that interests him (dogs at park, strangers coming at him from a distance, anyone with a hotdog, etc).

When he's off lead different things happen:
In my backyard he plays with sticks and ignores me unless I have a ball or I chase after him trying to get his stick.
At the dog park he runs up to the big dogs and tries to engage them, then runs and hides between my legs when they DO engage him.
With smaller dogs he climbs on top of them, nips at necks and chases.
Inside the dog park but away from the other dogs he will sniff the bushes while I walk away then play catch up. He will come when I call, chase and return balls, but he has zero recall if playing with other puppy's.

[Jag]

Originally Posted by Thorny

I must admit that there was a lot going on out of the frame of that top picture, but his drive against the harness is fairly common when he sees something that interests him (dogs at park, strangers coming at him from a distance, anyone with a hotdog, etc).

When he's off lead different things happen:
In my backyard he plays with sticks and ignores me unless I have a ball or I chase after him trying to get his stick.
At the dog park he runs up to the big dogs and tries to engage them, then runs and hides between my legs when they DO engage him.
With smaller dogs he climbs on top of them, nips at necks and chases.
Inside the dog park but away from the other dogs he will sniff the bushes while I walk away then play catch up. He will come when I call, chase and return balls, but he has zero recall if playing with other puppy's.

I haven't seen a true alpha react with aggression towards people, nor have I seen one run and hide behind a person if a bigger dog engages with them. A true alpha has more control than that with people. It sounds like your dog is blowing you off because you've allow the dog to blow you off. Exercise the dog before classes to get some of the energy out. Socialize with only stable dogs that can show your pup stable behaviors.

[Thorny]

Originally Posted by Jag

I haven't seen a true alpha react with aggression towards people, nor have I seen one run and hide behind a person if a bigger dog engages with them. A true alpha has more control than that with people. It sounds like your dog is blowing you off because you've allow the dog to blow you off. Exercise the dog before classes to get some of the energy out. Socialize with only stable dogs that can show your pup stable behaviors.

You are probably right Jag, my breeder likley got it wrong. Does Grimm poop potpourri too. I can do without your advice in my threads.

[mchcthrn]

Maybe a front clip harness to help the puppy learn to turn around and focus on you instead of a standard back clip? We use a Freedom harness by Wiggles, Wags, and Whiskers on both of our dogs and it works great!

[doggiedad]

nice looking pup. you have to teach him how
to meet and greet. with training and socializing
your pup is going to be fine. i think a dog should
be able to be approached from any angle and
touched anywhere by a stranger and not react.
when my dog was a pup i made sure he was petted
all over his body by strangers and approached from all angles.

[Jax08]

Originally Posted by Jag

I haven't seen a true alpha react with aggression towards people, nor have I seen one run and hide behind a person if a bigger dog engages with them. A true alpha has more control than that with people. It sounds like your dog is blowing you off because you've allow the dog to blow you off. Exercise the dog before classes to get some of the energy out. Socialize with only stable dogs that can show your pup stable behaviors.

Originally Posted by Thorny

You are probably right Jag, my breeder likley got it wrong. Does Grimm poop potpourri too. I can do without your advice in my threads.

Well, I don't know why. What Jag posted is correct and the advice he gave is good.

[doggiedad]

this is a forum. people don't have to agree with you. there's a
lot of well trained and highly socialized dogs here. the dogs
became that way because of knowledgeable people. dominance
and alpha are overrated. people mistake dominance and alpha
for a lack of control as in the picture of your dog at the end
of the leash. instead of having the dog at your side you let
him pull to the end of the leash. that's not dominance that's you
not controlling your dog. when it comes to advice you need a lot
of it. i hope you follow it so you can have a well trained, highly
socialized dog.

the way you described your dog playing sounds like normal
play. when your dog gains more confidence he'll stop
running between your legs.

Originally Posted by Thorny

You are probably right Jag, my breeder likley got it wrong. Does Grimm poop potpourri too. I can do without your advice in my threads.

[Jag]

Originally Posted by Thorny

You are probably right Jag, my breeder likley got it wrong. Does Grimm poop potpourri too. I can do without your advice in my threads.

I don't know your breeder, so I can't really say. GRIM is not perfect, if that's what you're implying. If you don't want advice, don't post. IMO, pegging your pup as something before you've seen the behaviors is a bad idea. NO pup should be reacting to people like that. Alpha, beta, whatever.. it doesn't matter. FYI, I told my breeder I did NOT want the alpha out of the litter. So don't go assuming that I think alpha's are all that. I do think that you're a little confused on what alpha behavior is, though. It's not aggression, it's a calm assertion that doesn't require aggression. The confidence level is where they don't come and hide because another dog is bigger. Trust me, you do NOT want an alpha.