[acurajane]

Hi, at what age does a GSD pup start showing their place in dog ranking or so called the pack. Latley my 9 mo pup has started showing dominet behavior to my 3 yr old docile as it gets lab and to our other small yound dog as well. She has not changed around the kids at all. She usually tends to be the submissive dog who backs down from everything. I am starting to be confused by her.

 

[MaggieRoseLee]

The best thing at this age is to make sure the pup knows to look to us for calm and consistant leadership. Not that we are coming down like a load of bricks, just that even a word from us will get their attention and they will stop something BEFORE it gets out of hand.

Great age to start up dog classes to give us the calm leadership role in our dogs life.

While my dogs settle tiny things among themselves, ultimately it's ME that's in charge of all of their worlds. So I need to pay attention, be there to step in before a problem starts. Guide the younger dog and protect the others. Don't want a 'bully' in the house!

Some good sites on this are:

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/leadership.html

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/relationshipbased.html

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/puppack.html

And he IS still a puppy, even if he's large. Hopefully you've been able to have alot of one on one time with him outside the home to socialize and get the leadership thing going.

 

[dOg]

What she said...

& yeah, 9 mos has got some hormones coursing if intact, and even if not, teenage like behaviors testing the waters.

 

[SunCzarina]

Yeah, it was a fun ride with Morgan from about that age till she was 3! Looking forward to riding again soon with Lil Otto (he's only 2 weeks old and not w/us yet)