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Dear Daniel,
My Yorkie Charlie has a split personality which is causing a problem. He is fine one on one but when my son or wife come into the picture he gets very violent and comes after me. I've tried everything in the training book but can’t seem to change his problem. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks
Warren
Hi there Warren,
Thank you for email regarding your Yorkie, Charlie, and his current behavioral problem when your wife and son are around you! It sounds as though Charlie has some dominance and protection issues and for this reason you will need to spend some time and effort training him effectively so that he is comfortable around you and your family in all situations. In order to get him to respond appropriately towards you around your family, you need to show him that you and your family are boss. For this reason, I would encourage you, and any other family members, to read the bonus book "Secrets to becoming the Alpha Dog". This book will give you a good understanding of the hierarchical nature and behavior of your dog. Follow the tips in this book as much as possible and you should get good results within a couple of weeks.
Please ensure you undertake the following techniques to reinforce your status as alpha dog over Charlie:
If you come across your dog while he is sleeping or lying on the floor then you can reinforce your position as alpha dog by making him move so that you can pass by.
Generally I do not recommend people give their dogs bones as this encourages aggression, because in the wild the alpha dog would be the only one to have the privilege of chewing the bones.
Make sure that you always go through doorways first. A good method to reinforce your position as alpha dog is to walk your dog around the house on the leash, making your dog wait while you walk through doorways first.
At mealtimes make sure that your dog or dogs eat after all of the humans have.
Do not feed your dog tidbits or let it pester you at the table. Save the morsels and tidbits for training sessions instead.
Do not greet your dog straightaway when you arrive home. Make it wait until you are ready and then call it to you.
When your dog wants to go outside for a walk, make it sit and wait until you are ready to go. Note that this technique doesn't apply when house breaking.
When you give a command make sure that you are in a position to enforce the action that you require from your dog, especially in the initial stages of Alpha Dog training. Also, use the Alarm-No-Command technique as described in the Alpha Dog bonus book to reprimand your dog if it does not obey your command.
It is vitally important that your dog has good all-round obedience skills. Regular training sessions are key to improving your dog's obedience responses and keeping it used to answering your commands. Concentrate on the sit and stay, down and stay, heel and wait commands.
Do not inadvertently reinforce poor behavior from your dog. You must be consistent in your attitude to your dog. For example, if your dog is allowed to jump on you when you are playing with it but is not allowed to jump up at any other time then how is it meant to know the difference?
By undertaking these techniques, you will find that Charlie slowly becomes a lot more responsive to your commands. This will take some time, but with everyone undertaking these techniques and reprimanding him appropriately as necessary, he will slowly change. When you do need to reprimand him, be sure to use a guttural growl of "AAAAH!" rather than "NO!" combined with either a squirt of water from a water pistol, a clap of the hands or by shaking a tin can filled with pebbles in his direction. You should also ideally undertake twice daily behavioral training lessons focusing on the sit, down, stay, come and heel commands using plenty of vocal praise and food rewards to encourage him. This will also help encourage him to respond to your commands quickly.
The key here is to show Charlie that YOU are boss over him and that it is not his role to be protective over your wife and son when you are around – that is YOUR job. This can take a month or two for many dogs to understand, but by ensuring they understand you are boss, you will slowly notice that he becomes a lot more friendly around you and calms down considerably. Be sure to get your wife and son to undertake these techniques also as they are a very important part of owning a dog! Ultimately it has to be you that calls the shots. If he becomes violent or aggressive to you, or anyone else, be they family or stranger, it is very important that you reprimand him quickly and effectively as above. If necessary (and you're at home) put him in a time out in a room away from the rest of the family for half an hour until he calms down, then only let him out if he is quiet at the time.
Lastly, if your male Yorkie has not yet been neutered, I would definitely recommend that you consider getting this procedure done in the not too distant future, as could well help reduce his current behavioral problems.
Best of luck with showing Charlie that you are boss! Definitely get him neutered in the not-too-distant future if he hasn't already been as this further help his problem. Please let us know how you get on with his training.
Kind Regards,
Daniel Stevens and the Secrets to Dog Training Team
"Secrets to Dog Training - STOP Dog Behavior Problems!"
I've been a professional dog trainer for well over 20 years, and in that time I've helped thousands of dog owners just like you to get the friendly, well behaved, slipper fetching, best pal they always wanted.
But it didn't start out that way. I've always loved dogs, some things never change. But when I first started my professional dog training career I relied on the so-called 'best practices' when it came to dog behavior training. It was only when I heard people tell me over and over again that they just weren't seeing results that I started to question the old accepted wisdom. So I started a journey, a quest to search out the best, most effective, techniques, tips, and tricks that really work.
And that's how I came up with Secrets to Dog Training. Year after year I found new techniques that achieved the results I wanted. Eventually I had a whole book worth of great resources: Secrets to Dog training...
So, if you want to:
Then Secrets to Dog Training is just what you've been looking for!
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