[ssimmons99]

Chloe is 10 1/2 months old now and we started some additional obedience classes about 4 weeks ago.  They really spent a lot of time on clicker training and it has been working well so far.  She comes when called now about 75% of the time - does sit, stand, down on hand and verbal cues, knows "paws" & "off" although she isn't very reliable at those so far - she doesn't pull on the leash anymore, but doesn't quite heel yet.  

We are still having the occasional issue with her lunging/biting/barking/growling at us - usually my husband or myself - occasionally my oldest son.  Right now when she starts, we give her a command - but 50% of the time she just barks and lunges at us instead of following the command.  She hasn't broken the skin - but I have had some really bad bruises from her and/or torn clothes.  If she doesn't follow the command I hold her in my lap in kind of a head-lock so she cannot bite me until she calms down (about 5-10 minutes).

Am I doing the right thing?  Is there anything I can be doing?  I would bring it up to the training center, but when I did originally they almost didn't let me into group classes - she never acts this way towards strangers.

 

[tootsie]

When you are holding her in the head lock, are you repeating the command you use when she lunges at you? Is she playing when she does this, or is she really attacking you? It does kind of sound like she wants to be the alpha, and I think you have the right idea with holding her down. Whenever my dogs have pulled the alpha thing, I always held them like a baby on my lap belly up. You want to get them on their back to show them that you are the alpha. With them on their back, once they settle down they become very submissive to you being alpha over them. It has always worked for me, but a lot of people aren't comfortable with holding their dogs like this. I still hold Maddie like this occasionally when she is acting up, and she is 62 pounds!  8O  Good Luck and let us know how Chloe does.

 

[ssimmons99]

I talked with the trainer about it last night and she seemed to think that this was more of a playful behavior than an aggressive one - she said that the dog would not let you hold her if she didn't want you to.  The trainer said she is willing to submit to me by allowing me to hold her down.

I guess we are going to work on "dead" and "settle" next week and the trainer said that those commands might be more reliable when the dog is excited.  She said her dogs will be playing with other dogs and they will follow "play dead" immediately because it's fun for them.

So I guess we will keep working on it.