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Posted by JustBuck
on 6/18/2011, 5:47 pm, in reply to "Another dog fight...really need some good sound advice."
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We had a female golden retriever and a female white german shepherd that would fight for no reason. The fights got to the point that the retriever bit off the shepherds ear the day before Christmas one year. I was at my whits end and our vet referred us to an animal behaviorist. What she had us do is teach our dogs the 'Show me your neck' command. She said that we had to teach our dogs the command to drop on their back, roll over and show their necks. Then we were supposed to stand over them and stare them in the eye until they looked away. (Straddle them between your legs while you stare them down). Then we could back off them. At the time, our kids were little,like 4 & 5 years old. The behaviorist told us that the dogs even had to drop on command when the kids gave the order. She said that the issue was that the dogs were trying to establish who was 'Alpha'. The behaviorist told us that the humans were Alpha. Once we started doing this, the fighting stopped. Also, she told us that touch is positive for the dog, so you have to get to the point where the dog can do the command without you touching the dog. Our dogs got to the point where we could be across the room and say, 'Show me your neck', and they would drop on the floor and roll over, then they would wait for us to stand over them and stare them down. Once we started doing this, the fighting stopped. I would recommend you do this with all your dogs and have all your family members to it too, even kids if you have them. Good luck. I've been through fighting and it is very emotional and scary to deal with.
Harness the Horse Power; Ride a Standardbred!
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