We have a lovely 4 month old labrador/husky cross puppy named Butler. He is recently showing signs of dominance and behaviour which we cannot seem to control. We have never let him up on the leather sofas in our lounge. He now sees this as a challenge in itself and will regularly jump up and refuse to come down. He barks, snaps, bares his teeth and will not get down when asked. We have tried every means of dealing with this behaviour but it is as though he is using the act in defiance, knowing he is 'top dog'. The most worrying thing is we have a 5 year old daughter who is often sitting on the sofa and yesterday he actually jumped up and stood on top of her. He was not aggressive towards her but obviously this is a grave concern.
Usually he is great with our daughter and other children, apart from the odd act of humping. We always eat before the puppy, go through doors ahead of him, and follow other suggested means of making puppies realise who is the 'leader'. He gets plenty of exercise, is rarely left alone and we cannot understand why he should react this way. He learns training commands quickly and is an intelligent dog who when calm is an absolute joy. When he is not having his bouts of 5 minute madness he is generally very well behaved.
Can anyone offer any advice for dealing with such dominant behaviour? If we ignore him he jumps around like a mad thing or lies down on the sofa - standing his ground. If we ask him nicely or firmly to get down he barks, snaps and displays other aggressive behaviour. The more we attempt to control him the worse he becomes. We cannot let this situation continue for the safety of our daughter but are anxious to find a solution.
although my dog is a staff we had the same sort of prob, if we ignored him he would jump on the sofa and refuse to move ,so, when he jumped on the sofa we totly ignored him and went out of the room ,then called him and put him out side rain or shine for about 10 - 20 mins or so ,he soon learned that if he played up he went out side..
rookie
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