[Dailydrool] Sally's Growling again - HELP!

[Sylvie McGee]

Hi, Emily,

 

For starters, I would do two things:

 

1.	Your husband MUST start working with her in the same ways you have -
working for everything. Right now, she's got you pegged as Alpha, she's
right behind you and he's sort of irrelevant. She needs to understand that
you are a team and that you both are "in charge".
2.	I would not allow her to sleep loose in the room with this behavior.
Either she should be crated for bedtime in the room, or she should be
sleeping elsewhere - and I would crate her there. She will fuss and cry and
carry on at first, but she *will* adjust if you are consistent with her, and
will even come to think of the crate as "her bed".

 

Good luck with Ms. Sally!

 

Sylvie McGee

HeavenScent Bassets, Olympia WA

360-705-1233

sylviemcgee at comcast.net

 

  _____  

From: dailydrool-bounces at dailydrool.org
[mailto:dailydrool-bounces at dailydrool.org] On Behalf Of Emily Weiss Dodd
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 8:20 AM
To: dailydrool at dailydrool.org
Subject: [Dailydrool] Sally's Growling again - HELP!

 

Oh boy, Sally is being a growly monster again. I was getting into bed last
night and she jumped up on the big bed with me (something that is NOT
allowed) and when my husband came over to pick her up and put her on the
floor, she completely flipped out and started growling and snarling at him.
Then, once she was on the floor, she didn't stop growling at him and
actually started coming toward him and growling. 

 

I'm chalking this up to dominance issues -- I'm the pack leader and she has
never done this to me, but she has done it several times to him. Sometimes
she freaks out when Matt gets into bed with me, or even near the bed to kiss
me goodnight. She doesn't do this when we sit next to each other on the
couch or when we get close to each other anywhere else in the house ... it's
just near the bed. The bed is OURS, not hers (she has her own bed on the
floor in our room) so I just can't understand it. 

 

Thanks for letting me vent. Hubby is angry with Sally, but I really think it
is about dominance. When we first got her at the end of August, she didn't
listen to a thing I wanted her to do, but she followed my husband's every
move and whim. I started working with her so that she had to sit before she
got ANYTHING fun (food, a walk, a treat, pets, anything) and now she's an
angel for me because I willed myself to be the pack leader. 

 

Is this dog psychology at its worst? Did she see me "overcome" my husband
who was her original pack leader, and now she sees him as weak? Oh boy, did
I create a monster??

 

-Emily, and a very confused Sally

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