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Billygfx - you are asking good questions and I'll tell you what I have done: I found that putting them in another room waiting for them to calm down (because they hear their food and the female starts whining and barking) I ALLOW the male to leave that confined area and walk with me to the area where feeding happens, i have him sit calmly, make eye contact and then place his bowl down. I then go to where i have the other pup and wait until she is calmed down and repeat. I do put a baby gate so she cannot go after his bowl and then I can follow the steps for feeding. They were used to tag teaming the food but I worry that one may eat more than the other and I want to make sure that nutritionally they are getting what they need and so I decided to feed them in separate bowls so I can measure who is eating what and how much (there is never anything left :-) ).
As far as play goes I do allow them to take toys away from each other only because I have bought two of everything but they seem to want what the other one has so I only intervene if I notice that they are no longer "play fighitng" and are escalating to a more aggressive and possessive response to each other at which point i take away the toy and distract them with something else they listen to the correction and are learning to "calm" down when they are escalating the flip side is that right now they are in the same space and so I cannot correct it while they are alone which is why all of their time is supervised and behaviors corrected while I am home with them.
I hope this helps.
Again, as I mentioned before, I am no expert... this is just what I do at home, and it seems to work with no problems.
When my younger one tries to get to the food bowl, then I body-block or correct w/the "bite" or pick up by the scruff of the neck and remove to another area. It just depends on the intensity of the puppy and what snaps him back to paying attention to me and NOT my older one eating. What mainly works for me is the "bite" Cesar uses. If I don't "snap" at the puppy, then my older one SURE will if the puppy gets too close and is too excited. This normally makes him keep is distance, though The dogs have to learn, calmness means reward (being the food.) Excitement around feeding time can cause many problems later on.
As far as sharing bowls, I'm not sure what's the "correct" thing to do. I feed my dogs in separate bowls, but they drink out of the same water bowl. I want them to be able to eat out the same food bowl with no issues also. Food guarding/aggression is something that I've worked really hard to keep out of their behaviour. As for now, my dogs are feed out of separate bowls, but if one leaves anything in their bowl, the other one can come over and eat it with no problem. The key is for them to NOT fight/growl/snap over the food.
Toys. :) This is also a matter of choice. You are the "mother dog". You are the one that decides what's too rough and what's too much. My dogs are allowed to play together with a toy and "steal" toys from one another. They are also allowed to play tug-o-war, but I supervise it all. If one dog starts getting a little grumpy or possessive of the toy. I make both of the dogs drop it and leave it. They are not allowed to be possessive over anything! Playing is... just that... playing. My younger one is of course a little more rough and doesn't really know when too much is too much. He is also naturally more noisy/whiny than my older dog. So for him, the noisy isn't much for a concern for me. I watch his body language and if he is trying to be dominanting over my older one, by leaning against her to steal a toy, or stepping over her and just standing there.. stuff like that I do not allow. My older one, is not very vocal at all. She hardly ever barks or whines. The first time I ever heard her growl was over a rawhide. So when I hear her start to get vocal, I know she is not playing. I correct that as well. It comes from knowing your dogs and knowing what signs to look for.... I know when one is trying to be the dominating one or when one is starting to rough-house too much. That's when I stop it, and make both dogs drop whatever and walk away from it. As far as.. your dogs PLAYING with a toy.. stealing it from each other... nothing is wrong with it.. if they are just playing. But that comes from you knowing your dogs. If you watch, supervise, you've got to watch for signs of possessive-ness or just plain trying to dominate.
Does this make sense? Or any help? I feel like it pretty vague.
roadangel21, I'm glad to hear that the crate training is going well. Again, some people are able to use the newspaper/puppy pads to help housetrain. I have not! So I don't know what the trick is there. Yes I probably have more messes to clean up, but that's fine with me. :) And yes, walking on a leash can be a very very huge challenge. I still have not master that. My older female has to wear a halti to keep her from pulled ahead (no amount of correction on my part has been able to stop her.. that is something that I need to figure out. I can stop, and she will stop, and will walk beside me for about 2 steps, and she is right back to pulling, and I've tried the sharp jerk to correct her, but somethng phases her. So I bring her back to sit, and she goes 2 steps and back to pulling. My younger one is still confused about the whole walking thing... but we are working on it!)
The whole "drop it" command. I'm not sure how it happened or how I did it. LOL. When my older female was young and she had something in her mouth that she was not suppose to have, say a shoe, I would walk up and say "drop it!" very sharply and with a snap of the fingers... it was also with a very very very assertive, no-bs energy. I do it with my younger male also, and even if the object is IN THEIR MOUTH, they will spit it up. For example, just last night, both my dogs has pulled the stuffing out of one of their stuffed animals and the younger was trying to swallow the stuffing, it was in his shut mouth on the way down!!! At this point, I snapped my fingers, and VERY sharply (not louding or excited), just sharply and assertively said 'drop it!' and stayed there staring at him and wouldn't let him run away until he dropped it. In about 2 second he spit it out. I guess, it's all about energy and not letting your dog escape with the object, and meaning buisness.
When it comes to the hand in the food bowl... when my dog was younger and tried to push my hand out of her food bowl, I'd just stick my hand over the food. She would look at me like, "What are you doing? I'm hungry", but I would sit there for a second or two, and then I'd let her back to eating, once she pushed my hand again... i'd cover her food back up with my hand. She gotta the idea after a few times. Now, that is what worked for me... again, that doesn't necessarily mean that that's what would work for you. Try either.. try starting the process over or try just removing the food. Or feeding your dog out of your own hand. The dog has to know that YOU ARE THE PROVIDER, that that food is NOT thiers... it's ONLY theirs because you have given it to them. They are can not be possessive over it. My younger male... he won't even put his mouth in the food bowl with my hand there anymore. Once I've put my hand in there, he will sit back until I release him to eat again. But I can feed either dog out my hand. Does this help?
And yes... I know exactly what you mean! Is this look the one you are talking about???? I get this one ALLL THE TIME! and like you, I'm sure, I have to keep reminding myself.. don't give in. don't give in! :)
your feedback has been very helpful I will try everything - I LOVE THAT LOOK LOL... I am trying to make ammends because I have a 16 yr old toy fox terrier that is sooo unbalanced and in being HONEST I recognize there are many things I did not do with and for him... He is very anxious and aggressive however at this age he does not hear or see well which makes corrections very difficult plus he is very aggressive and touching him is a bit risky none the less I have made a little progress with him and I CANNOT have 2 90 lb dogs behaving that way. Even medical care is a challenge with my little old man - Whiskey. I was told the pups are American Bulldog Boxer mix (not sure but vet thinks they definitely are a mix) and so since I've never had big dogs I need to be able to be pack leader for them and have them be well balanced.
Next week they get their 3rd boosters and then i can begin to take them out - ;-O we will be trying the walk and eventually I'd like to get them running with me...
He is GORGEOUS... I love the two tone face :-p
well, I'm glad to help!!!! Yes.. that look just about kills me everytime. I just wanna give in and say "OK!" It's so hard! A lot of the time I have to turn away from it! Like you there were many things that I did not do for my previous dog and even though she was not aggressive or possessive. She was a very shy anti-social dog and scared of everything new! Though she has not passed, I did lose her in a divorce.
Yes, being a big dog owner means you have to take EXTRA care in training your dogs. That's one thing I am worried about with my Tigger (the one pictured), he is going to a massive dog. At 6 weeks he was 14 lbs. At 3 months now, he is almost 40lbs, and still has TON of growing room. His paws are the size for my palm, and he still has some more skin to grow into. My female on the other hand, has tipped the scales at 40 at already 11 months old. So she will not be very big. She is an all white red-nosed female. Everyone keeps telling me that she will spot up at sometime, but she hasn't gone ONE spot since she was 4 months old... so I think I'm lucky enough to have an all white beautiful girl. I was going to say that yours looked like bulldogs or pits. Be ready for some bad vibes from people, if they do grow up to look like pits. I've already been through my fair share. Every sunday, I take my female out to the lake.. she stays on leash/collared the WHOLE time and I've even had someone come up to me and tell me that they are trying to get a petition signed to outlaw pits. I was astonished at this, and even saddened. But.. again, I'm rambling. Just be prepared. You're dogs have to be EXTRA SPECIAL behaved because of the media out take on dogs that even come close to looking like pits.
And thank you. He is a very pretty baby! :) Let me see if i can another picture of his whole body. (I'm just one of those moms! :) )
Oh thank you soo much for sharing -not rambling at all... In my county pits are against the law and I worry that the shelter labeled them as bulldog/boxer mix just to get them adopted out, I'll be honest I am afraid if they are pitts only because I know I need to be the dominant one and that is new to me BUT I WILL DO IT :-)!!!
the am bulldog males can grow to 120 and females to 90+ so yeah I'm in for a lot of learning.... right now they 9 weeks and 2 days (from one mommy to another I understand :-o) and are weighing 11lbs Bailey and 10 lbs Cream - they gained 3lbs each in 2 wks OMG we are going through big bags of food fast and it's all new to me since my old man is 10 lbs and eats about a third can of food a day...
I did have a question do you leave water down when you are away or while in the crate? I have not been but woke up this am to hear Cream drinking and it was her pee yuck!!! so I left some water this am and will be talking to vet tonight....
Even though they have outgrown their bed and I now have two beds down they still want to stay together Bailey has to be touching Cream either sits on her uses her as a pillow he just has to be with her :-) oh I want to go home and play with them.... just a few more hours lol...
They are some of the cutest things I've seen. Seriously. Adorable! Just the cutest!!! And yes... THEY GROW FAST!!!!!!!! so be prepared! :) For the "big dog" issues, and for anyone that MIGHT see them as pits. But they are wonderfully loving animals. My dogs aren't bonded that much, as my female likes to cuddle with me, but after about 10 minutes of cuddling she wants to stretch out on her own. My male is the same way. Every once in a while when they are very tired, they will fall asleep together, but more often than not... they both have their own corner of the bed.
When it comes to water... from what I've read, and what I've stuck too, my dogs have water through out the day, but when I was crate training them. They got no water 2 hours prior to them being loaded up in their crates for the night. They are now old enough to where I can have the water out all night, and they will either let me know they need out, or hold it all night. My female (being older) will hold it all night. My little one will let me know when he needs to go out. As far as drinking her own pee... that I have never heard of........ so I'm not sure what to say about that one, neither have I experienced it.
And yes... everytime I get to looking at pictures of my babies... I'm ready to go home! :) But like you I do have a few more hours! :)
Here is my female. Just cuz I don't want her to feel left out! I just don't know if she will EVER grow into those "bat" ears.
Thanks for the added information :-) The picture of your girl did not come through and I'd love to see her too I want to check out those BAT ears :-p ...
I'm seeing the vet tonight so will share what insigh i get from him it bugged me a bit and don't want to do something to harm her so i left 6 ice chips for them 3each i hope they shared lol...Yes i will prepare to get some glares or questions regarding my puppies... but I know with a NOW CALM-ASSERTIVE frame of being they will grow up to be wonderful dogs !!!
Hm? I wonder why? Well, she's under the photo/videos somewhere. her name is Brenli if you want to flip through there.
But the ice chips were a good idea! Let me know what the vet says! Hope the best for you!
i feel for you. I have 4 dogs from the same litter. they are almost 3 years old, and it has been a challege. I also thought of geting new homes at different times but each has there own personalities I couln't do it. I have 2 females,2 males. My females used to fight but still loved each other,slept together. I think I wasn't being a pack leader so I started over and walked all four together,which helped alot, and correcting behavior consistently. iOnce they see you as a leader they calm down. I would also take them to dog park to socialize with other dogs, and see how they do ,but make sure you stay on top of their behavior. Mine all have their crates but since they are older now they sleep all over the house. I do have a dog door which is a life savior. So I don't have to stress out when I am gone for a long time. they also all eat at certain spots in kitchen. I feed calmest first and the earlier you establish this the better. they also all sit before being fed. I also have the parents of my litter who were abandoned on the street.spayed and neutered both. also have rescued terrier mix, and new to family a recued lab-retriever mix. I don't have any children so I try to think about if you let a child get away with certain things it can be a nightmare. It is also hard not to want to hug and kiss them all the time. and the no touch no talk is hard at times also. but it works.i hope you enjoy both of them and don't stress to much. I will never do this again but it is defenitely a learning experience, and i do love a challege have fun
these ar my babies, not very computer savy so hope this comes out
Oh this is a great picture :-) and thanks for your words of wisdom and any other tips you want to share would be greatly welcomed...
Well a mother always knows right???!!! Cream has a UTI (moderate :-() and is back on antibiotics...
I will try crating over the weekend when I can do in hour increments and then let them out to the bathroom to get them used to it... I asked the vet about the drinking urine and it may be due to the uti and not having left water down. I found that monkey see monkey do and so she is eating poop and he is following suit and I think it's because they are bored... The vet is not worried about it much at this point and said it's mostly behavioral - i leave them sooo many toys and THAT IS WHAT THEY WANT TO PLAY WITH??? He gave ne a suggestion that I used with my little old man which is to sprinkle some meat tenderizer in their food so I started that this am and I also think I need to continue my mid day visit home to let them out less accidents inside and less yuckiness for them to get into...
I will keep you all posted on our progress... yes it is challenging about the litter mates and i do just want to hug them and squeeze them... Cream has figured out how to "climb" the sofa and baby gate to get out... I have tried correcting as I notice however when I step away (to clean their holding area) she climbs out again, any ideas on what else to do? I can lock them in their crate but don't want them to feel punished...
Keep the puppies on a routine and I'm sure that they will pick up. Yes each puppy learns in their own time, but consistency and patience is the key. You just have to keep at it. My 10 month old does climb out of baby gates everyonce in a while, but I still correct, and even now... all I have to do is look at her and she climbs right back over the gate. Just keep at it. They will get it evidentually. If you keep changing up discipline techniques or NOT sticking with it, they will just run all over you. Don't let them get away with anything, and yes... it will be trying at times and you will "oh what the heck, just this once." don't give in! Stay strong!
You just have be vigillant and consistant!