Dominance/Aggression (over pampering)

[kimo]

Hi again and many thanks for your responses. You all made me feel a lot better and got hope for Kim. The information contained in the book really gave me a shock and made me guilty for what Kim became to be. We rescued Kim when he was days old, eyes still closed and almost dying. Took care of him like a baby and was overly pampered, allowed to do practically anything he wants to. Yes, he sleeps with us and he owns the whole house. He is completely a house dog and never goes out at all. He is always scared of the outside world so we thought why stress him if he is happy indoors. Now I realize what a big mistake!!!! To keep him away from the rest of the family, a dog fence was built in the area of the our bedroom where he has access to the bathroom to poopoo and goes up to bath tub to pee as he always does.

What I don't understand is Kim has always been a submissive and sweet dog and only when he turned 10 that he showed some aggressiveness.We have ruled out arthritis as well and he passed the arthritis test. Our vet even says that Kim is very strong and healthy for his age, may be because he never eats anything except broiled chicken.

My dilemna now is that my husband (who I thought is the Alpha one) is not willing to change how we treat Kim. His mentality is that he is old so why put him to another ordeal so we just have to exercise a lot of precaution until he leaves us. I really feel sorry for Kim but until my husband agrees with me I cannot do anything to help Kim. This forum somehow helps me emotionally.

[eyeluvdogs]

Hi Kimo,

I am pleased to hear that you get some comfort from using the Forum. I too find it an excellent source of information, and I look forward to having a few free minutes to post some comments.

It's a shame that your husband is not willing to change the way he treats your dog. Kim sounds like a much loved, but totally pampered dog, and unfortunately letting a dog do whatever it wants can lead to behavior problems such as the one you are now facing. After 10 years of this, I wonder if Kim will take any notice of your reprimands? I would assume that his position of Top Dog is well and truly established. This is actually a really common situation. Loving dog owners such as yourself believe that they are doing the best by their dog, but unfortunately, because dog's don't think like people do, problems arise.

Perhaps you could ask your husband to read the Alpha bonus book, if he has not already. Maybe if he realizes the importance of the techniuqes, particuarly in situations of aggression, he will be more likely to give them a try?

Good luck

[kimo]

Dear Eyeluvdogs,

I did and suggested he read the book even that part on dog aggression only but unfortunately he simply gave it a shrug. But don't get the impression that he is contributes to the problem. He does agree that it's our own doing that Kim became the Alpha Dog and tho he is not happy about that he is content with what we have done so far; ie confining Kim and isolating him from the rest of the family. I'm doing it slowly and hopeful that eventually he will jump on board to solve Kim's behavioral problem. Right now, Kim is content and hasn't seen any aggression so far. But I feel sad cuz we cannot cuddle him and pamper him the way we used to cuz the book said that this will only reinforce his feeling of being the Alpha Dog. We now ignore him (as suggested in the book) when he gleefully greets us on arrival. Heartbreaking but we have to do what we have to do.

Thank's for keeping the lines open for me.

Kim's mom