Who’s the Boss? “I own two beautiful rottweilers, a male and a female. They are uncle and niece. I’ve had the male from birth, he’s now 4. He has an astounding personality and temperament. Then I decided to purchase his niece, a neutered female. She is also obedience trained. At first all was well. The female grows more aggressive and possessive every day. She’s a two year old bully! Recently she has begun growling at me while we play. Now I don’t feel very comfortable playing with her. I’ve tried spending more time with her without him. He’s so laid back, he just lets her bully him. Is this a bad problem? I love my babies and would do anything for them. Is it too late to correct this?” Brenda Johnson The Answer from Dr. Ian Dunbar: “Two important things need to be answered: 1. How many fights have the dogs had? 2. How may times did the fights require vet care? The answers determine the bite to fight ratio. Ironically, the higher the number of fights the better the prognosis tends to be. And in the vast majority of cases the answer to the second question is “never”. Normally, you will answer, “how many fights”, many, and “how many times did one puncture the other”, never. If you answered in this way, your dogs have wonderful bite inhibition. They may be a pain in the butt, and cantankerous, but they are not trying to kill each other. So, if this is the case, leave the dogs alone. What is being described with the male and female relatives is normal behavior between opposite sexes. In watching dogs for 9 years at the U of Cal at Berkeley, we watched hierarchies, and found that the process is different, very different in males and females. Male dogs see things in terms of very precise social hierarchy. No ifs, ands, or buts. There is a ladder with the top dog at the top, and the underdog at the bottom. When females come in they immediately make amendments to the simple male hierarchy rule. the first amendment is, “I have it and you don’t”, and the second one is “If you have it, I want it”. Males like hierarchy, but females, even low- ranking ones, can easily keep a bone away from a very high-ranking male. It’s as if they almost enjoy being hen-pecked. If the dogs scuffle a lot, leave it alone. If he gets too bothered he’ll put her in her place. If I feel the need to step in, I’ll usually send them outside. This usually ends the argument or removes the catalyst. However, growling at you is a problem. This is where our attention needs to be directed. It’s serious, but the prognosis is excellent. It is a very predictable problem especially with rottweilers. They are very vocal dogs. There are two breeds that really stand out at talking, and these are the rottie and the malamute. I like to teach growling and shushing on command, because there is nothing more unsettling than having a rottweiler growl at you. And when dogs get bossy at about 1 or 2, growling is a great way to assert themselves. If you are really afraid of your dog, hire a trainer to help you. It’s hard for a dog to tell the difference between a scared person and an angry person. But if you have some confidence in the dog, try this set of exercises designed to confirm your control. Run the dog through basic commands. Basic obedience responses need to be reinforced. If you are getting resistance, use the tried and true method of withholding kibble by bowl, and for the training time, feed all kibble by hand, one piece at a time for obeying. This is the best and fastest way to train and gain control. Sit (piece of kibble). Down (piece of kibble). You can even use this when your dog is growling at you. Stop whatever you were doing when she growled and step away. Then say, “come, sit, down”. If the dog comes, sits, downs, the odds are the growling will stop. You are asking the dog, “Hey, are we really losing it here? Do you really mean that growl or am I still in control?” I would not recommend getting on the ground and wrestling with any dog, especially not a rottie. A human on the ground presents a completely different kind of stimulus to the dog. So play with the dog, but maintain your upright position and continue to reinforce control, come, sit, down. Now teach your dog to growl on command! I know you are thinking I am crazy, but I want to teach the dog to shush, and the best time to teach that is when she never wanted to growl in the first place. So we put growling on a cue. Do this one on one with the dog. No other dogs or pets should be present or interfering in this. Put the dog’s food somewhere out of reach, then get down on all fours and growl and play with the dog, saying “speak, speak, speak”. As soon as the dog growls back, praise and offer a treat. When you have succeeded, change to shush. Use the kibble for this. Get the dog to speak and then offer the kibble saying shush. I do it like this. I say “speak”, and get the dog all riled up, have her growl and then say “there’s a good dog.” Shush! give the kibble. Then immediately “come, sit, down”. Then give her the kibble. Now if the dog growls when you are playing, remember that this is very natural especially for the rottie and malamute. Simply, now say shush. If the dog doesn’t shush, stop playing and say “finished”. Walk out of the room. The dog will soon figure out that he just lost. What a punishment! “Finished”, means your dog really blew it by getting too excited and ignoring an important command from you. But if you say shush and the dog shushes, continue playing. Remember it is natural for dogs to growl. If they continue to argue, use the same punishment, by banishing them from your presence.” Dr. Ian Dunbar has two new videos on aggression. 800-419-8748.