This section is on canine behavior. These are all questions that have been submitted or that I have been inspired to talk about because of a question submitted. If you have any topics that you would like to have discussed please feel free to email me with the topic or question.
This is an area of hot debate amongst behaviorists, veterinarians, and breeders. The optimum socialization time for puppies is from 7 to 12 weeks. Puppies need to be exposed at this time to as much of life as possible. Many breeders prefer to keep puppies longer to see which are show candidates and which are not as well as to allow a long period of pup-pup socialization and pup-mom socialization. Older puppies can certainly be good candidates for going into a new home. So, your answer is that a well socialized pup by the breeder can go to a new home anytime after seven weeks. Prior to seven weeks the puppy is really too young to go to a new home -- it is not mentally ready.
Puppies can begin training (and do) from the moment they are born. Training is not just something that is done 10 minutes a day when sit, stay, down, etc are taught. Training is done all the time that the puppy interacts with people and other animals learning how to and how not to behave. As soon as a puppy is old enough to move in a coordinated fashion (around 4 to 5 weeks), they can start learning sit and down. It should be done in a totally fun and relaxed way -- NO PUNISHMENT!!! As the puppy ages (probably around 3 to 4 months) regular obedience sessions (5 to 10 mintues at a time) can be begun. Obedience classes are great idea to allow the puppy to socialize and to learn to behave around other people and dogs. Most training facilities offer classes for puppies as young as 8 weeks.
Visit Helpful Hints for New Puppies and their Humans for further elaboration on this topic.
Canines, being social creatures that form packs, have an elaborate system of communication. This system allows wild canines to determine dominant and submissive relationships without physical violence occuring. One of the behaviors that communicates submission is urination upon approach. When an owner greets a dog and it urinates, the dog it saying "I am submissive to you." Punishing the dog for this behavior will only make it worse since your punishing it is a dominant behavior. The dog responds to your dominant behavior by more submissive behavior, ie, more urination. This is a difficult behavior to correct since it stems from "hard-wired" canine behavior. Squatting down to greet your dog, speaking to it in a quiet tone, or initially ignoring it may help alleviate the problem.
Prong, or pinch, collars are made of interlocking links that have prongs extending from them toward the animal's neck. The prongs are dull and bent so that instead of digging into the animal's neck as the collar is tightened, they pinch a small piece of skin between themselves and neighboring prongs. This whole process is equivalent to grabbing a small piece of skin between your finger and thumb and pinching. These collars are used to increase the amount of discomfort given to a dog when it pulls on the leash or the leash is popped to give a correction for incorrect behavior. One must realize that many dog breeds were bred to ignore bumps and scrapes as they hunt through the woods. Thus, many dogs have a very high threshold of pain. That is, it takes a lot for pain or even just discomfort to be registered in the brain. Many dogs simply do NOT feel the tug of the regular collar. Some go so far as to almost strangle themselves before they notice that something is tugging on their neck. These dogs, therefore, do not realize that they are being corrected for inappropriate behavior when the collar is tugged on because they do not feel the tug. The prong collar is used to change the correction from a tug and constriction of the throat to a pinch. Most dogs feel pinches more readily than tugs. Consequently, the dog feels the correction, realizes the beahvior is inappropriate, and seeks to change the behavior. I have put a prong collar on myself and even without a fur coat to cushion it and tugging as hard as I would to correct my dog it DID NOT HURT. It was uncomfortable, I certainly felt it, but it was not painful. Imagine what the dog feels with a fur coat AND a higher threshold of pain. Prong collars often help to bring the "uncontrollable" dog under control merely by letting it know it is being corrected. It also works wonders for those dogs that like to walk their owners instead of allowing their owners to walk them. For dogs with collapsing tracheas (their tracheas, or windpipes, are weak and collapse shut with minimal pressure on it such as is exerted by a collar as they pull), the prong collar changes the correction from a tug which collapses the trachea to a pinch of the skin making corrections safer for the dog. Prong collars are more humane, in my opinion, than choke, or slip, collars. Would you rather be pinched or choked? So would your dog. So, NO prong collars are not humane but are, in fact, very humane and useful tools in training dogs.
The new head collars such as Gentle Leader, Snoot Loop, and Promise are revolutionizing the way people control their dogs. Traditionally, collars around the neck were used to control dogs. This is a very inefficient way of keeping a dog under control because the natural tendency of dogs is to push against a pull. Pull on their neck they push forward. Anyone, with a dog that "walks them" on walks knows this well. A well known maxim for large animals -- control the head you control the animal -- was brought into play to design this better means of controlling dogs. The head collar is the dog equivalent of the horse halter. It is NOT a muzzle nor is it intended to be used as one. A dog with a head collar is NOT muzzled nor should it be interpreted to be a vicious dog.
Head collars use the momentum of the dog to correct the dog. As the dog lunges forward, the head collar transfers the pull backward on the leash to turning the head around. The dog is now facing you and no longer pulling forward. The dog quickly learns that lunging prevents forward motion. This collar works wonders to bring the very active dog to a more manageable level particularly on walks. An added benefit of the head collars is its tendency to calm aggressive dogs and aid the owner in gaining control of the dominant dog. In dog language, pressure on the muzzle indicates dominance. With the head collar, the owner is constantly applying such pressure. This makes the dominant dog recognize the need to be obedient to its owner, and it calms the aggressive dog down. Many people have successfully used the head collar to correct both problems. The head collar is by no means a cure all. But, like any other training tool, it can complement the training process and the development of a better and stronger human-pet bond.
Marking is a behavior found among animals that establish territories such as the wolf pack, the lion pride, the solitary tiger, etc. Animals do not have signs to put up or surveyors to draw property lines. Instead, they use urine to say this is mine. It is typically the sexually mature males among pack animals like wolves and dogs that are responsible for establishing and defending the territory. Thus, in dogs we primarily see marking in adult male. It is typically the males because they are usually the dominant dog. In multi-dog households where a female is the alpha, or most dominant, canine, she will also mark. In cats, being less pack oriented, females exhibit marking almost as much as males do. So, when your dog or cat marks you (and it is important to distinguish marking from simple urination) or an object, it is saying "This belongs to me."
Food aggression is very common among many dogs. In many dogs, this may be the only aggression that the dog shows and is otherwise a very submissive and non-aggressive dog. With other dogs, this is merely symptom or precursor to other aggression problems. In the dog mind, food is a resource that must be protected. They do not understand the grocery store or the dog food bag. All they know is the food in their bowl is what they have to eat. And with many dogs, they do not get much in their bowl in an effort to reduce their weight. Thus, it is instinctive for a dog to protect their food from threats. The problem is that the dog is perceiving you as a threat. Your dog should see you as its protector and trust you to do whatever you need to since it knows you would never hurt it. In situations where the dog is actually the dominant partner in the relationship, the dog is letting you know that this is his food and you are not allowed to touch it. Incidentally, these dogs are dealt with much differently than the rescue dog that has been starved most of its life and has yet to realize that food is not something in short supply and that you can be trusted.
For a dog that you have raised, aggression over food should not be acceptable. It is not up to the dog to determine when, what, and for how long it gets fed. If allowed to dictate these terms, most dogs will then assume it is in control and will begin to dictate other parts of the relationship. Is your dog showing aggression at other times? Such as when you ask it to move, when you touch its toys, when you refuse to pet it, etc? If the answer to all these questions is yes then you have a dog that is the dominant partner in the relationship. You need to seek a professional trainer or animal behaviorist to help you restore your dominance without harm to you or the dog. If the answer to some of these question is yes, then you have a dog that is beginning to show signs of dominance. Again, professional help is adviseable. These dogs need to learn that you are in charge. One effective way to acheive this is to enforce the policy that nothing is for free. Before they get fed, petted, etc they must do something. Sits are usually started with. The dog must sit before it gets anything. Then progress to downs. This forces the dog to accept the fact that you not it determine the when, why, etc of events. Again, this is best done under the guidance of a trainer, animal behaviorist, or veterinarian doing behavioral counseling. For the dog that only growls over food, then you may or may not have a dominance problem. Some dogs seem to just have a propensity to growl over food but are otherwise submissive to their owners. The growling is unacceptable and should be punished. Simply don't give the dog food when it growls. If any other dominance problems arise, then take appropriate action.
Again let me reiterate that growling over food is not normal NOR acceptable. Many people feel that dogs normally get aggressive when food is involved. This may be true -- that dogs growl at threats over food -- but it is NOT true that dogs should be allowed to growl at their family over food. Nor should they be allowed to take food from the children. Food aggression often signals other dominance problems or signals impending dominance problems. Please, please do not tolerate food aggression. Take steps to nip the problem in the bud before it escalates to a dangerous level.
This is a common misconspetion among many people. Tail wagging does NOT equal friendly. The overall posture of the dog must be considered in assessing friendliness. My Labs wag their whole bodies and are jumping around when they are excited to see someone and want to say hi. When something has their attention and they are not sure whether they can be friendly or need to be protective, their tails wag but just a little bit, their heads are high and they stand relatively still (for a Lab :-)!!). The first posture exudes friendliness. For less enthusiatic dogs, it can be harder to see the difference. Look at the head -- is it still, with the dog staring at you or is the head moving around. Is the body stiff and rigid or relaxed and bouncy? The head and body are much more reliable indications of intent than the tail. To be safe any strange dog should be left alone unless the owner is there to ask permission to approach.
Most likely he is showing submission to you. A lick or a nip to the underside of the chin is one way that a dog signals submission to the dog that it is licking or nipping. In dog language he is saying, " I acknowledge that you are the dominant party and I will respect that." Do not punish him severely for this behavior you will only frighten and intimidate him. Instead try to (a) not give him the opportunity to do this and (b) when he does say "Ouch" in a high pitched voice and move away from the puppy. In dog language this means "you were too rough". He should quickly get the message and stop nipping you.
There are a variety of reason why an Akita is barking at the other dogs. One very likely reason is that she is protecting you and your property telling the other dogs to stay away. Adult Akitas are very protective of their people and their "territory." She could also be trying to get their attention to play -- not as likely in an adult Akita but as possibility.
It has not been scientifically documented but hypothyroidism has been indicated in a number of behavioral changes in particular aggression. With his history of a rapid weight gain with no change in diet, hypothyroidism is not an unlikely possibility. I certainly think that it is worth checking before more drastic measures are taken. Hypothyroidism is easily treated with very little side effects from the medication.
The other thing that must be considered is that he is a large guard breed male (intact?) dog that is reaching social maturity. His problem can very liklely be strictly a behavioral one. I would strongly recommend keeping the dogs separated and when they are together keeping him on a long line so that any aggression can be stopped before damage occurs until some idea can be gained as to the root of the problem and some measures instituted to start remedying the problem. A consultation with an animal behaviorist is an excellent idea -- be sure it is an official one and not just a self-proclaimed one. Behaviorists who think they know what they are doing but don't really can cause irreversible damage in a VERY short time. I would strongly recommend a veterinarian who has done a lot of continuing education in behavior or even better a certified animal behaviorist.
This is how I would pursue the case if it was my dog:
Aggression in dogs is very dangerous and is something that take lots of time, patience, and energy to address. If you are not committed for the long-term, then I would look at other possibilities before getting started. As final as it is, euthanasia should always be a consideration. With any dog, aggression and the consequent threat to other people and animals is a justifiable reason to euthanize. You can do everything possible for some dogs, but their aggression remains. The management necessary to keep safe other animals and people from an aggressive dog in my opinion does not give the aggresive dog a quality of life that I personally think dogs should have. And fortunately in veterinary medicine we have the option to euthanize and end lives once they fall below an acceptable level of quality. So if you try all the options and they do not work, or if the options are not feasible because of risk to you, other people, or other animal, then please do not feel as if you have failed or as if it is wrong to consider euthanasia. I, by no means, think it is even close to that point from your description on the situation but situations can change quickly and drastically and it is best to be prepared for the worst case scenario. I WOULD NOT recommend trying to rehome an aggressive dog. The risk and liability is far to great.
I have researched and answered these questions to the best of my ability. But I am human and make mistakes. If there is any part of my answer that you feel is incorrect, please let me know. The last thing I want is to disseminate false or incorrect information.