Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

My Doberman seems to have an excellent temperament. When we got him he was very friendly and still is. He doesn’t even bark at strangers yet and he is 10 months old. I can take his food away from him, clean his paws e.t.c and he lets me. He is fairly obedient, he will sit, stay, come, down and wait for a command before he eats. Out of the home he is a lot less obedient but does listen on occasion.

However recently there have been a few occasions where he has barked at me. He is only allowed downstairs and he tries to come upstairs but we never let him. A few weeks ago my sister told him off for comming upstairs and he growled at her then began to bark. He had never done this previously. She walked away as she was a little shocked. (I dont think she should have done this).

Then he did the same to me. I am not sure if he growled but he began to bark at me. I shouted at him and he continued. Then I went up to him and he began to go to the floor and come up and did that a few times. (He does that when he plays sometimes).
He did the same again just today and I just called in my brother and he stopped (I think this is because he was excited to see my brother).

He did the same again to me when I was spraying dog deodorant on him. I can normally put dog deodorant on him with no problems, however he began to bark at me when I did so this time. He was actually barking more so at the deodorant bottle. He kept on barking, going down and running near me a bit, then coming back and barking. He even did like a pretend bite on the bottle (just opened and closed his mouth near the bottle).

Should I be worried? If he barks at me again what should I do? I don’t want any aggressive behaviour towards me or my family from him. I would appreciate any help.

I don't have a doberman, but I also found that my dog started pushing her limits about that age. They like to see what they can get away with. Have you taken your dog to positive reinforcement obedience classes? A class can be fun and also remind your dog that you're the one in charge. Also, there's something you can do at home: Nothing in Life is Free. Here's a website that explains the program:
k9deb.com/nilif.htm
There are many other sites that explain NILIF a little differently, but the basic ideas are the same.

I wouldn't really call this "aggression" yet, it's more pushy bossy teenage type stuff actually. You dog should not get away with these behaviors, but the way you handle these tantrums may need a bit of help.

First- scolding a pushy dog does not help. If you validate their emotions with your own emotions, it just escalated things and doesn't teach what should be done and getting everyone's adrenalin higher makes matters much worse. Dogs just react and people make mistakes. It's just a no win situation. "Scoling" to a dog is barking and doesn't convey much more than frustration or intimidation- two things you don't want your dog to practice doing towards you.

OK, so you have a bratty dog- once your dog is exhibiting these behaviors it's allmost already too late, if it's a true warning, you may want to heed it and not continue. Yes, the dog "wins," but it's better to teach that the warnings work than to have them learn to try harder at intimidating you.

Now, you need to go back to the basics with training respect for you. The Nothing in Life is Free program does that by making the dog earn everything that comes from you- food, attention, outtings outdoors, etc. Be a team and your canine partner will let you do almost anything to him. These's a book called "Tough Love" that although a bit radical in it's method is a 7 week program that can safely turn around the most stubborn of dogs.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

Yes, you should be worried. Dobermans are a very "dominance driven" breed, which is one of the reasons they aren't recommended for first time dog owners. It appears that your behavior with him is not establishing you as his "alpha male." There are ways to avoid this, such as making him wait for his meal, never allowing him to go out the door before you, etc. that firmly establishes your position as top dog. I've even resorted to rolling my dog on its back and growling over it to establish my position when challenged.

I am normally not this direct, but I definitely want to get your attention so I want to apologize now. These behaviors are textbook responses of inconsistency on your part. If it is not corrected, he will continue to get worse until he bites someone or worse. In his mind he is confused because he sees a vacancy in the position of top dog. Dobermans feel very happy and secure when the position is already filled, but if they see that it is empty, they will feel it is their duty to take over. At this stage, training will seldom improve the situation because the dog no longer accepts you as his leader. You must reestablish your role as top dog once again before he fully matures! I would strongly recommend you contacting a top-notch dog trainer to evaluate your interactions with your Doberman and help you overcome this.

Hi,

He did the same thing again last night. During the day he is either outdoors or in my kitchen if the weather is bad. In the evenings he is in the kitchen and when we cook food we tell him "out" meaning go into the utility room. The utility is joined to the kitchen and the door left open so he is still with us and can see us however he is just a few steps away. We bring him into the hallway half hour before sleeping. I am worried that the smell of food may be getting to him? Sometimes we cook meat in the kitchen. Should you not cook meat in front of your dogs?

He is taken for a 30 minute walk in the morning and a 20 mintue jog in the evenings and 10 minutes of obidence. He seems to display this behaviour whenever he has been told off a lot. Yesterday my brother kept telling him off because he was eating his own bed. He was told off a lot and when i went into the kitchen later on he began to bark. He started off with a bark/cry (He normally begins like this - he barks and the bark ends with a small whine/cry). He then pauses for a minute and looks and begins to bark constantly until stopped.

My breeder was surprised and said she had not had any aggressive behaviour from any of her dobes and she has 7 which are all my dogs family. My breeder told me to throw a pan on the floor so as to make a loud noise and distract/scare him. I did this and he did stop. She did say if i had any more problems to let her know and she will come over and help. The previous time he did this my brother came into the kitchen and he stopped and went to meet my brother. She said not to hit him which i dont do anyway. My trainer told me to grab him by the collar and stare him in the eyes until he looks away and if he continues roll him over. I have read information saying the alpha roll is not a very good thing to do? Could he be ill and should i take him to the vet? He is a very friendly dog and my parents dont tell him off much and he has not done this to them. They think i am worrying to much and cant imagine him being aggressive at all.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Dogs do sometimes act out if they're ill, so taking him to the vet to rule out that possibility wouldn't be a bad idea. Also, taking your breeder up on any help offered is a great idea. I'm not saying your trainer is wrong (about staring at your dog), but a friend of mine did that to someone else's dog and was promptly bit in the face. Keep us updated.

In my opinion and it's strictly my opinion... the alpha roll should never be used. This manuever while taught years ago is actually a very confrontational and aggressive act towards a dog. Many breeds of dogs will not tolerate being placed on their backs and end up struggling more and biting the owner. Even the people who originally wrote the book stopped recommending this procedure yet unfortunately it is still in use today. You have an excellent resource in your breeder and I would use that resource to the fullest. In lieu of that a behavior specialist may be needed but I still think your breeder will go the extra yards to help you out. I can tell you this... yelling at the dog or telling the dog off while it's barking will only serve to agitate the dog even more resulting in the dog barking even more. Your breeder has the right idea about using the pan to make a noise. I use a shake can which is a can with a lid filled with some coins. When needed I can also toss the can on the floor to distract the dog. The key to this working though is to ignore the dog. Don't laugh or talk to the dog, toss the can and walk away. I also think one of the previous posters was on the right track by talking about a program called Nothing in Life is Free or NILF. What this does is to establish you as the pack leader. Your dog gets nothing from you, no greets, no treats, no pets, no eats until he performs a simple task for you, whether it's a sit, stay, shake hands etc. The key thing is time and patience... he won't learn this overnight but being consistant in your training along with some positive reinforcement will go a longer way to having a happy dog than yelling at a dog. Good luck and please keep us updated.
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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.