Dog Community

Lily is being a brat

Posted : 10/4/2010 10:07:19 AM

Her bratty behavior comes from wanting all of my attention and it is getting very annoying. She is obsessed when it comes to me giving abbie or neiko attention. If she sees me patting one of them she comes over and pushes in. When it comes to abbie, she is really bad. If I throw a ball for abbie, lily spends the entire time squeaky barking at abbie and jumping on her until abbie gets ticked and tells her off. Then they scrap it out and it starts all over again.

She will stalk neiko and steal what ever he has, food, bones, kongs, etc. Even if she has her own. She will go takes his then lay down with both.

Obviously, she needs more structure and probably a job to do. I wish sar would have worked out for her because she was starting to blossom. She shuts down though when I work her to improve on something. For instance, she loved sheep herding but on her own terms. When I started to pressure her so we could progress, she quit working. Same thing happened with sar. She got bored with tracking and pretty much did the same thing.

I do have a take turn command and is "lilys turn", "abbies turn" etc when it comes to petting and so forth. She understands that and it seems to help. When we are playing though that goes out the window. I will make lily sit and stay (I have to hold her) when I throw stuff for abbie or neiko so she won't go flipping out on abbie. Then I let her go. She doesn't like fetch on her own though so there's no "lilys turn" when it comes to that.

So my question is, how do I get her to me more confident in herself and not so obsessed with abbie (and to a lesser extend, neiko). How do I get rid of that total bratty behavior that she harasses abbie with when the 3 of them play. (Oh here's another example) when I take them to our swimming hole, and toss the stick in abbie and neiko go out to fetch. Lily foceses on abbie and practially drowns her in the water because she's climbing on abbies back while abbie is swimming to catch the stick.

The other thing she does is squeaky (ear piercing) bark at me if abbie is laying at my feet. I ignore this of course and it seems to be helping (a little).

oh and her house training is only half assed right now too. Suggestions? If I had more time and money I would prob do rally with her since that would prob add more structure to her life. But then again she would prob shut down. She is so sensitive but hard headed at the same time

rwbeagles

Posted : 10/4/2010 11:32:07 AM

does she not have a leave it command? Cleo fixates on Ellie but I do have a leave it which means leave that dog alone and go do something else. If she is really being a wank I say leave it followed by settle which means lie down.

Since you have aussies and they're smarter than my dogs I would suggest a leave it command which means immediately stop what you are doing and come lay beside me until I release you.

I thnk something like that would really enforce that you are the only creature that should matter that much to her...as far as attention. Even if she spent an entire play session laying at your feet I think it would teach her something important. You find her behavior unacceptable and you will not allow her to indulge in it?

Jewlieee

Posted : 10/4/2010 12:06:11 PM

She does have a leave it whixh is strong except when it comes to the other dogs. I need to sharpen her obedience I think, along with the leave it in these situations.

rwbeagles

Posted : 10/4/2010 12:19:10 PM

you might could reinforce the leave it with a long line and physically bring her over and put her in a downstay? If she considers it optional when the other dogs are involved then showing her it isn't might help.

Anonymous

Posted : 10/4/2010 1:34:23 PM

Julie -- she sounds a lot like Luna. Luna is very bossy, confident and hard to motivate beyond what she wants at any given moment.

Luna's favorite thing to do when allowed out in the yard is run full speed at Lexi and start barking/bossing her around. She likes to take everything from the other dogs and tell them what furniture they can/can not get on. Basically, she's a total witch to other dogs she lives with.

The only thing that I have found helps is NILF for everything, and being really consistent about consequences (good and bad).

When she goes off targeting Lexi in the yard, she gets told to "Leave her" once. Now she listens to that, but if she so much as barks or body blocks Lexi, she's done for that play session. I go get her gently without a word and put her back in the house then continue to play with the other dogs and she can watch from the window.

When the dogs go out, they all wait at the door and are released by their names. Luna has to hold a down stay and once Rosco and Lexi are out, I will tell Lu she is "Leave her and Free" -- she'll fly out the door, but then she stops to see where I am and won't get uppity if I am in the yard or on the porch. When she runs out and doesn't jump Lexi, I immediately throw her ball or Frisbee.

Inside, if she takes another dogs toys and is being a jerk about it or corrects another dogs because she is being a cow and not because they actually did something, she gets a 30 second time out in the bathroom. When she comes back out she is supervised while the other dog has the toy, and in a minute or so I take the toy back up so nobody has them.

There is a lot of preventative here so keep the above situations from happening and her rehearsing the bad behavior, but mostly, everything this is NILF, good behavior earns lots of rewards and if you're a cow to your sister, then you get timeout. That and a truck load of exercise. Lu is 90x worse when she hasn't had two hours of running.

Hope that helps and let me know if you want to start a support group. Big Smile

JackieG

Posted : 10/4/2010 2:03:18 PM

Pit_Pointer_Aussie
The only thing that I have found helps is NILF for everything, and being really consistent about consequences (good and bad).

This is how I deal with Belle and her need to be the boss of the other dogs and the attention hog about everything.

Pit_Pointer_Aussie
Hope that helps and let me know if you want to start a support group.

Sign me up. :)

Jewlieee

Posted : 10/4/2010 3:39:22 PM

Haha yeah a support group is probably needed.

Thanks for all of the ideas. I do practice nilif but not at the back door. That is hard with the 2 girls! Lol I need to win that battle though, badly. They are very competitive with each other in general and its always a race to see who gets out the door first.

I guess doggy boot camp needs to start at my house.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 10/4/2010 3:51:12 PM

Hahaha! I didn't know Jewel was a Bossy Aussie!! She does the EXACT same thing. Nothing has resolved it, but consistency and NILIF have helped. I'm about to start her on a more structured training regimen, because I think that maybe she just isn't getting enough.

tiffy

Posted : 10/4/2010 7:18:57 PM

Tootsie, is like this with my parents 80lb lab/rottie x, K.C. It sometimes gets to the point where Toots won't even let her out the door. Imagine a 25lb, low rider dog jumping at K.C.'s neck, while growling, barking, biting and all at top speed. K.C. is a total wimp and lets Toots do whatever she wants. NILIF is always in affect because Tootsie thinks shes queen s***. Has anyone noticed that with the exception of Jewel, these are all female herding dogs.

JackieG

Posted : 10/4/2010 7:41:54 PM

tiffy
Has anyone noticed that with the exception of Jewel, these are all female herding dogs.

I'm pretty sure Belle isn't a herding mix. lol

Jewlieee

Posted : 10/4/2010 7:50:16 PM

Well its def a female thing, that's for sure! Lily doesn't think she's queen though. Its more like a whiney insecure spoiled bratty 2 year old.

tiffy

Posted : 10/4/2010 7:55:18 PM

You never know. Big Smile

rwbeagles

Posted : 10/4/2010 10:22:27 PM

Cleo isn't a herder either but she is a female dog. LOL. Only Ellie sets her off this way for some reason. Likely because she did not raise her.

stardancnminpin

Posted : 10/4/2010 10:36:26 PM

Add two female Min Pins to the list. Piper (6+ years) and her daughter Poppie (9 months) both 'go after' and 'nip at" all my other dogs. Though they do seem to target Jezzy and my parent's dog Katie more than any of the others. And it is all genetic, not a learned behavior. I know this because Piper has spent the summer with my Mom while I showed the puppies. Poppie never had a chance to watch and learn. NILIF and removing them from the situation has been semi effective. It's definitely a hard wired behavior in them....

spiritdogs

Posted : 10/5/2010 6:08:49 AM

Oh, man, this is SUCH normal Aussie behavior Wink

To be honest, Sequoyah is an attention hog, too. She will insert herself in front of anyone who is getting attention from me if she can. What I find effective is to simply get up and turn away. She learns that her own behavior is what got me to abandon her. If she sits nicely NEXT to the other dog, she gets scritches, but she has to share them with the other dog;-) I also do group sits, so everyone has to have all feet on the floor and not be nudging past anyone else in order to get their morning cookie. As to the training issues, I find that many of the working Aussies don't want lengthy explanations or endless drills - they DO want new and different challenges, but in short sessions. I boost my criteria only once each session sometimes. Then the dog gets to "sleep on it" - next time, I find that they not only know the new behavior, they never forget it:-) Just my experience with the really bright ones, and probably not the same for every dog, or your dog, but worth a try to just limit the training time, and intersperse it with stuff the dog can't get enough of. Example, (Premack!) dog does next step in training, then she gets to go chase the frisbee till her tongue is hanging out. She can sequence quickly, so once I put the behavior chain together, and it leads to frisbee in the end, she will do her "job" to get the eventual paycheck;-)