Hi. I recently had to stop my dogs going on the bed and the sofa. We didn;t realise at the time but Max was becoming very dominent. He began by attacking people in the house, I kept excusing him because it was workmen and I felt I shouldn;t have allowed them near him. However it ended with him attacking my dad quite badly (whom he has known since we got him). Just before we stopped him going on the sofa, he would sit on my husband's lap with his paws on his shoulders, looking down at him. Like I say, we didn;t see the warning signs of his dominence! Now the dogs have beds in the living room and they have to sit in those. (does mean a lot of our time is on the floor giving them a fuss though!). I practiced sending them to their beds at various times and making them stay. They used to go mad at the door bell, but we practiced ringing and ringing it and making them go to their beds whilst we answered the door. Now they bark when somebody rings, but almost go straight to their beds. My behaviourist said that if you don;t have control in the house, you have no hope outside. I guess this has also helped in my letting them off the lead.

What do you do when he attacks the TV? My dogs bark when there is dog barking on the tv. When they do that I tell them no and send them to their beds to calm them down.

If you feel that he only has issues with certain dogs, then why not recall him before he gets to them? that is how I manage a potential situation. That way you avoid it before it happens. You obviously know what dogs may set him off, so you should be able to prevent it. With regards to the types of dogs which set him off. It is more than likely that he is picking up on your reaction. Dogs are so sensitive to our feelings, you may not even realise that you are sending out these feelings.

I guess it is possible that he is protecting you. However, in his mind it could mean that you are not protecting him. If you were truly the pack leader then he wouldn;t feel the need to protect you. I know it sounds harsh, but Max felt that, hense his attacking people in the house. He was telling me that he didn;t feel safe. We haven;t had an attack since we changed the rules and became a proper pack leader. We did the following:
1) As said above stopped them getting on the sofa and beds
2) More disciplined lead walks, i.e them having to heel and us controlling how much "sniffing they do"
3) Practicing the door bell ringing (prior to this they would be trying to control the situation by barking and running up and down the stairs)
4) Sending them to their beds and making them stay, just because.
5) Daily training exercises like sit, stay, down etc. Now I can be out in the park with them off the lead, I can get them to sit and stay whilst I walk off and they come when I call them.

All the above has reinforced us as the pack leader and we are making huge progress not only that but our house is so much calmer!

I would defo not pay to see a behaviourist who would not come to your house. Why not put out a message on here asking if somebody can recommend in your area?

If you don;t already, watch the Dog Whisperer. Most of my learning have been from the show. The guy is amazing, I have most of his books. Your insurance policy may cover it, but your vet has to check the dog over prior to it.

Hope this has helped. Vicky x