I'm in shock. Just back from shopping and there was only minimal barking, just as we pulled up, no hyperactivity this time. We both totally ignored him and continued to put shopping away, which took about half hour and just sat down, Mutley is now calm and has had lots of praise/reward.

I know he is quite intelligent and knows what's what, but I think with him being part bassett there is a stubbornness in him, and sometimes he thinks he can do as he likes.

Just a thought. Will he forget about his past experiences that he had in his other home/s? as sometimes we see him revert back to the way he was when we got him.

I will try the toy in mouth next time my oh comes home, hopefully this will work.

He seems to have calmed down now we have taken him of the bakers, going to go to p@h and see what they have suitable for him.

Thanks for all the help/tips I really appreciate it, as I am doing most of the training myself whilst others follow through.

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Lynn, Mum to Buddy and Mary my two fur babies.

CSJ has a network of stockists who are individuals, not shops, you can be put in touch with them via the website. Skinners can be ordered for you by your local pet shop, a small independent shop should be happy to obvlige.

HI. Sorry to hear you have had so many problems. YOu have my sympathy. I have 3 rescue dogs and 2 have been very challenging!

I am going to add another perspective on this.......

Leadership.......... You have stated that in the beginning you used to allow him carte blanche. You have said that now you instill far more discipline. I wonder if it is enough......

* What rooms does he have access to in the house?
* Does he go on sofa's and beds?
* Does he follow you all around a lot at home?
* Does he instigate affection, or do you make him work for it?
* Do you still do any training with him?
* Do you believe that he see's you firmly as the boss, or maybe not quite?

When people get rescue dogs (myself included initially) they often feel sorry for the dog and give way to much affection. When this happens, it unbalances the dog and the dog can see you as weak. If the dog see's you as weak, how on earth is he going to respect you? He may love you, but these are two different things.

The conventional "training" of a dog can get a different result to "managing" your dog. Just because it can do sit, stay etc, it doesn't mean it won''t have behaviour problems. Training needs to work alongside firm leadership.

My guess is that you have given this dog a home, showered him with affection, given too much freedom (as you have stated) and not instilled enough rules and discipline. At the moment your dog is managing you. HE is in control in the house, otherwise he would not be behaving like this. HE is in control on the walks, otherwise he wouldn't be biting leads and not behaving.

Don't knock yourself for what you have done. I myself made so many mistakes (read the "about me" page on my profile!) and I had to learn and put them right.

I had a sharp wake up call when one of my dogs attacked my dad (a very bad time). so I did a lot of reading and realised my dogs were controlling me. I instilled rules and discipline and for a time being, was almost quite aloof with them. This attitude and change in their behaviour enabled me to get my third rescue.

You can do it. PM me if you want any further help x

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Lilly, Max, Henry and Sammy. The joys of my life!

www.rescueremedies.co.uk
www.staffierescue.co.uk

Fantastic news- it's amazing how a change of diet can do and just consistency with completely ignoring OTT/silly behaviours.
Sounds like he's doing really well already.
If I were you I'd possibly try him on burns or simular. Or if you want to feed wet I'd go with nature diet. However when you're at the shop- your best bet is to look at the ingredients listed on each of the foods. Ideally you want the first ingredient mentioned to be a specific meat (rather than derivatives) and I prefer food without wheat. If there is loads of E numbers, additives, colourants etc I wouldn't bother with it.
Did you have any luck with the headcollars?

I think goodvic2 makes a good point about leadership. I prefer to look at leadership with the stance of being a "gentle" leadership figure, someone who installs good behaviours and manners using positive reinforcement and praise and who discourages undesirable ones by only ever ignoring or withdrawing all attention from the dog (our attention is after all what our dogs crave most of all). I don't really agree with aversive type methods. As leadership figures it is up to us to take responsibility of aspects such as visitors to the house etc, so that the dog doesn't feel that he/she has to do this to protect the family because I don't appear to be.

What I think is it's not a good idea to get too worried about dominance (which is a term that IMO is misused ALOT anyway) but to focus reinforcing our dogs for good behaviour and providing fair rules and boundaries
Anyway I'm waffling.

Littlekitty- the more I hear about your dog, the more I think once you've got the heelwork etc sorted he would make a fantastic agility or flyball dog. Does he come back to you when you call him?
I think maybe the mental stimulation from it and giving him a "job" would really benefit him. Definately something worth considering

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Thanks for replies.

I'm not really good with expressing what I want to say, sometimes words come out wrong and are misunderstood.

Firstly when we got Mutley his previous owner/s had allowed him to do whatever he liked so when we got him he thought he could do the same in our house, we had him crated for about six months, when we left him alone.
We set ground rules for him which he did learn quickly enough.

The only rooms he has access to are the living room and kitchen, he isn't allowed upstairs at all, and not allowed on furniture either. He has his bed in the kitchen. He also has a garden to go in.

Yes he does follow us around the house and will sit at the bottom of the stairs until I come down. He does look for attention but we try to ignore him and approach him on our terms. OH used to give him alot of affection in the first few weeks we had him, until I told him not to as it would make Mutley think he could get it when he wanted.
I think he knows his boundaries and that we are the boss.

I think the only reason he is lead biting is because he wasn't trained on one before we got him, and the woman at the kennels wanted to get rid of him, as he was so badly behaved, she didn't know what to do with him.

Lemmsy: he does come back when called, most of the time, I think he does need to be kept active.
How do I find out about agility or flyball (never heard of that one).

Another thing he also used to do was when we shone a torch or laser pointer,cats play with this, near him he would go completely mad, snapping at the torchlight/red dot, so we wondered if he had been used for badger/rabbit hunting because never seen a dog react like that before. He now knows to "leave it" whenever we have a torch on.
He's still very nervous and jumps at slightest sounds, will he overcome this.

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Lynn, Mum to Buddy and Mary my two fur babies.

It does sound as though you have the rules in place. But I still believe that if a behaviour is not being controlled in the house, then it is because the dog is not listening. Unless you are not showing it how to behave.

I would advise that you stop the dog following you around.

With regards to the nervousness. He should get better, but I think a dog who is nervous will possibly always be so. Just make sure that you ignore him when he displays nervousness and don't give attention or affection. Otherwise the dog may do the behaviour because, in his mind he gets rewarded for it.

With regards to your dog lead biting, because it was not trained. He shouldn't have to be trained. If you say no, he should stop the behaviour. I take it he is not frightened of the lead? If so then in my opinion, he is getting over excited and not listening to you.

I really do believe that most behavioural problems stem from lack of leadership or miscommunication with your dog.

x

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Lilly, Max, Henry and Sammy. The joys of my life!

www.rescueremedies.co.uk
www.staffierescue.co.uk