This Is Freaaky !

[This Old Spouse]

As loraxchick stated, the behavior is dominance. It has nothing to do with whether she's spayed or not.

We have a 5-year-old golden retriever that we adopted last autumn, and that was one of her behaviors, along with several others. She'd been kept in a kennel or tied to a tie-out line most of her life, so she had no clue about how to act around dogs or humans.

The best way to convince her that YOU are the pack leader and not her is to lay her on the ground on her side with your hand acting as a bite at the side of her neck, until she submits to you. This should be done with NO yelling, NO anger and NO pain to her. But it must be done EVERY time she shows the behavior. You need to establish yourself as the pack leader, or she will.


Spaying will not harm her or change her behavior. You can (and definitely should) still run with her every day.

Please keep us posted.

 

[biokid101]

Wow thanks but how shud i put my hand??

 

[This Old Spouse]

You should shape your hand like the mouth of a big dog. I know this all sounds funny, but it really works. You need to put your hand on the neck of your dog and hold her down in that position until she quiets down and lets out a big sigh. That's submission. And you need to do it every single time she starts the dominant behavior. You also need to make sure you're the first one through every door and lead the way. Don't EVER let her go through a door first.

You are the alpha dog! You are the leader of the "pack" as it were and need to show her that you are the dominant one, not her.

Here's kind of a bad photo of the correct position of your hand:

 

[biokid101]

Oh thank u soooo muchh! Also i didnt know about the door she usually goes out first when she needs to go to the bathroom but other than that she doesnt go out first

 

[coldcazzie]

When you walk her is also a learning time. The leader walks in front. So if she always walks in front, she considers herself to be higher up in the hierarchy than you. You need to be the one walking in front, even if only by 6 inches.

When you teach her these things, you can't get angry. It needs to be done matter-of-factly. No anger or annoyance or "bad dog!", just calm, this is how its going to be from now on.

If you can, biokid, watch some episodes of the dog whisperer.

Great illustrative picture tos

 

[This Old Spouse]

When you walk her is also a learning time. The leader walks in front. So if she always walks in front, she considers herself to be higher up in the hierarchy than you. You need to be the one walking in front, even if only by 6 inches.

When you teach her these things, you can't get angry. It needs to be done matter-of-factly. No anger or annoyance or "bad dog!", just calm, this is how its going to be from now on.

If you can, biokid, watch some episodes of the dog whisperer.

Great illustrative picture tos

+1

And thanks, Cazzie!

I was just concentrating on the dominance issue of humping, but all this is true! Also, it will take patience and time before she shows improvement. The Dog Whisperer is my hero, but I can't get results as fast as he can! But I DO get results by following his philosophy.

I'm really glad you're asking for help. The people who don't ask are the ones who end up bringing their dogs to the shelter because they're "bad." So keep up the good work!!

 

[coldcazzie]

The Dog Whisperer is my hero

He is one of the people I would like to keep in the cupboard under my stairs and bring out whenever I feel down to give me a bit of a pep talk!

And yes, while the humping behaviour is an issue, only addressing that aspect would be silly. All aspects of the dog fulfilling the pack leader role need to be addressed. Fwiw I still think that spaying would help a lot; the benefits outweigh the risk that her personality may change slightly. For me that's not a good enough reason. There are also ways you can reduce the cost if you're in financial difficulty, such as the rspca or pdsa, but then again, they won't help if you're simply being tight with your money...

 

[This Old Spouse]

The Dog Whisperer is my hero

He is one of the people I would like to keep in the cupboard under my stairs and bring out whenever I feel down to give me a bit of a pep talk!

And yes, while the humping behaviour is an issue, only addressing that aspect would be silly. All aspects of the dog fulfilling the pack leader role need to be addressed. Fwiw I still think that spaying would help a lot; the benefits outweigh the risk that her personality may change slightly. For me that's not a good enough reason. There are also ways you can reduce the cost if you're in financial difficulty, such as the rspca or pdsa, but then again, they won't help if you're simply being tight with your money...

Yes, it's all a process to make you the pack leader and reduce the dominance issues. TBH, the most important thing here is the daily walk. The walks you take with your dog will help establish your role as pack leader and will be a bonding experience for both of you. We can't possible teach you all you need to know here. You should watch past episodes of the Dog Whisperer and maybe even buy a book of his.

And please get her spayed. She'll be a much happier dog, and you'll be a much happier owner.