How do you train a jealous younger dog to stop bullying other pets?

Hi,



I have 2 cats and 2 Boston terriBLES. Both Bostons will harrass the cats when they are out of the crate, but the cats know where to go to get away from them.



The younger Boston is a 1 1/2 years old male, the other is a 3 year old female. I love them both, they are generally great dogs....(destructive to the house, but they make up for it).



The problem is, that the younger one, Baxter, is a big bully! He constantly harasses the Kali, the girl who has been here longer...she's so sweet natured that she allows it. She tries to get away from him, but he's always at her....chewing on her ears, trampling her, taking her toys/bones away....he won't let anyone give her any attention....he is the alpha pet.



If I let just her out of the crate, and leave him in his....he flips out (constant barking and whining and knocking the crate all around).



He's a very loving, affectionate pet otherwise, just very jealous and demanding!



How do I train him to stop bullying? ThanksHow do you train a jealous younger dog to stop bullying other pets?
Watch the dog whisperer on animal Planet. It addresses topics from dogs that bark to much to dogs that bully. The one thing that seems to be a constant is that the dog needs more excersize. Long walks everyday will tire out the dog. When the walk is over he will be to pooped out to want to bully the other animals. Because he is to pooped out, over time, he will forget all about chasing and tormenting the cats. By placing his energy into dog walkings, you will break the bad behavior. He will also learn that you are the leader of him and you will find he will start to obey you more.How do you train a jealous younger dog to stop bullying other pets?
OBEDIENCE

The key to success in training your Dog is understanding the psychology of your pet - i.e. how its mind works, and then incorporating that with proven training techniques and a few training aids.

Remember, your Dog is not a human and therefore does not think or react as a human would. Also, your pet does not verbally communicate with humans and you should not think that it does.

It may recognize the word "out" and associate it with going outside, but that is only because it is a common action that occurs consistently before it goes outside.

If you change the verbal word you use to communicate with your Dog along the way, your pet will no longer understand what you want. It is important that whatever word you choose to give a command, you stick with that same word each and every time, without the least alteration.

Also, before you can even begin training your Dog, your must establish that you are the "Master" and your Dog is the "Follower".

Remember, the Dog has an inherent trait that makes it a social animal, needing a dominance subordination hierarchy. You must establish that you are the leader of its pack before you will be successful with any type of training. This is called "social reinforcement".

The following items will help you establish that leadership role in the life of your Dog:

i) Do not compromise with your Dog. For example, if you want it to perform a desired behavior, don't just give up and walk away when it does not perform. Instead, use some type of reinforcement to show it that its behavior was not correct, such as withholding the

treat or toy.

ii) You should always initiate interaction with your Dog and terminate the interaction with your

Dog rather than the other way round.

iii) Avoid tending to your pet's every desire. Rewards should only be given for desired behavior, and should never be given just like that.

iv) When you are spending time with your Dog, pet, talk and touch it often. This will help establish the trust needed to truly set you forth as the leader.

Obedience Training Styles

Just like housebreaking, when you are training your Dog, the key thing is consistency. You need to pick a training style that is suitable for you and your Dog and stick with it.

The two most popular types of obedience training are leash and collar training and reward training.

In the leash and collar type of training, the leash is used in the beginning as the tool to teach the correct behavior, then once the behavior is learned, the leash is only used to correct unwanted behavior.

A mistake often made by the novice owner with this type of training is they forget the leash is used only as a tool.

Often a novice owner will abuse the leash to nag at the Dog.

This defeats the purpose of the leash. The leash must be used only to get the Dog to obey. It is used to establish the leadership role between master and pet, but to be successful in training, the Dog must understand the command with or without the leash and you must be able to utilize any tool at hand to solicit the correct behavior from your pet, not just a leash.

Reward training usually incorporates food rewards or a reward that is associated with getting food. The associated award could be the command "Good". Many owners now use a clicker as an associated reward.

A secret to making the reward trained Dog reliable is working the pet around distractions in its

environment and teaching proper socialization.

If you only train your Dog in the house, it will not be used to extra stimuli. The well trained

Dog, then exposed to unfamiliar people, may not respond as desired. When reward training, it is important you train both inside and outside your home to make sure your Dog is exposed to as much stimuli as possible.

Another important tool in communication between you and your Dog is the tone of your voice when delivering a command.

The command "Good" will have a more positive tone. The excitement in your voice will be picked up by the Dog and it will eventually associate it with the feelings of acceptance for that response to the previous command.

The word "No" will have a more forceful tone, usually associated with a negative response, such as a stern tug on the leash if leash training. The Dog will eventually establish that tone as an indication for an undesired response to your command.

As you move on in your training, the tone will be as important to the Dog as the command itself.

Also frequently overlooked by the novice owner is body language. Once you get to know your pet better, you will understand its meaning behind specific body motions.

An owner who really understands his/her Dog will see even the slightest head movement in certain situations and understand exactly what it means. This enables the owner to give a command prior to a behavior occurring.

BARKING AND BITING



BARKING: If your Dog is barking or howling when ignored, then it is most probably because it suffers from separation anxiety. Separation anxiety usually initiates with fear and insecurities. Training the Dog to do some tricks will help it gain self-esteem.

If your Dog is yapping at the neighbors through the fence and annoying them, then behavior modification is the key. You can teach your Dog a reverse command to stop the barking, or utilize anti-bark collars as a deterrent. To teach your Dog a reverse command, it must first know the command "SPEAK".

The SPEAK command is used to teach the Dog to bark, but only when you tell it to (i.e. bark on demand). Once it has mastered the SPEAK command, think of another word to tell the Dog to stop barking . Whatever word you choose it should be one word and preferably one syllable if possible. This process of first teaching your Dog to bark on demand may seem counter-intuitive when your objective is to make it stop barking unnecessarily, but we have found that it works brilliantly in reality. Anti-bark collars come in two types - radio and herbal spray. The radio collars deliver a mild shock when the Dog starts to bark. The collar has prongs that must touch the front of the neck of your Dog so the vibrations of the barking trigger the shock. The herbal spray collars work the same way, only the vibrations trigger a mist of pungent citrus-scented fog into your pet's face. The mist startles the Dog and interrupts the barking.

STOP BITING: If your Dog has the habit of biting you or other members of your family, you can use some of the following techniques to stop it from doing so: One good tool to utilize in teaching your Dog not to bite is to not use toys and activities that encourage biting. A perfect example of this is tug of war. Although a popular playtime activity for an owner and his/her Dog, it encourages the Dog to bite leading to unwanted behavior problems. Once your Dog is trained and fully understands the "Off" command, you may tug-of-war with your pet. Until then, it is best to put the rope away. Another common mistake made by Dog owners that encourages biting is rough housing. How many of us have either seen, or participated ourselves, in growling at our Dog and letting it grab our hands in its mouth during play. Then, when the Dog bites too hard, we scold it and tell it "no bite". We are completely confusing our Dog by doing this if it has not yet been trained to understand hard bites from soft bites. If your Dog has a great propensity to bite when playing, it is a good idea to keep your hands away from its face when playing or petting. This will discourage the biting by removing the item it is trying to bite. Never reward mouthing, snapping or grabbing types of behavior. An example would be playing with your Dog even after it has grabbed a toy from your hand. In this instance, you should stop playing and ignore your Dog. Continuing to play will enable it to think the grabbing behavior was acceptable and it will continue in the future. This could result in it later grabbing food or other items, unintentionally injuring someone or another animal. Once your Dog has established that mouthing or biting is not the appropriate response in most instances, it is important you teach it when it IS an appropriate response. Retrieving would be an example of a time that it is appropriate for your Dog to mouth or bite. You can teach your Dog to retrieve on command. This enables you to offer something different for your Dog to mouth when biting by distracting it with an appropriate toy to bite. Another approach to stop the unwanted biting behavior is to simply stop interacting with the Dog and ignore it for a period of time.