Training my BB puppy

[Tracey Bodington]

BB owners and trainers, I need some advise on training my BB puppy. Siska is 6 months old and I am noticing that she is developing a dominant personality already, meaning she is showing aggression towards strange dogs of all sizes and ages, which I am trying to address by taking her to socialising classes and taking her walking in public places where there are other dogs. I have also noticed that Siska is beginning to show aggression towards strangers in her garden. Now don’t get me wrong she is doing exactly what her breed is bred for, and I don’t have a problem with that, but although I am currently doing an obedience training course with Siska, the course was developed for all dog breeds, the course covers socialising and good behaviour in public places which is great, but I want to learn how to train Siska to accept legitimate visitors to her garden. At her young age now I don’t want to discourage Siska from her protective attitude, but I guess I need to learn how to help her to understand that not every new person who visits is up to no good and should be chased out the garden. I don’t want to have to lock her up every time we get visitors. Do I enrol her for advanced obedience training? Or can anyone suggest some training methods that I can practice with Siska at home? Please advise.

[Sweet Pea]

Hi Tracey,

I would continue the socialization and classes with her for sure. It may be helpful to teach Siska a 'leave it' command or some type of 'away' command so that you can call her off when she is barking at someone on your property. Then teach her to sit when visitors come in. Perhaps you can have them feed her yummy treats so that she is not so put off by them. These dogs need rules and boundries she just needs to be taught how to behave in these circumstances. I would definitely go to advanced obedience with her. She's going to be a big girl and her obedience needs to be spot on. 

As far as showing aggression towards strange dogs--don't assume it's dominance. Often a dog, especially that age, will put on an aggressive display because the other dogs make them uncomfortable, they are nervous, or they just don't know how to react. Unfortunately this behavior is too common in the Boerboel. If you just punish her for her aggressive displays, you won't be as successful as if you teach her a behavior to preform instead. 

If she doesn't already know a focus command, teach her one and proof it in a low distraction environment. Slowly build up the distraction until she is very reliable. You can use this focus command to get her to focus on you while other dogs are passing. Initially you should reward her heavily with treats and praise so that she sees it's way more rewarding to pay attention to you rather than bark at the other dog. If you don't address her issue with other dogs, it will get worse. 

Good luck with Siska!

[Tracey Bodington]

Hi Kimberley,

Thank you for the feedback. We have been doing a 'leave' command which generally Siska responds to, however if the other dog brings an aggressive approach she responds double fold and I have a hard time controlling her then. But I am encouraged, at least I know I`m on the right track, and I will certainly use your suggestions to introducing new people, I will persist. Can you elaborate for me though on the 'focus command' I have not heard of that before, it sounds like something useful that I can add to our training.

Thanks again

Tracey

Kimberly Baker said:

Hi Tracey,

I would continue the socialization and classes with her for sure. It may be helpful to teach Siska a 'leave it' command or some type of 'away' command so that you can call her off when she is barking at someone on your property. Then teach her to sit when visitors come in. Perhaps you can have them feed her yummy treats so that she is not so put off by them. These dogs need rules and boundries she just needs to be taught how to behave in these circumstances. I would definitely go to advanced obedience with her. She's going to be a big girl and her obedience needs to be spot on. 

As far as showing aggression towards strange dogs--don't assume it's dominance. Often a dog, especially that age, will put on an aggressive display because the other dogs make them uncomfortable, they are nervous, or they just don't know how to react. Unfortunately this behavior is too common in the Boerboel. If you just punish her for her aggressive displays, you won't be as successful as if you teach her a behavior to preform instead. 

If she doesn't already know a focus command, teach her one and proof it in a low distraction environment. Slowly build up the distraction until she is very reliable. You can use this focus command to get her to focus on you while other dogs are passing. Initially you should reward her heavily with treats and praise so that she sees it's way more rewarding to pay attention to you rather than bark at the other dog. If you don't address her issue with other dogs, it will get worse. 

Good luck with Siska!

[Sweet Pea]

For a focus command I use 'watch me'.  This video is very similar to the way my trainer had me train the watch me. Except I don't use a clicker, just a marker word "yes!" and then treat. Also, after a few minutes of this, when we were sure they would make eye contact, we started adding the watch me command. When she became reliable, we added the distraction of family members, then our other dog, toys, etc. Once you build it up to a reliable command, you can practice it at your training class in the presence of other dogs. 

There is also a very good book by dog behaviorists Patricia McConnell & Karen Londen called, "Feisty Fido, Help For the Leash Reactive Dog". It's actually a short instruction manual (about 50 pages or so) on how to get your dog to stop reacting to other dogs while out on walks. I think it'd be very helpful for you and it is fairly inexpensive in USD anyway. 

[Lisa Tiro]

All great advice Kimberly! The leave it command works great with Axel. At dog school all the dogs do the focus or watch me in a sit or down the whole class. You'd be amazed at how fast they learn it when they are getting high value treats lol.... Good luck!

[Tracey Bodington]

Thank you Kimberly and Lisa,

I will definitely add the focus command to our training. I think I should also not stress so much, I am terrified that I will spoil a fantastic dog with my amateur training ability, Siska`s father has an impressive reputation for temperament with some certificates to back it up, I don't want to let the line down. You have inspired me with your support and advise and that is exactly why I joined this website. I will keep you posted on our progress.

Thanks all!

[Sweet Pea]

Good luck, Tracey. Keep us posted.

[Lisa Tiro]

Tracey, just be a strong leader. Make her earn her keep, nothing is free. Always make her work for a treat or a petting or just going out the door. Ask her to do something before going out or eating, you get the picture. You'll be fine.