Member Ed
MemberForum Replies Created
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Yay Rottweilers Unite!! Does she know leave it? I’m pretty sure Robert has a leave it lesson. It is possible that she is lacking structure. If that is the case it would be showing in other areas as well — then the issue would be that she is lacking structure and not giving up the toy would be a symptom — in that case you would want to fix the first as opposed to the latter. Over here we do it one of 3 ways: (1) just do it (most common), (2) tell her leave it (very rarely), (3) exchange it for another toy if this is part of play or training and the play/training is continuing.
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I cycled mine between beef, chicken and turkey. One day each with Saturday or Sunday being either eggs or sardines depending on the week. Robert in one of the old YouTube videos said he cycled as well.
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Best tool to keep him out of trouble is the crate. Leash reactivity, according to Robert, is often because when presented with a situation that the dog sees as fight-or-flight the tension on the leash, in his mind, removes his ability to get away, so he thinks he has to fight. There are several lessons, the ones that Robert is teaching a new dog, that deal with these behaviors. Main thing until you get things under control at home is the crate. I would not let the possibility of failure exist as it relates to visitors or kids. That means crate. A bad experience with either could set things up for a lot of work, which maybe fixable or could spiral out of control. I would not risk having him able to interact with visitors or kids till he has proven himself in other areas. You could lose your dog because a visitor or a kid does something stupid, like slapping your dog on the face as it happened to mine. You got this, don’t worry!!
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I would start small and have him do some of her obedience training. When he is doing it, he would praise her during training almost as she can no no wrong, no corrections when he is training her, just ignore the bad behavior. Accept bad form, you can fix it later. A lot of patience. Very short sessions, may be a minute long. I do not think it is uncommon to have ecollar corrections to be miss-associated with places/people instead of behavior. I’m sure there is a good explanation for that.
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Hi @hugosmama 🙂 This is my new understanding… if the issue is that legumes and potatoes were added to replace grain, then adding grain would not necessarily solve any issues the food may have. And it would further dilute the protein content. If, on the other hand, legumes and potatoes were not used to replace the grain and instead the food has just more protein, then there is no problem to begin with.
So I think the issue is not grain vs. no grain (which is a way to provide inexpensive calories)… but whether that has been replaced with another way to provide inexpensive calories that may have ill effects.
Thoughts?
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When I heard grain-free I immediately assumed that the grain was just removed. So to make up for it you would just have more of the rest of the food, that is protein. But, that is not always the case. Often the grain is replaced with legumes and potatoes. That seems to create complications. See article at https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/fda-grain-free-diet-alert-dcm/
When I cooked for my dogs I did not use grain. In one recipe I used baked sweet potato, but that was about 10% by weight. All the rest was meat, vege, and fruit. So when someone says grain-free that is what I envision. The proportions are in pounds. This, plus supplements fed the troops for 6 weeks.
The food I’m feeding now is also grain free, and you can see that the first 4 ingredients are meat and the 5th one is chicken bones. Sweet potato is next, which effectively means it is probably around 10% or less as well
So the challenge is that when we say grain-free, by itself it does not what kind of diet it is.
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Also, when I was “cooking” (it was actually raw other than the baked sweet potatoes) my vet had me obsessed with low-fat — other than fish oils. So I over trimmed the meat, removing absolutely all the fat and skin. They had to eat a tremendous amount of food to get the calories they needed. On the plus side my girl looked like this!
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Growling can also be an invitation to play or part of play. My dogs and I grow at each other, during play. My dogs growl at each other when they invite each other to play. For example they will hold half a toy/bone on their mouth offer the other half to the other dog and growl. Of course it could also be resource guarding. Robert has a lesson on that.
On the fetch, Robert suggests having the dog on a long leash to bring them back — it is not a negative correction, it is a bring bring bring while pulling them towards you. The fun in the game should be you, as opposed to the toy. So you just have to make yourself so over the top that you top the toy. When I get the ball it is a party and I throw the ball back as quickly as possible. Short distances are better. The object is for the ball to be how we play with each other, rather than it being a chew toy. In the beginning I also use treats, so when they give me the ball they get a treat and a party.
If it turns out that the ball is too high value you could use a lower value toy. Leaving the ball to do the even exchange exercise.
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I tried to edited the above and I do not see it, so I’ll type it again :)… in several ama/chats Robert said that mouthing is just what puppy’s do, mals in particular. That it will continue perhaps for the next 6-8 months. If it gets particularly bad he suggested gardening gloves.
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Hi @merelda pardon for interjecting… humping is dominance. Even between dogs it could break the spirit of the dog being humped. It can be done male to female or female to male, or any other combination. Maybe he is only trying to engage in some play behavior, testing the limits, or perhaps it is a signal that he sees you as a playmate. If so it could be an indication that the pup needs a bit more structure. Regardless, I would stop it.