Dominance issue with me

[snailvsturtle]

Hello! I am new around here and I have a bit of a problem. My boyfriend and I got Shadow at 9 weeks, and he is 10 months old now. He is a purebred Chow Chow, and has been fixed.
The issue is that I seem to have inadvertently trained him to think that he is in charge. He pulls a lot on walks, even though I try to be consistent with getting him to sit when he pulls. He has started to nip me when I am out in the yard playing with him. This morning he started nipping me because he wanted his walk immediately after I woke up, so I didn't take him. Then I went out into the yard with him in the afternoon and he started jumping on me and biting at me.

We moved to a new house in the last few months with a full yard, and we have been letting him out basically whenever he wants, since my boyfriend stays home all day. I walk him in the mornings before work, and generally play around with him in the yard for a while after work, but my boyfriend doesn't take him out. We have been doing some of the NILIF things- he has to sit nicely before he goes outside, and before I leash him to go on his walk. I exit the door first before the walk as well, but he immediately runs to the end of the leash and pulls on me. We don't feed him at a specific time, because he only eats a mouthful at a time.
He seems to listen better to my boyfriend than me, but that isn't terribly helpful since I am the one that interacts with him the most. My boyfriend also tends to think that his behavior is amusing and that I am over reacting about the littler signs. He is a good dog with a good personality, and we are not considering getting rid of him at all, but I think that his behavior with me is a bad sign for anyone coming around. I don't want him to treat people who don't know him like he has been treating me, because it would be scary for them and particularly because I don't think he would listen to me about which visitors were acceptable at this point. I also don't want things between us to escalate any more, and I would like it if our interactions weren't so often a contest of wills.
I know I need to be more consistent with the things I do with him and with daily training sessions, but I would really appreciate any advice on what else to add.

[Rory's Dad]

10 months is a tough time. He still thinks he's a puppy but he has a grown up body and set of teeth. Play time has to be controlled just like anything else. It may be an assertive approach to you, or it may just be over the top (for you) play time. Either way the approach is pretty much the same. Your post seems to indicate that you are aware that you need to control his behavior.

Let me back up a bit and say that consistency is everything for your Chow. And that means everything from walk schedules to feeding, to training for sit/stay and for walks. Start with feeding. My dogs have kibble and water available at all times, but they get fed their 'meals' as scheduled times. When i wake up and come downstairs they are fed breakfast. I have two chows, so whichever dog finishes 1st goes out 1st. I use a trolley run for their normal outside time, so they get switched after 20 minutes. Once they are both done and come back in they are rewarded together with a few pieces of cheese. Since we go to work immediately after that, i give the command 'GO', and one or the other will head to the living room. Usually it's my male since the female is still fixed on the cheese reward. (I separate when no one is home as they are both intact, when my female is in heat, they are just used to being separated, plus i have no worries about disaggreements. Probably over cautious, but thats just me.)

When i return home from work, whichever is in the kitchen area goes out 1st. 20 minutes and they are switched again. Dinner gets cooked and they are fed together. Naturally they have to sit or something similar prior to the food bowl going down. Etc, etc, the routing is the same for them. They know what to expect at what time and are prepared to act accordingly.

Play time is not associated with their regular routines. And by that i mean, a walk is not playtime, it has a specific purpose. For my dogs it's about getting excercise and patrolling the neighborhood. Pulling is the hardest issue i have ever come across. Still haven't cured my male of this and we have tried different collars and harnesses. If i put a show collar on him, he understands the difference and is much better.

I would recommend stepping. Do not use a flexi lead. Have a consistent length lead and as soon as your dog starts to pull, step on the lead and stop. Do not move. Bring him back to you and position him at your knee. Once there, reward him with a pea sized treat. This works only if you have done some basic attention training. That means that the dog responds to you and makes eye contact. Practice this in the house when he is calm. Use the same type treat and bring it from his nose to yours making sure his eye follows the treat all the way up to you. If his eyes turn aside or he moves his head in a different direction, do not give him the treat.

Back to the leash walks. Every time he reaches the end of the lead with any pull, stop by stepping on the lead. Repeat the above lessons. He will learn that it is faster to get to where he wants to go by moving calmly and with the leash in the loose position. He will also figure out that he gets rewarded for being at your side.

Rough play. Same principal. Work on a command that is good for you. Again, with my dogs, they are required to show their bite to judges and we worked with 'teeth' as a command to get them to loosen their jaws and allow inspection. I chose 'no teeth' when they got a bit rough. In this instance you will also want to begin by withdrawing yourself. Don't provide any attention (kind of a mini timeout) or physical contact. As you introduce this concept speak your command one time. If he gets it, then reward. You could also re-use an earlier basic command (sit/down/off).

If in fact he is challenging you rather than playing, you still need to assert that you control the resources. Those resources consist of food/treats and affection/attention rewards. You need to ensure that those theories are consistent as well. If you are making the dog work for everything (NILIF) and your boyfriend tosses him a treat for free, then he will favor the easy road.

[maikinda]

What a pretty boy Shadow is! Rorys dad has given you some great idea's. If you can find a good positive trainer that would really help too. A lot of area's have training clubs that give classes. Check with area vets or even your local humane society, they may have information. This website has great information http://www.peaceablepaws.com/pat-miller.php It has information on what kind of trainer you should look for. Pats books are great too.

Good luck!

Laura