Why Does He Do This To ME?!?

BigDog2191

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#1
Rocky's so weird!

Well, I went to my friend's house to spend the night, right?

Well, my Rocky is always all over-enthusiastic and hyperly always jumping around and nipping. Apparently, he's only like that when I'm around.

My dad always tells me this when I come home from school or after I've been gone to a friend's house or something.

"He acts like such a little angel when you're not there. Very obedient and not hyper at all."

WHY DOESN'T HE DO THIS AROUND ME?! :confused:

I'm baffled... :confused:
 

Amstaffer

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#2
Well if I would put on my "Dog Whisper" hat I would say that he feels more dominant around you. With out seeing you interact and not being an expert it is only my humble opinion but I would say he is really excited to see you but feels that he is at least your equal.
 

EliNHunter

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#3
BigDog -- I think I know what might be going on. When you get home, do you excite him and play with him? If so, they get conditioned to that and he will see you and think "OH BOY! OH BOY! IT'S TIME TO PLAY PLAY PLAY AND BE WILD!"

Try a different approach (and know he won't change overnight). Try just spending quiet time with him when you first get home. Reassure him that you're home and are there for him and get into a routine. Like, when I first got Hunter, the first thing I would do is take him out front and throw the ball for him over and over again. I found that I had conditioned him to be really hyper upon my arrival -- anticipating this play time. Then, upon figuring this out, I started downplaying my arrival. I would love on him quietly, but go about my business. Get online, he would be by my side and I'd love on him quietly. Then I'd feed him. Later on I'd walk him and maybe throw the ball then. It's worked out very well. He now knows it's not time to go completely nutz when I get home! And he's settled down afterwards knowing our "routine" and that he'll get his time (on MY time!) Lol...
 

BigDog2191

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#4
Yeah, I understand.

I really hope he's not getting dominant.

I'm almost ALWAYS doing NILIF training with him and obedience training. And actually the first thing I do when I get home usually is take him out to use the bathroom, pet him and stuff for a few seconds and then I go in my room and he usually follows or leads... and jumps on my bed, and play with his bone maybe.

What I meant was, he's not like hyper-active but he acts differently.

Ok here's him with my dad:

Acting somewhat shy and extremely obedient. Never nips. Very quiet. Being a good boy and playing and biting with his toy and not my (my dad's) hands or feet.

When I'm there:

Loves to play. Not as quiet at all. Nips a lot, not a lot since I've been working on it but a lot more ya know, not as shy.

I hope it's a little more understanding now.
 
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#5
He's a lot more attached to you, DoggyDaddy. The grrrrls are a lot quieter around Charley and make a huge fuss over me. Almost overwhelming sometimes, but they run right past him to get to me if we come home at the same time. He's finally gotten used to it. It drove him nuts with Buffy though - it really bugged him. He's working on cultivating more affection from these two now though - even Kharma who runs a distant second behind Shiva for him, so I guess it does get under his skin a bit still.

I think maybe you've got the same kind of thing going on. If you'll follow EliNHunter's good advice you'll keep the attachment but have a little more calm.
 
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#6
Try simply keeping your dog on a leash while you're at home for awhile. If it starts jumping up, form a "U" with the leash and put your foot in the middle of it, so that when he trys to jump up, he is pulled back down. That helped for us.
 
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#8
Couldn't have said it better myself, Renee. Sometimes things that look like elegant solutions are in truth just gateways to more problems. Please don't undo all the things we've worked on, DoggyDaddy. You're doing so well!
 

BigDog2191

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#9
I do keep him on a leash at home whenever I'm working on a project or I had a friend over for a while that was deathly scared of him, etc.

But I trust Renee's and Creature Teacher's advice. I'm not going to hurt my dog like that.
 

Debi

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#10
I'm soooooo glad you are sticking with the advice of Renee and CT. I sure don't like that leash/jumping idea at all. I KNOW everything I've learned from Renee and CT has worked beautifully. I just can't ever imagine being so rough with my dogs, it just isn't the way to go. GOOD FOR YOU, Big!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
 

Fran27

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#11
It's about the same with Boris. He's with me all day, and I haven't been able to play with him as much as I should because of health issues lately, but he's mostly quiet and a very good dog. But when my husband comes home, he knows it's play time and he's a monster, lol. He gets very hyper and runs everywhere the whole evening. My husband is the one that goes on the floor with him and wrestles with him etc... Boris only does his mischief in the house when he's here too :rolleyes:

But he gets all hyper when I leave and come back too. Or when anyone comes home really. It's just having someone go through the front door I guess.

Now if we could get him to forget that jumpy habit... Telling him to sit and ignoring him until he does has done absolutely nothing yet.
 

Debi

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#12
Fran just reminded me that the same thing happens here, too. I forgot....it's when Dave comes home...LOOK OUT for about 10 minutes. Ham goes bonkers...Addie isn't far behind (but IS always the lady) lol Ham also nips Dave every chance he gets. It's the same reason I think....they see Dave as the playful one. Just like Rocky sees you as his play buddy. It does show, too, that Rocky is sure happy to see you!!! I'm always saying 'they aren't like this all day'. Dave is the one, tho, that does the wild play.......I'm the one with the rules and the cuddles. :)
 

Debi

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#14
Hey...reminds me that it was the SAME with our children..LOL Dave was the play buddy......I was the one with the rules and cuddles.......toooooooo funny!!!!!!! :)
 

Fran27

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#15
Yeah it will probably be the same with our children too. I'm just not so good with games I guess, my husband is a real kid though :p
 

BigDog2191

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#16
But it's so weird with Rocky.

Rocky, jumps on the tables to get food and spills everything and get everyone mad--when I'm around.

When my dad's around-- he's all nice and sits quietly while he eats.

Come on... lol
 
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#17
That is odd - I'll have to think about what could be making him show off like that in front of you, because that's what I think he's doing - showing off!

When Emma gets back we'll get her expert input.
 
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#18
I take back my advice. That's what my old trainer said to do...but we've been having a discussion on punishment-based vs. positive reinforcement in other threads, and Creature Teacher is suggesting better ways of training, and I'm really rethinking the way our trainer's methods.

The reason that I started looking on this website last weekend in the firstplace was that when Mango started getting aggressive, my old trainer suggested spraying her with a hose...not even just a squirt gun but a hose! This was when i thought "There's gotta be something wrong here."

Didn't take that advice. Started listening to people on this forum instead.

Thanks everyone!
 

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