Parents dog - nightmare situation

[rjacksmiss]

Hello. Parents bought a Rottweiler puppy about 11 months ago. Always owned the breed, know loads about them. This is 3rd Rottweiler pup Thought they could handle another one. They are late 60's. They can't though. She's a lovely dog but an absolute dementor. They can't get a proper grip on her. She rules the roost. I feel bad for the dog and bad for them. They are being bullied by it. I think my dads actually scared of her to be honest. He can't even sit on the couch without getting absolutely bounded on, mouthed, jumped on, just harassed until he moves. They have tried numerous training techniques. Can't figure out what motivates her to behave.

What kinda options do they have? Can they re home a dog that is so badly trained? They blame themselves completely. They don't know what to do. Bit of a loss as I don't know dogs really or what to advise them. Will she settle with age?

A young dog with no behavioural issues should be relatively easy to rehome.

The dog isn't badly behaved, she's just had no guidance or training - she should be fine in a home with owners who are capable of looking after her properly.

They have tried numerous training techniques

Which should have made them relaise they need professional help from a behaviourist and a trainer. They are out of their depth.

@icedcoffees

A young dog with no behavioural issues should be relatively easy to rehome.

The dog isn't badly behaved, she's just had no guidance or training - she should be fine in a home with owners who are capable of looking after her properly.

I never said she was badly behaved, I said badly trained.

Previously they have had no issues. Their dogs have always been well mannered and well trained. Maybe they are just too old to manage this wee lady. The pair of them are black and blue.

So what are they doing? Brain games? Training her to settle?

@Aquamarine1029

They have tried numerous training techniques

Which should have made them relaise they need professional help from a behaviourist and a trainer. They are out of their depth.

Absolutely.

Do you know roughly how much these things cost?

I think it's knocked the wind out their sails and they have both lost their confidence. We've always had dogs growing up. So many happy memories of loads of dogs. This is the first time things haven't went to plan.

Im probably quite naive too as I've never owned a dog myself. So please forgive me if I ask someone to explain further.

Do you know roughly how much these things cost?

I really don't. I am a lifelong dog owner but only needed a trainers help once and that was over 20 years ago. Tell your parents not to feel poorly about this, dogs are like people, they are all different. A professional may help them turn this around in short order.

I know an older couple who know so much about dogs, have always had dogs and even bred at one stage. This one dog was just impossible from the word go. It is the worst behaved dog anyone has ever come across. If they could not manage to train this dog, I don’t know who could. Dog is 12 now and very old, but still an absolute nightmare. I don’t know how they live with it. There was even an article in the paper about it, after it scaled an 8ft wall. A very intelligent dog with a busy mind and always up to something!

Anyway, I am no help whatsoever but just wanted to say that some dogs are just difficult and your parents dog is not like their previous dogs and might never calm down. Can they put up with this for the next 10 years? I know I couldn’t anyway.

I never said she was badly behaved, I said badly trained

Badly behaved and badly trained are the same thing. A dog is well behaved because it's been well trained by its owners.

Try a herbal calmer such as Dorwest Skullcap and Valarian at the same time as training, it will put the dogs brain in a receptive state to learn.
Otherwise yes, contact a good rescue and they will find the pip a lovely home.
I heard 'it's me or the dog' TV Show is looking for dogs for the new series so they'd get indepth free training (although I've never seen the programme so don't know if their trainer is any good}

@rjacksmiss I pay £30 an hour for 1-1 training

@icedcoffees

I never said she was badly behaved, I said badly trained

Badly behaved and badly trained are the same thing. A dog is well behaved because it's been well trained by its owners.

I would disagree with that. Both my dogs are well trained. They know how to behave and what I expect of them. That doesn't mean they don't ever do something wrong or behave badly.

Our puppy is approaching 7 months and is fully of energy or just doing what he can to push boundaries. It's apparently their adolescent months until approx. 12 months old and then they settle.

We also notice the zoomies have came back and he's unbearable despite all other times being extremely good and listens to ever command. He isn't motivated by toys or general food at all but if you have cooked liver cubes - he's on your ever command wherever we are!

With lockdown, there's plenty of dog trainers now online. Ours was £10 a month for video techniques and a WhatsApp and £20 for any 121 FaceTime support. If you want their name just drop me a PM.

Other things that might help the training and restore their confidence whilst ensuring the dog knows boundaries so they can feel a sense of achievement:

• frozen carrot in the evenings when zoomies start; works a treat for ours as he's eating it then going to sleep!
• brain games like a snuffle mat or likewise on Amazon/eBay/B&M/pets at home
• cooked liver diced and cooled to work as a high value treat. We cooked in a dish in the oven and then once cooled completely, cut up into little chunks the size of your little fingernail. It lasts about 4-5 days if placed in a sealed tub in the fridge. Only to be given at a % of the dogs weight at the time but when the listen. Training a puppy this age for 15/20 minutes a time will mentally tire them too. We did use cooked chicken but a lot of dogs develop chicken allergies and our local face to face training group recommended the liver as the smell is overpowering any outdoor smells for them. They could start of with the basics like off the sofa, mat/bed & stay then keep rewarding etc.
• change walks around the block to a country park on a 10m rope lead at either early morning or late night. You avoid all the foolish dog owners then who think every dog wants to play and they don't have to watch their off lead dog. We go at 5:30AM and after breakfast when he then sleeps until about 10:30 meaning I can get on with my morning without having to watch his every move.

Re homing is an option if needed via the local dogs trust or RSPCA but they are having a lot of lockdown puppies at the moment it might take a while for a family to take it home over say something small and fluffy.

Our puppy is a large breed so I understand the fear factor from people - when he was small it's was 'oh how cute' whilst encouraging him to break his position of stay and people never understood why I said to back off or why I was making him go into a down when letting people walk pass on narrow paths. Now he's 41KG and 6.5 months people try to cross the road to avoid us!

A trainer will be about 40 or 50 a session... I don’t think you’d need a behaviourist tbh.

An adolescent rottie who’s still mouthy and bouncing on people isn’t really a huge behavioural issue, just pretty basic stuff.

Have they spoken with the breeder? Breeder may have same reports from other littermates also breeder may be able to recommend rottie experienced behaviourist.

Both my dogs are well trained. They know how to behave and what I expect of them. That doesn't mean they don't ever do something wrong or behave badly.

Of course - because they're animals and not robots.

But the odd episode of bad behaviour is not what's being described by the OP. No dog behaves impeccably 100% of the time - I know mine doesn't but I would still say he was well trained as 90-95% of the time he does what he's told and behaves well.

That doesn't stop him being a little shit for the remaining 5-10% though

I agree it sounds like they need a good breed-experienced and registered trainer to work with them with a specific technique - trying "lots of different techniques" isn't going to work, it's just going to confuse the dog. They need consistency.

And yes, this is the "awkward" age anyway. How much walking and brain training is the pup getting? It can be a surprise when you go from owning an older chilled Rottie and getting back into the puppy stage, when you probably remember the other through rose-tinted glasses!

There's some good advice on finding a good trainer below. It would also be worth speaking to their vet as they should be able to recommend local trainers too.
www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/behaviour/finding-behaviour-and-training-support

Thank you so much for all the advice. I've found a residential trainer near by. It's a weeks intensive manner and behaviour training where they go in and get her her after and go through the training with them. Hopefully this will help them and maybe give them a little bit of time to re charge a bit.

They last their last rottie before the first lockdown. It was quite tragic and they jumped into this too quickly I think. She was a big slobbering softie.

I think they’ve been very silly to take on a Rottweiler puppy when they’re almost 70. I really hope the trainer helps for everyone’s sake.

It's a weeks intensive manner and behaviour training where they go in and get her her after and go through the training with them.

Others with more experience may know better than me but I’m always dubious about these sorts of set ups.

It's a weeks intensive manner and behaviour training where they go in and get her her after and go through the training with them.

I've no experience of these but it's sounds too good to be true. If I understand correctly, you send the puppy away for week and they train the puppy? The training needs to be with the owners, surely? And a week seems too quick to train a puppy.

We have a large breed puppy, I know it's not easy. Are there puppy trainers nearby who can offer long term training? I'd also recommend talking to a vet for recommendations. Puppies are currently a huge market, make sure you go with someone reputable. There are some charlatans about.

I wouldn’t touch residential training with a barge pole - and never ever with a breed like a rottie where they’re hugely sensitive to shitty training techniques.

The residential thing does indeed sound waaay too good to be true. You want to be able to observe these training techniques first hand - you won't have any control over any potentially dodgy training techniques including aversive ones if you're not there to observe them.

And it will take a lot longer than a week to "fix" her issues. Months it may take with proper behaviourist support.

Oh, it sounds like the type of residential training the guy from Cali K9 does. I can see how tempting it sounds, but I think those places use quite brutal training methods

@rjacksmiss

Thank you so much for all the advice. I've found a residential trainer near by. It's a weeks intensive manner and behaviour training where they go in and get her her after and go through the training with them. Hopefully this will help them and maybe give them a little bit of time to re charge a bit.

They last their last rottie before the first lockdown. It was quite tragic and they jumped into this too quickly I think. She was a big slobbering softie.

Please please please do not send this dog away for ANY kind of residential training.

The dog is still a puppy. The larger breeds don't always calm down properly until 2 or 3. Our dog has just turned one and can be like that. I have finally got him to behave for me but he torments dh in the way you have described.
We have pin pointed a few things, he does it if he is bored, if he needs a poo or if he is over tired. When we correctly guess what he is trying to tell us we can usually stop the bad behaviours.
So we pop him in time out for a short period this helps if he is overestimated. If we think he is bored one of us will do some training with him or play for a bit.
Tough natural chews like dried cows ears or pizzle sticks are good if they need to chew, they can still be teething until 18 months plus it keeps them quiet, I recommend the dog chew company, they do breed specific chew boxes.
Is she getting the right amount of exercise? This makes a difference also make sure she has some slow sniffy walks as this tires the brain as does a ten to twenty minute training session.
I have a disability so we use a dog walker in the week. This has been a game changer for us, he goes to a big field and plays with other dogs, he comes back exhausted and it only costs £10 a session. He also gets his time to be mouthy with other dogs rather than us.