# Out Of Control Dachshund - Help Please



## lqcorsa (Apr 8, 2007)

Hey everyone, thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

My name is Cole, me and my mom live with a 6 year old Pug and a 1 year old dachshund. 

Our dachshund has been the self proclaimed ruler of this house for a year now, ever since picking him up only weeks old. I really need help from anyone as passionate about dogs as I am, because he's pushed the rest of the family over the edge. I hope that somewhere deep inside of him is a good puppy though, that wants to behave.


As I mentioned we picked him up when he was a couple of weeks old, sort of by surprise. He was a gift to us, mostly as a playmate for our pug. We were very inexperienced at that time, and I admit we didn't take any of the necessary procedures to bring a new dog into the house, so I don't blame him for his behavior at all. He was free to roam the entire house, and wasn't kenneled. 

He cried for over a week, non-stop, after adopting him. It was just hour after hour of crying. He was physically okay, but mentally, the move appeared to be very traumatizing to him. It wasn't long after he stopped crying, that he became the bully of the house. 

He "marked" every inch of the house, claimed our pug's bed, kept all of the dog toys in his bed, and consistently peed on anything he hadn't marked already. Of course we tried to correct this behavior with strict potty training, kenneled him at night, and took him by lead to do his business out back. 

This was never enough though, and as the months progressed, he began displaying extreme levels of aggression. 

He has bitten my sister after she walked into the house alone once, bitten my brother in law, attacks our pug triggering vicious dogfights (that he usually loses, being smaller), dictates where our pug is allowed to sniff/walk, and the barking is non-stop during the day. He spouts off on these loud, repetitive barking fits at least once or twice an hour, especially when my mom is home. 

The worst part of it is, he knows this behavior is wrong, but he does it anyway. I've very aggressively tried to correct his dominant behavior in the past, but the only result that's given me is a dog that's extremely timid, and submissively pees. He patrols around my mom's feet when she cooks, not letting our pug near her to pick up fallen scraps of food, he bites her when she does. When you pin his head down and assert yourself to him, he pees submissively, and then discontinues the behavior for only about 5 minutes. He's not shy about behaving badly, but he immediately becomes submissive when you spring into action.

I feel like after a year of trying to get him to behave, we've made no progress at all. We can't have visitors, or else he barks at them n o n s t o p, especially any time they move. He's making our pug's life a nightmare, taking over any space she owns. And he never gives anything up until he gets his way. We've had two in-home dog trainers try and deal with him, with no success. 

Can anyone give us ideas here? He's been neutered too. I need ideas on what to do with this guy. He submits when we take action, but only when we take action. Then it's right back to bullying. It makes it impossible to target his behavior, and he doesn't seem to care about ANY consequences.


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## A&B (Mar 26, 2011)

Do you mean you've been doing the Cesar Milan style "alpha roll"?

If so, stop doing it! You're not Cesar, and you should NEVER copy anything from any tv show.

I would be rehoming him personally - to a home experienced with the breed and going via a breed rescue or breed club.

Otherwise, start NILIF - fairly sure there is a pinned topic for this. Stop pinning him to the ground - no wonder he is submissive about it! He's scared and doesn't understand the rules! They don't automatically know anything. *Book yourself in to obedience school with him - no excuses, just do it, and start building a relationship with him.* You need to start from scratch with him. Forget everything in the past and start working on bonding with him, gaining a good relationship and go from there.

When he barks, don't yell at him (they think you're joining in), either give him a time out, by silently moving him into the laundry or bathroom & shutting him in there for a bit, until he's quiet. Randomly reward him when he's being quiet - tell him "good boy" and give him a treat or just silently give him the treat when he's quiet.

*Find a decent behaviourist in your area and book a consultation with them. Ask them to help you make a plan to combat and manage the behaviour.*


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

Definitely stop doing "Dominant" behavior with him. No alpha rolls, no smacking, no holding him down, no yelling. It doesn't work, as you have found out.

Institute NILF. Walk him and your pug twice daily, briskly for about 40 min each. Hand feed him his meals. Start "Crate games" (google it) to teach him to enjoy being crated, and crate him when you aren't home. Google "the bite stops here" for hints on stopping biting.


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

Echoing every one else, he does not know he's doing something wrong. He's a dog. And he's been allowed to do this for a year. This is not a situation you should handle yourself. Find a veterinary behaviorist (not just a normal vet that will tell you he's physically healthy) and get one immediately. 

I say this as someone who owns a formerly out of control aggressive Dachshund.


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

Hmmmm, this is a tough situation. Before I go on, one thing stuck out to me: you said that he's pushed the rest of the family over the edge. How do they feel about trying to rectify the situation? Will they help? Will they be on board and try some of the advice you're give here?
The reason I ask is, if they are frustrated and have given up, it may be hard for you to get results. Basically, your family has to present a united front, everyone in the home has to follow the same guidelines, or you aren't likely to see progress...

That said, here are a few thoughts:
- if you actually got him at "a couple weeks old" it was WAY to young for him to leave his mama and siblings. They are the ones that help teach him in his early weeks, about biting, about being "a bully", about proper puppy behavior. If he came to your house at just a couple weeks old, he missed out on all of that.
- he doesn't "know this behavior is wrong". That's a common misconception. Dogs don't understand right and wrong the way we do. They can be trained to stop doing certain behaviors, but it's not because they UNDERSTAND it's wrong, they can be trained to stop doing certain behaviors because you teach them something else to do instead. 

[ Lots of times, a dog owner will yell at or physically reprimand a dog, like pinning or rolling. All dogs are excellent at reading our body language and the tone of our voice. If your dog does something you consider "wrong", your dog knows the reaction he will get (the yelling or punishing), so he may hang his head, or hide, or run off, or slink to the ground, but that's because he knows what's coming (the yelling or punishing) and he doesn't like that, and doesn't like it when you're upset. This is often mistaken for "he knows it's wrong", but he's really just reacting to YOUR behavior].
SO.....if you really want to change this situation, no more yelling or physical reprimands. I get that you're frustrated, and decided to get tough and strict, but this is the wrong way to change the behavior.

Go back to the beginning. Is he potty trained now? Does he still mark the house, or just submissively pee? Here's what I would do:

1. Keep him tethered to you with a leash. This will help you see what he's doing, and control his aggression towards family and the pug. It will also mean that you will see if he's starting to sniff or lift his leg, and you can interrupt him and take him out to pee, if that's still a problem.
2. For those times when you can't have him tethered to you, put him in the kennel, so he's not terrorizing the pug or the family.

[So, in other words, constant supervision, if you can't supervise, he goes in the kennel].

When you first started kenneling him, did you get him used to it, or just shove him in and leave him there? Do you make it a fun place? Do you give him something fun to do in the crate, like a frozen, stuffed kong, and chew toys?

You may need to do some crate conditioning, basically, start with small chunks of time, with only good things in the crate, and gradually build up.
Moving on...
3. Keep him separate from the pug. Only allow them to be together when you are watching closely. It's not fair for him to take all the toys and the bed. You can use a baby gate to keep them in separate areas for now.
4. Work on resource guarding by "trading up". 

[He is resource guarding. He is taking everything he considers important and keeping it for himself. Do a search for resource guarding. You can work on this, but not my becoming more strict and taking things away from him. That will make him think he was right in trying to guard it, because he's afraid to lose it. Trading up is teaching him that it's ok to let go of things, because he may get something better! ].

Get to a obedience class. You will learn and so will he! He's not being dominant, he's being a dog who hasn't been trained to behave any better.


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## lqcorsa (Apr 8, 2007)

Thanks everyone, all of that info really helps a lot. 

I didn't mean to say I was 'punishing' him or anything, by holding him down. I just remember hearing once, that lowering his head when he's acting dominant will get him to clue in a little easier. Everyone seems to agree here though that that's not helping, so I won't be doing that anymore.

I am guilty of shouting at the barking and aggression. I'm going to change that right away and try these methods you all are suggesting. Starting today I'll introduce NILIF. I'll also get in touch with a behaviorist right away. These are all great points and I'll see how everything goes.


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

Please keep us updated.


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## A&B (Mar 26, 2011)

ThoseWordsAtBest said:


> Please keep us updated.


Ditto. Definitely would love to hear how you're going with him.

I can't recommend a going to obedience classes enough either. It's not about obedience as a sport, but about learning how he learns and having fun teaching him things.


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