Brandon - I have read 3 of her books. Thats where I got the information about treating him from a far. But as I said in my other post, the problem is that he won't let anyone touch him. And I don't want to risk the hands of strangers or friends attempting the techniques she suggested.
I really don't let them become episodes. This was the first time that he actually reacted to something. Usually he growls and runs away and hides. But this time he was barking and then he bit. Whenever we're in public, and theres other dogs, I let them sniff, but whenever i feel him growl or there's tension, I immediately move away. I am trying to find a behaviorist, but no luck so far. He was neutered 2 weeks ago. People have been telling me here that his hormones will be raging like a teenager, but this behavior started way before he got neutered and after the neuter, it just seems to get worse.
I forgot to mention this but, last week i took ninja and portia to work with me the whole week. I was walking them so they could go potty and some guys were kicking a soccer ball around...Ninja and Portia didnt mind it, but then a guy kicked the soccer ball again't a fence and made that fence rattling noise. The dogs jumped a little and then Ninja started pulling me like crazy back to my office. Once he got back into my office he was hiding under my desk and looked really shaken up. I tried calling him out and he wouldn't come out. He just stayed there looking super scared. I ignored him for 30 minutes and then he finally came out when it was time to go. Any suggestions why it spooked him so much? John was saying that he thinks while he was with the breeder, maybe he kept the pups in cages and maybe when they were barking or whining he would hit the fence to make them stop. So when he heard that noise he just flipped out. Any ideas?
I don't think dogs can rationalize a sound. Some dogs think, 'I heard a noise, but it didn't hurt me. So I'm OK'. Other's like Ninja think 'Holy Sh*t. Sounds like armageddon (because in my world, of course my dogs have perfect diction), let's get the heck outta here!'.
For Mika, certain noises are terrifying. It started when she was about 2 months old. An idiot started his Harley when Mika was a two fee away. Ahole! He couldn't wait two seconds for us to walk away. Since then, firecrackers, the intro to certain movies, thunder, trains, anything can really set her off and running. Fourth of July is fun. In small cities, firecrackers are set off for the week before and after the holiday. Yay. We can't go anywhere.
Keigo, follows Mika in her hunt for the safest, darkest place. When she finds it, he looks at her like 'Is that the end of the game? BORING'.
Just got home from Obedience Class....Another incident happened. Ninja snapped at a dog. This is a 3 year old Bernese Mountain Dog. They were sniffing eachother, after like 30 seconds, I felt Ninja growl through the leash so I walked him away and redirected his attention to a sit. After that the trainer was speaking and im not sure what happened, it happened pretty quick, but the Bernese Mountain Dog got close and Ninja tried to snap at his face. I heard the other dogs owner say "Why did you do that?!" talking to her dog. After the trainer was done talking, I said "Im so sorry, i dont' know what happened" and she said "Oh, no dont' worry about it at all" and we proceeded with the rest of the class to do the training. I was talking to John on the way home and he didn't see Ninja snap at the other dog. He said that the other owner thought that her dog lunged out towards Ninja and thats why Ninja snapped. Im not really sure what happened, it happened so fast. They never had a problem with eachother for the past 6 weeks. AHhhh!!! Im frustrated. Am i overreacting?
Romi, that would scare the crap out of any of my dogs... except maybe Kona, he is a little tough guy. That reaction does seem a bit over the top tho - but he is a fearful dog so he would react in a more fearful way.
I don't think it is unfair or cold to say that if you're really truly that concerned about your dogs behavior, trying to diagnose and solve this problem over the internet with people who cannot see the dog's responses and (no offense) may be getting a skewed perception of biting vs. mouthiness, aggression vs arousal is not going to work best for you and your dog.
Look in your area for an animal behaviorist and get a coach to help you through this sooner rather than later.
I've been looking online for behaviorists as well as the yellowpages, asking the trainers at the local pet stores and asking my vets. None of them are familiar with any behaviorists that are reputable within the Orange County area. They know of some out of state, but no one local. I may have to do a phone session, but I don't know how much help that will be because they won't be able to see Ninja's reactions first hand like you said. So im doing my best with getting any information anywhere I can, especially this forum. Everyone has their own experience, what worked, what didn't. It helps that I can seperate what people have tried and succeeded with and what did not help. I have read 2 of Patricia McConnell's books, "Cautious Canine" and "I'll Be Home Soon" (which i recommended to Brad for Kona's separation anxiety to Jen). I've been searching online for information, watching cesar milan shows, anything i can get my hands on.
Kelly is actually going to send me a treatment plan from a doctor of behavioral medicine that she got for Kohji and she sent me over a website link with a lot of good information. It seems that Ninja and Kohji have some things in common so she's been through everything that im going through and has been a great help.
Don't get me wrong, I totally understand what you are saying. But I feel stuck. Since there is no one in my area with behavioral knowledge that can actually come out to meet with us. I have great trust and respect for a good amount of members on this forum. So I come here for advice and any information any of the other members can give me. Afterall, that is the whole reason for the forum, to get better information and learn more about the breeds first hand from owners themselves. And I don't know if I want to spend 100-200 for a 30 minute phone call from someone I don't even get to meet to see if they can help me with Ninjas problems.
barbara - i looked up the animal behavior college link and it looks like everyone in the la/oc counties are basic obedience trainers. sit/stay/roll over sorta thing. i didn't see anyone advertising anything above basic. not saying they might not do it but no ones advertising.
Romi, can you try to get some of the behavior on video? Its certainly no substitute for finding a behaviorist and getting Ninja (and yourself) evaluated by a professional, but it could help us try to differentiate some of his behaviors.
Romi, I have a contact in ATL that is a very good behaviorist that has worked with us with Maui's issues - I will see if she knows anyone in LA / OC area.
Thanks for the help guys. Any information would be GREATLY appreciated. I will try to get his human interaction on video. It might be a little hard to get the dog interaction on tape since I don't know when we will see another dog. Well actually next week is graduation from Obedience Class, so ill see if i can get any footage there. Im having a really hard time with youtube these days. (brad knows what im talking about) but it takes like over 30-45 minutes to upload a 3 minute video...I've been checking Cesar Milan's webiste, but it says that he is doing the work in the Los Angeles, CA and Portland, OR area's at this time. Im orange county....about 30 minutes south of LA..I don't know if that's close enough to him. But great suggesstion Dave, I will definately try to get some footage so you guys can get a better idea.
I have a terrific behaviorist that I use for Tenji. We started when Tenji was 6 months old and we still use her. She is in Escondido. We had to leave him there for two weeks (boot camp) when he was 6 months and again for two weeks when he was ten months. She breeds and trains Rottweilers. If you want to know more you can e-mail me at ddowdemers@sbcglobal.net.
OH wow thanks! I forgot you're from San Diego, I keep thinking its just me, corina and Rina from Cali. i'll email you. Thanks!!! Escondido is about 1 hour from us, but it will be worth the drive.
Here is a video of Ninja being a bully to Portia and stealing her toy. It seems as though they are playing, but he gets very possessive of things once he takes it away from her.
Poor Portia! I'm no expert, but that was Ninja just being dominant. He came over and grabbed the toy. He didn't pull or shake, he just waited until Portia let go. Then, once he had it, he was lettering her know it was his and she should respect that.
I don't plan to allow that kind of behavior once Joey is here, but I don't necessarily see it as bad provided he doesn't direct that dominance toward you. If that had been in my home, I would have claimed the toy from Ninja and given it back to Portia. Usually, if Lucy wants a toy that another dog has, she'll wait close by until there is an opening to grab it when they aren't paying attention. I've never seen her claim a toy from another dog.
They're both cute though! Does Ninja lick a lot? I noticed him trying to lick your hand. Lucy's favorite activity right now is to lay down on the top of the couch so she can lick my bald spot. Its pretty distracting.
The Association of Pet Dog Tainers (APDT) has a search function for trainers in your area that might be able to give you more information that you're looking for. Some obedience schools will have at least one behaviorist on staff or can at least help refer you to someone who does that kind of work.
Dave - Portia is super submissive, so i think Ninja takes advantage of that. He only licks me for attention. Like when he's sitting pretty and we don't pet him, he starts licking us, kind of like "hellloo people! im sitting here...PET ME!!" Thats hilarious that Lucy licks your bald spot hahaha! I would image it'd be quite distracting! You should try to get a video of it...I would love to see it haha!
Sarah - Thanks for the link, I actually found that site a couple weeks ago and tried to contact 2 of the behaviorist available around my area, but no response. i emailed, I left messages, I dont know why they won't call me back. I also found the IACP website today and emailed a few of those behaviorists also. I didn't think it would be so hard to get in contact with them. Dorothy actually forwarded her behaviorists information to me, so ill most likely go with her. She's about an hour or so away from me, but she did a great job wih Tenji, so hopefully she will be able to help me out.
How would Ninja react if you took the toy away? Do you think he would try to hurt you? As Dave pointed out, that could be the very fine line of being aggressive vs. dominant.
Mika is super dominant. You can see in the Talking video I posted today the SHE is mounting HIM, which she does often. He occasionally mounts her, but it's usually Mika who's 'on top'. However, I can pull a toy, a bone, anything out of her mouth with no reaction. She does take Keigo's toys away, so we always get two of the same toy. However, she has let him take her toy away without much incident.
Has Ninja ever bitten Portia for trying to take his toy? Is the licking constant and obsessive? Does he get fixated on things and if so, can you snap him out of it? How old is Ninja? Sorry for all the questions, but Ninja seems very familiar to me (cuz of Mikabear). There are differences, Mika has only growled at certain dogs, she's never bitten a human, she's human friendly. But the rest is very familiar. I struggled with the dominant/aggressive difference myself.
I settled on aggressive, until we went to an Akita picnic for the Akita Rescue of West New York, where we got Keigo. Mika was AWESOME. The Akita experts there said she doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body. The next year, was a bit different. But I noticed the dogs were less settled last year. Many more aggressive dogs - some in cages (why bother going to the picnic), More barking. One dog bit his owner. The experts chalked it up to Mika being super sensitive to dogs attitudes.
Barbara - He isn't aggressive towards me at all. There have been a ton of times where he takes the toy away from Portia and then Portia trying to get it back, and she starts barking, sometimes late at night, So i take the toy/bone/sock/whatever away. It seems anytime I approach him when he's being a bully to Portia or in a dominant state, he immediately becomes submissive to me. His ears go back and his body relaxes. So i've never had a problem with him nipping or mouthing to me before. Portia on the other hand likes to test me...A LOT. She hasn't bit me but she gets mouthy with me.
I feel that in public though, he isn't as focused on me when I correct him as he is when we're at home. I think he thinks that I am HIS.
Amazingly, Ninja and Portia have not gotten into a scruffle. They play and play but it never got to the point where one of them bit eachother. They play bite and run around, go for eachothers legs, necks, ears, but nothing serious. (According to Brad, my doggies play very nice with eachother)
Ninja isn't obsessive with the licking, usually if I ignore him for a few seconds, he stops and goes lay down or plays with Portia or starts chewing on a bone.
Ninja will be 7 months old on the 13th of this month. We share the same birthday - (i took that as a sign that we were meant for eachother )
I think Mika and Ninja are very much alike. It's great he's not aggressive to you, but Mika did the whole submissive thing to me whenever she did something bad. Which made me think she was 'playing' me. I could be wrong, but when I think about dogs who learn that showing teeth, growling, etc can keep people away. Mika, showed submission to keep me from being mad at her. LOL.
In public, Mika isn't focused on me either. She won't respond to most of my commands, so I keep her away from other dogs. I occasionally let her sniff. But not too often. Most dogs get scared because Keigo makes such a ruckus.
I think a behaviorist is a good idea, but I would wait a few weeks til his hormones equalize. The good thing is that Ninja is so young. He'll mellow out a bit in a few years, and with a behaviorist to help, I think his aggression is definitely workable/fixable.
PS, I'm watching Ghandi and there's a scene with tons of shooting. Mika ran off, like I lit a fire under her butt. It made me think of Ninja and the fence. LMAO.
HAHAHAHA! Poor Mika! Yeah i've never seen Ninja act like that, it kind of freaked me out and I was a bit nervous, so i kind of just ignored him under my desk until I calmed down and then I approached him. Im probably going to give her a call to just let her know whats up and see what she thinks the best thing to do is.
Im not sure if Ninja cares if Im mad at him or not, I just think when he see's me approaching he automatically thinks he's going to be pet. I have never had a dog who is more willing to be pet and cuddled rather than playing. Like when he's playing with Portia, he just stops out of nowhere and looks at me waiting for it. lol. Its kind of funny, but it also makes me wonder...But whatever, we'll see how the next few months go. Thanks for the info!
Our dogs steal things from each other all the time, I mean that is pretty normal M.O. for Japanese dogs (imo).
As Barbara pointed out, it's when they become possessive from their humans that I would really consider it an issue. A "normal" dog should know how to handle a bone being stolen from them and either take it back (challenge) or allow it to happen out of a natural "pecking" order. In this video I see that happening - Ninja takes the bone away from Portia, Portia gets pissed and throws a fit but can't take it back because Ninja is dominant over that particular item.
Honestly, I would allow those type of interaction to happen. It is through those interaction that dogs learn the rules of the pack. If you step in and alter the outcome of an event like that you end up confusing the situation for them and create a less-stable pack. I would only step in if the situation escalated to the point that you feel there will be a fight.
that video is hilarious! Portia is pretty distraught about him taking that toy from her. Like Brad mentioned that is normal for dogs to be possesive over toys and what not, and if that happened in my household I would have just let the one dog take the toy and stay out of it, UNLESS there was a fight over it, then I would jump in. My dogs do that stuff all day long, one has a toy and gets up and walks away from it, the other vultures their way in and swoops it, then drops it and walks away from it when they realize the other dog sees them take their toy. My pack is pretty set with their own rules for toys and beds. For instance if Kohji is chewing on a bone in the corner, all News has to do if he really wants that bone is stand up and look at Kohji, 90% of the time Kohji will see that look, stand up and walk away from it for News to take.
With Ninja, whenever he comes up to you to be pet, you should shoo him away, then maybe 15 seconds later call him to you to be pet. That should always be on your terms, not "I want to be pet now mom, here look mom pet me pet me!!" I just learned that in obedience class and never really thought about it that much before.
YEah I usually never interfere unless its late at night and Portia is barking for it. Then I just take the toy away so she shuts up. Portia won't even eat her food at the same time as Ninja, she'll wait until he's done and wait to eat after him, but he always eats first. I don't know why because, he doesn't show aggression or anything towards her if she is eating next to him. weird.
Hmmm...yeah that makes really good sense. I never thought about that. Thats something new I need tp teach myself. Im so used to just petting him for just being there. I do it a lot...wow, i need to stop hahaha. Thanks for that piece of info Kelly!
btw, i have a video of ninja with my roommate, but i don't know how long it will take to upload, the other pic of ninja being a bully took 2 hours...
Ok, I got a little footage of Ninja with my roommate. Keep in mind, Randolph (my roommate) has been living with me since Sept. 2006 and Ninja acts this way to him EVERY time he see's him. I kind of caught it at the end because I was scrambling to get my camera. But I guess its improvment that he'll stay in the same room with a stranger and he doesn't run away and hide anymore. But now he barks and growls alot at them and paces back and forth. And Portia is just doing the kidney bean dance the whole time probably wondering why the hell Ninja does this everytime he see's someone.
Comments
Brandon - I have read 3 of her books. Thats where I got the information about treating him from a far. But as I said in my other post, the problem is that he won't let anyone touch him. And I don't want to risk the hands of strangers or friends attempting the techniques she suggested.
I really don't let them become episodes. This was the first time that he actually reacted to something. Usually he growls and runs away and hides. But this time he was barking and then he bit. Whenever we're in public, and theres other dogs, I let them sniff, but whenever i feel him growl or there's tension, I immediately move away. I am trying to find a behaviorist, but no luck so far. He was neutered 2 weeks ago. People have been telling me here that his hormones will be raging like a teenager, but this behavior started way before he got neutered and after the neuter, it just seems to get worse.
I don't think dogs can rationalize a sound. Some dogs think, 'I heard a noise, but it didn't hurt me. So I'm OK'. Other's like Ninja think 'Holy Sh*t. Sounds like armageddon (because in my world, of course my dogs have perfect diction), let's get the heck outta here!'.
For Mika, certain noises are terrifying. It started when she was about 2 months old. An idiot started his Harley when Mika was a two fee away. Ahole! He couldn't wait two seconds for us to walk away. Since then, firecrackers, the intro to certain movies, thunder, trains, anything can really set her off and running. Fourth of July is fun. In small cities, firecrackers are set off for the week before and after the holiday. Yay. We can't go anywhere.
Keigo, follows Mika in her hunt for the safest, darkest place. When she finds it, he looks at her like 'Is that the end of the game? BORING'.
Just got home from Obedience Class....Another incident happened. Ninja snapped at a dog. This is a 3 year old Bernese Mountain Dog. They were sniffing eachother, after like 30 seconds, I felt Ninja growl through the leash so I walked him away and redirected his attention to a sit. After that the trainer was speaking and im not sure what happened, it happened pretty quick, but the Bernese Mountain Dog got close and Ninja tried to snap at his face. I heard the other dogs owner say "Why did you do that?!" talking to her dog. After the trainer was done talking, I said "Im so sorry, i dont' know what happened" and she said "Oh, no dont' worry about it at all" and we proceeded with the rest of the class to do the training. I was talking to John on the way home and he didn't see Ninja snap at the other dog. He said that the other owner thought that her dog lunged out towards Ninja and thats why Ninja snapped. Im not really sure what happened, it happened so fast. They never had a problem with eachother for the past 6 weeks. AHhhh!!! Im frustrated. Am i overreacting?
I don't think it is unfair or cold to say that if you're really truly that concerned about your dogs behavior, trying to diagnose and solve this problem over the internet with people who cannot see the dog's responses and (no offense) may be getting a skewed perception of biting vs. mouthiness, aggression vs arousal is not going to work best for you and your dog.
Look in your area for an animal behaviorist and get a coach to help you through this sooner rather than later.
-Sarah
I've been looking online for behaviorists as well as the yellowpages, asking the trainers at the local pet stores and asking my vets. None of them are familiar with any behaviorists that are reputable within the Orange County area. They know of some out of state, but no one local. I may have to do a phone session, but I don't know how much help that will be because they won't be able to see Ninja's reactions first hand like you said. So im doing my best with getting any information anywhere I can, especially this forum. Everyone has their own experience, what worked, what didn't. It helps that I can seperate what people have tried and succeeded with and what did not help. I have read 2 of Patricia McConnell's books, "Cautious Canine" and "I'll Be Home Soon" (which i recommended to Brad for Kona's separation anxiety to Jen). I've been searching online for information, watching cesar milan shows, anything i can get my hands on.
Kelly is actually going to send me a treatment plan from a doctor of behavioral medicine that she got for Kohji and she sent me over a website link with a lot of good information. It seems that Ninja and Kohji have some things in common so she's been through everything that im going through and has been a great help.
Don't get me wrong, I totally understand what you are saying. But I feel stuck. Since there is no one in my area with behavioral knowledge that can actually come out to meet with us. I have great trust and respect for a good amount of members on this forum. So I come here for advice and any information any of the other members can give me. Afterall, that is the whole reason for the forum, to get better information and learn more about the breeds first hand from owners themselves. And I don't know if I want to spend 100-200 for a 30 minute phone call from someone I don't even get to meet to see if they can help me with Ninjas problems.
I'm sorry, Romi. I know exactly how you feel. It's really difficult finding a behaviorist. Even in NYC.
Have you tried the Animal Behavior College ? They have a list of behaviorists. Also, what about trying to get on the Dog Whisperer?
Romi, I have a contact in ATL that is a very good behaviorist that has worked with us with Maui's issues - I will see if she knows anyone in LA / OC area.
Thanks for the help guys. Any information would be GREATLY appreciated. I will try to get his human interaction on video. It might be a little hard to get the dog interaction on tape since I don't know when we will see another dog. Well actually next week is graduation from Obedience Class, so ill see if i can get any footage there. Im having a really hard time with youtube these days. (brad knows what im talking about) but it takes like over 30-45 minutes to upload a 3 minute video...I've been checking Cesar Milan's webiste, but it says that he is doing the work in the Los Angeles, CA and Portland, OR area's at this time. Im orange county....about 30 minutes south of LA..I don't know if that's close enough to him. But great suggesstion Dave, I will definately try to get some footage so you guys can get a better idea.
I have a terrific behaviorist that I use for Tenji. We started when Tenji was 6 months old and we still use her. She is in Escondido. We had to leave him there for two weeks (boot camp) when he was 6 months and again for two weeks when he was ten months. She breeds and trains Rottweilers. If you want to know more you can e-mail me at ddowdemers@sbcglobal.net.
Here is a video of Ninja being a bully to Portia and stealing her toy. It seems as though they are playing, but he gets very possessive of things once he takes it away from her.
Poor Portia! I'm no expert, but that was Ninja just being dominant. He came over and grabbed the toy. He didn't pull or shake, he just waited until Portia let go. Then, once he had it, he was lettering her know it was his and she should respect that.
I don't plan to allow that kind of behavior once Joey is here, but I don't necessarily see it as bad provided he doesn't direct that dominance toward you. If that had been in my home, I would have claimed the toy from Ninja and given it back to Portia. Usually, if Lucy wants a toy that another dog has, she'll wait close by until there is an opening to grab it when they aren't paying attention. I've never seen her claim a toy from another dog.
They're both cute though! Does Ninja lick a lot? I noticed him trying to lick your hand. Lucy's favorite activity right now is to lay down on the top of the couch so she can lick my bald spot. Its pretty distracting.
The Association of Pet Dog Tainers (APDT) has a search function for trainers in your area that might be able to give you more information that you're looking for. Some obedience schools will have at least one behaviorist on staff or can at least help refer you to someone who does that kind of work.
I did a quick search for one of the Orange County zip codes I could find and got these results: http://www.apdt.com/po/ts/us/results.aspx?zip=92840&dist=10&cert=0
The link may not work, so here is the direct link to the sear engine at the site: http://www.apdt.com/po/ts/default.aspx
Good luck with Ninja!
-Sarah
Dave - Portia is super submissive, so i think Ninja takes advantage of that. He only licks me for attention. Like when he's sitting pretty and we don't pet him, he starts licking us, kind of like "hellloo people! im sitting here...PET ME!!" Thats hilarious that Lucy licks your bald spot hahaha! I would image it'd be quite distracting! You should try to get a video of it...I would love to see it haha!
Sarah - Thanks for the link, I actually found that site a couple weeks ago and tried to contact 2 of the behaviorist available around my area, but no response. i emailed, I left messages, I dont know why they won't call me back. I also found the IACP website today and emailed a few of those behaviorists also. I didn't think it would be so hard to get in contact with them. Dorothy actually forwarded her behaviorists information to me, so ill most likely go with her. She's about an hour or so away from me, but she did a great job wih Tenji, so hopefully she will be able to help me out.
Hi Romi.
How would Ninja react if you took the toy away? Do you think he would try to hurt you? As Dave pointed out, that could be the very fine line of being aggressive vs. dominant.
Mika is super dominant. You can see in the Talking video I posted today the SHE is mounting HIM, which she does often. He occasionally mounts her, but it's usually Mika who's 'on top'. However, I can pull a toy, a bone, anything out of her mouth with no reaction. She does take Keigo's toys away, so we always get two of the same toy. However, she has let him take her toy away without much incident.
Has Ninja ever bitten Portia for trying to take his toy? Is the licking constant and obsessive? Does he get fixated on things and if so, can you snap him out of it? How old is Ninja? Sorry for all the questions, but Ninja seems very familiar to me (cuz of Mikabear). There are differences, Mika has only growled at certain dogs, she's never bitten a human, she's human friendly. But the rest is very familiar. I struggled with the dominant/aggressive difference myself.
I settled on aggressive, until we went to an Akita picnic for the Akita Rescue of West New York, where we got Keigo. Mika was AWESOME. The Akita experts there said she doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body. The next year, was a bit different. But I noticed the dogs were less settled last year. Many more aggressive dogs - some in cages (why bother going to the picnic), More barking. One dog bit his owner. The experts chalked it up to Mika being super sensitive to dogs attitudes.
Barbara - He isn't aggressive towards me at all. There have been a ton of times where he takes the toy away from Portia and then Portia trying to get it back, and she starts barking, sometimes late at night, So i take the toy/bone/sock/whatever away. It seems anytime I approach him when he's being a bully to Portia or in a dominant state, he immediately becomes submissive to me. His ears go back and his body relaxes. So i've never had a problem with him nipping or mouthing to me before. Portia on the other hand likes to test me...A LOT. She hasn't bit me but she gets mouthy with me.
I feel that in public though, he isn't as focused on me when I correct him as he is when we're at home. I think he thinks that I am HIS.
Amazingly, Ninja and Portia have not gotten into a scruffle. They play and play but it never got to the point where one of them bit eachother. They play bite and run around, go for eachothers legs, necks, ears, but nothing serious. (According to Brad, my doggies play very nice with eachother)
Ninja isn't obsessive with the licking, usually if I ignore him for a few seconds, he stops and goes lay down or plays with Portia or starts chewing on a bone.
Ninja will be 7 months old on the 13th of this month. We share the same birthday - (i took that as a sign that we were meant for eachother
I think Mika and Ninja are very much alike. It's great he's not aggressive to you, but Mika did the whole submissive thing to me whenever she did something bad. Which made me think she was 'playing' me. I could be wrong, but when I think about dogs who learn that showing teeth, growling, etc can keep people away. Mika, showed submission to keep me from being mad at her. LOL.
In public, Mika isn't focused on me either. She won't respond to most of my commands, so I keep her away from other dogs. I occasionally let her sniff. But not too often. Most dogs get scared because Keigo makes such a ruckus.
I think a behaviorist is a good idea, but I would wait a few weeks til his hormones equalize. The good thing is that Ninja is so young. He'll mellow out a bit in a few years, and with a behaviorist to help, I think his aggression is definitely workable/fixable.
PS, I'm watching Ghandi and there's a scene with tons of shooting. Mika ran off, like I lit a fire under her butt. It made me think of Ninja and the fence. LMAO.
HAHAHAHA! Poor Mika! Yeah i've never seen Ninja act like that, it kind of freaked me out and I was a bit nervous, so i kind of just ignored him under my desk until I calmed down and then I approached him. Im probably going to give her a call to just let her know whats up and see what she thinks the best thing to do is.
Im not sure if Ninja cares if Im mad at him or not, I just think when he see's me approaching he automatically thinks he's going to be pet. I have never had a dog who is more willing to be pet and cuddled rather than playing. Like when he's playing with Portia, he just stops out of nowhere and looks at me waiting for it. lol. Its kind of funny, but it also makes me wonder...But whatever, we'll see how the next few months go. Thanks for the info!
That's so cute!!! It's good he doesn't try to take advantage of you, like Mika does. Let us know how it goes.
Awe, Mika and Ninja are twin souls. Kewl.
Our dogs steal things from each other all the time, I mean that is pretty normal M.O. for Japanese dogs (imo).
As Barbara pointed out, it's when they become possessive from their humans that I would really consider it an issue. A "normal" dog should know how to handle a bone being stolen from them and either take it back (challenge) or allow it to happen out of a natural "pecking" order. In this video I see that happening - Ninja takes the bone away from Portia, Portia gets pissed and throws a fit but can't take it back because Ninja is dominant over that particular item.
Honestly, I would allow those type of interaction to happen. It is through those interaction that dogs learn the rules of the pack. If you step in and alter the outcome of an event like that you end up confusing the situation for them and create a less-stable pack. I would only step in if the situation escalated to the point that you feel there will be a fight.
That's my opinion of that video anyway.
that video is hilarious! Portia is pretty distraught about him taking that toy from her. Like Brad mentioned that is normal for dogs to be possesive over toys and what not, and if that happened in my household I would have just let the one dog take the toy and stay out of it, UNLESS there was a fight over it, then I would jump in. My dogs do that stuff all day long, one has a toy and gets up and walks away from it, the other vultures their way in and swoops it, then drops it and walks away from it when they realize the other dog sees them take their toy. My pack is pretty set with their own rules for toys and beds. For instance if Kohji is chewing on a bone in the corner, all News has to do if he really wants that bone is stand up and look at Kohji, 90% of the time Kohji will see that look, stand up and walk away from it for News to take.
With Ninja, whenever he comes up to you to be pet, you should shoo him away, then maybe 15 seconds later call him to you to be pet. That should always be on your terms, not "I want to be pet now mom, here look mom pet me pet me!!" I just learned that in obedience class and never really thought about it that much before.
YEah I usually never interfere unless its late at night and Portia is barking for it. Then I just take the toy away so she shuts up. Portia won't even eat her food at the same time as Ninja, she'll wait until he's done and wait to eat after him, but he always eats first. I don't know why because, he doesn't show aggression or anything towards her if she is eating next to him. weird.
Hmmm...yeah that makes really good sense. I never thought about that. Thats something new I need tp teach myself. Im so used to just petting him for just being there. I do it a lot...wow, i need to stop hahaha. Thanks for that piece of info Kelly!
btw, i have a video of ninja with my roommate, but i don't know how long it will take to upload, the other pic of ninja being a bully took 2 hours...
Ok, I got a little footage of Ninja with my roommate. Keep in mind, Randolph (my roommate) has been living with me since Sept. 2006 and Ninja acts this way to him EVERY time he see's him. I kind of caught it at the end because I was scrambling to get my camera. But I guess its improvment that he'll stay in the same room with a stranger and he doesn't run away and hide anymore. But now he barks and growls alot at them and paces back and forth. And Portia is just doing the kidney bean dance the whole time probably wondering why the hell Ninja does this everytime he see's someone.