Oliver Hurt Angel Tonight

[Kimberly Baxter Packwood]

Oliver hurt Angel, our 15 year old 12 pound sheltie, again tonight. Hubs said it  was dominance behaviour he tried to mount her after flinging her about the room  which apparently all happened in the bit of a heart beat.  I was doing  laundry so wasn't present. 

I'm at a loss as to what to do when he tries to  dominate her, and it's NOT playing!  I did finally find out from the  previous owners that he's an alpha male to the point that even the husband cowed  to him.  

He's ONLY nine months old and weighs 75-85 pounds already!  Submission techniques are  not working on him he wants to push everyone and everything onto the floor and stand on top of them.

No he's not neutered.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

From what I understand, Kimberly has never had any puppy before, let alone a large sporting breed puppy. I think that's part of it. 

[Kimberly Baxter Packwood]

This is the first dog I've every had that shredded everything in site. 

Karen is correct this is my first time ever with a puppy.

[Kimberly Baxter Packwood]

Only when he's hurting Angel, I would think that that would be a normal human response, no?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Your problems are simple. A lot of work, but the answer here is simple. This is a very young puppy. Treat him like a puppy.
Neuter, Train, Exercise
1. Get him neutered this week.
2. You can ask us all about the jumping, mouthing, rough housing ( I think he is trying to play- not hurt or dominate) but what you need is a basic 8-10 week training course. Training. It's that simple.
3. Exercise. Putting him on a run in your backyard won't work. Play ball with him. Walk him. He needs to run!

You've gotten yourself a big handsome puppy, now you have a lot work to do. Get busy. Have fun

No, it is not just Your Oliver. All our dogs are like this- what you discribe as dominate is a just a puppy.
We all have had to neuter/spay, exercise, and train. We have all worked hard.
I know, if you do these three things, and work hard you will be just fine. There are no magical Internet blogs to fix this.
Understand you have a puppy and you have the responsibility that comes with a big puppy

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree. I read the blogs, and it doesn't sound like he is getting enough exercise. "Short walks" are nowhere near enough, he needs long hikes and a chance to run every day.  I agree that putting him in a run isn't going to work either. 

But the neutering will help, please get that done ASAP. 

[Kimberly Baxter Packwood]

We weren't planning on putting him a run to leave him there, I was planning on sitting in the run and throwing him balls until he tired of fetching balls.  Living in town somewhat limits how far I can let him run at the moment.  Btw the run is 10x30+ feet long, or will be once we are finished setting it up this evening, so it's not a small run.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

My fenced yard is small, but it's still about 70' long and about 25' wide. My guy hits the fence in three paces. No way he can full-out run, we have to go to open fields or parks for that. 

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

Same for me, Karen.  Mine are little doods (a 24 pound mini and a 26 pound medium) and they TRY to run full out in high speed circles in my little southern california tract home back yard, but I have to take them to the dog park, and doodle romps, and for long walks to get them to really burn off their energy. 

[Kimberly Baxter Packwood]

The dog park is five miles from here, so I would definately be burning some calories walking there and back!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

We drive to the parks. After all that running, JD would never be able to walk home. 

However, I'd wait until after Oliver is neutered and has started formal training before taking him to a dog park. 

Sometimes, schoolyards have fenced areas that you can use in the evenings or on weekends when school is not in session. That might be an option. 

[Kimberly Baxter Packwood]

I don't think I'd make it that far yet, I'm still dealing with heart issues and it's enough for me to make it a few blocks.  Hubs walks him much further than I do. 

Btw I was thinking the same thing about neutering him first, then training, and then taking him to a dog park. 

School yards around here are filled with kids even on weekends and many have signs prohibiting dogs from being on the property.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't want to seem judgmental, but I'm really wondering, with knee and heart problems, no experience with puppies, and no fenced yard,  why you chose to have a large, older, sporting breed puppy shipped to you sight unseen?