posted 02-23-2004 10:04 AM         

His dog is a bit of a biter. Whenever I go over to his place, I am constantly under attack with playful little ankle bites. When my friend had had enough, he grabbed the dog and gave it a little bite on the nose/mouth. Is that some sort of technique that establishes your dominance or something?

One other time he had the dog over at my place. I have an older medium size dog that became the bulldog's new play toy. Hours went by and the bulldog was still trying to play with my uninterested dog. When my friend wanted to put a stop to it, he grabbed the bulldog and kneeled on it's side. It looked like he was putting his full weight into it. It looked like the dog was struggling a bit for air (but then again, bulldogs always look like they're strugling for air), and after about 5 minutes he let up and the dog had settled down quite a bit.

posted 02-23-2004 11:44 AM         

Sometimes a wolf will close his mouth lightly over the muzzle of another wolf or cub as a form of discipline. This is probably what you friend is doing.

The other technique sounds like a variant of the alpha roll - unnecessary at best and dangerous at worst.

These sorts of techniques are pretty prevalent, unfortunately.

Tell him to get one of Ian Dunbar's puppy books, and/or Pat Miller's "The Power of Positive Dog Training." I wish I had either of these when we first got our puppy.

posted 02-23-2004 12:25 PM         

I wouldn't discipline any dog like that.