Getting a new dog is a very good way of discovering that you know absolutely nothing about dogs or training. NOTHING that worked for Oreo is working for Zeeke. You couldn’t find two dogs more dissimilar in attitude. Oreo is shy and quiet and lazy. Zeeke is dominant and stubborn and hyper. Oreo needs just a verbal reprimand; Zeeke snaps back when you try to grab him.

He’s really just pissed me off today. Snapped at me twice. I want to show people that I’ll do a good job with him, but every time I take a step forward it’s several steps back. I constantly have the feeling that I know absoultely nothing and I’m just grasping at straws here. I just can’t get him to mind me! I canNOT use physical force, he’s 86lbs - if he decides he wants to push his way through a situation, well, I’m going to get hurt. He’s too damn smart to trick into anything: I started training him “leave it”, which basically means back the hell away from my food. Well he does that until he gets the treat. And then he walks right back up to it, and is quite happy to because he knows he’ll get told to back off and get another treat. It’s quite something to realize you’re being manipulated by a dog. Finally I tied him to the couch leg (something he can’t pull over, it’s a HEAVY couch, thank god) and let him throw a fit at being restrained. The first time I let him off the leash he made a beeline for the table where my food was. I marched over and put him back on the leash on the other side of the room. Let him sit there and wait and calm down. Second time I let him off the leash, he made a beeline for my food. I put him back on it, and this time just left him there for a while (prolly around 10 minutes). Third time I let him off the leash he started running and then veered off, like he suddenly realized that maybe goign back to the table wasn’t a great idea. SO maybe I have a method here.

I will be getting: bitter apple to soak the leashes in (and anything else he just LOVES to chew), and a spray bottle to squirt him when he’s being a little dick, like when he decided our bed was where he was going to stay, and I could go to hell. (He attempted to bite me when I tried pulling him off after he refused to move).

I am really hoping he learns to mind. Right now this is NOT a dog I’d ever have around children. This makes me nervous.