I actually have the same problem with Tank, my 8 week old Great Dane.
He's kind of 'aggressive' and it's hard for my children to even play with him. He gets plenty of exercise with frequent trips outside and we've even begun socialization.
Living in a small town makes it hard to find a puppy trainer or preschool. I'm nervous I'm doing the wrong things. He has several different Kong varieties with the both the biscuits and paste. Several soft chew toys. We rotate them to keep him interested.
Tank is breaking skin; his biting loses it's playfulness when we reprimand him by yelping 'Ow' when his mouthing gets too hard, a bop on the nose and a 'No bite' when he's beginning to get rambunctious with his biting, and then the scruff-grabbing when he's intentionally being too rough. He's usually snarling at this point.
Both my husband and I use very strong voices and body language but he still seems to have a dominance issue, despite most of our play turning into times where he must re-establish we ARE the pack leaders by rolling him onto his back. He DOES cry/whine when we do this and continue to do so until he's calmed, which we encourage by massaging his neck. Once he's calm with licking/kisses, we reward him with a treat.
I'm fully aware he's only 8 weeks old and it takes time and consistency but goodness, he's so stubborn. Is there possibly something I'm not doing that I should be?
What worked for you, especially those of you who had stubborn Danes.
He's kind of 'aggressive' and it's hard for my children to even play with him. He gets plenty of exercise with frequent trips outside and we've even begun socialization.
Living in a small town makes it hard to find a puppy trainer or preschool. I'm nervous I'm doing the wrong things. He has several different Kong varieties with the both the biscuits and paste. Several soft chew toys. We rotate them to keep him interested.
Tank is breaking skin; his biting loses it's playfulness when we reprimand him by yelping 'Ow' when his mouthing gets too hard, a bop on the nose and a 'No bite' when he's beginning to get rambunctious with his biting, and then the scruff-grabbing when he's intentionally being too rough. He's usually snarling at this point.
Both my husband and I use very strong voices and body language but he still seems to have a dominance issue, despite most of our play turning into times where he must re-establish we ARE the pack leaders by rolling him onto his back. He DOES cry/whine when we do this and continue to do so until he's calmed, which we encourage by massaging his neck. Once he's calm with licking/kisses, we reward him with a treat.
I'm fully aware he's only 8 weeks old and it takes time and consistency but goodness, he's so stubborn. Is there possibly something I'm not doing that I should be?
What worked for you, especially those of you who had stubborn Danes.

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