Pug with bad manners?

Question

A have a 3-4 year old black Pug named Zombie. He was a stray and we adopted him a year ago so we don't know exact age. I love my dog, he's so smart and usually very very good. The only problem I've had/am still having his he's HORRIBLE with food and very jealous. My husband is deployed and I've been staying back in my hometown with family. They also have two Pugs of their own in the house I've been staying in, and Zombie gets very jealous if I even pet one of the others. He'll ram them with his chest or bite at their access skin. I have no clue how to get him to calm his butt down!

My major issue though is the food. I know Pugs in general love their food! I have had him on a strict timed feeding schedule sense I adopted him which worked great. He did love his treats still but after a few times of ignoring him when he begged he stopped doing it. Problem is my mom and other family members don't share these same views. They feed their Pugs 24/7 whenever they want it. If there's a plate on the ground of course Zombie goes for it and eats all of it before the other pugs can get in a bite, when I let him out in the morning the first thing he does is books it into the Kitchen to see if someone left something on the floor. They feed him straight from their plates when I'm not around so he's become very aggressive when it comes to begging. Running circles around you when you're in the kitchen and barking if you don't give him any. He freaks out if he hears something that sounds like a treat bag opening and darts to the kitchen if he hears the pantry door open. This is starting to get VERY annoying. Like I said, I love my dog very much but I've tried to correct this habit (as well as jealousy issues) and nothing is working! Is this just a Pug thing and I have to deal or does anyone have any tips I can use to get him to realize food isn't the sun the world revolves around? We've only been here 3 months and I can already tell he's gaining weight. If he had it his way the rest of us would all starve and he'd eat and eat and eat until he gets really sick or worse. I'm frustrated, usually it doesn't take me this long to get a dog to show some "manners" so I'm starting to think there's nothing that I can do.

Any tips??? I mean other than sending my family to obedience training.

Nickname · Accepted Answer

You can't control your family, but you can (and should) control your dog.  You got used to him being well behaved when you had your own rules and schedule, but now that you have other factors to deal with, you have lost control of him...which means you have to start the whole "pack leader" training from square one.

It will be harder with other dogs in the house, but that makes it even more important that your dog be reminded (constantly) that you are the leader of his pack, not your parents, and certainly not him. If you really can't get your family to stop with all the extra feeding, then you will have to do some pretty intensive training with him so that he only accepts food from you.  

For now...put him on a leash during mealtimes and prevent him from rushing for scraps.  Whoever gets to eat first is a very powerful 'pecking order' signal to dogs so your dog rushing to eat first is his way of saying he's the boss.  That's also what he's saying when he "punishes" the other dogs for receiving attention from you...that he's the boss and you belong to him.  You need to disabuse him of that notion right away.  You might need to keep him leashed (to your belt loop) during the day for several days to be able to correct him instantly whenever he pulls any dominance crap on you or the other dogs.  Once you have re-established who the boss is, you can make him sit while you pet another of the dogs so that he learns it is your choice whom you pet, not his.

If you haven't already taught him the command "leave it", then now is an excellent time to start.  He needs to be trained to never touch something if you tell him to "leave it".  So if he heads for a plate on the floor or a treat from your parents, that command should stop him in his tracks.  Food is a very powerful motivator so that's not going to be easy.  You might try rewarding him with some low calorie and healthy "treat" like a raw carrot stick when he does well.  

Try and get your family to work with you if you can.  Once you have a clear plan of how you want to proceed they may be more inclined to help out, or at least try not to sabotage it, but since you can't count on that (or on the rest of the world doing things your way) then your only sure bet is to train your own dog to obey you first and foremost.
Good luck with it!

luckydog · Answer

Sorry to say,  your dog is NEVER going to learn with the whole family sabotaging every thing you do.  There are a lot of things you might try...as far as training your dog goes...but as long as someone is there to tell him he doesn't need to listen to you, he won't.  Each time your family undermines your rules and your training, they send a message to your dog that they don't respect your views..and if they won't help you during this  time, they are not respecting you.  And your dog will not respect you either.  If you can't get your family on the same page, there is NOTHING to do except separate them or find another living situation.  I have a similar situation with my family, but its more when I go away for a couple of days, not that I am living with them...but yeah, it is so hard to deal with people who are not on the same page as you!  Good luck.

Joan · Answer

Your dog needs obedience training and you need to make his place in the pack clear to him i.e. you are the alpha dog, not him! Is there any way for you to feed the other pugs separately to make sure they are getting enough to eat?

? · Answer

I had a chocolate labrador that literally wouldn't shut up. Since I found http://OnlineDogTraining.enle.info/?Kq0W

She was 4 years old, we had our son and her barking was keeping him up at night. So my grandfather told me take a soda can put some change in it and tape the lid shut (I used duct-tape). Every time she barked I would shake the can and say quiet in a stearn voice. The sound startled her into stop barking then she heard my command. It took about a week and she stopped. You must not allow the dog to bark at all though. If you do then they will do it when they are not supposed to ie, when your not home. As far as for when your not home, I think the only none electrical, spray thing I can think of is a soft mussel. They can drink with the soft mussel on and it doesn't hurt them, they just can't bark or bite. From what I understand it is very hard to get a dog to stop barking at an advanced age. You are trying to stop something that is ingrained in them to do. Now a few questions for you, are the dogs being crate trained? If they are crated trying put a light blanket over the crate, to limit the stimuli around them. Do they have access to windows? What is the reason they are barking? Maybe it is something in there surroundings causing them to bark. Maybe people talking, people walking by, animals outside. If this is the case then maybe try limiting there access to this stimuli. Maybe crating them in a secluded area of the house to limit stimuli. Make it so they cannot see out the window any more. If it is seperation anxiety, take an old t-shirt sleep in for a night and then put it in the dogs crate with him. It will smell like you and help the dog feel more at ease. I did this when I went away to the hospital to have our son. It helped Kaylea alot.These are all thing my grandfather suggested to me for my dog. I tried them all but the crate training as I don't really believe in it. Reducing the stimuli greatly reduced her barking. The only thing that stopped it was the "noise can" I called it

Pug with bad manners?

4 Answers