It all part of being a pack. When a dog is allowed to do certain things, it 
makes him/her as they are pack animals, feel in charge. If they feel in 
charge, they may question authority in other things. I am not so sure every 
little instance in the book is totally necessary, but some of those things, 
especially leading on the leash is not really a good idea to allow the dog to 
do.

I won't go into it now, My time is short, but will in a day or so. I think I 
spoke of my Newfie to you before, Cindy. Your post reminded me of something I 
had almost forgot. For I mostly remember his gentle and noble ways as that is 
what he was throughout his adult life. However He did grow to be a non fat 
185 pounds. When he was a pup, needless to say, he still was big. He had a 
nipping problem. He would nip, nip, nip.. and with a mouth that big, he could 
get a good piece of hand. This got way out of hand. He had a good breeder who 
was an animal behaviorist. She made me bring him to obedience school at 12 
weeks. That did not help, we worked and worked with him ( BTW all her pups 
had to go to school right away or no puppy. ) Vaders fun was to play with his 
littermates once a week. The schooling? Well that went to the dogs. 8)

I am already running too long, but he had a littermate who also showed signs 
of Dominance. He would actually attack his owner at meal time and they would 
have to throw Warm water on the dog to get his attention. Sue(the breeder)
told me at the school, to take Vader home and every night lay him down and 
keep him down for 30 minutes. Well Vaders 30 minute downs turned into 
Championship Wrestling. He was only about 100lbs then, but I actually had to 
lay across him to keep him down and was not all that successful. But that was 
the only way to teach him who was dominant. Well, it got to the point where 
she had me actually punching my dog in the mouth. She said under no 
circumstances can I allow him to nip, even playfully. I'd hit him as if I 
were hitting a person. He would not stop. I was told to try all these other 
dominant things, like in the book. No good. Finally she said, bring him to 
the house. He will be staying a week. I thought, she was going to do what I 
had done. Nope! He spent one week with a Male Adult Newfoundland and the 
male, in his own natural way, taught Vader he was not the leader of the Pack, 
and we had no trouble with that dog at all after he came home. Somehow these 
two littermates had something in their disposition which made them think they 
were the dominant one. But a Week with Uncle Pirate, and they were Pups again. 
Knowing who was boss even after they came home. Pirate wasn't viscious or 
anything, he was just a large Male, who when put with the two pups, let them 
know who was boss.  We knew we had a problem with Vader when I took him out 
to my brothers, who had a huge mastiff. I did not know this and My brother 
was telling me to keep the pup away from the mastiff as this dog doesn't like 
puppies and had gone after every dog in the neighborhood. No sooner was he 
telling me this ( they had an L shaped porch ) when from around the corner I 
hear a dog yelp. I thought Oh No, Vader's Mince meat. We both jumped up and 
ran around the corner and there was this Mastiff on it's back with Vader 
standing over him. I knew then, if he was going to tame a dog that size, we 
were in for trouble. I am glad we took him out there for a week. Best thing I 
ever did for that dog.

Have a good One!
Mike

... IBM stands for Inferior But Marketable.

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