BentleyMom
New member
We adopted Bentley (hes 2yrs old) last week and from the moment he came home it was apparent he had no prior training other than being housebroken.
We noticed immediately that he felt he could "take over" the house. He made himself comfortable on our couch and though we keep telling him "off" & putting him back on the ground he still immediately tries to jump back up. I know this habit will take time to break. However, when we put him back on the ground he will turn and snap at us. We scold and redirect but as soon as we release him he will turn and try to snap again. When he does this I stand up and firmly tell him it is unacceptable and walk away. Sometimes he will stop, sometimes he follows with the same behavior. My boyfriend was sitting on the couch and Bent was half laying on him while my boyfriend was giviny him lovins, when he suddenly jumped up and snapped at my boyfriends face. My boyfriend told him to stop and pushed him away and Bentley came back and did it twice more, catching my bf on the him the final time, before my bf stood up, scolded and then ignored him. Then the other day my skin 2 yr old was sitting on the floor trying to pull her pants on and Bentley tried to take them from her. When she didn't release them he jumped at her, knocked her back, pinned her and snapped at her. Luckily i was sitting right next to her so i was able to pull him back, but he had caught her cheek and unfortunately broke the skin. My boyfriend immediately took him outside as I tended to my daughter. We were told before we adopted him that he was fine with kids, that his foster had a 4yr old & he did great with that child. I'm thinking this was not completely accurate. Im upset because i feel the rescue wasn't 100% honest about our boy and I don't like seeing my baby hurt when it could've been prevented had we known. I've made some inquiries to reccomended trainers in my area but until I can get him in with someone does anyone have ideas?
My other question is, is there anything I can do to get him used to our cat? We've had our cat for a few years and he was the only animal until we brought Bentley home. The minute Bentley saw our cat her went nuts and chased him. Scared my poor cat and now he won't come downstairs. We've had to put a baby gate up on the stairs to keep Bentley from going up where the cat is. I feel absolutely horrible that my poor cat is "quarantined", so to speak, to the upstairs. They don't have to be best friends, but I want them to at least tolerate & get along to where they can be in the same room without Bentley hading after the cat. Both Bentley & our cat are neutered.
Bentley is fully capable of being the sweetest dog ever, so I want to put every bit of effort into correcting this behavior. I've started going through the different posts but there is SO MUCH!! Any and all advice is appreciated!!
~Adopted by Bentley~
We noticed immediately that he felt he could "take over" the house. He made himself comfortable on our couch and though we keep telling him "off" & putting him back on the ground he still immediately tries to jump back up. I know this habit will take time to break. However, when we put him back on the ground he will turn and snap at us. We scold and redirect but as soon as we release him he will turn and try to snap again. When he does this I stand up and firmly tell him it is unacceptable and walk away. Sometimes he will stop, sometimes he follows with the same behavior. My boyfriend was sitting on the couch and Bent was half laying on him while my boyfriend was giviny him lovins, when he suddenly jumped up and snapped at my boyfriends face. My boyfriend told him to stop and pushed him away and Bentley came back and did it twice more, catching my bf on the him the final time, before my bf stood up, scolded and then ignored him. Then the other day my skin 2 yr old was sitting on the floor trying to pull her pants on and Bentley tried to take them from her. When she didn't release them he jumped at her, knocked her back, pinned her and snapped at her. Luckily i was sitting right next to her so i was able to pull him back, but he had caught her cheek and unfortunately broke the skin. My boyfriend immediately took him outside as I tended to my daughter. We were told before we adopted him that he was fine with kids, that his foster had a 4yr old & he did great with that child. I'm thinking this was not completely accurate. Im upset because i feel the rescue wasn't 100% honest about our boy and I don't like seeing my baby hurt when it could've been prevented had we known. I've made some inquiries to reccomended trainers in my area but until I can get him in with someone does anyone have ideas?
My other question is, is there anything I can do to get him used to our cat? We've had our cat for a few years and he was the only animal until we brought Bentley home. The minute Bentley saw our cat her went nuts and chased him. Scared my poor cat and now he won't come downstairs. We've had to put a baby gate up on the stairs to keep Bentley from going up where the cat is. I feel absolutely horrible that my poor cat is "quarantined", so to speak, to the upstairs. They don't have to be best friends, but I want them to at least tolerate & get along to where they can be in the same room without Bentley hading after the cat. Both Bentley & our cat are neutered.
Bentley is fully capable of being the sweetest dog ever, so I want to put every bit of effort into correcting this behavior. I've started going through the different posts but there is SO MUCH!! Any and all advice is appreciated!!
~Adopted by Bentley~