what constitutes good socialization for a old english mastiff, how much, where ,when,how etc. can you train a mastiff to keep his paws down instead of knocking people over
There is an old saying 'you dont do yourself any favours by not training your dog properly'. I am familiar with this breed of dog and know just how big they are ! I also know that they respond well to patient training, so I suggest you and he/she go to a trainer and get that 'knocking people over' habit worked out. These dogs, as you may know if you researched before buying this breed, were used as guard dogs and probably still retain this traight.
I noticed that you have another question regarding your mastiff being pregnant. Are you breeding or is this just random? My suggestion here, is to visit the vet and find out if your mastiff is pregnant.
One of the best ways to sociaize a dog is obedience training. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position, Letting your dog know you are the boss
Consistently is very important in correcting jumping and other problems. Quickly correcting him each and every time he jumps on somebody is very important. Something bad has to happen each time. People are successful with a number of different things. One of the most gentle is to grab his front paws and hold him up. The traditional knee to the chest or step on his paws work well too. The current trend is away from that in favor or steping backwards and turning away. In each case apply ''Bad dog, its name off!'' in a firm, but not loud voice. Go ahead with it even if he is too quick to add a physical correction.
I would agree that obedience class is a good place to start socilization, or a dog park or anywhere that your dog has the oportunity to be exposed to new situations. Knee to chest is appropriate, turn back and walk away seems to be a submissive behavior.
I just want to emphasize consistency (that labman brought up). If you don't want your dog to do something correct him every time. Don't let it slip by once because then he will try it again and again.
Socialization is very important, but first be sure that you can control your dog properly.
Dogs have a verity of socialization needs. it is very important before a dog is 12 weeks to expose it to as wide of a variety of things as possible, certainly other dog, children strangers, noise, etc., anything you want it to be comfortable with the rest of its life. You must take great care not to expose it to disease carrying dogs. One sniff in the wrong place and you have an expensive and often case of parvo.
The obedience training I mentioned in my first post is great for training a dog to stay on task around other dog and if done right, will help establish your leadership role. if you have a dog park, that can be a great place after about 4-5 months to play with other dogs. At the same time, it will then be safe to walk in public places such as a park and let the dog meet other people. Dogs miss what they have gotten used to. My old, retired dog guide had a great time today at a picnic my service club puts on for the senior citizens every year. She enjoys getting out and being loved on and the seniors relate well to a retired working dog.
As for the step back and turn away when a dog jumps on you, I attended a training seminar last fall. The presenter was a nationally known dog trainer and it was the method she taught us. She had a number of people struggling with their dogs with that issue bring them up. Her demonstrations were very effective. After a couple of times, the dog would just stand there looking confused and not jump again. I have had very good luck with it, but again, every time. Behaviorists talk about the power of intermittent reinforcement. That is exactly what you are doing is you sometimes pet the dog when it jumps up on you.
I know that from day one the real Tuscany went everywhere with my husband and I. Both my vet and the breeder stressed the importance of having him go places with us and exposing him to different situations. He even went to school with me everyday for 6 weeks. Now as he approaches a year old there is very little that phases him. He loves playing with other bigger dogs (his best friend is a 110lb lab), but is gentle when my friend brings her 9 month old over. He licks her hand and sits on the floor and guards her as she plays. While I would never leave him alone in the room with her (just my belief that dogs should never be left unattended with children), I trust him to be gentle and respond to my voice commands.
I firmly believe that Tuscany would not be the dog that he is today if we did not socialize him extensively, attend puppy school (of which he knows those words and gets very excited), and stayed consistent in our demands and rewards for him. I am not saying that we did everything perfectly (what parent does), but I think our work has helped him to become a well adjusted dog. And I guess that is my point...good dogs take work.
labman, most people dont realize how big the mastiff are. I mean this is what, l50 lbs. of well muscled dog and you are saying one way to discourage jumping is to grab the front paws and hold him up. I would really like to see you do that. I do agree, with a normal sized dog, like a lab, this is a really good way to train that bad habit out. But I have owned russian wolfhounds which is a pretty big dog too, and I could never ever in my wildest dreams grab the paws on a dog this huge and hold him up. My Borzoi was heads taller then me full grown. Although the Borzoi are much more laid back then a mastiff and I didnt have that problem.
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