Yes I am a teenager, it is easy to be misunderstood.

Alpha is nearing two years of age and it is only three months left until his birthday which is in November. I have to say this dog has proven to be a real challenge for me, and he still is. I am glad he wasn't my first dog and that I got the opportunity to get familiar with the breed and dogs in general before he entered my life. I do not exaggerate when I tell you this dog got bottomless energy - nothing is ever done calmly by this fellow. I know a lot of his manor comes down to him being a teenager, but also traits that complicate things from time to time. He needs a lot of time and patience. I absolutely love him, and I haven't shared a bond this strong with an animal since my childhood. Yet, I often struggle to know what strategy to take when his behavior proves difficult for me to go about in the right way. He is big and strong, reactive and easy to set off into building stress. At the same time he is both stubborn (yes for real) and soft as cotton. He was quite fearful and insecure as a puppy. Sensitive I guess.
A couple of weeks ago I felt we hit a wall and I didn't see any way out of what was happening as it been going on for quite a long time. Alpha have been acting rude towards the others, not respecting their signals and been going about guarding space from them. Jumping on them to get them to move, barked at them, raised his tail and neck hairs whenever they approached areas he "controlled". I've gone about it in a way where I intervened, preferably before he reached them, told him to quit it - with his determination this could go on for what felt like forever and he went spiraling into high levels of stress. Me constantly having to pay attention to what he was doing, getting up to hindering him acting like a barrier between him and the others. Just in the beginning of summer I started to notice that Shin did everything he could to avoid Alpha, he looked away, tried to make himself as small as possible, but when they were near each other I could sense the situation were uncomfortably tense - Shin will not back down if it comes to anything confrontational and he's fed up, I know this from experience. So I knew a fight were never far away when the two of them happened in a confrontational situation. Alpha is not a puppy anymore and now got the integrity and self awareness to back himself up. I have a no fight rule here, which they know, they're still dogs however. Shin also began to not answer Alphas play invitation, which is not strange seeing how much trust goes into dogs playing. Shin did and still does not trust Alpha. This in return seemed to tick him off even more into bullying Shin.

On Time-Out.

I said to myself this cant continue, clearly I am doing something wrong and I wish to solve this before it becomes unsolvable and I end up with two dogs who can't stand each other. I turned to a positive reinforcement training group on FB, they focus on up to date approach to dog training and behavioral practice with emphasis on methods, techniques and applications which are scientifically based and ethically balanced. I am very picky with this now a days, I want to teach not punish and suppress. Something I still work on practicing. Old stripes and that shit Cesar Millan I'm afraid. I am ashamed I thought he was someone to listen to regarding how dogs behave and work.

I got a lot of interesting feedback and tips, and the one tip that stuck with me that I felt might work for Alpha is to use a form of 'time-out' tactic. Which means that when I feel he is having difficulties listening to what I am asking of him when he goes after the others in a rude way, I simply remove him completely from the situation. I give him time to calm down and rid himself of the stress, and the other dogs wont have to feel bothered by him or be uncomfortable. I prevent the situation to escalate in other words. The key is to not make a big deal about it. Not say anything, not feel mad or frustrated (if I feel like that I have let it get too far) just calmly lead him somewhere else. In our case I let him stay in the hallway with a gate so he still can see all of us. Sometimes I stay with him just cuddling and do something just him and me to help him shift focus. I have noticed he is starting to calm down very fast now, usually within a minute or two. I can barely believe it to be honest. He feels truly relaxed when coming out from his time-out, something I never achieved with my previous strategy. I've seen a huge change just in a few weeks. What I am seeing is that its easier for him to listen to me from the start. He guard less. He is being a bit less rude, it is a lot less intense, which is amazing! I can already feel Shin being a bit more relaxed around him, but we still have a long way to go in repairing the trust in their relationship. I don't let them play yet, but I do swim them together, walk them together, once the temperature allows it I'll run them together. Trying to only let them have positive experiences with each other.

I also got the advice to focus even more on training him to better control his impulses, challenge him with having to wait before getting to do things that is valuable to him. Slowly teaching him to be more patience and instead of immediately rush in his actions look to me for instructions and guidance. We have started with small and quite simple things, such as waiting for a "okay" before going in or out the door - they still always walk in front of me, go in and out before me etc. I try and remember to let him seek my attention now and then, something he is quite good at since puppy hood - it can be when we are out on a walk, and he is pulling towards a tree for example. I just stops, say nothing, simply stands there and when he gives me eye contact we keep it for a few seconds then move forward. With time I'll give him harder challenges. Start small, make sure he succeeds with what I am asking of him.
Going through this I have came to a realization, I probably need to work with him a lot. Just him and me, outside, teaching him tricks and do more of that classical obedience thingy. Don't get me wrong, Alpha is a well behaved dog with and around people - a bit jumpy perhaps, and intense. He is not a problem with other dogs in general either, no aggression or fear, it is the home situation that haven't been any good. Why it haven't been I put on myself, I am quite sure that I have misunderstood him a lot of times, even if I have understood whats been going on in front of me. Understanding what you see is only one piece of the puzzle, yet a very important one. I think he needs to get to know himself, grow up but also we need to get to know each other - find out how to work as a team. In our case I don't believe we will get there unless we work together more closely with something that's a team challenge for us - dog and human, both equally as important for success. Usually I would say we'd get to know each other through mushing and spending time both indoors and out on walks, but Alpha is a lot of times stuck with himself in his head - forward, forward, forward. What's next, what's next, what's next. That's whats going on in there, and he is hard to reach when in that mindset. Perhaps he will evolve into a superb command dog if we do this, he is already the muscle and the motor, so it would be a wonderful bonus :)