Hey All, I am looking for advice anyone has to give about a problem we have been having with our dog.

First off a little history: Lewis is a 6 year old German shorthaired Pointer that I have had since he was 3 months old. I was single when I adopted Lewis and met my husband when he was about 6 months old. He is a very happy, loving, sweet tempered dog, however, he is very highstrung and emotional. He gets upset very easily and hates loud noises.

The problem: About 2 years ago I started having problems with him growling at me when I asked him to go outside or get off the couch/bed. It was very infrequent in the beginning and he almost seemed as surprised by it as I was. He has also growled at my husband in these same situations, however, he is not nearly as defiant with my husband as he is with me. He has gotten worse about it lately, ie. engaging in this activity more frequently and yesterday he barked at me when I asked him to go out. I understand that he must feel that I am not alpha over him, but I am unsure of how to change this. He is a wonderful dog and we really love him, however, I find this behavior very upsetting and disturbing. As a side note, he was diagnosed with epilepsy about 9 months ago after having a grand mal seizure and is on phenylbarbitol. The medication doesn't seem to have any effect either way on this situation, though.

I would appreciate any suggestions, insight, thoughts anyone may have.

Thanks Jeannie

I am sorry to inform you but I have no help to offer.

I want to welcome you to the forum and hope you stick around. there are alot of people here with great advice and suggestions. alot of them even give links. so it makes searching alot easier.

[chevy & karen]

Hi Jeannie, please arm yourself with all the information you can about vaccine's. If you have a regular vet he or she will never admit to it but vaccine's can cause many health problem's, physically and mentally.. I'm not saying this is what is wrong with Lewis I only want to put the information out there.

I have seen first hand what vaccine's can do and live/lived with the damage for 9 year's now.

Here's a good link to read.

Pet Vaccination danger - adverse reaction to routine vaccination

Please keep us updated on how Lewis is doing....
PS. I am not anti allopath, I treat my pup's with allopathy and homeopathy combined.

[AuntieDale]

Hi! I'm certainly no Dog Whisperer, but I do watch the show a lot! I'm curious, have you changed in how you treat and act around him since he was diagnosed with epilepsy? You say that you are not 'alpha' over him, but maybe that's what is needed to solve your problem... My brother's dog has epilepsy and it can be really scary - do you treat him, well, more 'gently' since he was diagnosed? I can understand doing that, but it may not be the best way to treat a dog, especially if he is acting alpha over you.

Just a thought - I watch Cesar Milan all the time, and I've learned a lot from him on how to treat alpha dogs... When you say that your dog is not nearly as defiant with your husband, that makes me think that perhaps your husband is more alpha-ish (ha!) Let us know how it turns out - I know Cesar has a few books out - I've never read them, but I do love his show - perhaps he can help??!!

Good luck!

Jeannie,

Hi. I am not a dog trainer.

I am wondering if you do dog training with your dog? Possibly with clicker??

If so,your dog should know that click means yummy treats coming in and,maybe you can let him connect that getting off from couch or not allowed onto couch equal to click and treats. Just make the training not too long,maybe like 5-10min a day or so but do so daily and repetition makes progress.

If someone in your family allows your dog on couch while you don't,it makes conflict and makes dog confuse.So,try find out what you are trying to do is unified.And,try not to yank your dog off to the floor.Pulling creates resistance and, if your dog is food motivated,you maybe can lure him to floor with treat ( click when your dog off to floor and give treats).

Change would not happen over night and you need to be patient but I think if you were consistent and be patient, behavior can change even though it takes long.

Getting my dog overcome the fear of freezer door,it took her to overcome the fear for 6 months.... she is now not scared,and can stay near.

Good luck,

Thank you all so much for your replies. I have found some information out about establishing yourself as alpha (my husband took a picture of me last night eating out of Lewis' food dish--haha) and so far I think it is working. I think we are on the right track anyway...