Good afternoon, all.  I hope I can find some help on here with our new little dog.

My husband and I got Petey,  a 4.5 year old rattie about one month ago.  He had been owned by a middle aged man who was having serious health issues and could no longer take care of him.   We heard about Petey thru a friend of a friend.

We were told that since Petey had been raised by a man that he would probably take to my husband more quickly than to me, which was okay.  The opposite happened.  That little dog is my shadow, but I do love on him an awful lot.  Lots of hugs and kisses.  He's a wonderful lap dog, our previous dog (not a rattie) was quite aloof and didn't like lots of attention.  Anyway, the folks that got Petey to us said that he'd probably do better being crated at night and while we're gone to work.  We did try to leave him out of the crate when we left the house for a couple hours and he did make a bit of a mess.  Plants knocked over, peed and pooped in the house, garbage overturned.  So we've been crating him while at work, but he whined so much when we put him in the crate at night that we let him out and he immediately jumped into bed with us and slept right between our heads.  Fine with me, I love a snuggler.

For the past couple weeks, however, he is getting quite upset if he is moved while sleeping in bed with us.  He does tend to crowd us, usually my husband, so he will slide him more towards the middle and Petey starts growling at him.  Just a little bit at first, but last night Petey nipped at my husband which is completely unacceptable.  My husband yelled at him and swatted him in the nose (not sure if this was correct or not?).  How should we handle this?  It seems like Petey is quite protective of me, he doesn't growl at me, but I can't have him biting to keep people away.  He doesn't have a problem with my husband any other times, but the middle of the night growling/biting has to stop.  Any suggestions?

Also, he is so excited when I come home from work that he is jumping all over me and can't get close enough, quick enough.  I need to control this behavior cuz I'm getting all scratched up! 

I'm sure I"ll have other issues that could use advice, this seems to be a great forum for the help!

Thanks,

Pam

I've heard that letting dogs sleep on the bed is bad because it can lead to dominance issues.  Maybe Petey thinks he ranks higher than your husband.  Does your husband ever feed him  or take him on walks?  Maybe that would help Petey accept that your husband is his superior.

As far as the crate goes, there is a ton of information on crate training here.  Perhaps you could adjust feeding times to get his peeing/pooping on a schedule that you can manage.  Also,  when you get home,  you can push him away when he jumps on you.  Put your keys away,  or take time to do something,  and then call Petey over for some lovings.  He'll get the message,  at least mine did.

I'm sure you'll be getting some good advice soon. I don't crate and my dogs are allowed on the bed.

 Good for you for giving Petey a loving home.

Thanks for all the replies.  I did try as Bonita suggested yesterday, just to ignore Petey when I let him out of his crate until he settled down.  That worked remarkably well.  He had settled himself in less that 2 minutes.  I didn't get scratched up at all!

As for the bed thing, my husband does take him on short walks in the yard and he does play with him.  My husband works long hours and isn't able to spend as much time with the dog as he would like.  But I will mention to him that he should maybe take a more active role in playing with and talking to Petey.  I don't really want Petey to have to sleep in his crate at night cuz we've always had our dog sleep with us, but if he starts the growling/nipping thing again, we will have to remove him for a couple days.

He does know basic commands, he can sit, come, stay, etc.  Except when he's really excited, then he doesn't listen very well.  He has to be on a leash when he's outside cuz he just wants to run after the bunnies in our yard.  He won't listen at all when he see a bunny.  That's pretty frustrating, too.  He's choking himself on his leash, but won't stop trying to get to the bunny.

Thanks again for the advice, it's been very helpful!

Pam

I don't know how much I really know with the dominance issue with your dog.  My rattie, Rowdy, growled and snapped at my boyfriend when I first brought him home, but we would quickly push him away and ignore him.  Rowdy now has no problems with James- he loves him (just not as much as he loves me! ) 

My sister had a dog that drowled and snapped at her son when sleeping in the bed with him.  The vet suggested her kids start standing over the dog and growling at it.  It seemed to work.  And the dog is no longer allowed to sleep in the bed.  Rowdy sleeps in our bed, but he is not allowed to sleep between James and I.  He is only allowed to sleep on the other side of me.  Either that or he has to go to his bed (which is also right next to me).  One time he was sleeping by James and when James tried to move him, Rowdy growled.  We simply sent him to his bed, which is on the floor next to my side.  Haven't had any problems since then. 

Well, last night went pretty well.  Petey and I went to bed early, so he was kind of in my husband's spot when he came to bed and Petey gave him another growl.  I woke up and firmly told him "NO!" and when he growled again, I told him "NO!" again.  He stopped at that point.  He usually sleeps up closer to our heads, but after his scolding last night, he went down and slept by our feet.  He does seem to be catching on pretty quickly with the commands, so I have a lot of hope for this little guy.

I did talk to my husband about spending more time with the dog and playing with him more.  He is certainly willing to do that.  I will be going away for the weekend as it turns out, so they will have lots of one on one time together.  Hopefully it will be a positive bonding experience for both of them.

Thanks again,

Pam