I agree with the dominance issue. She needs to show the pup who' s in charge between the two.

The rolled up paper deal is a matter of choice, but the main thing is to be the agressor. You don' t have to be crule to show a dog his place, but a good swat on the nose lets him know you ain' t gonna take it.

You also have to speak the dog' s language. I' m not saying to bark and growl (unless you want to [&:]), but the tone of your voice and body language are what a dog keys in on. My GSP will be submissive to anyone, male or female, who puts their foot down, so to speak.

As far as the newspaper making him gun-shy, well, I guess that depends on the dog' s own personality. If you don' t want to risk it, that' s ok. My GSP is afraid if vaccume cleaners, lawnmowers, and just about any loud machinery, but she' s not gun-shy. And I RARELY use it anymore, but just the sight of a rolled up newspaper sends her to the corner.

NEVER Ever swat pet in face even with newspaper if you care about him ever retrieving to hand and other retrieving problems.IMO some dogs also learn to bite this way.
Your wife needs to establish disipline with him,He will learn quickly.

After reading what you guys/gals are saying, your right, it is always me that puts a stop to the bad behavior. I was telling my wife that there is a difference between being forceful and being abusive. She just can' t let it slide when the behavior happens. I try to not let him get away with squat, in the house or out, and he responds very well. He doesn' t range out on me, always comes to my side, doesn' t retrieve to hand but very close and drops it. He gets amped up when a shotgun goes off. She is gonna get involved in the daily routines, feedings, having the dog see her fill his water bowl. We' ll make sure that it' s her, that stops whatever he' s doing that' s bad. Of course since I posted my question he' s been pretty relaxed. What can I say. Fishface..........

Had to think on this one,as in how/what I do . First of all dogs are wolves and wolves are dogs, therefore I use their language,place your hand over the muzzle so that it wraps around the nose and bottom of the jaw, now squeeze with light to moderate pressure and look right into their eyes while in a rough or gutteral tone saying no or whatever noise you choose.Now, DO NOT look away from the dogs eyes for whatever reason(this is called stareing the dog down and is a DIRECT challenge to the dog),as soon as the dog turns his eyes from you (this may be a slight movement or quite obvious) release your hand and walk away as if nothing happened, after oh say 15 , 20 sec. call the dog to you and and make friends again. In time all you will have to do is stare the dog down when he does something that rubs you the wrong way.

Seadog. I like that. Up close and personal to let them know you' ve had it leaves no doubt. Will give that a shot. Fishface......

seadog elaboratd on what I was trying to communicate earlier. This is how I would handle the problem, doing what I suggested earlier.

seattlesetters, I took your advice and the wife did what you said and it worked like a champ. She put just enough pressure for him to wimper and he went and just sat down. When she called him over, we knew she got in his head. Now I know this was just the first time, but it was progress. Hey, I would like to thank all of you for your time and advice. I will keep you posted. Fishface...........

This is a footnote to my last reply. PLEASE do not try this with a strange dog/ dog you do not know.If the dog is an omega you will probably have no problem BUT if the dog is an alpha you may provoke an attack (staring down a dog is powerful chit).A case in point: I was working a hunt show for a club that I belong to , sitting on a chair at the table with my dog on lead and sitting by my side minding his own business while I was talking to a breeder from the states that came up for the show, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a guy walk up to my male and crouch down to eye level with my dog, within 2 min. the dog lunged at this bobo dragging me and the chair about 2 feet across the floor ( I weigh in at about 200 lbs.),he came within inches of rearranging bobos' face or worse. When I asked bobo what did you do to my dog, he said " didn' t do a thing " , I then asked him why did you try to stare my dog down, he said " wanted to see what he would do" .The person I was talking to looked at me then said to bobo " only an a$$hole would try to stare down someone elses dog" . As I said, powerful chit.

It' s (eye contact) supposed to work great on bears if you combine it with yelling and arm waving. I was told to never lose eye contact. Unfortunately there' s supposed to be 1% of the population that doesn' t back off. It' s probably OK to lose eye contact if they start chasing you. LOL

Dan O.

Glad to hear it, fishface. Keep us abreast of further developments.