My wife and I just adopted a 1 year old malamute rescue last week. And he has become very attached to me i am very much his person. But I do work and when I do leave for work my wife is at home with him and he is an absolute terror for her he poops and pees in the house he doesn’t listen to her but when I am he is a perfect angel. How to I fix this? How do I make it so she’s part of the pack and he loves her the same as he loves me?
First, don't think of it as "being part of the pack". Your wife (nor you) isn't going to be seen by the dog as pack or alpha, etc. Instead, think of it as your wife needs to be the human in the relationship. Second, he may never love her like he does you. Many dogs are one person dogs - they bond with one person and " accept" the rest. Your goal is to teach him to respect and accept her. With that change in perception, your wife needs to take on the primary role. She should feed him. She needs to do obedience training with him. She needs to spend time playing with him. And, even (especially) when you are home, she needs to be in charge. This is the biggest reason dogs don't listen to members of the household - because only one person gives the dogs commands. My dad's akita did that. He would be acting up in the house and if my mom tried to redirect him, he'd look down the hall to see if my dad came out of his computer room - if not, he kept right on doing it. So, your wife needs to show him that what she says goes - without your stepping in to enforce it. You just ignore it and let her make the redirection, etc.
