Growling problemo

[David Welch]

I need some advice. I have a problem with my 7 mo old named Bear. The best that we can come up with is that he has apparently decided the pecking order in our family over the past two weeks. I am apparently the Alpha and then comes him and then on down the line. He has shown no aggression towards our kids, only towards my wife. We have both been VERY consistent with our behavior towards him since we got him. I feed him in the morning, she typically feeds him at night. Everything was going along fine until about two weeks ago. Bear had a raw hide bone that he was half choking half trying to swallow when my wife decided to take it from him. She approached him as normal, held out her hand and gave the command give which he has/is being taught to surrender what he has. This time he didn't, he responded with growling and showing his teeth. My wife held her ground and didn't back down, took the bone. She then put him on the ground with very stern no's. For about two days after that, he would not even look at her. She would approach him and he would turn away etc.

They made up or so we thought until about three days after that and he has taken up growling at her. He does not want her to touch him and if she approaches him, he growls. Here is where it gets better. For example, we came home late, went out back to check on the dogs before bed. My wife approached him, he starts the growling then walks over to where I am sitting and sits down next to me and growls at her again. At that point, I held the scruff of his neck and gave firm no's while pushing him to the ground where he immediately rolls over on his back and quits.

It has degraded to the point that she simply has to walk near him and he growls. The growls are becoming more menacing if she does not immediately back away.

Bear is on the large size as he has already hit 90 pounds and needless to say, is a little intimidating when you are on the receiving end. My wife stands all of 5' 2" and has now become afraid of him fearing an impending bite. This is what we are doing now. Bear is intact or at least until next Wednesday when he visits the vet. We met with a trainer today and Bear starts training to address the behavior as soon as he recoups from the vet visit. My wife is now feeding him and basically trying to make it where all good things, food, treats, walks etc are associated with her. She is scared but is doing a great job suppressing it and is doing the best she can..the old, dog can sense fear thing. I am also close when she is outside with him in case but next Wednesday and the training seems like a long time away and we are looking for suggestions. Do you guys think we are proceeding in the right way as far as her interaction? Should I kind of back off? Do you think the vet and trainer is the right route and finally, can this be corrected? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Judi W]

If this will be the first training you've done with him, then I do not recommend that your wife get into a fight with him at this time. He doesn't have a habit formed of deferring and is issuing threats that you would be wise to consider might be serious. In the meantime remove all toys and bones. He won't die without having something he thinks he "owns" or something to chew on. All those things do is give him an object to guard.

Does he live outside? Outside kenneling works with a dog that is actively in training and has to work for a living. A dog that is just hanging out and lives outside gets the idea that he owns everything around him and this can create problems. You know, chew on it if you want, piss on it if you want, and so forth. Inside, it becomes pretty clear who owns the stuff.

Get in a training program and don't think you're finished with it until the dog is 3 or so years old. Training is not optional or something you do when you have time to get around to it. As you've seen, neglecting it can have serious repercusions.

[TrishB]

Judi W is right on. :D Removing those things which tend to trigger his 'mine' reactions would be best for the time being.

On technique I would try - BUT ONLY IF YOUR TRAINER AGREES - is the umbilical cord method. Basically, your wife would loop the leash around her waist and feed the end through the handle. Attach the end to the dog. Now you wife should go about her duties with the dog tagging along.

Leading is a very alpha move. Being made to follow is a very submissive move. Your wife would basically ignore him and drag him around the house. The dog would have to move when she moves, step around her, would not have free movement. Because of her lack of direct attention to 'make' him move, it puts her in a very alpha role.

The dog should always remain on the floor. If she sits on the couch, he gets the floor. He should never be on the same physical level as your wife. After 2 or 3 days, he'll get the idea. The rest of the family should also ignore him completely during this time.

Discuss it with your trainer. This is a very specific technique and should not be attempted if there is a threat that the dog will go over that line and bite. The last thing you want is to be attached to a dog that is attacking you. Therefore, ask for your professional trainers help.

Your male is coming into his own and will test his rank with the family. Be sure you watch him closely, if he feels that he can challenge your wife, he may also feel that he can challenge your children.

Be sure he always eats last, goes through the doorway last, NEVER gets on ANY furniture (Alpha dogs get the choicest places to sleep, often above others), and that he's never allowed to initiate or end any play. All play should be initiated by the family and all play should be terminated by the family.

Best of luck, you have a long road ahead of you.

[roccorottie]

We have an 11 week old male. Our breeder told us that you can encounter "possession aggression" problems (as you are now seeing) and it's best to nip these in the bud (as we have) at a very young age. You now have a rather large dog growling, whereas we would only have an 11 week old.

Our breeder (who also is a trainer) advised us to let the pup get nice and hungry and then give him a pig's ear. This works best when they're really hungry. He then said for me to approach to remove the pig's ear. At 8 weeks, our pup growled! I was a bit stunned. Nevertheless, I had a slip lead around his neck and as he growled, I began to calmly, slowly lift him off his front paws as I said "leave it". There was NO anger or tension in my voice and he spit that pig's ear right out. I tried this again the following day and he didn't growl at all - I approached, said "leave it" and he opened up so I could remove that yummy pig's ear from his mouth.

Since this time, we've tested him with my wife and 4yo every few days...not once has he growled or even made a noise about having his beloved pig's ear taken from him. He will let any of us remove bones/pig's ears from his mouth.

I'm not sure this will now work with a large 90lb dog, but hopefullly someone on this list has a potential cure for how to curb this in a larger dog.

One question came to mind: when he was a little guy, did anyone in the home feed him from their hands? For the 1st week home, our pup only was fed via my wife's, daughter's or my hand...never from the bowl. I believe this made a world of difference as well.

Best of luck with it.

Rocco