Dog Is Becoming Aggressive

Hi Everyone

This is my first time to this board as a last resort :cry:

I have a Black Lab mixed...I got him at 7weeks (he's 6months now).
He started off with the "puppy" biting, and I tried to correct it early, I first did the saying "Ouch" and ignoring but that didn't work. I then was told to hit him on the nose and give a firm NO...this didn't work and made him MORE aggressive. Then my vet told me to train him on a leash, to keep him on it at all times so that when he does something that is inappropriate I can correct him quickly, well being on a chain made him very unhappy and more likely to bite. For the first few months he would ONLY play bite .. like feeling you with his mouth, he still does this but now when he has something in his mouth and you go to take it out he's starting to "snip".
I love this dog to death BUT I have children 13yrs old and under, so I would like to change HIS behavior and OURS to prevent us from having to give him away.

Any information you have will be greatly appreciated!!

Lisa

 

A muzzle will provide protection at any questionable times...

And if used immediately after each time the dog becomes agressive... I have found success with closing the dogs mouth with my hand and firmly but quitely saying no...

Also... I have found that for some dogs, isolation (a time out) as punishment will make them more apt to do the right thing...

These things are non-violent... And help them get the point...

Of course obedience training would probably be the way to go.

Hope you are able to solve this problem...

 

sounds like dominance issues. easily fixed. seek help from a trainer or perhaps someone could give some good ideas.

 

I definitely agree with having him trained professionally, not just obedience which does help as it will give you some control but more importantly 'behaviour modification', what he's doing is challenging you and right now he is winning, hes also only 6 months, it'll get worse if not correctly worked with. It doesnt sound as though he is an overly dominant dog or I think you would have had more serious problems earlier, it sounds more like he isnt sure where his place is 'in the pack' (everyone that lives in your house, people and pets are 'his pack'), by not handling the agression properly you are on your way to 'giving' him the alpha position....you dont want that. Check with your vet if they can recommend any good behaviourists in your area. If expense is an issue there are some good books and videos (or DVD's) usually available in places like Petsmart and Petco.

 

Thanks to all of you who have replied. I am going to buy the trainer leash and muzzle.

Im not to sure if it is dominance. I have two cats, he is very affectionate and loving towards the little one and scared to death of the big one...
If the big one is downstairs the dog will sniff him and all the cat has to do is smack him in the head and he runs away never to bother the cat again...LoL He gets aggressive when he has something in his mouth that he shouldn't (he's not aggressive with toys,bones or food). Ever since he was a pup he's been frightened of EVERYTHING, sometimes a paper bag will scare him and he will run and hide!!! And there is something "strange" about him, when he becomes frightened all his hair on his neck stands up and all down his back!!!

Thanks again for all your insights
Lisa

 

I would begin the NILIF program immediately. NILIF = Nothing In Life Is Free. The basic premise is that the dog must EARN everything he enjoys in life. First he has to know at least one command, like "sit." Then, he must perform a command before everything he does - sit to go outside, sit to eat, sit to be petted, sit to play fetch....get the idea? If he knows more commands, mix up what you require him to do. Give him the command once, and if he doesn't obey walk away for a few seconds, then come back and try again.

For instance, when it is time to eat. Put the bowl on the counter and pour food in. Dog is dancing around at your feet. Walk to where you put the bowl down and ask him to sit. If he obeys, you praise him and put the bowl down (my dogs have to stay sitting until I release them, but this is up to you). If he does NOT sit, say, "Oh, too bad!" and walk away and set the bowl on the counter. Stare at the ceiling. Pretend you've just noticed you have a dog that wants to eat - "Oh, hello. Let's go eat." Take the bowl back to the eating spot and ask for a sit. You may have to repeat and repeat and repeat at the beginning, depending on how stubborn your dog is!

My dogs love to eat so they caught on to this part very quickly. We had trouble getting a sit before going outside to play, though, because they were so excited about going outside they couldn't focus. There were many days where I spent 15-20 minutes asking for a sit, walking away and ignoring them and coming back, etc, until finally they did it correctly.

When the dog knows the routine, he should ALWAYS obey the command within 3 seconds or you walk away and try again in a few seconds.

This may sound like a pain, but it is definitely worth it in the end. Do this for EVERYTHING. He comes to you with a ball in his mouth - ask for a sit before you play.

Here is an article on teaching bite inhibition: http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

Smacking him on the nose works for some dogs, but not for others. It DEFINITELY made things worse with my dog. Better to reward the absence of biting.

One thing we found useful in this regard was to teach the command "kisses" which means to lick my hand (or face or whatever). The point being, the dog cannot be nipping at you when he is kissing you! This worked quite well and she learned the command very quickly!

Another thing I teach is "gentle" which means the dog must take treats or toys from you GENTLY, without snapping your hand off in excitement. You do this by holding a treat in your fist and not opening your hand for the dog to eat until he is being gentle. You can progressively ask for more and more gentleness. My bull-in-a-china-shop dog will now daintily extract a treat from between my fingers oh-so-gently.

And one last thing. It is VERY important that your children participate in this training. THEY must ask for a command and expect obedience. Have them do this before playing with the dog, or have them share in the feeding. This helps your dog to know that THEY are to be obeyed as well, and that all good things come from humans with the pricetag of quick obedience.

Err, so that wasn't the last thing. You mention him not wanting to let go of forbidden objects. Trade him. Say, "Let's trade!" and go and get a treat. When he drops the item, you step on it while you are giving him the treat. While he is busy eating, you can retrieve the object from under your foot. My children, who are 11 and 13, are NOT allowed to pry the dog's mouth open to get a treasure out. If she won't obey the "drop it" command, they know to get a treat to trade for it. Ideally, every dog should learn "drop it" and "leave it" but for those of us less dedicated than we should be, trading works well.

The hair standing up on her back is normal. It is a dog's attempt to look big and scary so that whatever is bothering them might decide to go away and leave them alone.

 

dominance doesnt necessarily mean they dominate everything. a dog who knows where they stand who has a hold of something they shouldnt will drop the object when told off. a dominant dog will challenge you. he is trying to say 'this now belongs to me, get it if you dare'. the balls in his court, classic dominance. as delauk said, its not major dominance, but if something isnt done it will get worse. jamiya gave some good tips. i do this with my dog, although my dad is always breaking the rules! another tip is to do everything before the dog does. for example you eat first, get your dog to sit and you walk through the door first, dont give into demands for petting, walking, going inside/outside etc [do what you want to do first then do those things].

 

Thanks Jamiya!

I just bought a "Halti" trainer. I'm gonna give this a try. As to the "trade" with treats I've tried that he NEVER gives up what he has in his mouth. He knows if he drops what he's got he's never getting it back. He is a smart dog.

I've made MANY mistakes that will time to correct and giving up on my dog is not an option for me at this point, I love him to much

Lisa

 

Practice object exchanges frequently with items that are less important to him (toys, bones, food). Take the item from him and replace it with an extra special treat. Try to find a type of treat that he really likes and will do just about anything for. Don't show him the treat first, he only gets the reward for giving up the item. After he finishes the special treat give him the item back. Basically, you're just getting him used to object exchanges and also teaching him that giving up items gets him rewards and that the items are often given back after they are taken. Once he is really good with this you can work your way up gradually to items that are more important to him until he is completely comfortable with items being taken from him. When he does have items you don't want him to have never make a big fuss about it. Just walk over to him calmly as you would to exchange any other item. Your reaction will effect the way he reacts and you don't want him learning to discriminate certain responses from you so be sure to act in the same calm, friendly manner during every object exchange.

 

I'm noticing little things about him, take yesterday for example....he had my 13yr olds flip flop, I asked him to drop it and he opened his mouth and he dropped it...I praised him heavily!!!! It seems the "smaller" the object is that fits easily in his mouth the more aggressive/possesive he becomes. Or he really didnt care about the flip flop LoL....

Lisa

 

It could be he doesn't value the flip flop as much as other things. As nern said, practice with lower value things like this. And do make sure that you ask him to drop things that are NOT forbidden. When he drops it, pick it up and look at it, tell him "thank you!" and hand it back. I also add the command "take it" when I hand it back, so the dog learns what that means. Then if I WANT her to pick something up, I can tell her to "take it."

The whole eating before your dog does, walking through doorways first, etc is controversial. Some people swear by it. Others will tell you that if your dog knows his place in your pack (below the humans) then these things do not matter. However, they can be used to establish that place. With most dogs, you can then phase it out once the lesson is learned. Other dogs need refresher courses, etc.

I am reminded of a story in Suzanne Clothier's book (Bones Would Rain From the Sky) about when she was at a conference with her dogs. She let them up on the couch to sleep, and someone told her the dog would be "dominant" if she did so. So she woke the dog up and told him to get down, which he did and immediately curled up at her feet. So then she told him he could go ahead and get back up, and he looked at her sort of puzzled but jumped back on the couch and went back to sleep yet again. The idea is that the dog must be invited up onto the couch and must get down if you ask him to. If these things are trained, then the dog is not "asserting dominance" by lying on the furniture.

The whole "dominance" thing is highly blown out of proportion in most cases.

 

Great info jamiya and nern...


Yall about covered everything I was going to suggest!!! LOL

 

Well I got the Halti collar on him yesterday...and well he "FREAKED" he showed his teeth he pulled on it with his big paws and he was snarling with a low growl (he has never done this before). He is a awesome dog, he can be so sweet and loving....but he's so big (for me) to control I took the Halti off him immediately. Also I tried (until he caught on .. lol) to put him in time out when he's bad but he's to smart for that one now.

Thanks for all your advice ...

Lisa

 

because you backed off with the halti thats one more point for your dog and one less for you. i really dont know what else you can do for a dog who has without a doubt solidly learnt how to control you just by showing aggression. also, what do you mean he caught on and hes too smart for time out? he refuses to go to timeout? if he refuses *drag him! your dog is certainly getting away with alot here. id go seek help from a professional trainer.

*by drag i mean grabbing the dogs body and shuffling them across the floor. by no means do you drag an animal solely by its collar, leash, arms whatever.

 

Hi Loki. (Love the name btw. Had I have found this fourum before I got my little boy he would deffenitly have been a Loki, thanks to Jamiya and her never ending list of names lol)

Anyway, I can only say that what everyone else has suggested is the right way of doing things.
There's one other thing you could try aswell. I beleive, and have actually put it into practice, and it worked... that your dog can and will read your mind. I don't mean he can guess that you're going to turn the tv over soon, but he certainly knows what you're thinking when you're trying to dicapline him.
You say things like "he's so big for me to control" which is worrying. That means you're constantly thinking this, and he knows it. If you don't drill it into yourself that you're the boss and WHATEVER you say goes, then how will he know? You must never show you're afraid, and by pulling back or taking that halti off him you did just that. Every word and action you use around him has to be possitive. If he knows (and he will) that you're afraid to put that halti on him, he'll think something's wrong and won't allow it... as he's showed you already. You have to go to him possitivly, put it on possitivly (even if it means taking deep breaths and saying "possitive" to yourself). The smallest growl and it's a firm 'no' from you, take a breath and carry on.
Obviously you have to read the situation and if he gets too distressed, or you do, then change the mood.
If you do get it on I'd suggest leaving it for maybe 5 minutes and distract him the whole time. Play a game, run around making silly noises... anything just to take his mind off it. Then take it off. It might take a few times a day for a few days, leaving it on longer each time. Or it might just click right away. Either way it's going to be a major learning and bonding experience for both of you and worth every second.

Good Luck

 

I backed off the Halti due to the fact the only one here to help me get it on him was my 13yr old daughter and she comes "FIRST", I didn't want him to hurt "HER".

Yes when I put him into his crate at night I literally have to "Drag" by pushing or trying to carry him into the crate. I don't fear him if he goes to bite me, but I have 3 children all under 13 that I don't want him to hurt.

When he was a puppy I had the kids feed him and put their hands into his bowl to take out the food to give it to him. He has never had a problem with his food until the other day when my son went to pick up his empty dish to get it washed .... he ran back to his bowl to snip at my son.

I have had dogs the whole time I was growing up and Ive trained a few puppys into easy going dogs in my teens, this is the first time I've ever encountered this type of behavior.

Nik, I will try to change my way of thinking, maybe I need to "POOF" up my hair and look bigger like he does...lol (I'm tiny..lol)

 

I was actually scared of Nala when she was a little puppy. She was the first dog I had ever trained and she is very stubborn. SHe was about the size of a cat, but she would leap at you and grab your clothes and hang until they tore. She would herd me into a corner. I thought she was being aggressive, until I realized it is herding behavior. As soon as I stopped being afraid of her, I made MUCH better progress with her.

The Halti is easier to get off than a Gentle Leader. But I would suggest if you put it on him, immediately distract him with treats or a walk or something he REALLY likes, to take his mind off of it.

From what you describe, I think a professional trainer would be a very good idea. Find someone who will come to your home and work with you there. Make sure it is someone knowledgeable about the issues you are having, but also someone that uses POSITIVE methods. No leash jerking or swatting on the nose, etc. It only makes things worse with a dog like yours. If you have trouble finding someone, try contacting a local Lab rescue and tell them the problems you are having and ask for a referral. You can also search on the Association of Pet Dog Trainers web site: http://www.apdt.com/.

Someone else that could DEFINITELY help you would be a TTouch practitioner. Go to this page: http://www.lindatellington-jones.com/practitioners.shtml and see if you can locate someone near you. Also, you might check their workshop schedule and see if there is one near you soon.

Do be careful with your children. Have you tried the NILIF training yet? You might want to pick up all toys and bones and only let him play with them when you are supervising, and he has to obey your commands first. That way, all good things come from YOU.

 

You just reminded me a 3# Maltese Terrier that came in for training years ago....that tiny dog was probably one of the hardest Ive ever trained.....little 'fireball'.....had an attitude like "Cujo"


Loki....please get the dog trained professionally, it seems that everything you try with him you give into him, he's running rings around you. If it wasnt for the aggression this would almost be humorous but you have kids around, he's getting older and your giving him every opportunity to put all of you in 'your place'...this needs to be reversed before it gets worse.