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Vicious puppy
I can't take it anymore. I have a 12 week old pomeranian female that is a cujo. I got her at 7 weeks old and after one week with us and the other 3 dogs I have the devils child. She started out growling and tugging at our pants legs and biting our feet. Now she growls and bites when we pick her up, when she's in your arms, anytime. The only time she is nice is in the morning when we let her out of her crate or when we come home. I'm not talking a puppy playing and biting I'm talking mean mean. If my husband didn't just get layed off I would take her to puppy school but right now all I can do is get books and internet advice. I have tried positive training, trying to distract her when she is growling with toys, with giving kisses instead, and it doesn't stop. I have tried ignoring her and she doesn't care she just goes and bullies one of the other dogs. I have tried non positive training and it has made it worse. I put her on her back and held her til she calmed down, I tap her in the mouth and tell her no. All these methods have done is made her meaner. In the summer I will have kids in and out of my house and the last thing I need is a vicious dog. My 12 year old had a sleep over and the kids couldn't even play with her, she is only 12 weeks old and kids can't touch her. I'm affraid if I don't get this to stop I'll have to get rid of her and I really hate the thought of that.
Answer:
You have a very serious problem. You do not have a training problem, you have a behavior problem. This sounds like a very advanced stage of aggression for such a young puppy.
Immediately, stop any and all non-positive methods of dealing with this situation. You have an aggressive dog. As always, I prefer to look at things from the dog’s perspective. Let’s say, you picked Cujo up and she growled at you. In all likelihood, you put her down. From her perspective, growling at you got her what she wanted … you left her alone. And then all of a sudden, you picked her up and she growled at you. But this time, instead of putting her down, you pinned her to the ground on her back. Well, from her perspective, growling obviously no longer works, so from now on, she better actually bite you in order to get what she wants.
As this is a behavior issue and not a training issue, you really need to work with a behaviorist. Contact your veterinarian for recommendations on behaviorists in your area.
As you have financial constraints right now, you might be able to find someone who would be willing to work with you pro-bono (free of charge).
You might be able to find someone in the American Pomeranian Club that would be willing to assist you. The American Pomeranian Club is the National Breed Club for this breed and can be located online at http://www.americanpomeranianclub.org/. They might be able to assist you in placing this dog into a home without children and other animals where the people can spend the money to work on the problem in an appropriate environment. The National Breed Club may be aware of whether there are behaviorists who are willing to work with this specific breed for free.
You didn’t mention whether you obtained Cujo from a breeder. Most reputable breeders will take back a dog that has serious issues and will, in return, provide you with another puppy.
You could also look at placing this dog into a Rescue. Many Rescues will not take aggressive dogs due to liability issues. However, since you don’t mention a bite (to the point of a skin break) which is quite frequently the line that Rescues will not cross, it’s possible that you may still be able to surrender her to a Rescue. The best place to start would be the National Breed Club Rescue which can be located online at http://www.americanpomeranianclub.org/rescue_contacts.htm.
Although I know you don’t want to give this dog up for adoption, there are several factors to keep in mind when deciding how to proceed with this problem. As I previously indicated, the level of aggression that you indicate is quite serious for a puppy. With behavior problems, some of the “cause” is nature (genetics/breeding) and some is nurture (the environment and how the puppy is raised). Given the age of this puppy, it’s likely that genetics play a very strong role in Cujo’s behavior problems. Even a behaviorist can only do so much. Aggression is not curable. It’s very much like diabetes … a behaviorist can help diminish the effects of the aggression and help you to control the situation, but the problem will always be there. There is no quick fix. It takes a lot of time and work to see improvements with aggression. But this will be a situation you will deal with for the life of this dog. This is not a dog that will ever be able to be trusted around humans, especially children.
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