< See All Questions
Angry puppy
Submitted by dan4pam on Dec 20, 2006
My dog Lucy is usually very sweet but when we try to take something away from her she growls and snaps. She is especially aggressive if it is a food item. Being a 4 month old puppy; she naturally wants to put her mouth on everything, but sometimes she gets ahold of something that could be potentially dangerous, like a chocolate candy wrapper.
Answer by Katrina*:
Especially with puppies, effective training often involves management and preventative exercises so that behavior problems never develop. For your puppy, since she is already displaying growling and snapping behaviors directed towards you when taking away something she values, it is even more important that you apply these techniques. Otherwise, these behaviors that she’s practicing as a cute, little puppy, could escalate and then be present in a full-grown, adult dog. Pretty scary, huh?!
Management is a huge part of the equation. As much as possible your dog should not have access to items that she can’t have, like candy-wrappers. Keep garbage and anything you value (like your shoes) out of access to your puppy. When you can’t supervise your puppy keep her in a crate, a small pen, or tethered to something so she cannot get into trouble.
When your puppy does pick up something that you need to take away from her, give your dog a treat in exchange for letting you take it away. That way she’s learning that it’s not so bad to give things she values up to people. I know it’s unavoidable that occasionally your puppy will get a hold of something you don’t want her to, but this should happen rarely since your home is so well puppy-proofed.
I also recommend practicing some preventative exercises for resource guarding. Given your dog’s prior history of growling and barking when taking things away from her, hire a dog trainer who emphasizes positive reinforcement to assist you when introducing these exercises. The purpose of these exercises is to convince your puppy that sharing the things she values is a good idea. Start by stuffing a chew toy, like a sterilized bone, with food your dog likes, such as turkey, peanut butter, or cream cheese. Keep hold of one end of the bone and let your puppy chew on the other end. She’s getting used to “sharing” a bone. You can also practice taking the bone away and immediately giving your puppy a treat. Then give one end of the bone again and repeat many times over. When your puppy is comfortable with this, give your puppy the entire bone. Then take the bone away and either give her another stuffed bone or a treat. Your puppy is learning that having something she likes taken away is not always a permanent loss and she might get something even better. When feeding your puppy reach into her bowl to place a few extra good treats like, crumbs of turkey or bacon. She’ll be learning to love having someone near her food. Training sessions should be short (15 minutes maximum, 5 minutes is ideal) and frequent (2-3 times daily).
* NOTE: Answer provided by dog trainer Katrina Krings, not currently affiliated with Pikapet.com
|
|
|
Please Sign In
to submit your question
|
|
|
