Aggresive with me!

[Iluvbrits]

I have a Brittany that is 2 years old. When she was 3 months old I gave her a small rawhide bone and she loved it. I went to take it from her and she got very protective if not viscous! She would growl when I would get close and even snap at me. I stopped giving her rawhide because of this and when she got a little older I decided to try a treat called a buffalo stick and when given them to her same behavior. Long story short any type of meaty treat ex: pigs ears, buffalo sticks, etc. she had this very protective behavior (she turned into a different dog). I stopped giving her anything other then a nylabone here and there. Tonight I decided to try a treat called knuckles. I gave it to her and she did okay with it, as I got close to her she acted a little protective so instead of reaching down with my hand I waived my foot in front of her and sure enough she snipped at me.
Does anyone have any advice what to do? I could just not give her these treats, but she loves them and I would like for her to chew on things to clean her teeth.
She is an awesome dog and she is absolutely the best in all other aspects. It's just weird why she can't enjoy these treats without having this behavior.
Thanks in advance.

[KYS]

Hello,

Your dog is simply guarding a precious
treasure. Since you are the boss,
she should not be growling or snipping
at you period.
I teach my dogs when they are pups, that
I can take anything away from themI want.
(safer to do when they are puppy's than
big mature dogs) lol
I also taught them the command "Give"
which is helful.
You might try giving her a chew treat, and when you go near her and she begins to growl,
I would sharply repremand her, and not let her have the treat till she stops growling. If you are afraid she might bite you, where gloves.
You might even want to start doing a little hand feeding. (could be messy)
Put your hand in her food bowl and
put some food in it,
Make her eat from your hand. Keep this up
for 3-4 weeks.
After your dog no longer growls,
periodically keep this up, or she
might regress. I am sure you will get
some great advice from others on this topic.

[Iluvbrits]

Thanks for the reply. I can get in and eat the dog food if I want to with her It's just these meaty/bone treats. I can say drop and she does just fine. I will say stay and can pick up the treat whenever, but if I just go down with my hand she wants to guard it or if I come up to her without saying anything!
My biggest concern is my 14-month boy who lies with her plays with her and does everything you would like them to do together. I would never give Brinna (my dog) this type of treat and let my son get near her. I just want to have 100% security that if Brinna has a toy of my son's that she won't have this behavior. So far I have had no problems at all. A matter of fact Brinna could be eating something that she found of the floor such as a napkin or some plastic and I can go in with my hands open her mouth and go in and get the napkin. She could care less when I do this. Again the only time I have seen this is with these treats and it is very confusing why she will let me or anyone else do anything with her except this issue.

[ November 30, 2001: Message edited by: Iluvbrits ]

[KYS]

You are very welcome.
(you will get some great advice from others on this subject who are professional trainers etc., which I am not)

The reason for the hand feeding, is
just to strenghten your Alpha roll with
her, even though she doesn't care about
her regular food only special treats.
IN my house it's the meaty bones from the butcher that my dogs will kill over.
My senior alpha female Akita who will let me do anything to her, but when it comes to those special grocery butcher meaty bones She has made a low growl, when I have gotten my face right next to hers. (I do not suggest you do that)
Her growling at me is not acceptable, and I will repremand her and make her give me that bone. With her, I must periodically re-enforce that behavior training.
In your case it is the meaty/treats.
I think you are very wise not to give anything to Brinna such as meaty/treats
around your little boy. No matter how well trained your dog is, In my humble
opinion you can never "100%" fully trust any dog around small children un-supervised etc.
Dog are animals, have their own instincts and behavors, and have a pecking order.

Brinna sounds like a wonderful dog.

[lbaker]

I've meant to ask about this but was a bit embarresed my youngest pup is such a momma's boy that he is very jealous of the others when they get too close (when he's in one of his moods) But lately at night when we go to bed I have to give him an "addie-oop" to reach the mattress and he snarls and actually nipped me the other night. Since then I have to hold his jowls when I boost him up on the bed. When he gets there he is just a snuggle bug but what's with this nasty behavior Yes his father dog sleeps with me too but he should know this by now and after they are both up on the bed it's no problem. I am concerned because he actually broke skin...I'm so embarresed about my poor little guy and his rude behaviour oh dawg, what to do
laurie

[Barbiro]

I agree with KYS that Since you are the boss, she should not be growling or snipping at you. period

In a way your dog does not see you as an Alpha, therefore she's not worried of any consequences when she growls or nips your skin. That is really serious and you need to stop that behavior as soon as possible.

My son's retriever, Lady, was about 3 months old when she started growling at my 2 1/2 year old grand-niece, whenever my grand-niece would get near her toys or food bowl. Here's how I cured that:

The minutes she growls -- I don't care who it's to -- in the crate she goes with a loud "No growl" or "No nipping" (whichever the case may be). After putting her in the crate, Lady would see ME give my grand-niece her toys and let her pick up her food bowl and hold it for a while. Ten minutes later, I would let her out and ask my niece to gently go near the toys; now, at this point, Lady was looking at me and all I said was "be nice". It took probably one week for her to learn that my grand-niece (at 2 1/2 years of age) was an alpha over her as well (although I would never leave them alone without supervision).

The same thing with feeding her a treat; it was very painful because she was very rough grabbing it from my fingers. Any time her teeth would touch my skin she would get the same command -- and IN THE CRATE SHE GOES! It's not that she hates her crate, it's just that dogs hate to be ignored, and I would turn around and ignore her for a few minutes. When I give Lady a treat now, she is ever so gentle in taking it from my fingers. Let us know how it goes

[Dixieland Dancer]

Hi Iluvbrits! KYS has given you excellent advice.

Laurie, your problem doesn't sound the same. When you lift your little one onto the bed it actually sounds like he/she may be hurting???

[lizbud]

Iluvbrits,
Hello and Welcome to Pet Talk.
I just wanted to echo Dixieland Dancer's
sentiments about KYS's advice.It's right on..
Also, although I don't have the experience
and 'first hand' knowledge that Dixieland
has I also see Laurie's problem with the pup
as a different thing altogether..Since it
only happens when you are lifting him/her.
Dogs can't tell us when they are feeling
pain, but they do SHOW us..A vet visit would
probably relieve your mind & give a clearer
picture of just whats going on.

[ktreva52]

Ibaker -- you don't tell us what breed the "momma's boy" is, nor how old, nor, exactly, how you lift him, but I'm with LizBud -- a trip to the vet is definately in order. It sounds like some sort of pain response. Could he have dysplagia? Even small breeds can have this. Perhaps a muscle pull? I would go check this out.

Ilovebrits -- I believe I would spend some time giving her some of the goodies and making her give them back. Yes, they are treasures to her, but you are still the "giver of the goodies" and she should learn that as long as she is well=behaved, she'll receive it back. "Take" and "give" are the commands I would use here. If she doesn't want to "give", I'd say no more and into the crate for time-out. Protective behavior is not unusual, but she needs to know that she can trust you and that you "stand over" her in the pack. Practice this every time you give her one of these treats until she can be "trusted" to behave and then, occasionally, after. She needs to know that whenever you want the treat, she must give it. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[RachelJ]

I don't disagree with what has been said, and I too do not tolerate snarling and any attempt at biting the hand that feeds them, but I do believe there are certain instances where I would simply avoid such a confrontation, and the protection of their very special treats is one of them. I don't have any trouble with aggression, but something like a knuckle bone can take them back to another time, another place in their instinctive behavior. I've seen it happen with even the most docile dog. When it comes to taking away such a treat, I would distract them with a dog cookie. Once I get them a good distance from the bone, they seem to come back to their senses. In other words I would rather avoid these types of confrontations than use them to prove my status.

Ktreva and Barbiro, I am glad to know that someone else believes in the philosophy of "time out in the crate". It was the one thing that worked in my difficulties in raising Hannah. I discovered it quite by accident as one day I was so upset and angry with her, I knew I was at a breaking point and I just put her in there for her own protection so to speak. As I get over being angry fairly quickly, she didn't stay in there long, maybe 20 minutes to a half hour, but it seemed to "get through to her" where other things I had tried had not. She is not in any way afraid of her crate because of it. She seems to understand the meaning and purpose of a time out (probably by my demeanor) as opposed to going in her crate for any other reason. Now I use a time out very, very rarely and never use it with Tucker who came to me with severe panic at being crated.

[ December 02, 2001: Message edited by: RachelJ ]

[Iluvbrits]

Thank you all for the replies. The way some of you explain it is exactly how her behavior is. She does this only on instinct! I will get her away from this treat and she will be back to being the best dog. I have played the game of giving it to her and taking it and no problem while doing this. However it happens when she is into the treat for a while and I will walk up on her and bang the instinct takes over. But again the time I take the treat it stops and she is fine with me having the treat. I will try the crate for time out.
I do have a question for that though. She is never in her crate and really never has been. I used it when she was young, but she hated it in there. When she does something wrong (jumps on the furniture) do I just take her to the basement where the crate is and put her in it? How many minutes? Should the crate be located somewhere different?
Thanks

[ December 02, 2001: Message edited by: Iluvbrits ]

[lizbud]

Ilovebrits,
Why do insist that your dog overcome an
instintual behavior ? You are the "giver of
treats", so you choose when or if she has
them at all.. If you choose to give the
meaty bone,than give the dog time to be by
herself to enjoy it.Why would you want to take it back ? After awhile ,if you want to put the bone away, I've learned another treat such as a piece of cheese or a dog bisquet is all that's needed to distract the dog when you retreve the bone..
You say the dog is Great in all other respects , then why try to 'control' her
this way ?
While I respect all my Pet Talk friend's
thoughts on using the crate for training
purposes, in this instance, it's just not
fair to the dog.. Just seems like the dog is
being 'set up' to fail & be punished...

[ December 02, 2001: Message edited by: lizbud ]

[Dixieland Dancer]

Iluvbrits,
I full heartedly agree with Lizbud! Why do you want to punish your dog for a natural instinct that can be prevented simply by not giving her the treat that causes the unwanted behavior. If you do want her to have the treat then simply let her be while she enjoys it. Never give the treat when children are around and you should never need to be harsh with her.

If you don't crate train then don't start now just because of this. Leave the crate in the basement for storage! I never punish my dogs by putting them in their crate. I put them on a down stay or make them lay in a seculed spot but never in their crate. The crate should be a place they like to go to and associated with good things.

[AdoreMyDogs]

Lizbud and Dixieland...I agree with you two 100%. A dog is a dog and there is no changing that. Just as you can't train the maternal instinct out of a new human mother, you really can't train that typical, normal wolf trait out of an otherwise gentle dog. My dog Graham is an amazing dog who is extremely gentle, loves kids and elderly people as well as the ages inbetween, in fact he's even a certified therapy dog but he has growled quietly at me in the past when I try to take a *very special* raw beef bone away from him. He's never snapped at me but I just don't give him the opportunity to. He is a dog, after all. He is not this way with anything else other then the very occational beef bone that is just irresistable. I continue giving him his bones because he loves them and they do great things for his teeth, but we have an understanding now...I let him do his thing and I give him space. When he first growled at me when he was obsessive about a meat bone, I punished him because he hurt my feelings and I worried that he would become aggressive and an aggressive dog is unacceptable to me. But as I got to know him and realized that he is a gentle, docile dog who would give his life for me because he loved and trusted me so much, I realized that he is not in the least bit aggressive and he never will be aggressive...unless I try to turn him into a human and deny all of his wolf instinct. When I punished him years ago for growling at me he actually thought I was yelling at him for chewing on the bone, he did not link the growling with bad behavior. He was afraid to chew on bones or toys because he thought it was wrong. I was the one who was wrong for punishing him for being a dog. As soon as I realized that he was just being a dog and I learned to accept that, our mutual trust and understanding became very clear. Years and years ago, he would always take his special *prize* to another room to chew in peace and quiet, now he can chew in the same room with me, even right next to me when I'm watching TV. He trusts me now and the whole situation has become very comfortable. I don't know if he'd even growl at me anymore, but I have no reason to find out. We have the trust and I am going to leave it at that.

My advice is just give your dog space (of course away from your baby) when you give the meaty bones. Just ignore your pup when she's in her obsessive chewing trance. Don't talk to her and just act as if she is not even in the room. If it gets so bad with the aggression towards the treats that your dog becomes out of control and chases you out of *her room* then of course discontinue giving her those special treats, or only give them to her while she's outside, but I doubt it will get out of control. She sounds so sweet and it sounds like she knows very well that you are alpha.

Your dog sounds absolutely wonderful. I welcome you to the site and I hope you are not overloaded with differing opinions.

[ December 03, 2001: Message edited by: AdoreMyDogs ]