Q&A: Dog is being aggresive?
Question by ajaxx0333: Dog is being aggresive?
Hi –
I have a 5 month old pitbull/lab mix. I recently enrolled her into an obedience class at my local pet store, and she has been doing well, especially with the other dogs.
But the last few days she has been kind of out of hand. I think that she may be just going through part of being a puppy and seeing how much she can get away with, but i want to be sure that she is not turning aggresive.
I have been having my own issue with her trying to challenge me for the dominant female in the house. She doesnt always listen to me, sometimes she growls and nips at me. When i take her for walks she grabs the leash in her mouth and pulls like she is trying to pull me. When i take it out of her mouth she growls, kind of like she thinks i am playing tug of war.
My boyfriend on the other hand is more aggresive with her, meaning when she is bad he can just yell at her and she will stop and her tail goes right between her legs. Sometimes he will smack her if she does something wrong.
So today, he went to put her in her crate and he said she started growling at him almost like she was defending her life or something, so he said he tried to grab her collar to put her in the crate and she bit him in the hand and drew blood.
Now i am not sure if she did this because she felt threatened. A hand coming toward her , knowing that he has hit her before(not beat her, but a tap) so maybe she felt threatened by him? I am not sure.
But her behavior is starting to make me a little nervous. I DONT want to have an aggressive dog and i will do anything to help it. But now he wants to get rid of her. What can i do?
The crate is never used for punishment. unless i am home alone with her and she is acting crazy i will put her in the crate, but i give her a treat for doing so. I do not hit her because i am not trying to be dominant in that sense. I would like her to learn the right way. I will not give up on her unless i have tried everything.
She was spayed abount 2 weeks ago.
Best answer:
Answer by Kip’s Mom ***FYA***
You have a dominant, aggressive dog who is learning to bite out of her defense response. You shouldn’t be a “little nervous”, you should be a lot nervous. If you do not get this under control, her behaviour will only escalate.
Either find a GOOD trainer (and I don’t mean puppy class or training classes offered at your local Pet store) to help you AND your boyfriend learn how to manage this dog, or euthanize her.
Those are your two choices.
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I think you answered some of your own questions. Yes, she is trying to be the dominate one of the pack. She bit your boyfriend because she felt threatened and wanted to put him in his place(pack order). She growls at you for the same reason. If you are willing maybe you can talk to an animal behaviorist to make sure this is what she is doing. It is going to take some work to get to the bottom of this, so please take the time to do it. Since she has already bitten your boyfriend, I would not let hit (tap) her anymore. She could turn really aggressive toward him since she resents him already. Instead try bribing her with treats when she does good like going into her cage along with lots of praise. Dogs love to please, so make it a good experience for her and she will do what you want.
you’re right about the aggressiveness. and it needs to be put to a stop. she is obviously afraid of you boyfriends hand because he struck her with it. striking your dog for doing something bad is the worst mistake a dog owner can make. it leads to a frightening and aggressive relationship (hence why your dog is always growling and trying to bite you and your bf). what you need to do, is be dominant yet gentle. try to mend things with your dog by only scold her. try not to strike her anymore. calmly scold her, but keep your attitude dominant. your dog can sense when you’re not dominant and will immediately take action into over-ruling you. dont allow her to do that. everytime she growls at you for any reason, firmly say ‘no’ and walk away from her. turn your back on her and flag your hand near your bottom. a mother and dominant dog do that to young pups (only they flag their tails) and it means “im dominant, and i dont need you growling at me” if she persists and tries to grab your hand, then the best thing to do would be to get some thick gloves, and chain her up for trying to bite again. i dont know why shes doing that. none of my dogs went through that and ive had some pretty big “im the dominant one” breeds (ie. Cane Corso, Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and Rhodesian Ridgeback. and im currently training what appears to be a Labradane).
good luck with your dog, and maybe professional help would do the trick.
c[:
You should never hit or try to beat a dog into submission on any level! Just like with children, when you are abusive, they will do one of two things…become shy and afraid or become a bully themselves.
I would suggest your boyfriend try to be kinder to your pit, and rely on the training you are getting for her. Pits are not mean naturally, they are made to be mean, just like any other dog.
Puppies goes through stages, just like children. We’ve all heard of the “Terrible Two”? Well, puppies have this stage also, and it sounds like your puppy is ‘full of himself’ and trying to prove he’s tougher than you.
Have you been using the crate as punishment? It sounds like you might have and that is always a no-no. Crates should become a safe haven for your dog, and never used as punishment for anything! Putting your dog in it’s crate should be a positive thing, always!
Talk to your boyfriend, and tell him he can no longer hit/tap your dog for anything, and should always praise her when she does well, with lots of hugs and treats. Reward the good behavior and try to improve the bad behavior by being positive, firm, and yet gentle and loving. We need to remember any puppy will try to be dominate in your relationship; and it’s up to you to prove you are the dominate one, but never with “taps” or by being abusive. A little love and kindness goes a long way.
Good luck, and please continue your obeidence class. If this doesn’t work, then I’d suggest a professional trainer before your puppy gets much older. The time to break these bad habits are when they are still young and impressionable, not when they are a year or two old.
You may want to consider having her fixed if she is not already she is entering sexual maturity and that is when they start to fight for dominance. Forcing her into the crate was the wrong thing to do, she felt threatened and responded as such. Talk to your trainer and ask them how to handel the situation.
My Shiba Inu used to do similar things to me when he was young. He did very aggressive leash biting, humping my leg, and he would turn and air snap when you grab his collar. Here are some things that really helped me turn things around:
1. Be calm and assertive
If you interact with a dog with nervous, submissive, fearful, or otherwise weak (non-assertive) energy, the dog may take advantage of it and start acting out. Anger, impatience, frustration, and all other non-calm energies will only amp up your dog and cause him to exhibit even more extreme behaviors. I found that shouting and physical corrections do not work well, as they may cause the dog to become fearful and aggressive.
http://hubpages.com/_yarec/hub/Dog-Aggression-how-not-to-be-afraid-of-dogs-conquer-fear-of-dogs
2. Hand-feed her. You can try and teach her some bite inhibition. Hand-feed her some kibble one by one. If she bites too hard while trying to get at her food, yelp in a high pitch, and ignore her for a few seconds. Then start feeding her again. This way she learns that biting hard can hurt humans and when she does that, the food and attention stops. Hand-feeding is also good for bonding and establishing your leadership. Bite inhibition really saved me because when my Shiba Inu was acting out he never broke skin.
3. Time-out. There should be no growling or nipping at people. When your dog does this, non-mark her (ack, ack), and get her to do an alternate command (e.g. Sit), If she does this, praise and treat her. If your dog continues with her bad behavior after you have told her to stop, then say “time-out” and remove her to a time-out area (a safe but boring room, e.g. laundry room. Don’t do time-outs in the crate). Leave her in there for a couple of minutes and let her out. If she starts up again, non-mark her (ack, ack), and say time-out and put her back in time-out. This time lengthen the duration to about 10-15 minutes. Note that if your dog stops the bad behavior, make sure to praise her a lot and give her good treats. Keep this up and your dog will learn that certain behaviors get her rewards while others get her into a boring room with nothing to do.
4. NILIF program. A great way to establish yourself as leader is through the control of resources. Don’t give anything to your dog (including pets and affection) unless she does something for you first. For example ask her for a “sit” before you give her food, toys, or freedom.
5. Obedience training. Try and do some obedience training sessions everyday. Enroll in a class or get a good positive reinforcement obedience book, and practice with her for short sessions (10-15 minutes) every day. This will help establish you as a leader, improve your bond with your dog, exercise your dog’s mind, and give you good tools that you can use to help control her in the house.
6. Make her work for all her food. Lab/pits are going to be very active, so the more you drain away her energy through mental and physical exercise, the less frustrated energy she will have. Also if you give her interesting things to do, she will spend less of her time trying to come up with her own activities.
A great way to exercise your dog mentally is through the use of interactive food toys. Some good ones include the Buster Cube, Premier Busy Buddy Collection, and of course Kongs. Frozen Kongs are great for when you have to leave your dog home alone. Just put some wet food into a classic Kong and freeze it. You dog will have fun licking and chewing at it for a long time.
Other fun games include the flirt pole, fetch, soccer, etc.
** It is important to communicate to your puppy what is appropriate and what in not appropriate behavior. When she does something wrong, non-mark her (ack, ack), but remember to mark he when she does something right (Yes). Also it is good to redirect your puppy into doing something else when she is doing something inappropriate. By redirecting her, there is less likelihood that she will return to the inappropriate behavior. Finally it is important to always supervise your puppy so that she does not practice any bad behaviors on her own. Crate her or put her in a long term enclosure when you are not around to supervise.