My puppy is aggressive with me, what to do?
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13 Responses to “My puppy is aggressive with me, what to do?”
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spank it or isolate it for about an hour mabey
Your dog thinks he is alpha over you and showing you his dominance as such. You will need to work with your dog to show him that YOU are alpha over him.
Take your dog to training right away with a certified behaviorist. Dogs are pack animals and your dog is showing you they are the leader of the pack. Yelling at them and shouting does not solve this problem. Ask about “Choice Training” and DO NOT got to Pets Mart. Call a no-kill shelter or find out from the pound who they recommend.
First, you need to walk your dog a minimum of 45 minutes per day and training will help you have control of the walk.
Second, you need to be firm and disapline your dog when necessary and be consistent.
Third, only give affection when they are calm . Otherwise you are praising bad behavior.
Good luck!
Best thing for him and you is training. I know some of the petstores have training. He is too big to be doing that.
In some way he has gotten the idea that he is the alpha with you. That needs to change. Also I don’t feel that it is a good thing that he ducks his tail when your husband is around. To me that is fear not submissiveness.
A shepard is a working dog and a terrier is a high energy dog both need lots of exercise and stimulation. See what you can work out.
Yup, doggy has delusions of dominance. And needs to be broken of that.
Obedience training might be helpful. And if you can, watch The Dog Whisperer: I did, and the man has done some amazing work with pooches that others have considerred hopeless.
GET HIM A SMALL CAT (KITTEN)
He’s thinking he’s #2 in the house behind your husband. You HAVE to dominate him and never show fear. That is not to say whup him mercilessly, but if he needs a pop on the nose or hind leg, you need to administer it.
Try to find sumthing to punish him with, my pup seems to be affraid and listens to a spray bottle, if that doesn’t work, like prob. on a big dog, u could try a water gun, lol, good luck!:D
You need to show him you’re the alpha not him,
One way to do this is force him on to his back and hold him there by sitting on him while staring in to his eyes. Do not let him up until he completely refuses to make eye contact with you.
That is NOT vicious aggressive – that is unchecked play aggression.
This sounds so-o-o-o-o familar. Made a house call on the same thing – German Shepard too. The owners (2 sisters widowed/divorced) had never figured out how to say NO like they meant it and were bruised purple and yellow from their 8 month old, 85 lb puppy!.
First off, the dog is NOT going to obey you or respect you becaue you love him. He backs off from your husband because he can tell from his voice tone and body language that your husband won’t put up with it,
It has nothing to do with your husband being a male and the dog being a male, albeit neutered. I’m 5′2″, 98 lb and my 115+ lb, 29 inches at the shoulder, 2 year old Kuvasz says “yes mam!! and how high mam??!” when I give a command; and my 6′3″ hsuband gets treated to the “oh sure, i’m doing it – just fast enough so you don’t tell on me,,,,uh huh… whatever”
SECOND GET THEE AND HIM TO A TRAINING CLASS NOW!
THIRD, do not be so passive. He is slamming into and knocking you about. He is treating you as a lower ranked member of the pack. If you want him to stop, then MAKE him stop.
Do not yelp in pain and think that will make him quit because he “loves you.” When dogs play, they roughouse – slamming into each other, grabbing each others legs and necks, jumping up and standing on their hind legs wrestling with their front legs, heads and necks, and yes – getting up and barking in each other’s face. And do you know what the one who loses the wrestling match does? HE YELPS AND DUCKS!
Guess who is his favorite toy and wrestling partner – willing or not?? Yes – thats right, YOU and you are getting no respect at all.
So what does the dog do who says – nope, I don’t want to play like this and I’m not going to put up with this kid stuff??
I’ll give you a very specific example. My 15 year old who is half the size of the 2 year gets cranky. When he starts with the teenage stupids and leaping around, she spins, plows into him growling and snarling, and (until he got too big) knocked him over on his side, grabbed the skin of his neck or the side of his face between her teeth and pinched, and kept him down for the count of 15-30.
Dogs come pre-programmed to understand the behavior that other dogs use to express approval and disapproval. They did NOT read the books about ignoring them, or using silly gadgets to click at them, or spraying water at them or bribing them for good behavior (and besides, the lower ranked pack member ALWAYS gives up the food to the superior member so lets not make it worse.)
Now, I don’t expect you to grab him with your teeth. I do think you need to do something when he starts. When he goes to grab you, you grab him first – by the scruff of the neck or collar. As you do that, roar NO – make your voice deep and authoritative as most women either sound like they are saying “no, thank you no more tea” or their voices get shrill (exactly what the lower ranked, submitting dog does.) When you have his collar, keep scolding in that tone and shove him flat on the floor and read him the riot act – NO BAD DON”T YOU DARE THATS ENOUGH OF THAT MISTER!! Lean your upper body over him into his personal space. Hold him until for the count of 30 while scolding and I mean flat on the floor on his stomach or side – however you end up.
When he jumps up at you do any of these: (didn’t change the *** from what I had used in my notes for clients)
Stop jumping by any of these methods:
(1) A loud “No” and push her off and hold her down and scold her with “Bad, Bad Bad”. Then tell her “Okay,” let her up and give her a pat (if she doesn’t leap again.)
(2) A loud “No” and time it so that as she comes off the ground, you bring your foot forward and step on her back foot.
(3) A loud “No” and as she comes up off the ground, raise your knee so that she hits I with her chest and bounces off.
When he leaps up in your lap, bring your arms up and shove him off with that deep roaring NO BAD.
And if he keeps barking at you, back down on the floor he goes and then put your hand over and around his muzzle , and NO HUSH. .” If he tries to keep barking, tell him “NO” in a hash stern voice and squeeze his muzzle pushing the skin on the sides. If he still keeps trying, squeeze the side of the muzzle – the skin- into the side of his mouth against their teeth and repeat NO. (Use a deep voice – don’t let your voice go up, make it go down.) You don’t quit until he does. The minute he quit, its Okay, Now thats a good guy, now settle – and let him come sit next to you and get petted.
These are the emerency fixes until you can get some real obedience work under your belt. That house call with the Shepard that was doing the same thing? Took me about 12 minutes to convince him that that stuff ended NOW and then he was my buddy every time he saw me. It took over an hour to teach those women to say NO and sound like they meant it!
Now he can be wonderful companion. But he is no more going to be that cute 6 month old just bigger as an adult than an 7 year old child is going to be a wonderful polite and nice 18 year old without sone discipline, training and manners.
PLEASE FIND AN OBEDIENCE CLASS AND GO!
You should have taken the dog to a puppy pre-school. You need to find out ways for him to know that you are the boss.
Do not ***** or isolate your dog like some other person said.
You really need to get your husband to go walk the dog wether he likes it or not.
German Shepherds need a lot of exercise and if they don’t get the exercise, they can get like this.
You also should have considered the exercise factor before you got such an active breed of dog.
You need to take control of this dog. This doesn’t sound like an aggresion problem. But more like him showing his dominance and control over you. German Shepards can be a very dominant breed. I have 2. One German and 1 Dutch Shepard. Both of which are law enforcement trained and very dominant natured because of their breeding. I have been a dog handler for 12 yrs and have a lot of experience with this breed. Believe it or not? This is and easy fix. First you need to get this dog in some obediance classes. This will build a better bond between you and your dog and will help establish you as a pack leader. At this point he thinks he is the boss. Not Good! When he come up behind you and nips at your legs or arms? What he is doing is herding you. German Shepards have a natural instinct to herd because that was what they were bred to do. And they will do it within their pack Via (You and your husband) The reason he doesn’t do these things to your husband is because somewhere along the line hubbie has put this dog in it’s place by not tollerating the behavior. So now in the dogs mind its a pack dominance struggle between him and you. And so far he has won. This is natural pack behavior and will continue untill you turn the tables on him. The next time he comes up behind you and tries to nip at you or (Herd you)? Stop,Turn and face him grab him by the side scruff of the neck and without hurting him forcefully push him to the floor and hold him there till he submits . You will know when he does because he will go limp and will stop struggling to get back to his feet. I know this may sound a little harsh to some folks but this is what accurs within a pack when dominance is astablished by a dominant member of the pack This does not hurt the dog but instead lets the dog know that this is not acceptible behavior.You must do this every time he behaves this way (Nipping,Jumping up and barking) or any dominant behavior. You may have to repeat this several times before he completely sees you as being above him in the pack latter ( as we call it). After awile he will stop displaying these dominant behaviors and see you as being above him in the pack. Also when you do the scruff push to the floor and after he has shown submission let him back to his feet and calmly praise him. This is to reward him for showing submission which he will see as a proper behavior and see this exercise as a possitive re-enforcement. But it is very important to get him in some obeidiance classes because it will build the bond you need to get the dog to see your commands as law in his instinctive pack mentality and he will enjoy the time when you and him get to participate in the classes. Dogs like yours need a job to do and they see the obeidiance drills as work and it gives them not only physical activity but also mental stimulation.And you will notice that every time you do obiediance drills with him he will be a more calm and pleasent dog to be around. Dogs like him that have drive but no outlet will act out by being obnoxious and or distructive because they are stressed. And activity such as O.B classes or other types of activity i.e Ball, Frisbee, or even daily 30 min walks. I realize that sometimes we all can have very busy lives and sometimes we wonder when we can get the time to properly train our pets. Don’t worry all you really need is MAYBE 15-30 min in the a.m and 20-30 min in the p.m and you will notice a big difference. Most important be CONSISTANT.
Good Luck.
You need to establish your place in the pack. Using your dog’s favourite treat, spend 15 minutes max. a day teaching him sit commands etc. He needs to know that you are the boss. Speak firmly to him (don’t shout), and when he complies give him the treat.
Sit command : Hold treat in your closed hand and put it to his nose. Raise your hand up still near his nose so that his head is looking upwards, say the sit command, gently encourage hind quarters down with other hand if neccessary then give the treat.
You mustn’t show nervousness…dogs detect this and see you as lower in rank. If he nips you, try not to react, just walk away and ignore him for a few minutes, he then learns nipping doesn’t get the desired reaction.
Make sure it is YOU who feeds him so that you become the one he is dependent on. Be consistent with this.
If he jumps up at you, turn your back on him and stand still so that he learns he gets no attention from this behaviour. When he has stopped jumping, softly praise him (Loud voices and overpraise can get some dogs excited and nippy).
Use the above method also if he jumps up on you when you first come home.
It is essential that you try to correct this behaviour now while he is still young enough otherwise you will have an unmanageable
dog who may really hurt you one day.
Remember consistency is the key.
Exercise is crucial otherwise you have a very frustrated dog on your hands. Can you pay someone to walk the dog during the day for you?
Would you be able to take him to a field and run off his energy before work?
While you are at work, leave a Kong for him, this is a strong rubber toy that you pack full of treats. I usually put wet dog food in the bottom of it then dry then wet. Pack it down really tight as this will make it harder for him to get. It willl give him something to do while you are out.
If you follow the above you should soon have a happy well adjusted dog who won’t ever nip at you again.