We just brought home a 5 yr old female lab from a rescue. Her foster parents and previous owners both said that she was very laid back with no signs of aggression. Today I heard a thud and found her in the kitchen trash, so I said "No Maggie!" and tried to take the empty raisin box from her mouth. She growled and showed her teeth, so I backed off, and in a calmer voice said "Maggie, that's bad. Drop the box." and reached out to her. She growled and showed her teeth again! What do I do? I can't have an agressive dog in a home with two small children. Should I return her or will this pass?
Answers:
i would go to a trainer right away. no it wont pass... that is not a good thing. look in your area and try and find a trainer near you. and i would also recomend finding one that does a softer training. to many people thing force is the answer, but it can make the dog worse and if she's a 5 year old lab you dont want to make it worse. it can be fixed. almost any problem can be fixed, in time. i would recomend going to siruispuppy.com and looking in on the behavior phapletts. and also would try getting dr. Ian Dunbar's 2 books. Before you get your puppy and After you get your puppy. both should hopefully help. also it could be a good time to teach your kids some to. im not saying there horrible but just like humans kids need to be taught what they can and cant do. if you need help you can email me at Kitdragon2000@yahoo.com i can try and help.
my dog isnt agressive at all and he growled at me when i found a chicken carcass in his mouth. after he finally dropped it i punshed him with a good BAD BOY! keep garbage away from her and all will be fine. she found it so she thinks its hers.
She's probably just afraid being in a new environment. She also could be testing whether you are dominent or submissive in the "pack". Don't back off when she shows her teeth, or she'll think you're a lower place in the pack. I'd give it more time.
P.s that's really commendable that you rescued the dog. Don't worry I think it will work out.
Also look for signs of illness, sometimes dogs are more aggressive when ill but i think this is just a case of finding her limits.
she might be only food aggressive. meaning, she could have been starved before she was rescued so she is now very protective of anything she considers to be food. try spritzing her with a little water, or banging pans together to startle her. that will cause her to associate uncomfortable or loud scary things with digging in the trash. i wouldn't try taking it from her. if you want to test the food aggression, give her a bowl of food and see if she'll let you touch her/pet her or even take the bowl away. if she does, she's not food aggressive, if she tenses or flinches or even nips at you then you just need to be aware that you can't get in her space when food is involved. maybe she considered it a toy. my dog loves playing keep away, she is selfish of her toy, but since it's hers we don't try to take it, so you could try getting her a toy that is just for her and nobody messes with it.
That's aggression that you have to stop. If you can't watch the Dog Whisperer, check his site: http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com...
You need to reassert your alpha role:
First of all you need to make sure that you do not allow your dog to come onto your bed, your couch or any other elevated position. Elevated positions must be reserved for the Alpha dog. Also you must never allow your dog to run ahead of you through a doorway. You need to show your dog that you go first and he goes second. Another good way to establish yourself as the leader, is to make sure your dog performs a trick or command before you give a reward for praise. A good example is that your dog must sit on command before you will put his food down, and then give a command that allows him to eat. When you get home, don't go to him, let him come to you.
This behaviour can be modified with a little determination. Then both of you are happy, but no reason to take her back just for this. This is not a viscious dog.
She wanted food. I would have said and pointed to her food bowl and said here you go some food. stay out of the garbage.OK girl. she has to know your in charge ,talk with a firm voice say no growling bad girl. I wish you all the luck...
Did the rescue evaluate her for food aggression? That's what this sounds like. You can still keep her with this, just make sure your kids never try to touch her food and start working with her on this problem. First of all, don't leave her food out for her, feed her on your schedule and if she leaves some food uneaten, pick it up and save it for later. second of all, get a broomstick or something and whenever you give her her dog food, let her eat for a bit, then pull the food away with the stick, praise her when she lets you take it, and when she growls or shows aggression, tell her "Aught!" (I think that works better than "No" because it sounds more like what a dog would say to scold another dog) If you do this for a while, eventually she'll learn that you're not going to starve her.
Good luck!
No, it will not pass. Get the dog back to wherever she came from. That is the problem with rescues, pounds, etc. You have no idea what the dogs are doing there. Most of them end up in these places for behavior problems, regardless of what others will tell you. No one gets rid of a perfectly good dog. If they really have to, they will sell it.
Get the dog out of the house with small kids, please. Kids first, always...
I would return her, if your afraid then how would your kids feel if they came upon her then? scared.
Ive had the same thing happen to me with my 10 year old god the dog is just trying to protect her territory you have to make it shown that the garbage can (toilet, bed couch etc etc) it your territory
she is new in your pack. You need to establish the ranking. Get her trained now!
Do not let her growl at your children or at you. This is not acceptable, but give her a second chance, she's just got adopted, and need to know the new rules, the new boundaries etc.
I adopted all my 5 dogs and I trained each single one once I adopted them and I have 2 boys.
One of my dogs growled at one of my boys once but she did not do it twice.
DO the training with the family. No just you. You should have sessions with you, and you should have training sessions with the family as well.
Good luck!
It will not pass, this must be dealt with.
It could be a number of things, from fear of being punished for stealing, to resource guarding, to testing you. It is unfortunate that she was able to win this round, now she knows that growling and showing her teeth will intimidate you and allow her to get her way or "protect" her from punishment.
The first thing I would do is call the rescue and see what they have to say. If you want to keep the dog, I would suggest obedience class with an experienced trainer and that you start Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF).
http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm
http://www.goof.com/~pmurphy/nilif.html...
There are also some very good articles on dog behavior here:
http://www.flyingdogpress.com/artlibreg.
Maggie is a resource guarder. Google "resource guarding in dogs" and you'll soon understand how complex this issue is. Maggie would be better suited in a home with no children and only with adults who are very dog saavy. This behavior will not improve without behavior modification training.
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