Goldendoodle Aggression

[Dawn]

I am new to the community and am starting another discussion on Goldendoodle aggression.  I saw a string from 2008 (posted by another Dawn :)), but wanted to start anew and with a different premise (the prior string asked whether to get a Goldendoodle -- we have one and need to fix a behavior). 

Our Goldendoodle, Guinness, is almost 7 months old.  He is usually very sweet, but whenever he has to do something he doesn't want to do or give up something he wants to hold onto, he growls.  If it goes to the next level, and he is forced to do something or give up something (for example, I might pick him up to take him to his crate or pull him away from the mud puddle he wants to jump in or take away the pine cone that he is about to swallow), he mouths or bites.  I have been bitten 3 times where he has punctured my skin.  The biting behavior has definitely been directed at me rather than my husband, but the growling has been directed at both of us.  In public, Guinness is a bouncy, floppy, people-loving dog, so I am not worried about him biting anyone when we are out and about.  The behavior definitely rears its ugly head when we are in the house or out alone.

We are looking into having an in-home behavioral specialist come to our house, but any thoughts from this community would be welcomed.  We do not have kids yet, but hope to in the future, so I want to stop this behavior before it becomes a real problem.

Thanks,

Dawn

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

That's good news!

[Jill, Woody & Maxi]

So glad to hear you are working on things in the meantime..thank you for updating us, and please let us know how things go once you meet with the trainer.

[Nikki]

How is everything going now? I'm having these issues with my 4 month old. Snaps and barks at us if he's doing something and doesn't want. To be bothered. We are working with a trainer but want to know if there is hope or if we are better off giving him back to the breeder now. Also, what is the purpose of the touch game? Not sure I understand how it's used to help here. Thanks so much.

[Amy and Annabelle]

I see Dawn the original poster of this discussion is no longer a DK member. I think with training there is hope. I had a private trainer come to the house until Annabelle was 6 months. Then we put her in several training classes. She is 1.5 years old now and I still work with training her a couple of times a week, so she doesn't forget her manners. She is a wonderful dog now. Although she has my husband wrapped around her paw. She will do things with him that she wouldn't think of doing around me. My husband is a pushover when it comes to her. If he has food, she just works her charm and before you know it, the hubs is sharing his plate with her.

[Wynnie & Jim]

Nikki, there is hope. Wynnie was a guarder between the ages of 6 and 8 months. We were really frustrated and sought the help of a trainer. We were patient and worked hard with Wynnie and by her 1st birthday, she had passed the Canine Good Citizen test. She now is the sweetest dog ever.

The suggestions that were given in this 2013 post to cure guarding are spot on.The "drop it" and "leave it" commands are essential. As for "touch," I use that command to get Wynnie's attention when I want her to come to me and as a way to have her follow my hand in Agility training. Work with your trainer and be persistent, patient and consistent. A good outcome is just around the corner.

[Nikki]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply I'm working on it so much daily but it's hard for me to understand why he's doing it. I guess he "guarding" whatever he's doing at the time when he has the crazies. He attacked a dog in puppy play group over a toy but does so great in day care. One second I tell myself he'll be fine and the next second I'm thinking of giving him back. I'm especially sensitive because we had a 3 yo golden we had to rehome due to biting kids. Again I really appreciate your help. Nikki

[Wynnie & Jim]

Nikki, don't be discouraged. Breaking a bad habit does not happen overnight. Be patient and keep working on the tips given by the trainer.

Use whatever item that your pup values highly. Stay 10 feet away, then toss a treat. See if he leaves it for the treat. Repeat the procedure, 5 or 6 times, then stop. Next day, move closer, repeat. A day or two later, toss another high value toy instead if the treat.....repeat. Move closer...keep the procedure up until he is willing to swap the high value toy for a treat or a toy with you close to him. This may take weeks. Make it a game....then try the "leave it" or "drop it"command with a treat. Eventually, the habit will go away. A final word, these are just things that worked for me. The trainer is much more experienced than me....so trust his or her instructions.

[Dawn]

As a follow-up, we have had two in-home sessions and things are great.  Guinness is doing well, and we have had no further biting incidents. 

Here is a review of our facts: Guinness had bitten me 4 times and our dog walker once.  In all cases with me, it was because I was either (1) trying to move him when he did not want to be moved (he likes to snuggle into a corner of the couch) or (2) I was trying to take something away from him.  Our dog walker tried to move him off the bed when he jumped up on it while she was there.  The remedies that have worked are listed below.  Many seem so obvious now, but everything came from the trainer once she observed Guinness in our home other than the first one, which we had already been working on.

-  working hard on "can I have it" and exchanging something else for the thing I need from him

-  using the "touch" game to move him -- we learned "touch" in our group training classes at the local Humane Society, but never caught onto the practical use until the in-home trainer showed us -- Guinness loves playing "touch," so he is pretty much always willing to "touch" no matter how snuggled into the couch he may be

-  stepping away from a situation and lowering my voice -- when Guinness began to growl or snarl at me, I would get stressed out and elevate my voice or use body language that he found threatening -- while it has not come up, I understand now to walk away and cool off for a moment and then to speak to Guinness in a fun, sing-song voice -- he responds well to this

-  making things more fun -- using a toy or treat to move Guinness if "touc"h isn't working

-  using his leash to encourage him to move -- using the leash in the house seemed foreign to me, but it works too

-  making sure he is getting more exercise -- Guinness had a foot injury when some of his aggression was going on, so we could not take him for walks of any real distrance, this of course made things worse because he was frustrated and had so much energy -- to compensate, we bought some toys that require him to use his brain -- one thing that has worked wonderfully is to put his food in this orange pyramid-looking thing and he then has to roll it around to get food out -- he loves it, and even when we don't have time to walk far or he cannot walk far with his foot issue, the use of his brain tires him out and calms him down.

 

[Dawn]

Sure.  The Humane Society introduced it as a sort of game you could play with your puppy to get some energy out, but the practical effects are great.  Frankly, Guinness responds to "touch" faster than "come," so sometimes I use if for that purpose too.

 

The goal is to get the dog to "touch" your hand, so to start it out you have a treat in your hand and kinda nose bop them and say "touch."  Dog gets the treat.  Repeat  and repeat and dog will start to understand that "touch" means touch my hand and you get a treat.  Once the dog gets it, you can do it even without a treat or a treat only so often.  To get him to really like it, we made it fun and would shuffle to the right a few steps, "touch," shuffle to the left, "touch," etc.  It sounds silly, but I have found that I can do side lunges in the living room with this game -- lunge right, touch and then lunge left touch and he follows me back and forth.  At this point, he enjoys it for the sake of it, and it works pretty much all the time without a treat, but in the begining there were a lot of treats. 

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

Great job with Guinness, he's lucky to have a family that will dedicate themselves so fully.  Job well done, doodlemom!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

It is so nice to read about your great progress with Guinness.

[Bonnie and Kona]

This is all so positive! Thank you so much for posting. Many of us will benefit from your training experiences.