Sweet Puppy to Aggressive Psycho - Need Some Help Because Not Sure I Can Do This On My Own

[Ang Onorato]

Hi -

I brought home a 10 week old Goldendoodle on 12/30/12, she is now 17 weeks.   My friend got her "cousin" (different parents) from the same breeder and so far has had a very different experience than I have had.  Nikka is just a gorgeous dog.  Super snuggly but from the first few days and weeks I got her, a very very alpha / dominate / aggressive side has also come out in her.    This is a problem for me for many reasons:

First, because I am single and have a very demanding job and often have to travel, so I have an "army" of caretakers.  I have an overnight house sitter, a day dog walker, my sisters and parents who also help and a neighbor when needed.  I lost my 11 year old BFF pup last April and was able to travel etc with no issues b/c I had all this help but my old dog was also so easy with other dogs, cats, kids, seniors (my parents etc). 

I have taken on a huge financial commitment which I was prepared to do in order to help "build" the new puppy and give her everything she needs to learn and grow - yet be a safe and obedient family member.  I have installed a fence in my back yard, we go to puppy classes and I have a private in home trainer as well.  She goes to day care  2-3 days a week for socialization and loves it!  She does well there.

However, she has had numerous issues going after my sister and friend's dogs, a few dogs at the dog park, lunging and growling and has become extremely aggressive at times with me, my mom - and even the dog trainer, when we attempt to make her "drop it" and take something out of her mouth that she can not have.  I work to train her daily - 100s of time now since I got her to open her mouth, let me put my hands in her mouth etc.. but every once in awhile on a walk she will grab something - often harmful - that I try to take from her and she has gone ape sh&t on me!!!  She runs after me in the house often lunging and biting hard at the back of my legs - not just puppy playing either. I know the difference! 

She growls, shows her teeth, tightens her body, her eyes get crazy, she barks, lunges, bites, grabs on to my cuff of my jacket and wont let go.  She did it 3x to my mom last weekend when my mom was watching her when I had to go away and it really scared my mom!  Mom did what I told her to do - and what the trainer/breeder also advised to do.  Put her in a sit/down - even on her side, be very stern but calm with her, held her until she looks away passively. 

The biggest issues is the unpredictabliity of when she is going to snap at a person or another dog. She had been fine with my cat and now is loud and chasing him semi-aggressively when the cat tries to come downstairs. Now the cat wont go to the basement via his cat door to use the litter box and is going in my bathroom - so now I have a secondary problem resulting from Nikka's bad behavior. 

 It is like she is developing toy, treat and space resource guarding.. EVEN THOUGH I work every day to have her let me take her food, her treats etc. She has never had a guarding issue with humans but with dogs/cats etc. 

My friend's puppy is only a week older and has NEVER had any of these issues outside of normal puppy nipping/teething etc.   So I have been in tears on more than many occassions b/c I dont know what is "wrong" with my dog.  We can't even go to the dog park any more or around my friend's dog.  I have learned their may be some issue she just is not good around and I can make accomodations for that - some of  the little dogs bug her and its not her fault - so I recognize its not all her. But the very very aggressive "attacking' at me and others when removing something from her mouth - or her sudden turn on other dogs when playing is a big concern for me.  I have had the vet check out everything and I am keen to make sure she is not getting TOO much play time and just getting tired and cranky. 

I do not let her on the furniture yet so she can't think she is alpha, I work daily at training to make sure she knows all basic commands (she does) and we work on the alpha things like "leave it, drop it" etc when others things/distractions are around.

Basically I am doing EVERYTHING I can do  - at great cost, time and stress levels.   The problem is.. with her having issues with my sisters' dogs at the  moment, being aggressive with my 70 yr old mom - I hinders where and what I can do when I have to leave her.. and is a major issue especially with my job.  I have lots of help.. but at the moment - very few options b/c its unpredictable what she is going to do. I had to actually board her 2 nights last week b/c she was so agressive on the one day with my mom.  A few days later though..she was a dream for 4 days!!!!

My breeder says "some females are alpha but I have never had an  aggressive dog in 30 years.." Yeah Ok....

I was reading the other posts here and read some folks have experienced the same things - esp between the ages of 10-20 weeks. Which gave me SOME HOPE!!     I am HOPING she will grow out of this.. but if not.. and if she is this difficult and alpha and unpredictable - I may not be able to continue to provide her all the 24x7 strict training and etc she will need.  I only have 2 hands and 1 wallet and I am running out of options .. and time, energy and money. I can't conceive of finding a new home for her - but maybe a family that has more people to work harder with her is best, because at the moment I am just a huge stress ball and its effecting my job very bad, which I can't afford to get in trouble or lost my job ..b/c I KNOW what an awesome dog she is. She is SO smart and adorable and cuddly.. but I am at my wits end.

She has some great days in a row and then 1 or 2 horrible ones!  It IS getting better, I just dont' know how much more I can do on my own.  I just need some help...or some future reassurance this dog WILL grow out of it and I have not just adopted Cujo!!????

Any help is GREATLY appreciated!

 

P.S. I live in Philly so if there are any local folks who may be able to connect, I would love to meet some local Doodle owners too!

 

Thank you,

Angie

 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I'm right there with you RJ....let's wait till we hopefully get a bit more info on what training has been done to date.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Thanks. I am so happy she is asking for EARLY intervention.  I, did not believe it and I waited several months too long. 

I made up every excuse: She is a rescue. She will get used to this soon.  She needs more cookies. I just wished I had made a difference just a few months earlier.

That is all I am hoping for here. 

If anyone is ever told this by a trainer or a vet, don't wait. Start early and often  :)

[Star and Goldie]

Angie I can't relate to your situation but I can tell you that with Joanne and Jane teaming up to help you through this you are in GREAT hands!  Best of luck to you and from what I'm seeing you are one committed Momma! You will get through this. Don't give up on your pup. She wants to succeed just as much as you want her to :)

[Donna K & Quincy]

I, like Joanne am trying to figure out it this is just a normal puppy thing. My doodle when he was a puppy acted very much the same way at times that you are describing. I was a new dog owner and at times he even scared me a little. I had more clothing with holes in it from the puppy grabbing on. He would sneak up behind me and nip at my butt and he sounded quite scary at times. He did grow out of it and became a very mellow laid back puppy, so much so than people often thought he was older because he was so well behaved. He was never a problem with taking things from him so I have no advice there. Do you use a crate, if so, when she starts getting wound up and out of control I would put her in her crate to calm down. 

I did some umbilical training with him and would set up an obstacle course with chairs and what not and he would have to follow me wherever I went. Another thing I used to do when he was acting up was put a leash on him and tether him to something and it was like magic, the instant the leash went on he calmed down immediately. I think it helped that I was the only one doing the training so the puppy wasn't getting any mixed messages. 

I would like to suggest that you try a different trainer and in the meantime start practicing the nothing in life is free. Make her wait until you give the command to eat and possibly feed her the first few bits by hand. Anytime I gave her a toy I would only let her take it when you give the ok.

You may need to write down your rules and instructions and have anyone caring for her do exactly the same thing that you do. Your puppy is still quite young and this may go on for awhile yet, so lots of patience and consistency will be the key.

Good luck with your training and we are here to help. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Luca also became wild as a pup and nipped me a lot. I had no clue. But taking things from him was not a problem as I recall. It took me a while to work it out. Crating and/or leashing him to the doorknob worked magic. He would calm down, have a nap and be transformed.

[Ang Onorato]

Awesome thank you! Great to know your pup grew out of it... Nikka is showing much improvement and its my hope that she will grow out of it too. Yes, she is great in her crate and I give her short time outs - not punishments - or the leash on a door knob as a time out when needed. She calms immediately. So great thought! I like your obstacle course idea, even for just more and better leash training. Thank you SO much!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I can't really speak to what you are going through, because I consider what our Fudge did as a puppy to be normal puppy biting/nipping, but there were many times when she was at her worst that she was really tired. I found that by putting her in her crate or up on our bed calmed her down and many times she fell asleep. The puppy biting is exhausting and many times those times outs were to save my sanity as well. I never found that time outs made her hate her crate. I can tell you that Joanne and Jane know exactly what you are dealing with and the training group would be a great place for additional advice. This is probably totally out there in left field, but the one thing that tires my dogs out more than anything is swimming. I know our daycare has a pool that can be rented and they swim in the lake every day in the summer and it is wonderful when we get home :) Good luck!

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Hang in there Ang- sounds like the forum comments are finally headed in the right direction with the more recent posts.  I guess this is like any opinion sharing forum- some points of view and advice have to be filtered and others are spot on.  

On a selfish note-you make me sooooo grateful I have a very mellow doodle.  My husband just commented the other night that he would let me do anything to him ( the dog would, lol, not the DH).  

I think we will see a post down the road sharing with us that all your hard work has paid off!   

[Ang Onorato]

Thank you!  As I replied to someone above.. I think my post above was written in a moment I was just at my wit's end and exhausted.. from everything in life including my pup.  The reality is she not a bad dog or a problem child.. she is almost always good.. its the random, unpredictable, and sudden shifts that are so confusing.. BECAUSE she is so awesome.     I am very hopeful it is just a phase..and I am seeing evidence every day that she is getting more and more mature and chilling out. 

In fact, a daycare yesterday they told me she is most well behaved Doodle there - even against all the adults. Said she is the most obedient and sweet of them all!  So THAT made my whole month!!!  I think we are going to be fine.. I just needed to know if others have the same issue in the puppy time... it is SO confusing and exhausting.. but I believe in my heart the next 15 yrs together we will be great!

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Nice to hear the good news Ang!   Hang in there, as they grow it gets better and better:)  At times when Libby was young, I felt like, "whoa, what did we get ourselves into" but now she is a mellow, lovable, good little (well, maybe not little, but she is always our little girl) Doodle!