Dominance Agrgession in to-be therapy dog?

[Dr Karen Hoving]

Bella is a tad over 6 months old.Since we joined a doodle play group-she has started growling (not biting)but sometimes she snarls and snaps. It happens out of now where. She's lying on the bed, I'll pat her and she's find. But then I pet her and she gets growly.

I want to train her to be a therapy dog for my patients. Clearly if this is a permanent thing I won't be able to use her. My daughter read an article saying that she has become the alpha/pack leader. They don't want us to let her on the bed or on the furniture. When working with patients sometimes she needs to get on the couch.

Is this common for puppies? We have trained her to sit, lie down, roll over, (stay is rough but we are working on it) and come. 

Should I just give her treats before any time we pet her? Has anyone else seen this in doodles? My other dog (Standard poodle- died 1 year ago) was naturally chill. Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Is playing rough with other doodles (mostly male, older ) a bad thing for a dog that is going to be a therapy dog?Again my prior dog had 2 dog mates. They had a huge yard, ran all over the the place for exercise but when a patient came she was still.

I'll look for a therapy doodle group- if not maybe I'll start one.

Thanks everyone

Karen and Bella...

[Diane D]

Had a cockapoo that started the exact same behavior. Wonderful dog up to about 18 months. One day was petting him on my lap and she starting the growling. From there he progressed to guarding objects, stealing and guarding socks and underwear, and eventually biting my grandson who went near her empty food dish. At that time I had never heard of an Alpha dog and the behavior. After that, we crated him whenever we had company. 

I would suggest you read everything you can about alpha dog behavior and start some of the suggested practices right away. Also, spend the money to have a dog behaviorist come and test her and make recommendations.

[Dr Karen Hoving]

Thank you,

I'll check that out asap.

Most of the time she is loving and kind. She is scared of children (But up until last week she had never seen any).My daughter took her to the park and sat with her at a safe distance. At first she seemed frightened and barked. But after a while she was wagging her tail and about 30 minutes later she wanted to see one of the kids. My daughter used treats to keep her calm-she was fine. She was on lead, wagging tail, let the child pet her. After a while the child gave her a treat (She is VERY gentle with eating treats-had a standard that was a bit aggressive with treat eating! But Bella is very  gentle).

Someone suggested that at times dogs don't want to be touched-so they growl. She hasn't bitten anyone and doesn't fuss if I take a toy, or food away from her. We have 2 cats- she wants to play (they wish she would just die LOL)but she is not aggressive at all. I think she thinks they are small dogs and doesn't understand why they won't chase her like the puppies in the park.

Thanks for the advice- to be honest, I don't think she is aggressive but I feel like the people here know more about this breed than I do.

Dr Karen and Bella

[Susan and Bentley]

My guy Bentley is very vocal, and has been since he was a puppy.  He "talks" to us a lot, but the "talk" is different than a growl.  Having said that, he doesn't always like to be picked up, even though he's a mini.  So if one of goes to pick him up, he will give a little growl letting us know he does not want to be picked up.  At other times he asks to be picked up.  I don't know if that is aggression or not, but according to my trainers, the growl is a good thing because he's warning us that he doesn't like something.  And that just because he's little, doesn't mean he likes to be picked up.  My trainer always says, you have to know your dog.  He is great with kids and people, but he does not like other dogs.  So we don't take him to dog parks, etc.  There are some neighborhood dogs he likes to walk with, but he does not like to play with any dogs.  And that's ok, he doesn't have to.  So I would still get a trainer to work with her, but I'd also listen to her when she lets you kjow she doesn't like something.

[Dr Karen Hoving]

Thanks. 

I have a friend with a doodle that is working with a trainer with a shock collar. Call me a woos but I'm not sure thats what I'm comfortable with. Partially bc as a psychologist I believe that positive reinforcement is better than punishment/negative. Am I wrong? When I had my standard many trainers told me standards had emotional issues with shock collars.

I agree- she growls and it seems to be at a certain time (when she's on the bed really focused on something outside). I'm not a trainer but I'm working with treats (ONLY when we have good behavior) and they seem to be helping. I am hoping to be able to afford a behavioral trainer- but if anyone has any thoughts please chime in. 

As I said I am hoping she'll be able to be an Animal Assistant Therapist-which is different from therapy pup bc she will be working with my patients, not at a hospital. BUT I cant have her growling. She's still young but I know I need to catch this asap. But if anyone has any more thoughts I'm up for it.

I'm hoping to hear back from a behavioral trainer in Denver. It looks like one on one training-don't know if thats better than group training...UGH so many questions

Karen and Bella