HELP! My puppy aggressively growls/ attacks/ bites

[Kate Denney]

My standard F1 goldendoodle puppy is 14 weeks old. 3 weeks ago she started growling if she was picked up and didn't want to be, occasionally when told 'no' or when you take something away from her. Our breeder told us to put her on her back in a 'submissive position' and hold her till she calms. This seemed to be working and we haven't had any issues in 3 weeks. We have also worked on 'claiming' things from her... To where she owns nothing and it's all ours... we let her have/play with it. This worked great! She would back down and sit until we gave it to her. Also, she's never and still isn't possessive over her food ... we can take it away or even pet her while she eats no problem.

Well yesterday we were at a friend's house and we tried to take a bone away from her. She angrily & aggressively barked/growled as we tried to approach her. We then pinned her down in the 'submissive position' as we have done in the past to calm her and show dominance. Once she was released she attacked us and not in the puppy biting kind of way. She actually cut up our hands pretty good drawing a lot of blood. We thought it might be an isolated incident since we where in unfamiliar territory. Unfortunately she did it again at home several times today. We off course didn't pin her down because we didn't want to be attacked again.

She goes on at least 2 long walks a day and has play dates with our neighbor's dog. She's also crated for atleast 2 hrs a day. She's usually a super sweet puppy until yesterday. Don't know what to do and hate being scared of a little 17 lb puppy. This has progressed from a growl and angry bark to a cujo style attack and her jaw won't let go! I've never experienced this with my dogs before June and they were male German Shepherds! Please help!!!!

[Kate Denney]

Also" 'touch' is brilliant! Took less than 5 mins to learn. At first she wanted to bite my hand, but quickly figured out that wouldn't get her a treat. She now taps my hand with her paw. :)

[Dawn]

Guinness really likes it -- we use it as a game sometimes.  I think in training classes, they may formally refer to it as hand targeting.  In class we would use it and never really connected the practical benefits -- like using it to get Guinness off the couch, which was such a huge issue with his aggression.  So simple and yet brilliant.  :)

[Linda And Loo]

One thing to remember if you put your puppy or dog in a submissive position it very important not to release them until they become totally submissive! Sometimes this can take awhile, several minutes! From your description of what happened, she had not completely relaxed and gone in a submissive state. By the way I have used the crate for time outs! Because the dogs feel safe in their crates, it can have a calming affect on your dog! When I get the vacuum cleaner out, my doodle goes to her crate and when I am finished she comes out and watches me put it away! My other dog I have to nudge to get her to move so I can vacuum her spot! Every dog is different! I hope you can find what works for you and your puppy! It is important that you remain consistent in your discipline! Good Luck!

[Kate Denney]

Thank you so much for your help! I think I am going to just abandon the submissive hold though. When we tried to do that she latched onto our hand and cut it up pretty bad.definitely don't want that to happen again!! I can tell it really scares her which just escalates the situation. The treats in exchange for the toy or bone seems to be working. I still don't know how to deal with situations where an object isn't the cause of the aggression.( ie: when we have to pull her away from jumping on the couch/ remove her from a certain spot or when we try to pick her up) I left her leash on today so that if this occurs I can pull her away.

[Darcy & Millie]

I think you've got some great advice already, but I would add to work on her resource guarding by hand-feeding her her meals for awhile.  Everyone in the family should join if possible.  From there, I would start to drop higher value treats into her bowl.  We had some issues with Millie with food guarding, but she's come leaps and bounds.  In fact when she's eating, she's constantly looking around waiting for the better treat.  We can put our hand right in her dish, and it doesn't phase her now because she sees it as a "good" thing.  It's amazing what treats can do for training!  In everything I have read, the submissive hold is not a good thing anymore at all, and outdated.  I'm glad you decided to stop that.  :)

Best of luck!  Millie made me a bit "nervous" when she was a young puppy too.  Now, she's 6 months old, and doing very well!  She's learned some great manners.  :)

[Kate Denney]

It's so good to hear that other people have delt with the same issue! We were starting to worry that our sweet furbaby was in a sense 'defective' and that we were going to have to spend a lot of money to try and fix this issue if it could even be fixed. I really didn't expect this behavior from this breed. Seems like something a pitbull or German shepherd would do. Did your baby growl sometimes when you tried to pick her up? Not that a growl is really a bad thing... she should be allowed to tell us when she wants to be left alone, I guess. She doesn't always do this. Thanks for your help!!!! :)

[Tammy and Violet]

Kate... the "defective" word was also what I thought about Violet.. she would show her teeth and stike out in a second to bite me ..and I mean bite me ..my last 2 puncture marks on my arm are almost gone been over 2 months .....coming here and chatting made me feel so much better ...I have to admit I was in tears more then once with her...I felt I am/was failing her :(...........it does get better at age one !

 

[Darcy & Millie]

Yes!  She sure did.  In fact, I came here to ask about it.  We just stopped picking her up basically, but I do still pick her up now (she's 46 pounds) when I need to put her on the grooming table, and she's fine.  I think she just got an attitude before.  I will say that once in awhile she will still growl,.....  I'm a worry-wart when it comes to any dog and aggression, and I feel pretty confident that she's going to be just fine.  :)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Others have given you good advice, but you need to pick up and put away those things she guards. Don't have things around (for now) that are so high value to her that she refuses to give them up. After you have worked on the problem, you can try those items again, one by one - giving and taking away.  Sometimes one of our dogs will growl at one of the others over a bone or nylabone. When that happens, we pick that item up and put it away for days or even weeks.  When the cousin dogs come to visit, I also pick up any toys that they tend to argue over.  My philosophy is why make it harder for the dog and yourself.