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!!!!

[Julie and Charlie]

She's 14 weeks old, you have plenty of time to turn yourselves around.

At this stage, I would be working on positive puppy training methods and managing the environment and her so that she cannot fail. I would "trade" her treats for toys or items- not trying to grab them away until she's well trained to "drop it." She shouldn't be allowed near things that you do not want her to have, or that you are unsure she's willing to give up for something better. It's also up to you to make sure that she doesn't go into "Kujo" territory- don't get her riled up past that point. Instead, put her in time out somewhere- crate, gated bathroom, etc.

If it were my dog, I wouldn't be trying to pin her down or put her in positions to show your "dominance." I am not sure that it actually has any impact other than creating a situation where she fights to get out of it.

That said, I would recommend finding a trainer that is willing to work with you.

[Kate Denney]

The problem is that you can't get close to her to put her in her crate when this occurs. And then we are torn because they say the crate is suppose to be her home, not punishment. We just started leaving her leash on today so that if that were to happen again we can 'grab' her without actually touching her. We have abandoned the dominance pinning since it just escalates the situation. We are gonna try the positive reenforcement/treats route since doodles aim to please. We are also working on mastering the 'leave it' command. If we can't get this to work we are going to seek outside help. Thank you so much for your help!!!!!

[Julie and Charlie]

I don't think crate time is punishment (some here may disagree). To me, it's like "go to your room" to help the parent calm down.

[Kate Denney]

Haha, very true! We will definitely try it!

[Kate Denney]

We have dropped the dominance pinning as this just escalates the situation. I've been working on the 'leave it' command all morning and so far no growling or aggressiveness! (Though this was with less desirable toys) I'm going to work my way up to more desirable things like bones. I will continue to do this with positive reinforcement/treats.

I'm home a lot so I have plenty of time to work with her. She's usually so good! We already know, sit, stay, lay down, shake, high five, speak, roll over, play dead and ring a bell to go potty. If this doesn't work I'm going to seek outside help. I've never encountered such an issue like this. Thanks for your advice!!!!! :)

[Pilar, Sophie & Rico]

Work with her on the leave it command and trade her toy/ bone for a treat. My Sophie can get very possessive of a toy and I'm the only one in the house that she'll drop it for. I warn everyone not to ever take it from her. Once I see that she's protecting something I walk up to her and stand there. She'll immediately drop it and then I have her walk away before I take it. She's a diva but with training they will learn to respect you. Please do tell everyone not to snatch things from her until she's trained. We want her to succeed and they are very smart and will.

[Gail and Bailey]

I recommend you join the Training Group and get advice from some of the DK members who have been here for a long time.  There are many who can give you great ideas.  Just post this same discussion in that group!  June is an adorable pup!

[Kate Denney]

Thank you! I found a discussion that covered this exact issue in the training group. Great idea! Hopefully it works!!!

[Dawn]

Hi Kate --

We had some aggression issues with Guinness, our mini Goldendoodle, who is now 1 year old. At the time, I was new to this website and posted in the general forum. If you search for a discussion I was involved in called Goldendoodle Aggression, you will get the discussion thread and posts on how we worked through it. Ultimately, it took a lot of patience, work with "can I have it" (trading a treat for what we needed to take from him), use of hand targeting to get him to move where we needed to while making it fun for him and, at least for me, learning to walk away from time to time to take a breath and diffuse the situation. I remember a having moment after Guinness bit me for maybe the fifth time where I felt like we would have to re-home him, but I am so glad we worked it through because now I cannot imagine life without him. As you will see in the discussion, we did end up working with a behaviorist to get through this, but hopefully you can get through it without that.

Hang in there and good luck!

Dawn

[Kate Denney]

I wasn't able to find your discussion when I searched for it. Ifnyou can find a link to it please share, id love to read it. It just seems so odd that these adorable teddy bear like dogs could be so aggressive! The more research I do the more I find out how common it actually is with this breed. Makes me feel better that we aren't the only ones dealing with this and that it can be corrected! Phew! Luckily she's a smart cookie and seems to be responding well to the positive treat approach. It will take lots of patience and practice to make sure she continues down this path!!

[Dawn]

I am not that good at navigating within the forum sometimes, but here is the full link . . .  Hopefully that will get you there.  If you scroll through, I had a lot of helpful comments and then posted some of our successes as Guinness got better.

 

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/goldendoodle-aggression?co...

 

 

[Kate Denney]

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you found my post and shared your story about Guinness. All the researching I had done didn't quite match the issues I was facing with June. It wasn't her food bowl and it wasn't just a toy. Basically if she really wanted it or didn't want to obey a command she would turn into a holy terror. And 95% of the time she is the sweetest puppy. Our stories are identical! You have given my hope that we can fix this! :)
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