Help...Need Reassurance about Doodle Growling/Snapping Behavior!

[Julie Mison]

Tonight we had a neighbor dog come over to play with Chewie. He is about 2 years old and Chewie is just over 4 months. Chewie is bigger than him and they played for a while and then the other dog kept taking Chewie's toys and this seemed to make Chewie upset. Chewie was barking and chasing him around and the other dog would growl at him. We finally separated them and Chewie started chewing on his lamb ear (which the other dog had just had) and was chewing and kinda growling a bit at the same time. The other dog was still in the house as well. Since he was kinda acting really possessive with the lamb ear, we decided to try to take it away from him which seemed to aggravate him. He proceeded to growl at us and then ran in the other room with it and try to get it further in his mouth. When we tried to take it away and correct him again he growled and tried to snap....this happened several times before we got it away and then picked him up (growl and snap again) and put him in his ex-pen to calm him down, We sent the other dog home and ignored him for a while.

Obviously, this is not acceptable behavior and made us upset. While he was growling and snapping at us...he really seemed aggravated rather than trying to "hurt" us. Still, I know we do NOT want him thinking this is ok at all.

He has done some of the growling/snapping thing on occasion when he is very tired at night and doesn't want to be picked up or when he was a brand new puppy with a new resource. This, on the other hand, was the worst it has ever been.

Clearly, we need to work with him and we are meeting with a trainer this coming week. I guess we are just looking for any input/advice/reassurance that you all might have! Would love to hear if any of your doods did this when they were pups and now are "just fine"!

Thanks in advance!

[Debbie and Thomas]

Our doodle growled at us and snapped when he was about the same age. On one of his walks he picked up some garbage. It was a food wrapping of some kind. He acted like a viscious beast when we tried to gt it from him. Growling, snapping and adamant that he was NOT giving up this tasty treasure. Well my husband was SO angry at this puppy-he would not talk, walk, or play with him for an entire day. He got advice to do this from a friend who has a 3 yr old dood and theirs did the exact same thing at 4 mths.old.. So, our doodle was in disgrace for 24 hrs. None of us played with him etc and then slowly started interaction with him. He has never done it again. Our trainer said it was ridiculous to think that a dog would understand this sort of punishment. Well he did and it worked. The trainer did say that this was normal behaviour for some dogs until we teach them that it is not acceptable in our world. I honestly don't think these doods, especially puppy doods have a mean bone in their cute little bodies. Your little guy was just protecting his lamb ear and the next time this happens he won't get so angry about it.. Good luck, Debbie

[Elizabeth]

Debbie- have heard on many occasions that to reestablish dominance over your dog, it is important to remember what a leader is in their world. From what I have read, the leader of the pack does not come over to the other dogs and shower it with attention, the leader lets all of the other dogs come to him. In fact, it ignores the other dogs unless there is a purpose for giving away it's attention. I have heard that by not speaking to the dog and ignoring it for a full 24-48 hours, it helps to reestablish the dogs place in the pack and you as a pack leader. (to accomplish this task- you basically have to put the dog on-leash when outside unless it comes automatically when you open the door. Also, you don't put the food down until the dog settles down and sits WITHOUT SPEAKING to the dog- so NO ATTENTION AT ALL) Then, for the next couple days you only give the dog attention after you ask it to do a command- especially putting them in a sit-stay. This may be why the dog was less aggressive after this technique- because it saw you as the leader. Just my two sense.

[Elizabeth]

From a humane society website- some of these techniques may be helpful. Don't worry, most bad behaviors in dogs can be corrected by adding more excercise and strong leadership and obedience training!
Trade and Reward
Training a young puppy is easy. Re-training an older dog is more difficult, but not impossible. Care must be taken with all dogs, so you do not encourage aggressive reactions and get bite.

Teach the game of fetch. You bring a toy and you get a treat. This will reinforce the idea that giving you a toy is fun and rewarding. Make it a game. Dogs love games.

If your dog is chewing on a favorite toy, interrupt with a loud noise and take the toy; pretend to chew on it and give it back. They will begin to understand that you do not steal toys permanently.

When your dog is eating; offer a real great treat, such as a piece of chicken. Pick up the food bowl and add a treat to the food bowl and return it. Your dog will learn quickly that you do not steal food, but add goodies.

What Not to Do
Do not attempt to grab a toy or rawhide or you may get bite. Do not punish. Punishment is usually counter-productive and encourages a possession aggressive response. Always give back the toy or replace it with a treat or better toy. If you always take away toys, your dog will believe he must protect its toys.

[Deirdre]

Don't worry Gus did the same thing. I had my daughter who does temparament evalutions for rescue pick out Gus for me. One night when I was on the phone with her (Gus 3 1/2 mnts old) I took a bone out of his mouth. He growled so loud it scared me! On the other end of the line my daughter said "What was that?. I said "Gus, I just took a bone out of his mouth!" She told me I may have to think about re-homing "What would he do with a child?" She came to visit the next weekend and it happened again. I was saying Leave It, Drop It! His growl I have to admit scared me. She was sitting on the couch and said " TAKE IT FROM HIM NOW!" And I did! He looked shocked that I'd do anything like that and I was shocked that I did! He really did scare me. I put him in his crate for a time out, think it was more for me then him, I was still shaking how could something so adorable and loving get the best of me? After his time out I brought him back into the room I had his bone in my hand and pretended that I WAS CHEWING IT. He sat there ever so confused. I'd pretend that I was chewing his bone then I would hold it and let him have a chew then back to me over and over again.......
Which led up to a bigger problem, now when I lite on the couch Gus comes over and tries to stick his bone in my mouth!
He just turned 2 years and he is one of the most loving dogs no aggression at all! But he was real scary in the beginning

[Kimberly Welsch]

Thank you for the reassuring story. We have a 3 and 1/2 year old male AL who is exhibiting some of the same behaviors. He has growled and snapped at the kids and our other 5 year old lab. We are working with him as we do not want the behavior to escalate.

We were concerned that he was going to be an aggressive dog.

This gives us hope!
Thanks.

[Laura & Chewie]

Thanks for all the reassuring responses...yes, Julie started this discussion, she's my daughter. Everything all of you have said makes so much sense. Normally Chewie is such a good boy. I guess the other dog (who he has played with many times) "stealing" all his toys sent him a little over the edge...LOL. I quite often take items out of his mouth and then give them back (unless it's something he shouldn't have). He usually will give a little warning growl as he suspects what I'm up to, but once I actually am in the process of taking it from him, he's fine...then sits patiently to get it back. I know how important it is to show him who the leader is and I don't think we are always as consistent as we need to be. I know I don't consider myself as good at training as I need to be. Looking forward to meeting with the trainer and getting lots of good tips to help us improve in this area

[Melissa, Samson & Shelby]

My doodle that just turned one has resource guarded a few high value treats against other dogs (not my other doodle), for example, a piece of birthday cake. I am reading a good book that was recommended on The Doodle Zoo called "Mine!" by Jean Donaldson. I purchased it on dogwise.com. Good luck!

[Elizabeth]

Julie,
Like some of the others have stated, many dogs that have occasional aggressive behaviors are actually perfectly wonderful dogs that are insecure about something or another. The fact that you are getting training fro your dog is a wonderful thing. Some dog owners blow these things off like "oh, it's normal for a dog to do that" Well, in certain situations I suppose it is normal. My Sophie NEVER guards her things. However, the last foster I had kept taking her toy- she let him,but after about 800 times she got ticked off and told him to knock it off. I think she gets frustrated that any toy she grabbed he took away. He definately respected her space after she told him what for!
The one thing I learned from a couple trainers I have talked to is that many dogs become aggressive in one way or another, but the problem is usually corrected with consistant leadership and training- but if left alone- the aggressiveness can get worse or move around to other situations. They say the dog learns that hey, this worked before so I'm gonna do that again because it got me what I wanted"
I have to work on leash aggression with Sophie. Something I can not stand is she get aggressive at times with other dogs on leash. That is really frustrating!!
Good luck and I hope you will share the technique you used to get rid of the behavior!

[Julie Mison]

Thanks for all the responses everyone. It is very reassuring and nice to have such an awesome Doodle Community so close by!

[Sessa]

Great advice already!
I'll just reiterate what has worked for me over the years....REMOVE, REPLACE, REWARD!

You can't expect to take something away, especially a treat or toy of high value, without getting a "huh, wait a minute, that's mine" response--its natural and we do it too! ;)
If I had the last container of ice cream in the world, and you tried to take it from me, guaranteed I would growl and defend as well!! LOL!! Now, if you showed me that you just wanted to exchange my cookies n' cream flavor for double chocolate---well then, I'd gladly relinquish the pint in fair trade!! LOL!!

So, how do you prevent the initial "that's mine" response---by building trust through leadership...but more concretely, through replacement, rewards, and big praise for following through....the moment you remove something from them, you replace it with something different followed by huge verbal praise for taking the new item...(for example, when you remove a high prize like a meaty bone, follow up by giving another high prize like a smaller chewable treat or perhaps a favorite toy)...
...it works out to something like this:
"huh, wait a minute, that's mine, why are you taking it?"
"oh wait, what's that?, is it for me?, can I have it?, really! oh joy oh joy oh joy!"
(the previous item has been neatly forgotten as attention is on the new thing)

I can't emphasize how easy this is and it truly builds trust between you and your doodle---they catch on to the fact that giving something up to you doesn't mean that they go without or lack in anyway....giving something up means getting something back again! ;)
Work on it regularly, with toys, with food, with anything (socks, paper towel rolls, reading glasses)...go over the routine in spurts of training sessions...just remember to keep exchanging items...

(p.s. this is also a key technique for working on the "drop it" command, along with a proper "retrieve)

I'll share that our Mija doodle growled once, and only once, at us---the first time she got a yummy meaty buffalo bone..I expected it and was ready just in case--it was too over-the-top good to share and she certainly did not want to give it up (she was about 5 months old at the time)...I corrected the response right away, grabbed the meaty bone away and replaced it instantly with a few chewable treats...huge praise like she won the lotto for taking the new treats...after a few minutes, I gave her a ball to play with, again big praise...then I asked for her to "give" and quickly exchanged the ball for the bone again...back around full circle to the bone again, just to repeat the process again in 5 minutes....it only took this first time for her to catch on and she's never resource guarded again with us, but, believe me---we STILL use the technique with her ANYWAY, even at age 3+, because we need to constantly re-enforce this trust and good faith of exchange....its just GOOD HABIT! ;)

GOOD LUCK!