Puppy Aggression, Please Help!

**Prior posting didn't go through?**

Taylor's now 4 months old. He's not an aggressive breed, beagle/poodle mix.

He is good 85% of the time, but I have been noticing aggressive behavior in him lately. This behavior comes when he really wants something really bad. The other day, he found a chicken bone while we were taking a walk. I tried grabbing it from his mouth while saying, "No, drop it," and he lashed out at me. Thankfully, he didn't get my hand because I was holding him by the scuff. He did this again when he tried to pick up a half eaten peach from the ground. He is mostly fine when I ask him to drop paper/tissue/whatever else is on the ground. Please note, he is not aggressive over his food. I am able to reach in and pet him while he's eating at home.

He is currently attending a puppy class. Yesterday (week 2 of training), while I went to go use the ladies room at a pet store, he bit our trainer and actually broke skin! (Maybe this is a separation anxiety issue...). Anyways, we tried to teach him "leave it" with some toys and food. He went on growling and tried attacking my hand. My trainer did not look happy and asked me to work this at home.

Finally, at home, sometimes he would nip, growl, bark, and run like crazy man. I tried ignoring him...and sometimes it works. When I try to calm him down by asking him to sit, he runs away without doing the command.

Please help.... I am so discouraged that my trainer "sounded" like it was a lose/lose situation!

I would do a search on aggression, there have been a large number of posts on this. And lots of good advice given

Never take something high value (such as a chicken bone) away from him unless you're trading. I also don't agree with grabbing his scruff. He lashes out because he doesn't want you to take away his prize--and what do you do? Not only do you take it away, but you yell at him. Next time he's just going to be even more aggressive about it...

If he has something like that, trade him. Offer him the treat and as soon as he moves for it, take the bone and give him the treat instead.

What did your trainer do to instigate the bite? I have a feeling your trainer punished him in some way to elicit a strong response...

If your trainer says this is a "lose lose" situation and tells you to "work on aggression at home", then you need a better trainer. Are you willing to drop your current class for something more appropriate? If so, several of us could help you find a new trainer.

I agree with Herschel. Your trainer doesn't sound very good. What did she say you should do to work on aggression at home? Or did she just say, "work on it?" Good heavens! :yikes:

First of all, I don't see this as aggression, as in dominance aggression. I would call this defensiveness. The dog was provoked by actions which are aggressive to a dog's way of thinking. The humans (taking his bone and grabbing his scruff) were the aggressive ones. (even though it was unintentional) So, he responded the only way a dog knows how to respond when he has not been conditioned to these things. Dogs vary in their temperament. Some may not ever have a problem with that and some will have a problem with lesser offences. But, it's always a good idea to teach them our ways when they're young.

Grabbing the scruff or collar can be conditioned so that it is equated with a good thing. But until that happens, it is perceived often by a dog to be a very threatening move on your part.

Taking valued items from a dog who is not conditioned to it is also very threatening to their survival. (from a dog's point of view and instinct)

I can't believe some of the stories I hear about some trainers. It's scary. It seems like no one cares to acknowledge things from a dog's point of view. They only see things from a human's point of view. This is where ALL behavior "problems" arise, IMO. It's a real problem in our society.

Please note that I am not critisizing you. You didn't know. But, you can fix this.

Your dog is not abnormal. His behavior is dog behavior with the absense of proper training and handling. So, because of this, he has not learned the many things dogs need to learn to mesh with humans in our world, with our way of doing things. That's all. There's nothing wrong with him and I believe this can by fixed if you get the right kind of trainer and do some reading.

Here's a thread with a very similar situation. I recommend you read the whole thing slowly and carefully and repeat reading if needed.

http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57324

Ps...It doesn't matter what breed of dog we're talking about. Dogs all have teeth and they all are capable of biting. It's more important how they're handled and trained, their individual temperament and how compensations are made for certain temperaments. JMO.

Thank you so very much for your input! I did try trading, and it's working so far. I'm teaching him "drop it" by trading.

I'm not sure what trainer did while I was away.... But when she saw that he was showing aggression (when I was teaching him "leave it" with food), she shook her head and said, "I'm sorry; work on it at home." I've read in this thread that PetCo/PetSmart trainers are not the best....I'll try it out for the remainder and if Taylor doesn't improve, I'll ask for a better reference.

This is not the first dog I lived with, but very first one I had to train... I'm so glad you guys are knowledgeable about proper training! Thanks again, and I'm sure I'll have more questions!

I totally agree! And I'm glad the trading has been helping.

When I got PJ (at 7 months of age, and almost 90lbs), he had SERIOUS food aggression. Wanna talk about scary, having a 90lb "puppy" Rottweiler snarl and growl at you whenever you were within 15 feet of him with any kind of food! It took about 3 months of working diligently with him to get him out of it.

With food aggression, dogs get that way because they fear that whatever they have will be taken from them. So if they have something you want to get, you have to replace it with something equally valuable to them. Then they are more than willing to give up an item, because they know they'll be rewarded for doing so.

I'm glad you are getting a handle on this right away though. Food aggression is a serious issue, and you definately don't want it to escalate to the point my boy was at when I got him. It took me a few weeks to feel confident enough, and knowledgable enough in what I was trying to do to proceed and actually start trying things. It was probably stupid of me to try and handle alone without a behaviourist, but that was my choice, and thankfully it worked out and I didn't get myself bitten.