Growl/snap and incessant barking help needed
My parents' dog Abby is now4 or 5 months old and super cute (of course!). They say she's great 90% of the time, but 10% of the time she's the devil. They didn't experience this with their last sheepie so they don't quite know what to do. Basically, she growls/snaps when they grab her by her collar and she also does that slow motion thing. She also eats her food SUPER fast and is somewhat agressive while she eats. Their second problem is that she barks like mad a lot of the time. Especially when someone comes over. They are getting nervous around her, especially since she isn't always snappy or bitey, so they can't predict when it'll happen. She gets lots of exercise in the yard (r unning around, etc). I don't think she goes for many walks since my dad just had knee surgery. She's been to basic obedience training. They've tried hand feeding her kibble. They are woried about what she might do with the grandkids around and have contemplated returning her to the breeder, which is killing them to even think of that. So I told them I'd ask for help because her problems are ones that I see over and over here so i know people have lots of advice to give. BTW, they got her at 8 or 9 weeks old. She lived in an outdoor kennel with her litter and another litter born at the same time, so there were 17 puppies running around at the same time, so I was thinking that might have something to do with her food issues, although my dad said that they had food available all the time... |
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| i was going to say hand feed, but it doesn't always help with the resource guarding (and can be murder on your fingers with a puppy:) )
They sound ike they need a behaviorist or more training than puppy 101. |
| You could try, every time she is what you see as bad lock her in a room for say 10 minutes so that she becomes isolated and not the centre of attention, then let her back into company.
Try and be calm but firm, sounds like she is already becoming boss, you/they can't let that happen. The food should only be available for a long enough period for her to eat it up. Also the exercise issue could be part of it, think how human children behave when they are bored and have to much energy. |
| It seriously killed our fingers, as mentioned, but we handfed. It slows them down and stops the aggression. Not sure if they are doing this, but if they're making it obvious they are nervous around the dog ...it's only going to increase the behavior. I'm sure you know that though! We've always carried ourselves as alpha when Yuki was a puppy. Mr. J and I are very dominant individuals naturally, but the times we were unsure... we just held on super strong and confident. I think it's easy to do while they're puppies b/c you're a lot bigger than they are.
Anyway, Yuki is still and ALWAYS will be a super eater. We have to feed her 1/4th of a cup ...a few minutes a part at each meal. Really doesn't bother us. We also soak her food before giving it to her. They say that helps. The rock in the middle of the bowl trick never worked for her. She'd still eat too much (amount) and end up throwing it up 30 min. later. |
I hope they can keep their puppy.  I've been to obedience classes with a couple of my girls when they were puppies... they never covered resource guarding and steps to take to prevent it in the first place. It seems it would be a good thing to cover.
Abby needs to be taught that good things happen when humans approach her while she's eating. Below are a few ideas/articles that might help. http://www.raisingspot.com/behavioral_p ... ession.php Quote: Remove your dog's food bowl from the floor between meals. When he's hungry place the empty bowl on the floor. Once your dog realizes there's nothing in it, he will turn to you. Walk over to his dish, put a small amount of food in, then move a few feet away. When he finishes, go back and place another small amount in his bowl. Repeat this until your dog is finished eating, then remove his food bowl until the next meal. Here's another article- http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/resource-guarding http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/behavior.html#food Quote: A wonderful solution to this problem, suggested by Lisa Ochoa is as follows: Assuming that part of the reason the dog is growling is that it is guarding its resources, put down three bowls with the dog's meal split between the three. Have something irrisistibly yummy at hand: Hotdogs, bits of chicken, liver, etc. Put all three bowls down, and as the dog is eating out of one bowl, pick another up, add some of the treats to it, and put it back down again. Keep this up until all the food is eaten. This way you are teaching the dog that people are not a threat to its food, which is as it should be.
Good luck to them on finding a solution! |
| Are they grabbing her by the collar when she's eating or in other situations? Has she gone to puppy class already? I think I'd start there and bring the issue up with the trainer and see what they suggest after meeting her and better understanding the behavior. It seems very odd to me that she'd be stiffening and going all slow before biting when she's so young. You don't hear much about that kind of behavior in puppies. Well, at least I haven't. |
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