GROWLING
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| how old is your pup?
I start mine by taking snacks, the food away and giving it right back. that way they get to know they will not lose it. Its worked for me. I can take even bone away, then return it. |
| My very first suggestion would be to stop giving the pigs ear completely.
This is "resource guarding" behaviour. I do not know how to train a dog out of this, but you should simply avoid the problem completely by not giving the pig's ear anymore until you have the advice and help of someone a lot smarter than me. |
| HE'S 3 MONTHS OLD AND I HAVE NEVER HAD THIS PROBLEM BEFORE. |
That's great! Now's the time to nip it in the bud. 
Really, he won't miss the treat (although YOU will miss giving him the pleasure) and if it will avoid a potential issue until you know how to deal with it to prevent it from becoming the norm, I think it is the wise and prudent thing to do. I'm SURE others will jump in and give suggestions on how to train your dog away from this behavior. |
| THANK YOU.. NO MORE PIGS EARS.. |
| well first, I wouldn't give a three month old pup a pig's ear because of the fat and how messy they are - but that is my issue.
Yes it is a resource guarding behavior. try trading one treat for another, or as mentioned before practice taking a lower value treat away and then give it back. Some dogs outgrow this behavior, other's don't. Although I have yet to read it, THE book on the subject is said to be MINE! by Jean Donaldson. |
kerry wrote: well first, I wouldn't give a three month old pup a pig's ear because of the fat and how messy they are - but that is my issue.
Yes it is a resource guarding behavior. Try trading one treat for another, i.e. as mentioned before practice taking a lower value treat away and then give it back. Some dogs outgrow this behavior, other's don't. Although I have yet to read it, THE book on the subject is said to be MINE! by Jean Donaldson. Haven't read it either but I believe it is based on that whole notion of trading up. To begin with, resource guarding is pretty natural behavior in a dog. That doesn't mean it's acceptable in human society, because it's not. But growling at approach is the way a dog will typically signal another to back off. Add to that the petting him on the top of his head. Most humans -me too! - love to do this. Most dogs, on the other hand, actually don't much like it. Doesn't mean they don't have to learn to tolerate it - humans love this and they live with us so they're going to have to accept our peculiarities. But to them it is a rather dominant move. If you've ever watched two dogs posturing, you'll notice one will get very tall (often) and hover over the other dog's shoulders, head, whatever makes them "taller" than the other dog. It's considered rather rude except in play among dogs who have already accepted each other and some dogs will take it as a challenge. When I pet mine on the head - and I do, a lot - they will almost always duck their heads down a little (let's not get into my complusion to kiss them on the nose - I'm sure they all wish I'd get therapy!  ). In one of them you can almost hear her swearing at me as she moves away from me because she really HATES being petted this way. The others have all learned to tolerate it much better and want to be petted so badly they accept my little oddities in this way, but it's just not polite in dog society, so when you add petting him on the head WHILE he's eating something high value, you've easily convinced him you're up to no good.
Unfortunately for dogs since they have to live in "polite" society - ours - they have to learn to accept all the rude things (in canine parlance) we do to them with good grace. Dog society is different and mine will sometimes softly growl a warning to another when something particularly high value is at stake when they see a pack mate approaching. The other dog gets the message, backs off, the first dog continues to enjoy whatever, conflict avoided and all is well in the world. Most dog interaction is aimed at avoiding conflict. Even with us they try to do this. Your "polite" (from a dog's perspective) response to him telling you to leave him alone with his piggie would have been to do just that. But you're not a dog and he's going to have to accept that since that's NOT how it works in our world. So we have to teach them that they are going to have to tolerate the weird human taking things from them without protest. I start teaching this in the whelping box with toys just by asking them to give me something ('ask' is a relative term - they have no option, they will be giving it to me) and then immediately giving them something else and even better. And then I'd do the same with treats, bones whatever. That way me taking things from them becomes a non-issue. If a dog of mine ever growled at me for any reason I'd probably keel over in shock. That said, you can work on this at any age, but you need to start low value. Something he really doesn't care THAT much about, so whatever you give him is going to seem like a good deal to him!! In a puppy his age, it shouldn't be hard to train. In a seven year old dog for whom protecting what he cherishes has worked well for him all that time, you're going to be met with a lot more resistance to changing his ways.  If it's a dog who also has low bite inhibition, then your time is probably better spent on management ("you don't get this", "you can't have this here", that kind of thing).
I probably wouldn't give a pig's ear to a puppy that young either. So much fat. My adults love them. One of their all time favorite things and more likely to elicit a growl to another than probably anything else. Work on him now and I bet you'll be able to resume giving him these gross things in the future
Another thing you can do (in addition to getting Jean's book, which is supposed to be excellent) is to hand feed him. You don't have to feed him his entire meal, but I'd sit down on a chair with his bowl and feed him parts of it. Ideally while asking him for a sit or a down or whatever it is you may have started working on a little bit (a trick, perhaps?) Then after a few mouthfuls you put it down and let him eat. If you feed him raw by chance, pick some part of his meal he likes a lot but can eat rather quickly. To prevent any resource guarding of his bowl ("if it works to get me my pig's ear, it may work to protect my food or my...") select a few small delectable treats and after you've put the bowl down make a habit of you and anyone else in the house casually passing by every now and then and tossing something good in there. That way a person's approach gets paired with something good instead of the potential threat of losing something he really wants. Some dogs take resource guarding to even higher levels and will guard other "resources" they cherish such as nice places to sleep (sofas and human beds can be highly valued) and even their person. For the former, you decide what you will tolerate in terms of furniture. Some people NEVER want their dog on any furniture and the best way to prevent that is to never let them on it. One simple way to avoid getting into a tussle if Fluffy nonetheless gets up on some off limits piece of furniture - I do this with foster dogs I don't know well - is to toss a toy or a treat on the floor as you command "off" (or whatever). Caveat: dogs are little opportunists. You try not to make a habit of this because it takes them very few reps to learn that precisely by getting on the furniture, they can get you to produce a cookie or a toy  So this can actually make them MORE inclined to jump up on furniture. It is best used in an extreme situation with a dog who might be provoked by you telling them off and physically making them do so. After that, you pretty much have to bar access - much like Ron's suggestion of getting rid of the pig ears all together - i.e. you manage the situation so as to prevent conflict.
A three month old puppy is probably just testing his limits and so if you very calmly but assertively let him know what the limits are, he should be able to grasp that pretty quickly. Kristine |
| THANKS GUYS FOR ALL YOUR ADVICE ITS MY FIRST OES. |
| Excellent comprehensive advice, Kristine! |
| guys if growling wasn't enough he started trying to hump my leg he's only 3 months :?: . |
HAMILLA wrote: guys if growling wasn't enough he started trying to hump my leg he's only 3 months
 .Oh!  Rude dog!!!!
If I dog ever tried this with me...   I'd tell him to knock it off in my lowest, growliest no-nonsense voice as I got right in his face till he abandoned this pursuit and then I'd walk away till he could play in a civilized manner.
My three year olds will do this to each other. All siblings, one my neutered chowderhead male. They're establishing rank. Well, the girls are establishing rank. The boy sometimes gets excited and decides to hump his sisters just for kicks. What can I say? He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer considering the necessary equipment was removed almost two years ago.
At obedience class the other night we were working on figure eights with people being the posts and our dogs sitting in heel position. A friend's rescue OES who has stayed with me now and again and is sort of an extension of my pack was working and I was calling the exercise while doubling as post when I noticed she had ceased forward momentum so I called: "continue forward as soon as soon as you get your dog to stop humping my dog!" Fortunately Sybil could care less 
Dogs may be dogs, but, again, he seems a bit unclear on how different rules apply to the dog-human relationship. He does sound like the kind of dog who may just keep pushing the limit every chance he gets. If he was mine I'd make him work his fuzzy behind off to earn every little liberty. What a brat! 
Kristine |
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