May 18, 2011
We have an 11 week old Cockapoo that is aggressive. A trainer told us that we should put the pup down or give him back to the breeder. What are your thoughts?
Full Question:
We have an 11 week old cockapoo that we picked up when he was 7 weeks. Early on he was showing signs of aggressive behavior, we didn't really think anything of it, just a playful puppy. Early this week the pup found a balloon and when my wife tried to get it out of his mouth he growled and bit her pretty hard, viciously. The next day he found a napkin on the floor. I tried to do the same and he really went after me and bit me very hard also.We called a trainer referred to us by our Vet. He gave the puppy a temperament test, he picked him up cuddled him and then put pressure between the paws, the dog growled and tried to bite him. He told us this was not normal for an 11 week old puppy, that he had inherited problems and that we should either put him down or return him to the breeder. He said this type of behavior is not trainable, and we have young kids.
We would just like a second opinion, what are your thoughts?
Thanks
Ed's Answer:
I recommend that you go to my web site and read the article I wrote on my Philosophy of Dog Training. I think you will get some good ideas there.
I have a saying that I tell people – it goes like this” Everyone has an opinion on how to train a dog – just ask you barber, your mailman and your neighbor” The problem is very few people have the experience to back up their opinions. This results in a lot of bad information being passed out So people like yourself need to figure out who has the experience to warrant listening to.
The trainer you talked to falls into this category.
I am writing a book right now on dealing with dominant and aggressive dogs. It will be out in a few months.
I have bred police dogs for 30 years – I have occasionally seen a puppy that needs to be taken down a notch – when they are this age this is not difficult to do. What it requires is to move foreword the dogs training – by that I mean start to do training that would normally not be done until the dog was older.
We start with marker training – you can read the article I wrote title TRAINING WITH MARKERS. This is only the beginning – the foundation really - it gives the dog some focus. This only takes a couple of days. In fact we have a new Corgi pup that’s doing a lot of what you are talking about and we have done this for 3 days.
In the beginning we will try and re-direct the pup when it gets guardy of an object. We will redirect to a different toy or a different place. If this does not work we will take the dog with two hands and grab both sides of the neck and jaws (se he cannot turn his head and bite) – we will pick him up so his feet are only a few inches off the ground. We will hold him there – look him directly in the eyes and say NO !! until he calms down. This establishes yourself as this dogs pack leader. Being a pack leader is key to getting a grip.
If this does not work I will move to the next step and use a dominant dog collar and a drag line. I have an article on the product page on how to use it.
Once the dog understands that every incident of aggression will result in a correction – with all this said you and your wife need to learn what prey drive is and this should not be considered aggression.
I would recommend you purchase the DVD I produced titled Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months.
I have owned and trained German Shepherds for 40 years. In the past 30 years I have bred over 340 litters of working bloodline German Shepherds. I give this video to all of my puppy customers and never get questions on how to raise a pup.
Read the description of the tape on my web site. Dog training is not rocket science its simple common sense ideas on how to handle and train a dog. The DVD has 2 ½ hours of training information.
You should also consider my 4 hour DVD on Basic Dog Obedience - The fact is you have way more to learn than your dog. I always recommend the handlers start studying this DVD right away even though you wont train a lot of the work until the pup is 4 to 6 months old.
This is all I can offer other than what’s on my web site. It's 5,000 pages.
I have a saying that I tell people – it goes like this” Everyone has an opinion on how to train a dog – just ask you barber, your mailman and your neighbor” The problem is very few people have the experience to back up their opinions. This results in a lot of bad information being passed out So people like yourself need to figure out who has the experience to warrant listening to.
The trainer you talked to falls into this category.
I am writing a book right now on dealing with dominant and aggressive dogs. It will be out in a few months.
I have bred police dogs for 30 years – I have occasionally seen a puppy that needs to be taken down a notch – when they are this age this is not difficult to do. What it requires is to move foreword the dogs training – by that I mean start to do training that would normally not be done until the dog was older.
We start with marker training – you can read the article I wrote title TRAINING WITH MARKERS. This is only the beginning – the foundation really - it gives the dog some focus. This only takes a couple of days. In fact we have a new Corgi pup that’s doing a lot of what you are talking about and we have done this for 3 days.
In the beginning we will try and re-direct the pup when it gets guardy of an object. We will redirect to a different toy or a different place. If this does not work we will take the dog with two hands and grab both sides of the neck and jaws (se he cannot turn his head and bite) – we will pick him up so his feet are only a few inches off the ground. We will hold him there – look him directly in the eyes and say NO !! until he calms down. This establishes yourself as this dogs pack leader. Being a pack leader is key to getting a grip.
If this does not work I will move to the next step and use a dominant dog collar and a drag line. I have an article on the product page on how to use it.
Once the dog understands that every incident of aggression will result in a correction – with all this said you and your wife need to learn what prey drive is and this should not be considered aggression.
I would recommend you purchase the DVD I produced titled Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months.
I have owned and trained German Shepherds for 40 years. In the past 30 years I have bred over 340 litters of working bloodline German Shepherds. I give this video to all of my puppy customers and never get questions on how to raise a pup.
Read the description of the tape on my web site. Dog training is not rocket science its simple common sense ideas on how to handle and train a dog. The DVD has 2 ½ hours of training information.
You should also consider my 4 hour DVD on Basic Dog Obedience - The fact is you have way more to learn than your dog. I always recommend the handlers start studying this DVD right away even though you wont train a lot of the work until the pup is 4 to 6 months old.
This is all I can offer other than what’s on my web site. It's 5,000 pages.
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