My dog is sweet and loving but he growls and bares his teeth if we ask him to move. He gets aggressive when we correct him. He hates people who wear caps or hoods. Advice?

Question

We have a Welsh Springer Spaniel who is three years old We are the dog?s third owners.

Cooper is basically a sweet loving dog, but definitely has some very defined aggressive characteristics.

1) He will growl and show his teeth if I ask him to get off something or move. If I continue, he will lunge at me until I walk away.

2) He will growl and show his teeth if he is sitting on a chair and my husband comes and tells him to move (same behavior as above).

3) He do the same when a good friend of mine came over to help me when I was sick, he wouldn?t let her in the room.

4) He barks when people get near the car and shows his teeth, he actually tries to get at them (even if we are in the car and tell him to stop.

5) He hates people that wear a hood or a cap.

6) He will stand against my daughter if she tries to correct him, she is no longer at home and wasn?t since we had Cooper but he has tried nipping her.

7) He is very very aggressive if we try to correct him while we are eating.

When I read your article, I was at wits end with him. After an incident with my husband, who totally uses a kind approach throughtout, he peed on the floor. The rest of the night he was very passive like he knew we were done.

A couple things I noted:

He sleep with me on my bed. I allow the dogs (have a little Westie also) to do this, my husband will not sleep with them. I will now kennel him.

We found t hat putting him behind a gate worked very well while we were eating, he just lays down.

Please let me know how you feel. I now understand the pack issue and it is very obvious Cooper wants to the be the pack leader. He goes on walks and is wonderful. He goes out and retrieves a ball with my husband all the time. He is terrified of the night. If he is let out he will just stay next to the house. Of course we have an outside kennel he normally is in without us being with him.

Thank you,
Barbara

Accepted Answer

You need to change the way you live with this dog. He would get NO privileges to be on furniture or to even be in a room off leash. He would wear a leash and dominant dog collar when he was not kenneled and if I couldn’t watch him then he would be in a crate. No more freedom for him. If you are worried about being bitten, then I would suggest a muzzle, we have directions on how to measure the dog on this page.

Make sure to get him a crate, not a baby gate.

Start with our groundwork program and Pack Structure for the Family Pet. I’d also recommend the DVD Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs.

We also have a number of ebooks, which include topics that may help you.

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