My 10 month old labs are fear biters. I want to make them therapy dogs, what can I do?

Question

I have a 10-month-old Beagle puppy. I got the dog from the SPCA when she was two to three months old. She is a terrific dog, very friendly with all people and other animals. I have trained her and although stubborn she responds very well and listens. My question - I have seen her on three occasions since owning her become somewhat aggressive and always under similar circumstances. Each time it involved her finding some candy or sweets and attempting to eat it. The first time she had a piece of taffy in her mouth and I attempted to get it out of her mouth. She growled as I was removing it and I had to force her mouth open to get it away from her. She calmed down immediately. The second time she had a piece of candy and ran and went under a bed. She growled when I pulled her out from under the bed and removed the candy. The third time was the other night and she had some candy and went under the bed again. I pulled her out and she snapped at me and seemed to be in some sort of frenzy. She had eaten the candy and all that I found was the box. I put her in the back yard. Her eyes seemed glazed. Once I put her in the back yard she calmed down and cowered and seemed almost embarrassed as she came to my side with her ears back, head down and cuddled up next to me. She loves to eat chew toys, pigs ears, beefs noses etc. I have taken these chew toys out of her mouth many times and she is fine. I also removed a piece of plastic from her mouth yesterday and she had no problems with this at all. In fact she seemed to want to play with the plastic as if it was a game. When giving her food she is very calm and always sits politely and gives me her paw before each meal. She eats politely. Is there any advice you can give? Is it possible that the candy (sugar) does something to her system since this only happens with candy? Other than this, she is terrific and very playful and loving. I am concerned about this behavior and will do anything to help correct it. Please let me know what you think. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Accepted Answer

The answer is to keep your candy picked up. This seems pretty obvious to me.

I also think it is counter productive to take raw hides and other food objects away from a dog. It serves no purpose other than to cause anxiety. There are times when you have to take things away from the dog but it's not food items.

The dog lifts it's leg to you before it eats because this is a sign of submission. It has nothing to do with anything else other than submission. When a dog sits by your side in the heel position and picks up one foot - that's a sign of submission to a higher-level pack member.

If the dog snaps at you (like it did when it was under the bed) you need to increase your level of correction ten times. The dog must learn that if it ever snaps it will think its life is over. It can never think that this is an option as a solution to a problem. It can only think - if I snap I get killed with corrections so I have to find a different way. So when it snaps - you start screaming and hollering NO NO NO NO!!! Get a damn broom and poke the snot out of it until it is a cowering fool - chase it out of the bedroom and outside. Then leave it outside for an hour or so to think about what has just happened. When you go out, call it over, give it a treat for coming to you and then praise it to show that you do not hold a grudge and that you still love it. That is important.

I also suggest that you make an effort to obedience train this dog. Get my Basic Obedience DVD.