I have a nine month old neutered male alaskan malamute. He is very sweet and full of love most of the time. He loves people and other dogs. I recently noticed two areas where he is not so sweet and I am wondering what I should do.

First when he gets sick (which has happened twice) he wants to be left alone. If you try to comfort him by petting him he growls or will snap. He does not want to be touched. Should he be corrected for this when he is not feeling well?

The other time he shows aggression is when I am restraining him. If I am holding him tight by my side and someone goes over to him to pet him he will snap. He only does this if he is being restrained tightly where he cannot move. An example of this is when the door bell rings he gets excited and runs to the door to jump on and lick the visiter. I will restrain him with a leash and make him sit. This requires me to hold him tight. If the person goes to him while he is held like this he will snap. If I was to just let go of the leash he would lick the person and not show any aggression. How do I correct this behavior? Why does he only do this when restrained? thanks,jamie

I'd like to ask something to get a better overview. What kind of "not feeling well" do you mean?

I ask this because a dog who is in the kind of pain that is worse when he's touched or moved will growl in warning. (I am not saying that snapping is OK..... just trying to find out exactly what's going on before making suggestions.)

What is the routine when the doorbell rings? Have you trained the dog to sit at the door when visitors come, or are you using compulsion on each occasion to keep him in a controlled "sit"?

Also, snapping is *not* OK, so please don't misunderstand me..... but do you mean that while you are restraining him, a stranger in the house is allowed to approach and touch him?

Just trying to get a feel for what's triggering this....

I would begin by not trying to coddle him when he's sick.. it probably hurts, and I'm sure you don't want to be held and cuddled when you're sick, neither would the dog. Watch over him and ensure he'll be OK, but his snapping is a sign that he's not comfortable and doesn't want to be touched. I'm not sure if it should be corrected, but I don't know the entire situation, be careful.

I'm with Connie.. do you restrain by just holding the dog? The dog probably gets MORE anxious because your anxiety at him becoming aggressive is transferring straight to him. If you put him in a sit, will he SIT, or do you HAVE to restrain him? If you can use other people's advice to train him to sit when a guest comes over WITHOUT needing to hold him this will probably improve immensely. It sounds risky to try and restrain him in case he snaps at you - you ARE holding him so he's not in control and he may be more stressed and snapping because you've got him so tight he can't calmly greet the newcomer, thus marking the beginning of ALL newcomers as being a stressful situation and escalating to a real behavior problem. Sounds like this can be fixed pretty easily though with some work. :P If you have to hold him tightly to restrain him when a guest comes over, I don't recommend letting that guest try to approach him since from your post it sounds like he's reacting to the stress of the situation and it's a no-win thing for dog or guest.

I hope this is OK, correct me if I'm way off!

The first time he was sick was when he was about 5 months old. he swallowed a whole chinese sparerib with the meat still on the bone. I went to get it away from him after he grabbed it so he swallowed it whole. It appeared it was stuck b/c he was making faces like he was gagging. He also looked very uncomfortable.When my husband went to reassure him and pet him on the head he started growling. After the bone travelled into his stomach he acted normal. (he ultimately went to the hospital that night but thankfully passed the bone naturally after it broke down in his stomach)
The last time he was sick was a couple of days ago. I do not know what was wrong with him because it went away by the next day. My best guess is a stomach ache or virus. All he wanted to do was lay down on the rug (he usually only lays down on tile) He would not even get up for food or water. He was very lethargic. If you went over to him he would move away. Later I went to remove his choke collar but as soon as I went to touch his head he started growling. He also snapped at my husband but not hard (it was clearly a warning) He also pulls this behavior in the vets office ever since he was neutered. He is now terrified when he goes there and will growl during the examination. as soon as they are done he is lovable again with everyone in the office.

the door thing is something new. shame on me. I just started trying to get him to have manners when somene comes to the door.
He always runs to the door when the bell rings. He also runs to the front windows whenever he thinks someone is nearby. He does not bark he just wags his tail in anticipation that someone is coming to play. I am unable to get him to sit-stay at the door while it is ringing I have to use compulsion. I guess I am doing something wrong. He will sit stay for me when we are going out for a walk but not when a visitor is coming. It appears he will snap at the visitor if he is restrained. The woman that came to the door was my neighbor that Lex has known since he is 8 weeks old. She pets him everyday outside with out any problems. He attempts to jump on her but I make him sit before he can be petted. Once he is sitting I allow her to go over to him and pet him and he is lovable. He is not being held tight at this point.
When she came to the house he recognized her and I was restraining him because he was trying to get to her in a friendly way. I know if I did not restrain him he would have jumped up on her to lick her face (he is about 85 pounds)
He does this to visitors. If he was loose the second a visitor would come in he would jump up on them to play. The growling or snapping only occurs when I am physically restraining him and someone attempts to pet him. When he snapped at her he did not bite her but I verbally corrected him and he did the same thing to me. I do not understand why he will do this when he is being restrained. He has done it two other times while being restrained from jumping on people.
thank you, jamie

He is definitely reacting to being restrained. I think he may be getting the wrong message from me. I am restraining him so he does not jump up on people. He is trying to jump up to play and lick their face. ( He is 85 pounds and growing so I have to stop this behavior) I can put him in a sit stay to go outside but I have to restrain him if a visitor comes . I think he is getting stressed from being restrained because once he is released he will have nothing but love for the person he snapped at when restrained. thanks jamie

Perhaps a drag line would do wonders for your situation. It allows control over your dog's behavior without the restraint - so when he runs to the door, you can keep him in check and step on the leash once he is in sit so he CANNOT jump and it allows you freedom of movement as well to tend to the guest and not risk getting nipped. It's a good thing to have, Leerburg sells some nice ones.

As far as sickness, my only guess is he just doesn't want to be bothered.

IMHO at his age, this dog is not technically a "puppy" any longer -- and he has displayed food aggression, pain aggression, fear aggression & dominance aggression (just judging from the sound of your posts)...

Jumping on people to lick them & demand that they accept his unappreciated attentions is not necessarily a way of showing affection -- I consider it more of a dominance ploy, personally, so I believe you would REALLY benefit from buying Ed's DVD on Dealing With Dominant & Aggressive Dogs http://www.leerburg.com/301.htm

This video is a goldmine of VERY helpful information on how to handle, train & manage strong-willed or high-drive dogs -- I would order it TODAY <:-)

 Quote: candi campbell

IMHO at his age, this dog is not technically a "puppy" any longer -- and he has displayed food aggression, pain aggression, fear aggression & dominance aggression (just judging from the sound of your posts)...

Jumping on people to lick them & demand that they accept his unappreciated attentions is not necessarily a way of showing affection -- I consider it more of a dominance ploy, personally, so I believe you would REALLY benefit from buying Ed's DVD on Dealing With Dominant & Aggressive Dogs http://www.leerburg.com/301.htm

This video is a goldmine of VERY helpful information on how to handle, train & manage strong-willed or high-drive dogs -- I would order it TODAY <:-)

Yes, after reading the O.P.'s additional info, I too would really recommend that video. http://leerburg.com/301.htm


While you wait for it to come, here's some good stuff to read:
http://leerburg.com/groundwork.htm


Does the dog jump on you at all? And when he jumps on that visitor, what does she do?

P.S. I wouldn't let visitors approach and touch a dog who snaps.

She turns her back to him when he jumps and he stops. I am able to keep him from jumping when outside. I have not been able to stop him at the door but I just started this. thanks jamie

He does not jump up on me.
jamie