assuming one is already following the ground work "program"(i mean in the middle of it)-is dealing with flat out dog aggression in younger puppies the same/similar as dealing with it in adult dogs?

I mean-i don't think anyone is saying to hang pups-but what do you do?
because you are already in the groundwork program-do you just wait to see if that makes a difference?

or do you immediately take more aggressive(lol) measures your self?

Mallory,

What do you mean by flat out dog aggression and how old is the pup?
I would say, keep her away from situations in which you know will get her going.

Keep the pups kennel and crate away in a different room away from the other dogs.

This is what I am doing right now. I do not even take Ember near where she can even hear the other dogs barking. In fact, we will be driving to a training spot for now. And the other crates are in a different room from her so that when I have her out in the house on lead, she cannot see them.

My dogs usually stay quiet unless they see me outside so I use the back door and stay out of sight.

I also hand feed all meals and all interaction comes from me and Doug ignores her. He does not even talk to her if he has to take her outside to potty for me.

When the pup acts up, just be calm and quiet and direct them to something that is acceptable behavior.

It is going so much better for me now that I am doing this correctly. I thought I was, however I learned I needed to do a couple things different and it is working out well.

she is 4 months old.

the way my house is designed-i cannot keep her totally out of sight/sound of the other dogs. The house is just too small-there are crates in just about every room.

If she hears or sees another dog-she starts growling and barking-alot. Also lunging.

Also-until i move(soon!!!) her crate sits on top of her brothers crate.
In the am, and after i get home from school-i have to let them both out at the same time-if i just do one-the other will go all in the crate while i am taking the other out.

When i can move-i will be able to put their crates in different rooms-so when i come in and take one out-i won't wake the other up.

so when they are out together-and that is the only time they are together-she plays nice-until she doesn't. Then she latches on to him, and not only bites-but literally grinds her teeth and i have to pry her off.

Now, i don't let this happen all the time-i do step in-it has actually only happened maybe 3 times.
But that is 3 times too many.
When we were at the vet-she was growling/lunging at the other dogs in the waiting room-and when i have them out separately, she tries to go at whoever is in the crate-and when she is put up, and someone else out-she is biting the bars of her crate-still growling and barking.

i don't let her out with the others at home-minus the morning pee time.
we have gone hiking(very light) and took my adult dogs and her-and she was fine. She learned very quickly that they are much bigger than her.

her aggression is directed at her brother, and the chihuahua, and non-pack adult dogs.

I know to just keep her away from situations like that-but things like the vet waiting room and my tiny house i can't help.


It's not the biting-if it were just puppy biting and teething, i can handle that. But she clamps down and will not let go-plus the lunging/barking/growling at the other dogs.

I know that this can be nipped if i knew what to do when she does this.
The rule of not correcting a pup unless they know what you are saying, and even then, not a hard correction-does that apply here?

Bad pack manners get corrected because they know those-but she did not grow up with a pack for the first 3.5 months-so she really has no (learned) clue about pack life. Sure, most of it is innate-but she got no mother or littermates to make her control her bites, etc. So do i correct her?

so when she is on her leash and tethered to me-and she is lunging and growling at sunny in his crate-what do i need to do? She is 4 months old-maybe 16lbs. Do i need to be leash popping? micro prong?
I did the whole grabbing the skin right under the ears(like ed does with the corgi pup in his dvd) and she growls at me and tries her hardest to bite my hands, and has. Not a nip, but an all out full mouthed bite, and she did infact grind her teeth in.

She is smart, very friendly when she isn't doing this-i want to get this solved now-

i was thinking-she does love to bite, and will chase and catch ANYTHING. Is it too late at 4 months to do some working puppy training?
Might that be a good outlet-more structure, less "pet" like, and doing puppy bite work?
Or might that just make things worse.


sorry-i am rambling and not making much sense-i want her to have a healthy and fun outlet for her desire to chase and bite. Being an athletic breed-to me it makes sense to work her(as an adult) so i am wondering if keeping her totally separate and from now on raising her strictly as a working pup would help-or make her more frustrated.

Also-do i correct her for aggression(at 4 months), and if i do-how? Is there a small puppy correcting technique?


I do like her, and have not yet considered giving her up-but i will not tolerate aggression in my dogs-i am working on bart with that.
The last thing i need or want is a pit bull type dog that is aggressive like that. Driven, athletic, no nonsense, sure. Aggressive, no way.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

we have gone hiking(very light) and took my adult dogs and her-and she was fine. She learned very quickly that they are much bigger than her.


her aggression is directed at her brother, and the chihuahua, and non-pack adult dogs.

Sounds like the littler ones are sending her into drive. Until you have her complete attention and can keep it (hand feeding, only interaction with you ect.....) they really need to be kept seperate.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

I know to just keep her away from situations like that-but things like the vet waiting room and my tiny house i can't help.

So there is no way you can rearrange crates to where she does not come into contact with the little ones?

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

It's not the biting-if it were just puppy biting and teething, i can handle that. But she clamps down and will not let go-plus the lunging/barking/growling at the other dogs.

I know that this can be nipped if i knew what to do when she does this.

The key is NOT to let it even start. Being able to read her and know what and when things will trigger her will help you immensely. Make sure you have a high value treat in your pockets at all times so that you can keep her attention.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

The rule of not correcting a pup unless they know what you are saying, and even then, not a hard correction-does that apply here?

You need to be calm and just take the pup away from whatever got her going.....then redirect her attention to acceptable behavior.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

so when she is on her leash and tethered to me-and she is lunging and growling at sunny in his crate-what do i need to do? She is 4 months old-maybe 16lbs. Do i need to be leash popping? micro prong?

Can you cover the other dogs crate so that she cannot see? And again, high value treat, keep her attention and make the session short, then put her in her crate for rest time. Small steps to her being out and behaving the way you want.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

i was thinking-she does love to bite, and will chase and catch ANYTHING. Is it too late at 4 months to do some working puppy training?

No, it is not to late to start treating her like a working puppy. Just remember, (I know, I sound like a broken record) that she must not come into contact with the others.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

sorry-i am rambling and not making much sense-

No your not rambling, you just sound frustrated and I know where you are coming from. It is all about being dilligent and maybe sacrificing a bit more to keep her separate until you move to a larger home.

thanks!
it seems like i know what to do-but just can't until i get moved-and that is very frustrating-

related-i have heard ed say to put the puppy's crate in the basement for when they howl/whine/bark.

I will have a basement in my new house-but-you have to go outside to get to it.

It has a light, and heat and all, but the door down there is outside.

Would it be ok to have her night time/while i am at school crate in my basement, and another crate in the house for when i am home?

or not?
it seems weird that i am asking this-i don't know why the door being outside would matter, but in my mind-it does.

I guess i envision it being more "cruel banishment" because the door isn't inside where i can go from the hallway straight down into the basement or whatever.

with the new house, i have gone through and decided where to put crates, and think i have it figured out-my "core" 3 are always crated in my room-bart/maya/roxie.

i have to keep the 2 pups in another room because the other dogs set them both barking(though sonny isn't aggressive).
And i will be able to separate the pups too-so that will really help.

Was it you that used lemon juice as a corrective tool? Have you tried it on the puppy when she is in her crate snarling? What was the result?

Edit: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

haha, thanks.

yes-that was me, and actually, no i haven't used the lemonjuice.
I just got out of the habit because i haven't needed to use it is about a year.(a testimony to how well it works).

as soon as you said that, i was like-well, duh-hahaha

so i will be heading to the grocery store now for those little plastic lemons....

Let me know if it works. My 5-month-old can be a jerk sometimes (not aggressive though), and I'm leery of giving him physical corrections at his age.

dear Mallory: I have the same situation with Cody my 6 month old jack russel mix. He plays fine for a while and then gets too aggressive. So, when I see he is starting to get carried away, I interrupt the play time and it is over. It has helped. He does the same thing with Bindi, latches on to the side of her face and won't let go. I have taught them when I say enough, play stops. They do well with this. I think they are like little kids- brothers and sisters, they start to play fine but it can escalate into too rough of play. You might try that, don't wait to separate them until aggressive play begins, you can probably tell when it begins to escalate, step in and stop it then.
Cody is like a little maniac sometimes, he is very, very intense and can go from 0 to 100 in a matter of minutes. So I understand what you are going through. Puppies! what a joy! We call him the "land shark".
May God bless you

thanks for the help!
i have another question-
on our walks-she is just snotty.

she spends the majority of the walk leaping up to latch onto my pant legs, my shirt,the hem or sleeves of my coat......when she gets skin, wow, that hurts.

She will try to chase anything that moves-blowing leaves, birds, CARS, and the debris in the road that cars blow around.
Of course, she only gets to the end of the leash, but boy she wants to go chase.

Also-she has spent entire walks with her leash in her mouth. She wants to play tug.

When she does this-i don't do anything. If we are somewhere where i can just drop it, i do.
I do this because she loves to tug so much that if i try to pop it out of her mouth-she just pulls harder.

i might put hot sauce on the leash....this behavior gets old real fast. Plus, because she is in such a frenzy-she is smacking into my legs-running in front of me, then getting the leash wrapped around her and jerking around so that is pulls tight, and then she panics and when i try to untangle her, i have to do it with one hand because the other is clamped around her mouth to keep her from biting me in her panic.