We have an eleven month old Lowchen that has some aggressive/dominance issues. We have had a personal trainer and we have had some improvement in his behavior. However, we have room for improvement. We have never had a dog that wanted to be dominant and I don't think we were prepared to train him properly. We expected a docile lap dog.

The biggest problem we are currently having is that he lunges and growls at us when we close the door on his crate. He often naps in his crate with the door open. He chooses to go in the crate, but when we close the door he goes nuts. We have tried squirting him with a water bottle, sound chains, distraction with very good treats and tried to desensitizing him by closing the door repeatedly. All of these approaches were recommended to us by professionals. We have made no progress.

Another area were are having trouble with is grooming. I have made significant progress in this area but he still can be agressive.

My husband and I and our 16 year old son have all been bitten by this dog. We are commited to learning how to train him to be a good household companion.

Any suggestions on how to solve this behavior.

Thanks

just a thought re: the behaviour when you close the crate door....have you tried ignoring him? just walking away? or that plus possibly covering the crate with a blanket (a la parrot) and/or closing the door to the room he is in? maybe to him all the stuff you do to try to get him to stop is just attention to him and he's feeding off that?

how is he aggressive during grooming? has he always been like that or did something specific happen?

We have tried ignoring him and it doesn't make a difference. I haven't tried the blanket idea. He has a plastic crate. Our house is an open floor plan so closing the door is not an option. I am home with him all day. He isn't in his crate unless I have an errand or at bedtime. Hopefully as he matures he will not need his crate. He is still too young for me to completely trust in the house.

He has always been aggressive during grooming. We got him at 9 weeks old. This breed has a shaved rear end and feet. I know many dogs hate to have their feet touched. We have worked very slowly to get him used to the clippers but he can still lash out. Also, if you try to comb out a tangle he snaps at us. We brush him daily in short sessions to keep him tangle free and get him accustomed to grooming.

How's his obedience separate of this problem?

Obedience...Not so good. He is slow to respond. He has been to classes and we work with him but he obeys when he wants to.

I forgot to mention that he is food and toy agressive also.

Heidi, welcome...
I can recommend that you get this video regarding pack structure:
http://leerburg.com/308.htm

Also, here is a thread addressing the issue of the crate; maybe it will be helpful...
http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/201466/page/0/fpart/1

How are you reacting to his aggression when you are grooming the dog? (or in general; seems like he has multiple aggression triggers)

I think thats going to need to improve to solve your problem Heidi, and that is the first thing I would start working on. Have you read much here about pack structure and marker training?

Until recently, when he would snap at me when I was grooming him I would just tell him NO! Then I used food to reward good behavior when grooming. Now I am grabbing the fur on the sides of his face and looking him in the eyes. I have not been using any verbal corrections when doing this. So far this approach has been the most effective.

I have read some about pack structure but not marker training.

i use a sheet over the crate w/my female, and while i don't think she needs it anymore, it's worked great (also stops her from seeing the cats).

steve, lynne, and other more experienced than me people here can help you - one thought re: toy aggression, b/c i have dealt with that. my female has certain toys that are very high value. to the extent that she had bitten me, growled, etc. i changed how i let her have toys and my attitude to the toys, and it really helped. i had been bringing out the toys, and putting them away, and i thought that meant i was controlling the toys. it wasn't enough. what i do now is she doesn't get to play with a toy unless it is is with ME - but it is MY toy, we play on MY terms, and I decide when we stop playing and what we're going to do with it. (she does get a kong in her crate, but that's it for independent toys) she also VERY rarely gets the very high value toys (cuzes) b/c of her behaviour - she only gets to play with me and them as a very special treat. maybe doing something similar might help?

Heidi, here are a couple of other links re marker training and pack structure (free e-books)

http://leerburg.com/ebooks/puppygroundwork.pdf Pack Leader

http://leerburg.com/pdf/markers.pdf Marker Training (clicker training)

What types of things are you doing to enforce pack structure in your house?
Here are a few suggestions;
Have the dog sit before mealtimes and wait for a release from you ('OK!')before eating. Then leave him alone and let him eat in peace.

Start enforcing NIFIL (nothing in life is free).

Call the dog to you to pet him, and ask him to sit before petting so that giving affection is on your terms.

Have him sit before going in and out of doors and make sure you are going through doors and down stairs first.

If you give him treats, have him earn them by doing something, whether it's 'sit', 'down', 'speak', 'crate' or something else.

Don't allow the dog on the furniture, at least for now while he is being such a stinker.

Do what Jennifer suggest regarding the toys. He gets to play w/ a toy on your terms. When you are done, put the toy away.

Put a light lead on him when he's in the house. It's much easier to redirect him or correct him with a lead on than by grabbing his collar.

Start implementing marker training. It's fun for you and the dog and will improve his obedience and your bond with him.