New member here! I randomly happened across this site when searching for ways to fix my dog Calli's aggressive behavior, and found that I ran into somewhat of a Bible of information! Ive been reading for 4 days and still haven't seen everything... Let alone the DVD's that I WILL be ordering

Preface: Its obvious to me now, after reading what I have on this site, that I did not establish myself as the pack leader.

Calli, who is 11 months old, has recently been very aggressive / dominant over her food and water bowls, and also over her kennel. She snarls, growls, lunges, and shes nipped my girlfriend and I once a piece. The weird thing, at least to me, is that when there is no food involved, shes fine in her kennel. When i say "Lets go outside" she gets up, stretches, walks right out, and sits outside of her kennel like shes supposed to. She seems to be getting more angry every time I go to put her in her kennel, though. When we stop outside her kennel to take her leash off, she goes into snarl / growl mode, and once the leash is off, she BOLTS into the back of her kennel. The snarling and everything has freaked my girlfriend out so bad that she doesn't even want to take the leash off. I was thinking back the other day about when it started happening, and it was right around the time that we let her just run around the house when we weren't home, or at night when we're sleeping.

For the record, we're now on day 3 of starting the ground work. Shes been confined to her kennel which is in a trafficked area of the house; shes allowed a nylon bone to keep her occupied while in the kennel; we feed her twice a day, and take her out to exercise 2 - 3 times a day.

My question is, Am I doing this right? Am I missing something? Is the ground work the proper course of action for my situation?

If you have any other questions, or need any other information I will be glad to answer. Though Ive been around dogs all of my life, Ive never trained one, and I obviously did something wrong the first time around, so i want to fix it, and have the dog that I know Calli can be!

Thanks for reading my story and I look forward to any responses, good or bad.

My dog was rather saucy around that age. I think it was because she was gaining more privileges, but not ready for the freedom? The crate was still a good management tool, but so is a drag line. They can put up a good fight sometimes about going in the crate. Just be matter-of-fact about it. They just need time to chill, often. Also, all of the pack structure tips like sitting at the foot of stairs or at doors, are important...

I just plain leave her alone when she is eating, but make her sit and "wait" before I put the bowl down - once it is down it is hers.

Hi Ben and welcome. I responded in the other thread (as did several others). Here's the link to the other thread you posted in.
http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/300628/page/0/fpart/1

yes, welcome. You've found the right place for all your answers.

11 months or even a little before is the age that many dogs become complete butt-heads. The perfect puppy you thought you had gets a burst of hormones and a little freedom and they really start to test boundaries. This is not that uncommon.

Time to redouble your efforts in establishing leadership, setting clear (but loving) rules, and being as consistent as you can be. Give 'em an inch...

If you have not heard of a training method/theory called "NILIF" (Nothing in Life is Free)--it'd be worth a google. It's a great way of establishing routines and leadership with a dog so that they become good habits. In short, it means the dog earns everything. You want to go outside? sit first. You want me to pet you? sit first. You want to eat this food? Wait until I say so. The dog still gets everything she wants, but she has to do something to "earn" it from you.

None of this is done as a drill instructor, or with lots of negative stuff. I like the image of a kindly but strict kindergarden teacher who enforces the rules to the tee because it's good for you.

I have noticed that some dogs who spent many, many hours crated got ferocious/defensive about their crates. I noticed this in dogs who were held for adoption at a vet clinic, and didn't really have much time outside in the world at all -- most of their world was in their crate. They were just walked for potty breaks, and didn't have much of a real life. No job, just waiting to be walked for 15 min. here and there. Those dogs got pretty crazy.

Thanks for all the responses!

Tracy - Ill give that a look. It seems to me that style of training is whats taught throughout this site. Also, that is what im starting to do (should have done it a long time ago!) I guess what im worried about is that isolating calli in her kennel per the groundwork article, is going to do more harm than good. I did however notice today that I was able to make her sit before going in her kennel. She snarled and growled on the way in, but she didnt try and enter until I had released her.

Betty - As said above, this is kind of what im worried about; that this isolation is going to make things worse before she earns the right to hang out with us (with a leash on of course) outside the kennel.

Ben, back to the food aggression. Can you put her in a sit about 10 feet away from where you put her food dish?

If yes, put her in a sit, then put the food down, walk away from the food, give her the OK and leave the room.

In other words, see if distance from the food will eliminate the growling, then work on decreasing the distance slowly.

PS how much exercise is she getting?

Thanks for the tip. Ill see how that goes.

We go for a 35-40 min walk before I goto work and after I get home from work, (I work 12 hr shifts.) and my girlfriend takes her on a couple of short walks throughout the day. Durring our walks I jog a little bit, and work on her heeling / sitting / small distractions, nothing intense though.

Hey Ben-
What I was seeing in those dogs at the clinic was sort of "junk yard dog" behavior, the behavior of a dog kept 24/7 on a chain.
You could leash her up and attach her to your belt while you are poking around the kitchen or watching TV. The clinic dogs never got out except to potty.
They became wacky, from the social isolation? Some could never be adopted. They really only seemed relaxed when they WERE in their crates.
This was back in l968. I was working at a clinic in NYC that had a no-kill shelter policy. Some of the dogs were held for years. We didn't understand about the importance of early interaction,training and socialization.

Betty - I have been taking her out and walking around the house with her leashed. One question that I now have is: Shes been kennel isolated(i really hate this word... maybe confined is better? Nope, not really...) for roughly a week now. She will go back in her kennel for sleep, and eating. Is it OK for me to always have her walking around with me other than these times without any negative encouragement of bad behavior? I guess I'm a little confused on the when she should and shouldn't be confined.

Lynne - I used the method you described this morning, well yesterday morning now that I'm posting this, and all was well until i unclipped her leash. The snarls came out and she bolted at her kennel from 10 feet away (cause she knew her food was in there.) I didn't even have time to react. Should I leave her leash on for now when I release her and work towards getting her to stay in a sit, take the leash off, then release her while her food is 10 feet away?

I feel really bad that I didn't research all of this a bit more before diving into adding a dog to the family.