My puppy, Oliver (now 1 years old) has had some issues in the past with aggression with other dogs and sometimes people. My Girlfriend and I have been working on this by having him socialize with other dogs on group walks as well as being around more people. Working with a head collar has helped tremendously. He's been doing very well however one issue we're having still remains.

He sleeps in his crate at night and I live in a very small studio apartment. When he is sleeping in his crate, certain noises seem to really bother him. For instance, opening a certain drawer, or even just standing near him. Since he's in his crate, he can't really see what if I'm next to it, all he sees are my legs. Often time I'm standing there folding clothes and he will get aggressive.

When he gets aggressive, he gives a low growl, barks, and eventually shows teeth. If I were to open the crate to let him out, it definitely would look like he'd come out and try and attack me, but I've tried this a few times to see how he would react, and he stays in his crate, turns around, and goes back to bed. This issue has been ongoing for awhile now and I've read and talked to many trainers about how I can resolve this issue, but it's hard to pick one technique when they're often contradicting.

We've experimented having him sleep out of his crate as well. The same thing will happen. Once he starts dosing off, I would try fidgeting around and making some noise. He again would start to growl.

One recent thing that I've noticed that may be connected with this issue is how he is very touchy when home from a walk. Now, usually he's fine, and I've only had maybe 2-3 incidents like this for the 10 months or so I've had him. We've had an instance where he tried to attack our other puppy when loading them back in the car after a hike.. and another incident where he tried to nip my face when he had just got home from a walk and I bent over to get a ball that was next to him. In both these instances, it was a very hot day and he was extremely tired. Lots of drool and panting as he had just got home from a fun walk.

I'm not sure but it seems to me like when he's tired, he gets very grumpy. His initial reaction is to attack when he's bothered. The incidents where he's tired and panting are usually very sudden. He never seems agitated at all and I don't notice any warning signals (growl/stare). Whereas when I'm making noise when he's in the crate, it usually begins with a stare, then a low growl, then the barking.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any tips/advice? He's been improving so much and we would love to keep him out of his crate when he's in the house. It is nearly impossible to do this unless he is occupied with a toy and fully awake. Once I notice he starts to lose interest in a toy, I put him in his crate.

Hey, John,

Welcome!

Would you email bobbie@leerburg.com ? It's about your last name not appearing. (First and last names are used here.) I'm sure it's just an oversight or glitch, easily fixed. You may have to re-register, but you'll still get help.

Thanks!


And back to topic.



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Edited by Connie Sutherland (05/10/2012 05:18 PM)
Edit reason: eta

It sounds like resource guarding and some dominant issues. When you're telling him we're done (load up in truck) and he redirects to your pup - that's frustration IMO. When he redirects on you - that's dominance. Without seeing the full picture of the environment, what you may be doing that might be threatening to him (not that anything we do should be considered threatening to our dog), for me it's difficult to say how I would handle it. Every dog/situation is different. However, redirecting on handler is a big no, no and you need to get that under control ASAP or you will have huge issues as he gets older. I know one of the first things I would restart with his obedience and NILF (nothing in life is free). I'll let the more experienced peeps pipe in with their ideas for actual help.

Has he been to the vet for a check-up lately? My first thought when I read "after exercise" is that he may be in pain. The same can apply to a sleepy or sleeping dog. The vet would be my first stop before starting any new training.

What do you do (have you done) when the dog growls or snaps at you...or shows agression to the other dog?

Something like this would get a pretty big response back from me that told the pup in no uncertain terms that we don't behave like that in this family.

I wouldn't be making excuses for him being tired, grumpy, or sleepy.

Random thought: could the dog possibly be in pain? The fact that this happens only after prolonged lying down, or after hard exercise. It's probably not, based on his age. Just wondering.

Anyhoo. Welcome. You'll get much better responses than mine. But it will help all of us to know how you've handled (or ignored) these episodes in the past.

eta: Amy--we posted at the same time wondering about the possibility of pain. Glad I wasn't the only one to go there...

 Quote: Amy VandeWeerd

Has he been to the vet for a check-up lately? My first thought when I read "after exercise" is that he may be in pain. The same can apply to a sleepy or sleeping dog. The vet would be my first stop before starting any new training.

Me too.


Ruling out anything physical would be on my list, and so would an immediate NILIF protocol.

Also, http://leerburg.com/pdf/packstructure.pdf



"I wouldn't be making excuses for him being tired, grumpy, or sleepy. "

Big ditto here.


JMO!

Hi everyone,
Connie, it looks like the name issue got fixed? If not, I'll shoot you an email.. just let me know.

Thanks for all the tips everyone. I should note that snapping/aggression when tired has happened very few times. It just kind of hit me the other day that perhaps being tired may be an issue, but I'll have to investigate this a bit further. In fact, I just took him for another long hike right now and no issues, though, I put him in his crate soon after he came inside.

The aggression when in the crate is pretty persistent. Like I said, opening certain drawers multiple times seems to bother him. On the otherhand, I can talk and be loud/have music on if I want to and he won't care. One incident that made it a bit more clear to me that he just doesn't want to be bugged, was when I called his name before I left to school in the morning (6AM). I knelt down at his crate to let him out and said his name a few times to wake him up. For some reason, he wasn't excited to come out like he usually is and gave me a few low growls.

When barking in the crate, I've tried using a spray bottle and giving a firm no as told by a local Behaviorist I was working with. It worked for a month, but he soon stopped responding to it. In fact, sometimes it seemed to make him a bit more agitated. Another trainer explained that I should try standing in front of his crate when he gets mad, and firmly say no until he stops. When he finally does stop, I can continue to do what I was doing. I posted this video on another forum, and they said what I was doing was completely wrong, so I stopped doing it soon after. For the past month or so, every time he does get aggressive through the crate, I just continue what I'm doing and give him a firm no. He eventually stops, but it doesn't seem like I'm making much progress.

He actually just got a check up at the vet and they say he is very healthy. They recommended looking into some type of prescription drug to calm him down, but I haven't looked at that too much yet.. to me, it feels more of just a training issue.

Just to get an idea of how often this happens, he does it maybe 4-5 times every month.

Please let me know if there's any additional questions I can answer.

Thanks again

Ok, just a thought, and I may be way off base, but it seems to me that getting in 'his' space (his crate) and responding to his aggression with aggression of your own could escalate dangerously. (ie: squirting him with water) Maybe I'm wrong, but even if it only damages your relationship, that's still a problem.
Another thought, and again, I could be way off base, but something I do for my deaf dogs is teach them to like to be awakened by offering a small treat each time I wake them. Eventualy working up to treating every time I try to startle them. (ie: touching/tapping hindquarters when they are not paying attention, when they swing their heads around to see what's going on, shove a treat in their mouth. Works great for being out in public and some yahoo or kid randomly grabs at them with out them able to hear them coming). Maybe you could teach him that opening that drawer is a good thing, open it and toss a treat in his crate - before he has a chance to growl (don't want to reward that growl) Maybe try marker training that to get the timing better. Wake him up by putting a smelly treat in the crate, tiny bit of liver or something equally stinky.
One note, I no longer correct my dogs for growling, I have learned to appreciate the warning. If you take away that warning, you're setting yourself up to be bitten without an audible warning beforehand.
I would definatly want to rule out any pain issues, but also hearing issues. I wonder, too if maybe that particular drawer makes a sound that irritates or even hurts his ears. Try spraying WD40 on the runners and see if that helps. I know that's random and weird, but I've livied with a noise sensitive BC before, you never could tell what might get to her.

Hi John

Out of curiosity, is the crate covered with anything when he is in it? I only ask because one of mine, as a youngster, used to get spooked by only seeing legs and hearing noises while the crate was covered, just a thought...

Also he didn't like the fact that their was traffic back and forth while he was in his 'den' almost like he was guarding his territory, just my experience, and I am probably way off base, but it does remind me of that particular time.

IMO, there is way too much information missing to make a solid response, and proper plan of correction for this behavior. At any time when you start dealing with not just unwanted aggression, but unwanted owner/handler aggression, it's time to call in the professionals for an honest assessment. Then a proper course of action can be taken.

Your not just talking about aggression towards other animals, or people, it's aggression towards you as the leader. You are THE LAST person on earth that he should be showing any signs of aggression towards. A healthy relationship consists of trust, respect, obedience, and love. In that order.

What area do you live in? Perhaps someone here can reccomend a good behaviorist.