Teddy getting agressive?

I am having an agression problem with Teddy lately. Although he has been extensively socialized (at puppy rescue, dog parks, etc.) it seems like when we go on a walk no matter what he sees -- other dogs, kids, adults, bicycles -- he starts to howl and gets really tense. We've tried just walking on so he'll get the idea that this is normal but I don't know how else to reinforce the idea. If the dog, kid or person comes over to pet him he's hesitant (low growls sometimes) at first then warms up and lets them pet him. I don't want to put him in a situation where he feels threatened and I don't want anyone to get hurt either. FYI - Teddy is eight months old now in case that helps. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Sounds like you have been doing everything right.
I do not remember the age, but very young dogs
do go through another fear stage in their life.

Rocky has periods where he just doesn't want to
be touched by strangers unless he gives them permission.
My Aunt gave me some interesting advice.
How would you like if strangers came up to you and
pet you? She is right I would not like to be touched
by people I did know know, so maybe Teddy feels
the same way. Like you said why upset Teddy or
take the chance of the stranger getting hurt.
Hopefully with your continued socializing him, maybe
he will grow out of it.

JMHO

Thanks, KYS. We're also going to try socialization with each puppy seperately. This morning I took Teddy to PetsMart and left Ellie at home with my husband. He did pretty well. We'll keep trying that and see. If anyone has additional suggestions, I'm open to them! Thanks.

You mention two dogs now. Are they both the same age, related somehow? What breed are we talking about? Did Teddy go to puppy kindergarten classes or any basic obedience classes? Of your two dogs, who is the more dominant? If you provide more info perhaps we can offer more help in figuring this out.

posted by Dixieland Dancer:
If you provide more info perhaps we can offer more help in figuring this out. >>>>


Hi Dixiland Dancer,
I was wondering were you were. :)

We have Teddy and his sister, Ellie. They are mutts from the same litter. They didn't go to puppy kindergarten and we can't tell who is more dominant. Our vet said that since they have grown up together, neither might be particularly dominant over the other. They play well together. We thought that Teddy's howling might be the result of trying to protect Ellie which is why we're seperating them periodically on outings. Any suggestions?

Sounds like he's growing up. Testing the waters, finding his voice, and sizing up the competition.

All of mine did this same thing within their first year. When we got to the fear periods, they were just a little more vocal.

As long as you continue to socialize and work with him, he'll come around. He's just growing up.

Keep us posted on this.:D

From the sounds of it, Teddy is displaying some fear aggression behaviors. I have some suggestions for helping him deal with this but I don't have time to post them right now. I will post later tonight or perhaps first thing in the AM. In the mean time, try to think back to when you first noticed him doing the things you mentioned. What age was he and how did you originally handle it?

One other thing.... Do you do obedience with him? This is very helpful in establishing yourself as his alpha leader. When you have littermates being raised in the same home, they tend to bond to one another as opposed to bonding to the human. You need to intervien here and make sure he sees you as the alpha.

I'm back. Without knowing more about the actual dog and more of his interactions, I will make a judgement call that Teddy is displaying a fear based aggression. I believe part of this problem is that Teddy is not quite sure of his pack heirarchy and is NOT comfortable in strange things in his environment. He probably does not see you as the alpha pack leader but rather another member of the pack on the same level as he and his sister are. He feels it is his responsibility to protect you when you are walking but really doesn't like being in that role and is fearful someone will hurt either you or him. His natural defense is to bark and sound ferosious to frighten off intruders instead of realizing this is not something he has to do.

A couple things you can do is to work on getting Teddy to fully understand that you are the pack leader (not him) and that you will make decisions on your safety and his. Start by employing the Nothing is for free philosophy. Make him earn everything he gets including food and play time with his sister. Work on obedience commands such as sit and down. Anything else he knows can be used in getting rewarded for listening to you. You may even want to feed him by hand for a couple weeks to get him to realize you are the giver of all things he needs to survive in this world. Never let him eat before you or go out the door before you. You need to get him to realize you are leader and he is follower.

Along with this you can start a program of counter conditioning him to outside influences or stimuli. In counter conditioning you only reward behaviors that you want and no reward for unwanted ones. Make sure you have a very solid sit and down stay in a place where the dog is comfortable. Always reward for wanted behavior when the dog sits or downs on command. When the dog can sit consistently for 5 minutes, move to a place where there will be situations that will envoke the unwanted response in the dog. Give the Sit or preferrably down command to get the dog to focus on you and not the stimuli causing the problem. Immediately when he does what you ask, reward. The reward needs to be immediate and it needs to be with something the dog finds irrestible to eat.

Do not get to close the the stimulus that invokes the unwanted behavior. Work from a distance so the dog does not feel too fearful or aggressive to the point of not listening. Once you get the dog to listen at this distance, you can move closer. Your goal is to keep moving closer and closer while rewarding the dog for wanted behavior.

Consider using a halti or gentle leader for when you walk also. If the dog enjoys playing ball, when you see something that might invoke the unwanted behavior, get the ball or toy out and get the dog to focus on it. Before long the dog will associate treats when there is something frightening or unpleasant in his path and will begin associating pleasant things when this situations occur. I believe you will also notice a change when Teddy realizes you are in charge and he doesn't have to be.

Let me know if you have any questions on any of this. Keep us posted on your progress.

Poor teddy he must be scared.

Thanks for all the suggestions, Dixie. We took Teddy and Ellie out on their gentle leaders and he was MUCH calmer. (No barking or whining -- even when another dog barked through the fence.) While we have been doing obedience work with them since they were little puppies, James and I are taking your suggestions for more rewards with acceptable behavior. When a dog barked, we made both Teddy and Ellie sit down and ignore it. Then we gave them a treat. Unfortunately, I think that now that they're older, we forget about rewarding them as often (something we did regularly when they were young pups.) Anyway, we'll continue to practice with them and follow your suggestions. Anything else you all have to add is much appreciated.