Chloe's snapping at the kids

[Blackrose]

Not all of the time, but in certain situations that occur semi-frequently. She's also tried to nip at my dad and my mom.
I pretty sure it is a "dominance" thing, because everything that the kids do around her I can do and she has never once tried to bite me.

Chloe doesn't consistantly listen to anyone in the family but me. I'm assuming this is because I'm the only one who has ever worked with her, but no one else in the family WANTS to work with her. Chloe almost constantly tests my authority to see what she can get away with, and she works me to my limits.
Now I can get Chloe to pretty much behave around me, but with everyone else, as I stated earlier, she's started to get snarfy.

For example: Chloe was chewing on my mom's camera bag strap. My mom went to move it away from her and Chloe growled (it wasn't a deep, belly chest growl....I've been on the receiving end of a few of those and trust me, that isn't what she does. It is more like a growl to test and see what will become of it) and snapped at my mom. She didn't make contact with my mom's skin, but she was definitally testing the waters.

This is versus me who can walk up to Chloe who is chewing on a forbidden object and Chloe drops it and lays down giving me a look like, "What? See, I'm a little angel."

Last night someone forgot to close the laundry room door, so Chloe ran back into the room and started to eat Pheobe's kitten food. I was in the kitchen so my sister JeanAnne went back to shoo Chloe out. JeanAnne went to reach for Chloe and Chloe snarled and snapped at JeanAnne. She made contact, but didn't so much as leave a mark. As soon as I heard Chloe snarl I hopped over the gate we have blocking off of the kitchen and, for lack of better word, screamed at Chloe. (Basically yelled at the top of my lungs in my meanest voice and said, "What the heck are you doing dog? You do NOT do that!") I was not going to tolorate her going after my sister. Chloe stopped what she was doing immeadiatly and went into submissive mode (ears down, tail down, not confident in her posture at all). As soon as she did that I sternly told her to get out, and she trotted out of the laundry room into the living room and laid down.

Then later that evening, someone forgot to put the gate up at the bottom of the stairs and Chloe ran upstairs and started eating Rush's cat food in my mom's bathroom. Again, JeanAnne went to go get her out before I could say it was a bad idea. I'm not intirely sure what happened as I wasn't in the room, but I heard my mom yell, "Andrea, Chloe's biting JeanAnne!" so I went running in there, grabbed Chloe with no problem, brought her back downstairs, leashed her, and made her lay down and go to bed. Chloe hadn't broken JeanAnne's skin and again didn't leave a mark.

A couple of weeks ago when we had family over, Chloe was eating Cherrios off of the ground outside and Taylor (he's six?) came over and leaned over her to pet her. She growled and snapped at him. I corrected her with a little leash pop and moved her away from the Cherrios. After they had left, I walked her over by the Cherrios again and let her eat them. I leaned over her, pet her, hugged her....nothing.
If Chloe gets into the cat food or occassionally the trash or food left on the table, I can pull her away (or even tell her to get away) and she'll do so without a problem. Before the stupid cat just erased everything else I wrote about this: She's been through basic obedience (granted it was at Petsmart), but I've been working with her at home and out in town ever since then. She knows: sit, down, stay, off, shake, "don't pull", leave it, take it, "out" (as in, get out of the room you are in), "outside", "upstairs", "go lay down", "Chloe" (she looks at me), come here, and we are working on drop it and roll over. When with me, she follows those commands about 98% of the time.

A couple of time she has gotten possessive over a toy when the kids were around or nippy with them if they sit down on the floor, but I was quick to correct her and she would settle down. I didn't think too much of it. I guess I should have.

The only thing that comes to my mind to get Chloe to behave around everybody else in the family is to get them all involved with training Chloe. I can think of two problems with this plan: 1.) they have no motivation to do it, nor do they have the time, and 2.) with as much as Chloe is testing me to the limits, I know for a fact my two younger sisters wouldn't be capable of handling her mentally.
She is already on a NILIF schedule (although like I mentioned earlier, I'm the main enforcer), and goes on a 45min walk each afternoon when I get home from school. That exercise schedule has been working well with her and has been tiring her out nicely.

Aside from some of the scenarios mentioned above, Chloe is very good with the kids. She loves them to death.
I'm also scared that she'll snap and/or bite at a guest if they do something that she doesn't like.

In 2 years or so this wouldn't be a problem because I'm going to be moving out of the house. But as it isn't 2 years from now, this is an issue. If she ever bites the kids in a non-playful manner and breaks skin, I am almost 100% sure she will not be allowed in the house ever again.

I need to nip this in the bud before it gets worse. Anyone have any ideas?

*** I've tried to search for a trainer in my area, but I can't find anyone. I don't think I'd be able to afford one either, but I may as well look.

**** And yet another example of how she behaves around me but not anyone else: As I'm sitting her typing this, she came up to me and sat down waiting for petting. If anyone else had been sitting down and she wanted attention, she would have jumped up into their lap and licked them in the face bugging them until they pet her. With me she knows she isn't supposed to, so she comes over and sits. She was actually sitting there for a couple of minutes before I realized she was waiting for me to pet her. Not once did she try to jump up on me, she just sat their patiently. She also doesn't jump up on me in greeting so much anymore, but she still jumps 20ft in the air to greet other people.

***** Oh, and if you didn't know, Chloe is a 6-7 month old Collie/Aussie mix. She loves to counter surf, beg for food, play fetch, run, chew on her bones, and act out around other dogs.

[DrKym]

Obedience training,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Giselle]

Firstly, is she totally completely healthy? Are her hips okay? Are her eyes okay? Is her bloodwork normal? Always rule out medical problems before behavioral problems.

I personally think she's fearful: She seems to snap when people are physically handling her or leaning over her. Best solution is to set her up to succeed. Cheerio incident - If this should ever happen again, hold your hand out and offer Chloe an EXTREMELY yummy treat (boiled chicken, for example). As soon as her mind is off the Cheerios (or whatever object she's eating), walk her forward, place her in a "Down", and then let the child pet Chloe calmly. But NEVER let the child lean over or hug the dog. It's just not common courtesy in dog language and I wouldn't push it unless Chloe was extremely bombproof.

Because it sounds like Chloe has fear issues, I would never allow her to be in any situation where she might snap. If your guests are very rambunctious and don't understand dog etiquette (like not leaning over the pup), I would remove Chloe from the situation or instruct the guests on how/how not to touch Chloe. Good luck and keep working on that NILIF!

[crow_noir]

With out meeting the dog in person i have to (respectfully) disagree with Giselle about this being a fear issue.

It sounds exactly how you put it. She's learned what she can get away with. She respects no one but you. With out the others willing to work with her she's going to continue to get a huge ego and think she can get away with anything.

I do agree with the rest of what Giselle said though. It's sound advice.

I don't know much about Collies or Aussies though, but i do know some breeds are one person dogs and unless highly socialized can be a royal pain in the rear when anyone else is around. (I don't think Collies or Aussies fall under that though.)

Sorry that i don't have more advice. Good luck!

[DrKym]

With out meeting the dog in person i have to (respectfully) disagree with Giselle about this being a fear issue.

It sounds exactly how you put it. She's learned what she can get away with. She respects no one but you. With out the others willing to work with her she's going to continue to get a huge ego and think she can get away with anything.

I do agree with the rest of what Giselle said though. It's sound advice.

I don't know much about Collies or Aussies though, but i do know some breeds are one person dogs and unless highly socialized can be a royal pain in the rear when anyone else is around. (I don't think Collies or Aussies fall under that though.)

Sorry that i don't have more advice. Good luck!

Sorry Crow...... I do Dobes and grew up with Danes.... had a few collies ....................this babe needs ob training with everyone.

[Giselle]

I don't like the "dominance theory". After speaking with several behaviorists about this topic in depth, I'm believe more and more that "dominance" issues are not applicable to human-dog relationships. Yes, dominance comes into play in dog-dog packs, but there are several glaring issues that stymies the belief that a dog truly believe s/he is dominant over a human being. Therefore, I don't believe that Chloe is dominant or trying to exert her dominance over the family members.

The three times that Chloe snapped, a person was taking away her resource. 1st incidence- Mother attempts to grab object from dog's mouth. 2nd incidence - Dog is in an enclosed space, eating food. Child attempts to reach for dog. 3rd incidence - Dog is eating food. Child leans over the dog. In all cases - dog had resource and snapped when humans tried to take it away.

I still do think it is fear. It is a fear of having her resources taken away and not receiving anything for it. She has not yet been taught "Drop it" or "Give" and that is the most important thing she needs to learn right now. As another testament to why I don't believe in dominance (especially in these cases), I have a Dobe mix. I am her sole trainer. Rarely does anybody else besides me give her commands. Yet, when my mother was home alone and Ivy had something in her mouth, my mother said "GIVE" and Ivy gave it up. True dominance is not easily fixed, and if a simple "Give" can rectify this situation, I highly doubt Chloe is truly dominant.

[crow_noir]

I never said anything about dominance. I'd think it would be more an issue of "I want, I want, I want." Not being taught that she can't have her way all the time.

[Giselle]

Oh, I know you didn't say it was dominance, but Blackrose said that she thought it was dominance, and I needed to dispel that myth.

Aside from these food deliveries, there appeared to be an ownership zone (Mech 1970) around the mouth of each wolf, and regardless of the rank of a challenger, the owner tried to retain the food it possessed, as Lockwood (1979) also found with captive wolves. Wolves of any rank could try to steal food from another of any rank, but every wolf defended its food (Table 6).

-From L. David Mech's "Wolf Status and Dominance in Packs" report.

Basically, my point is that it's not dominance, but it is an issue of obedience training and Chloe's perception of "what will I get in return for giving up my resources?"

[Blackrose]

I put "dominance" in quotes because I when I talk about dominance, I'm not talking about "alphas" and "dominance" and "being the master over your dog buy doing yadda yadda yadda".
When I think of dominance in a dog, I think it is more of a respect issue. For instance, I'll use my friend and her horse as an example. When my Sarah first got her Welsh Pony, she hopped up on him to ride him. She told him to walk forward and he backed up. She tried to get him to canter and he walked over to a tree and started eating the leaves. Every time she told him to do something, he did something else just to see what he could get away with. She corrected him, showed him that she meant business, and then he was a little angel.
But then when her less horse savvy brother rides Cody, Cody is a butt head just because John doesn't inforce, nor does he know how to inforce, anything.

From what I know about Chloe, I don't think it is a fear issue. She can be skittish around new things (skirts around it, then investigates it), but when she snaps at someone her body language is anything but fearful. And if she was truely afraid that her resources were going to be taken away, I don't think she would also act that way around me. In the situations I posted about earlier, I can do the exact same thing that everyone else did, and she doesn't care and listens. If the rest of the family tries to do that, they get snapped at and barked at. She is a dominant dog (and again, when I say dominant, I mean a dog that is constantly trying to bend the rules to see what she can get away with versus a dog who will listen to every word that comes out of your mouth like it's scripture).
Since I'm the only one who ever inforces anything, I'm the only one she'll listen too. Blackie and Rose are kind of like that, but they aren't as testing with everyone as Chloe is. Melanie, my six year old sister, can go out to Blackie and Rose and tell them to do anything and they'll do it. If Mel tells Chloe to do something, and since Chloe knows that Mel can't inforce it, Chloe just won't do it.

She is healthy as a horse. When she was spayed she had an infection and on top of that she had worms, but that has all cleared up now.