5 month old pup growled @ me....

Yep,

And usually I don't like the little dogs and especially the little ones like her JC, But for some reason I have taken a liking to him long ago...And I haven't even met him,lol.

 

Never expect them to share anything or give them bones or treats that close together your just setting them up for trouble. As for the growling at you, try to find out if its a food thing when you feed them seperatly pet them continuously and remove the bowl before the pup finishes even stick your hand in the food this way you will know for sure and correct them firmly while they are still pups..hope this helps

 

I agree with tony, set him up for faliure and then correct him with a smack. not hard but enough to make him wince. Your dog needs to have some fear toward you. Do not break his spirit, but he has to know who is boss.

 

Well it isn't about fear, You don't want to buffalo the dog. It is about the dog respecting you.

 

I agree you dont want to break your dog, but you want your dog to know you are the boss and with a little fear comes some respect. you want your dog to be a little scared when you come out of the house pissed if they did something wrong, thats the little fear im talking about. They are like kids and if you let them get away with shit they will keep doing it.

 

Oh I see.

Yeah you want them to know when they did something wrong.

 

What you described is redirected aggression. The reaction of the 1st "stop" was an escalated reaction due to the Situation. Regardless it is neither acceptable nor should be tolerated. BC the growling dog, now being confronted by 2 individuals, was then addressed by a 3rd he Continued the behavior. It could have been out of the escalated excited State or even fear. Either is equally likely.

All is dog behavior, human behavior, and behavior related directly to animals and hierarchy. None is breed-specific. (So if you are going to bring that into the discussion, make Sure the discussion actually has to do w/ something breed-specific).

Nothing in life is Free is an excellent concept and any dog owner should follow it. It's just common sense. It relates dog world to human world. Again, it's a concept -not a fix-all.

In the scenario you described, the pup felt a little "balls-y" so to speak and for whatever reason felt the need to assert himself to the other dog. That's normal. Your GF asserted herself and he reacted. No excuses here and Since I did not witness let's just forget figuring out why the dog continued to growl and talk about how you could've handled the situation differently.

Now, I keep a drag line on all pups. This is for quick, safe and easy corrections. After she said "stop" and he growled, SHE, Not You, Should grab the drag line, say "No", give a good firm leash correction and remove him from the situation (BTW the crating was a good idea).. When you stepped in, you diminished her authority and then began a hierarchical dispute amongst each other. This probably created more confusion for the pups and again, the behavior escalated. Basically like being a teenager starting a fight w/ your parents and leaving to Sneak off to a party.

So, first, follow the suggestion & crate or separate the dogs when giving a high value treat or toy. Next, do not step over each other's authority. All humans in the house need to be seen as equal.

Remember, dogs will always surprise you as to what they find as high value as well. Train commands, such as "Drop", "Leave it", and "go to your crate". If you hare to force a dog who is trained & understands these commands to do them, they are not fully submitting to you. Having littermates, you have to always think of handling a Pack,not just two dogs.

Hope this helps. Until the dogs understand those commands, they Should not have any high value rewards.

 

Very good responses here.... Im not sure bout this but it sounds like some Cesar Milan stuff when folks talk bout NILIF.....

I sure hope that you can get this situated before it escalates and it will if left untreated..

 

dogs are dogs and basic canine behavior is the same- like it or not- between a bulldog and a damn peekapoo thing. there are certain things that are there, and training methods that will work, with ANY breed.
to say "this or that" wont work merely because we are talking about a bulldog is total greenhorn talk, apparently many doubting much of the advice in this thread havent done much w/ dogs...of any breed.

NILIF is a training tool..Nothing In Life Is Free, meaning you gotta work for it. funny how many here are saying its CM hookus pookus, and yet we here so often from members here how their dogs have to "earn their feed". hello pot, this is the kettle.

the tap works well also- but not so much in establishing fear so to speak, but more of a redirect, after all- young dogs have the attention span of a gnat at times. you want their undivided attention-not them cowering in front of you

it was even metioned about biting the dog ( post was deleted) and guess what? that is some of the best advice in this entire thread- as that is what the bitch would do, its a simulated correction that a mother would use on a pup. i have used that for 20 years. an old dogman taught me that.

we need to keep an open mind- what might sound "crazy" to onew, may have been proven for years and years by others, or ~you NEVER stop learning~

 

It's not Cesar Milan stuff. It's an option for training dogs, ANY breed of dog.

 

NILIF was around long before that idiot. :p

(Did my feelings on that guy show? hahahaha!)