Puppy growling at owners

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dilbert

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Any advice appreciated....

Iggy-pup (10 week old SBT male) seems to think that growling at myself and OH is acceptable if we spoil his fun. For example, he was wrestling with our rottie and was getting a bit carried away, OH moved him away and got growled at. A similar incident occurred except I got growled at and then nipped. OH rolled him on his back and pinned him, he growled more initially but then relaxed, licked his lips briefly and was let free.

He's very good in every other way but obviously we need to nip this in the bud. He is fed last, goes through door ways last, sleeps on his own downstairs, we pretend to eat from his bowl etc. I've been doing some clicker training with him and he seems very bright (compared to our female SBT).

Help please!
 
He's a puppy!
This is not a dominance issue its a puppy not knowing what is ok and not ok.

Please don't alpha roll him. It does nothing other than create a fearful dog.

And as for the going out the door first ect you can believe that if you want but i personally believe its a bunch of bull. If you believe in the alpha theory and actually look at a pack structure the alpha would not go out the door first.

You should read this. You can download it for free.
http://www.dogstardaily.com/storefront/after-you-get-your-puppy

Lots of good video's here too:
http://www.dogstardaily.com/videos/training/chapter2-raising-puppy
 
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Cheers :)

He's very different to how our girls were so difficult to know what is "normal" puppy behaviour!
 
I've never had a puppy growl at me, so I don't think I would consider it normal. If he were mine I'd get some advice from a good behaviourist (perhaps your vet can recommend someone?) who can observe the behaviour and let you know if there is a problem or not.

Sorry KL I have to disagree with the value of the door thing. I don't know whether pack leaders would go through a door first or not, but in terms of training I think it does help to teach a pup to control its first impulse to rush through the door and wait for you to give it a cue that he is allowed to do so. It teaches the pup to look to you for general guidance as to what is and is not allowed, so I think it can be helpful overall.
 
If a pup growled or tried to nip me, whilst I wouldn't alpha roll as such I would get him by the scruff and give him a shake and reprimand him verbally.
Although I don't believe in the whole pack leader thing I do make my dogs wait for me to go through doors, gates etc, I just feel it is good manners on their behalf.
 
Booboos said:
I've never had a puppy growl at me, so I don't think I would consider it normal. If he were mine I'd get some advice from a good behaviourist (perhaps your vet can recommend someone?) who can observe the behaviour and let you know if there is a problem or not.

Sorry KL I have to disagree with the value of the door thing. I don't know whether pack leaders would go through a door first or not, but in terms of training I think it does help to teach a pup to control its first impulse to rush through the door and wait for you to give it a cue that he is allowed to do so. It teaches the pup to look to you for general guidance as to what is and is not allowed, so I think it can be helpful overall.
Click to expand...

Of course its good manners but to do it to put yourself in the place of pack leader is ridiculous the same with the pretending to eat the dogs food and eating before them things.
 
Betsy was a nightmare for growling at us when she was tiny. If she wanted something she would growl and nip us. We tried praising calm behaviour, shaking and a firm 'no'. The only thing that worked was removing her from the room for a few mins to calm down EVERY TIME she did it. She soon realised that being arsey = being alone.

She has grown into a loving little pooch who would never growl or nip.
 
Harley did a similar thing to me when he was small, and I posted for advise on here!

He was getting on the sofa and when I would go to remove him he would growl and bite (and it hurt!) me.

So got the advise to put a training line on him so I didn't get bitten, and firmly remove him from the situation. Due to my background with children I then put him in a time out! ha ha! some people might tell me dogs wouldn't understand that, but he does! I even do it now if he's been REALLY bad. I firmly put him in a down, then leave him and ignore him for however long (it takes me to stop being mad at him mainly). If he moves, I don't look at him, I just take him back and put him back in the down.

Works for me!
 
Thank you everyone :) I like the "time out" idea as he is very sociable so he would notice it! Hopefully won't have to use it much though.
 
Dex is having time outs for similar behaviour..... he is 18 months ish and was never taught- a nip from him now really hurts- seems to calm him down, and re focus on being good.....
 
katielou said:
Of course its good manners but to do it to put yourself in the place of pack leader is ridiculous the same with the pretending to eat the dogs food and eating before them things.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, I think we agree overall!! :) I am not sure what I think about the alpha-pack type theories, but I know they don't work for me so I tend to find other training methods.
 
Whilst I to don't believe the whole throught the door first, feed first means establising yourself as a pack leader malarky, or that if a dog runs through the door it thinks it's self leader, it's just excited and in a rush to get past (as dogs usually are)/has never been taught any manners as MM suggests.
I do believe it is good manners and does not harm to teach manners or encourage a bit a patience. The feeding first imo means nothing.Re feeding- you would also be better to sit with his bowl and hand feed for some feeding sessions if you have a worry he may become food aggressive at any stage (take food from bowl that held just above puppy and hand feed, inbetween lower the bowl for pup to take some to, then raise bowl inbetween), otherwise I wouldn't worry and would not pretend to eat from his bowl:D u will do yourself a back injury (thats not how I did mine):p:D
Im not with the whole alpha roll, I don't see the whole point to be honest, and a reprimand should be a short sharp shock to associate with the behaviour, an alpha roll is more like a full on grapple that lasts a good while and has a lot of squirming involved:D I havenothing aginst a smack on the bottom as MM suggests, the puppy spaniels (well 2) the gingers got smacked bottoms when they bullied their siblings (yep part of the whole sibling process) but they really did go over board and where very naughty with the whole pinning down and riving the other pups ear hair out (even puppies screaming did not see them stop) and a few started to become a big subdued, hence the smack botty by me which sharp stopped them, it was quick and over in a second and snapped them out of the behaviour.
The time out is as suggested a good one to for most unwanted behaviours, aslong as they are removed immediately, no talk, just take them by the collar and lead them straight out, then when u allow them back in, no over the topness, let them approach you first upon re enter and all is forgotten.
 
To me, the whole 'be the pack leader, be the alpha' thing is a bit daft - you should be your dog's leader, but there is more than one type of leader in the world. The pack leader theory seems to me to be drifting towards the type of leadership the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket practiced (and much good it did him;)) - instead, surely it's better to be the type of leader that dogs (and people) follow because they want to, rather than because they are too worried not to?

Anyway, I would support the time-out approach - a roll is just going to leave your puppy even more stressed than before, ditto shouting etc in this type of situation. As 'leader' you really should be above all this pettiness... so just remove the pup calmly, leave them to calm down then back in and all is forgotten. Save raising your voice for situations where you need them to stop what they are doing RIGHT NOW (e.g. playing way too rough, heading for a road or similar), so that when you do need to raise your voice it has more impact.
 
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