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Okay… I’ve had Alec since he was two months old – he’s a pug/beagle mix and if i can figure out how, i’ll post a pic or two…

He can be the sweetest dog in the world – he burrows under the covers for quick naps with me, he is wonderful with strangers, etc. But then he gets into these moods where he growls, snaps, and bites us.

For example:

1. On walks with his retractable leash, he will sometimes start biting our feet… I immediately stop and tell him to sit and give him a leash correction – and that usually takes care of it, but sometimes he keeps at it.

2. He gets very excited and he will sometimes jump and bite our t-shirts. He’s actually ripped a bunch of them with this little technique. I tried squirting him with a squirt gun but he found it lying around and chewed it to bits. Shaking a can with pennies just makes him more excitable/aggressive.

3. Sometimes he’ll just nip at folds in my clothes for no apparent reason. When I tell him “no”, he’ll run around the house, building momentum, and throw himself into me.

4. He tries to bite me when I put on his leash/collar.

I used to chalk this up to play biting puppy behavior, but now it seems as though sometimes, he’s snarling along with his biting (his lips kind of quiver). His aggression also seems to be pretty random (i.e., it’s not confined to a particular event or time).

I try the “nothing in life is free” method, and I’ve used squirt guns (but those are difficult because I usually don’t have one handy and if Alec finds it, he’ll chew it up). I should probably give him some more exercise and I after reading another post, I think I’ll try the “ignore for the first 5 minutes when you get home” idea.

So here are my questions – judging from the examples I’ve told you, how serious does this sound? How can I change his behavior? He’s such a cute little dog, we definitely spoil him and he probably considers himself to be alpha. It would be easier for me to deal with the problem if he was always aggressive, but because he’s nice 90% of the time, I find myself grinning and bearing through the 10% mean dog part.

Any advice would be appreciated…


Have you taken him to obedience classes? This would be a great way to get the problems with putting on the collar and walking resolved and he’ll learn to follow your commands at home more readily. Change from a can with pennies to plastic soda bottles (the smaller ones). Make up a few of them. When he starts the jumping & biting at your clothes give him a sharp NO and if he’s close you can actually tap him on the side with it repeating NO while you are doing it. If he’s farther away again give a sharp NO and then throw the bottle towards him – not to hit him with it but aim close to startle him – you can even toss a couple of them, one right after the other. Then ignore him for a few moments until he settles.

But I do suggest get him in some classes for overall training and you’ll also learn other techniques that have worked for others. What works for one dog may not work for another. Sometimes it is trial & error til her find the magic combination. At 10 months he’s at the age where he is going to test you for all he’s worth. And most importantly when he is in one of his 10% bad puppy mood don’t grin & bear it. He has to have a consequence for it or it will continue and progressively have the potential of getting worse.

Keep us posted how he’s doing and I’ll post if I think of any other things to try.

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Denise a/k/a Poodlemom


Alec was enrolled in a 6 week puppy class and a 8 week obedience class… You’re right dbowen – I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not okay to bear the 10% problem behavior… That’s why I finally posted here to try and get some help. I’ll try your plastic soda bottle idea – although i’m almost positive that he will use them as a chew toy.


I really like the methods in “The Dog Listener” by Jan Fennell.

(She is the one talking about the five minutes rule. There are three other things you need to do too that Jan Fennell talkes about. She calles it “Amichien bonding”.)

The book is very easy to read with a bunch of examples of troublesome dogs.She has one way of dealing with it all. Pretty easy and not hard on the dog at all.

We had a puppy last year that we had lots of problems with (we had to return him finally- we hadn’t read much about making sure to be the Alpha couple. We did this time.) so I know how hard it can be… Good luck!

(Maybe he is unsure of his rank in the pack… I don’t know. I am pretty new at this. Got a puppy myself. Just a thought.)

/Jenny


Melanie he is so cute awwwe but no he shouldnt be aggressive at ALL.

Denises idea with the plastic bottle sound good to me I would try that.

I also wondered if a short TIME OUT when he is being aggressive would help?

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A dog is “Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage withour Ferocity, and all the virtues of man without his vices” – BYRON


Quote:

For example:

1. On walks with his retractable leash, he will sometimes start biting our feet… I immediately stop and tell him to sit and give him a leash correction – and that usually takes care of it, but sometimes he keeps at it.

2. He gets very excited and he will sometimes jump and bite our t-shirts. He’s actually ripped a bunch of them with this little technique. I tried squirting him with a squirt gun but he found it lying around and chewed it to bits. Shaking a can with pennies just makes him more excitable/aggressive.

3. Sometimes he’ll just nip at folds in my clothes for no apparent reason. When I tell him “no”, he’ll run around the house, building momentum, and throw himself into me.

4. He tries to bite me when I put on his leash/collar.

I used to chalk this up to play biting puppy behavior, but now it seems as though sometimes, he’s snarling along with his biting (his lips kind of quiver). His aggression also seems to be pretty random (i.e., it’s not confined to a particular event or time).

I try the “nothing in life is free” method, and I’ve used squirt guns (but those are difficult because I usually don’t have one handy and if Alec finds it, he’ll chew it up). I should probably give him some more exercise and I after reading another post, I think I’ll try the “ignore for the first 5 minutes when you get home” idea.

Hi melanie,

I have gone through many dogs who acted the exact same way to what you are describing. Personally I would scratch what dbowen said about the plastic bottles (it doesn’t matter what the bottles are made out of) Alec is taking it as a trigger or reinforcement, that what he is doing is acceptable behavior, and that is why he uses it as a chew toy or something to play with. What you need to be doing is putting him on a power down as soon as any of these behaviors start, which you should have learned in his puppy or 8 week obedience classes. A power down consists of you giving Alec a specific command depending on his bad behavior such as no biting, no teeth, get off, relax etc. etc. whatever commands you normally use with him, then you hold his lead and stand on it keeping him very close to your side in the down position with no room for him to take a step…only enough slack for him to stand right beside you with no jumping or moving…he will fight, he will whine and fuss but you must ignore him and keep him there for a minimum of 20 minutes until he calms down remember never to lose your cool, dogs respect a cool confident leader…if you do this consistantly everytime he starts acting up it will slowly show him that you are the alpha and you will not tolerate those types of behaviors but you must be consistant and do it everytime he acts up or else he will think it is ok sometimes and continue to challenge you and show you no respect. I wish you goodluck and keep us up to date on how things go…I was also going to tell you to get rid of the squirt guns and get yourself a regular spray bottle and fill it with vinegar (use it on mist spray not stream) and maybe keep 1-2 of those around the house to help use in corrections such as off, don’t bite, no teeth, leave it and drop it. Finally here is a picture of the neighbors dog Bruno who I automatically thought of when I saw Alec, they are both Pug/Beagle mixes so says my neighbor anyways but I do think they look alike

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“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” – Will Rogers


blitz, that dog looks like a pug/chow… with the curly little tail LOL anyways, who knows…

just a question… how did you obtain this puppy? was it a rescue, or did you get him from a “puggle” breeder? i am not generalizing in anyway, but if you search the word “puggle” on doggroups you get a couple of threads concerning puggle aggression… if you did get him from a breeder, i wonder if they are using ill-tempered dogs with aggression problems as “breeding stock.”

REGARDLESS, this seems to be a tough little dog. let me tell you, aggressive behavior will only get worse from 12-18 months if you dont get him in shape now. he has been aggressive all along, and at 10-12 months, dogs begin to develop serious dominance problems.

you need to develop the “alpha attitude,” ie, “i am not going to let this little bugger push me around!” not only do you need to CLOSELY follow NILIF, but there needs to be some negative reinforcement when he is aggressive (spritz, 5 min down, with a FIRM “NO GROWLING!”, etc.)

so, i guess, like others have said, you need to instill a ZERO TOLERANCE policy. otherwise, you are going to have a very unmanageable dog on your hands!

best of luck to you!

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pepsia & logan

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence. -Robert Frost