I NEED HELP

phi473 · Post by **phi473** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:44 am

I have a great Dog....His name is Riley. He is great around everyone!!! Well he has a habit of getting in the trash and eating Q-TIPS. Gross Right??? Well this all happened today, my wife is at home with my 2 year old son and riley got in the trash. She scolded him and sent him to his room. Well he started to growl at her!!! That scares me because he is a pit bull. He never does that to me??? What can I do to help him with his attitude??? I thought for a second we will just put the trash cans up and he wont get in trouble, but my wife said that e growles at her when she repramands him. (sometimes). WHAT DO I DO???? SOMEONE PLEASE HELP

griffin · Post by **griffin** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:56 am

You do not reprimand a dog with an angry voice. A stern voice? Yes, but reprimand is the incorrect way, IMO. You should redirect him, tell him "leave it" (the trash can or any other object he should not be getting into) and give him something he can.

Also, when you are at home, make certain she is the one redirecting him and not just you.

Who feeds him? If she doesn't, let her do it for a while. Let her not only put the food in the bowl, but give him some out of her hand as well. This will show him she gets as much respect and authority as you do.

He is likely growling because of the tone and body language you & your wife use-he is just acting out of "fear" and or dominance-natural behavior.

If he just started getting into the trash, he might just be bored. Has he plenty of toys? Chewing as well as play things? One of Eddie's favorite toys is the food ball. Big round, hard plastic with two holes in it made of chambers inside. You put dry food in it (kibble), close the flap and the only way for the pup to get the reward is to roll it around. The food slowly releases through the chambers and comes out one at a time. It keep Eddie busy for a good 15-30 minutes and stimulates as well.

How old is he? What type of training have you and your wife done? Has he ever been agressive with you, your wife, toward your child before? ever bitten anyone? has anyone ever hit him? These questiosn need answers and depending on the answers, you may need a professional behaviorist.

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:20 pm

Move the trash, as you had thought. Always best to arrange things so that the dog has minimal chance of getting into mischief.

As griffin says, angry reprimand will get an angry response. Same with children, eh?

I find a tone of disappointment is better - but you know I rarely reprimand my dogs, and never ever tell them off for behaving like dogs. What your dog did was perfectly reasonable in dog terms. Maybe your wife 'tells him off' without him realising why she is suddenly getting antsy with him. They aren't born knowing our human rules and wishes, and can get very upset and confused when suddenly receiving a verbal attack and not knowing why.

Much better to make sure the pup can't get at anything you don't want him to have.

Maggie · Post by **Maggie** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:24 pm

I would say the same as the above posts.
We have an American bulldog, and an English bullterrier, and both know their place in our household.
We have never allowed them to growl etc with us or the kids, as this can easily get out of hand and lead to other things, and you dont want that with any dog, no matter the breed.

I would firstly get your wife to take control of the feeding and pretend to eat from his bowl before giving him his meals, also make sure if you go for a walk, that she leaves the house before the dog, as this will show her to be a leader not a follower.
I would not start trying to reprimand him and get OTT if this has never been done before, its got to be slow and subtle.

An old dog of mine was like this when I first got together with my hubby. He was his dog, and was 6 years old when I met my hubby. He was a very large male English bullterrier, and would not allow me near his food. But I have lots of confidence with dogs, and have allways been around them. I made sure he knew I was higher in the pack than him, by doing little things like the feeding, and walking etc.
Also never letting him win at tug of war or any sort of game so he could see I was more of a leader.
This worked for me, and I hope it works for you.

Mattie · Post by **Mattie** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:57 am

Maggie wrote:I would say the same as the above posts.
We have an American bulldog, and an English bullterrier, and both know their place in our household.
We have never allowed them to growl etc with us or the kids, as this can easily get out of hand and lead to other things, and you dont want that with any dog, no matter the breed.

Can you explain how you don't allow a dog to growl?

I would firstly get your wife to take control of the feeding and pretend to eat from his bowl before giving him his meals, also make sure if you go for a walk, that she leaves the house before the dog, as this will show her to be a leader not a follower.
I would not start trying to reprimand him and get OTT if this has never been done before, its got to be slow and subtle.

This is based on the warped theory about wolves, they were captive wolves not wilde ones who act very differently. Eating before a dog, going through doors etc, doesn't do anything especially proving we are alpha because the top dog doesn't act like this in a pack of dogs. All this does is confuse your dog.

Reprimanding a dog is a big nono as well, that leads to trouble, you are setting your dog up to fail, I want my dogs to succeed.

An old dog of mine was like this when I first got together with my hubby. He was his dog, and was 6 years old when I met my hubby. He was a very large male English bullterrier, and would not allow me near his food. But I have lots of confidence with dogs, and have allways been around them. I made sure he knew I was higher in the pack than him, by doing little things like the feeding, and walking etc.

It says a lot about this dog's good temperament if you managed to do this with him but you would have had more, and quicker success by doing it differently.

My Greyhound was food aggressive when I got him, I solved it in less than 24 hours by walking past him and dropping a little kibble into his bowl, when he had eaten that, I walked past and dropped more in. I continued doing this until he had all his food. The next feed time he was very happy for me to go up to him when he was eating because he knew good things happen.

I am not a dog and not a member of my pack, I hold all the resources, food, exercise etc so I don't need to prove myself. The leader of my pack is fluid depending on how much each dog puts on something, my Greyhound is generally the leader but another dog is the leader of any balls.

Also never letting him win at tug of war or any sort of game so he could see I was more of a leader.

This worked for me, and I hope it works for you.

I often let my dogs have the toy after I have been playing with them, it depends on what I am going to do and not to win the competition. I am not in competition with my dogs so who wins isn't relevant.

I have 6 dogs, it is a well balanced pack, 6 bitches and 2 dogs, the leader is a dog but the second in command is a *****. This is fluid depending on how high they put something.

Having so many dogs in my pack I find it facinating watching the pack behaviour especially since it shows the alpha/dominance theory as a load of old rubbish. That theory was based on captive wolves who are not dogs, dog pack behaviour is very different as anyone with a balanced pack will tell you.

Dee-n-Josh · Post by **Dee-n-Josh** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:56 am

I am in no position to offer insight about growling. This is not an issue that I have had.

BUT, getting into the trash... I have had that problem (twice now).
This will sound very silly: **Reprimand the trash can.**
When I would catch Tiger in the can, I worked on "leave it" and "give" commands. Once she was backed away from the can, had given up her prize, and had been rewarded... I turned around so that my back was to her and yelled at the trash can. It only took a few days for her to show contempt for the can... she leaves it alone, no matter how alluring the smell of food scraps can be. Solo was interested in the bathroom trash, and after a week of scolding the can, he leaves it alone too.

I wish I could take credit for that technique... but I read it somewhere. It was 3 years ago, and I just can't remember where I read it.

Ocelot0411 · Post by **Ocelot0411** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:10 am

That was very interesting Mattie. I have never seen dogs behaving as a pack so its very useful to hear that from someone who has. I also think that your explaination of humans being the 'resource holder' and therefore not in competion with your dogs is a great explaination of how we interact with our dogs, as I would also strongly disagree with the pack theory thing.

Dee & Josh, that's a hoot! I have never heard of that before but very funny. I bet your neighbours are highly entertained by the crazy trash can talking lady next door.

As for the answer to the problem, I would agree move things out of harms way. I also hardly ever reprimand my dog, firstly as the things she does that I don't want her to do are just normal 'dog' things which I don't think its fair to reprimand her for and also I simply don't think that reprimanding a dog works or if it does it does so at the expense of your relationship with them. In my view dogs have little or no concept of 'don't do that' so shouting at them for it will just make them think you are grumpy or worse unpredictable.

Mattie · Post by **Mattie** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:55 am

Ocelot, it is facinating watching a pack of dogs, watching they way they interact over various things etc. I would never have 6 dogs again, but I wouldn't have missed having so many.

It is dangerous to stop a dog from growling, growling is a dog telling us that they are very unhappy about what we are doing and we should listen to them. If I hadn't listened to my Greyhound on many occasions, I wouldn't have a face now.

If we don't listen to a dog growling, that growl will get worse, they will then start to air snap, then nip, then a full bite. If a dog has started by growling and we didn't listen, it is our fault if they bite, not their's.

Just because we listen to the growling and back away, doesn't mean that the dog gets away with things but this depends on what we were doing. A scared, nervous dog may growl because he is frightened, it is up to us to put our dog in a position where he isn't nervous and frightened then he won't need to growl.

With the case of Merlin my Greyhound resource guarding, when he growled and snarled, I would back off but he didn't get away with it. I would run out of the room saying in a very high, excited voice, "What have I got". I would go into the kitchen and Merlin would come running out after me. He had done what I wanted him to do and was rewarded. I was then able to walk into the other room and pick up what he had been guarding. I can now take anything off him, including juicy bones because the resource guarding was fear and most is, and once that fear went, so did the resource guarding.