puppy growling/snarling

[AnotherLoad]

my lovely playful pom puppy has a thing for my toddlers dummy. ive been saying a firm'NO' and moving her away from it, giving her one of her own toys/chews.

if my toddler drops it on the floor pup will dash for it and wisk it of to her bed. again i do the same.

earlier today pup was sitting on sofa with me and toddler put dummy on the sofa. pup went to take it and i said no and pushed her away from it. to my surprise she growled and snarled at me, showing teeth :( she looked a complete different dog. i was shocked. i said no again to show her i wasnt happy with her behaviour and she just kept snarling and nipping at me.

the other day she had a mouth of fluff from the broom so went to take it out of her mouth and she had a little growl and quick show of teeth but not as bad as earlier.

dont know how to approach this? how to i go about stopping her? i dont know why she's angry i dont smack her, i say no (pointing finger) this is my first dog so not experienced. is this her trying to dominate?

How old and what breed???

she is a pomeranian, 10wks 3 days.

Sounds like she is guarding the things she likes to me.

Rather than punishing her, I would suggest you work on training her with a 'leave it' command, practice getting her to drop things and rewarding with high value treats and lots of praise.

My puppy was not at all happy at having things taken off him, but some training with bits of cheese etc, he will drop even nice food now when asked Unless it's something he can gulp down in one go, like some sausage, of course

I would make sure she is not with the toddler unsupervised at all, you don't want them to have a tug of war over a dummy and someone to get nipped.

Swap. Dogs have a very strong sense of possession. Once it's in their mouth it's theirs.

Get something better (food treats usually work but a toy is also fine) and give the command 'drop' or whatever you want to use when the dog drops what it has to get what you have. She'll soon get the picture.

I would not take things from a dog who does not want to give them up. That is a sure fire way of ending up with a dog with guarding issues and food aggression.

Have you read Gwen Bailey's Perfect Puppy? You can get it on Amazon relatively cheaply and it's must have for new puppy owners.

Ignore anyone who mentions dominance to you. They are talking tosh. It was disproved years and years ago. There have been many recent studies that show positive training using lots of rewards and treats to shape behaviours you want is the best way to a well balanced dog.

waits for Flathead to come and tell OP all she needs to do is raise an eyebrow and her pup will know who is boss

I agree with teaching a leave it command, and practising swaps. Do you know how to teach leave it? It's fun. You have one thing the dog can't have (e.g. a piece of one type of food) and lots of little training treats. Present the thing the pup can't have and say 'leave it'. The first few times, make it impossible for the dog to take it - it stays in your hand and pup doesn't have long enough to get it. Then reward pup for not getting it with one of the training treats. Gradually make it harder - the item stays in your hand but pup has longer period of time in which to see it, then put the item on the floor briefly, then for a bit longer, and so on. (Never reward the dog with the thing it is meant to be leaving, or it gives a confusing message).

Swapping is a great thing to teach too. Like Dooin said, if you take things away from the dog, it can learn to resource-guard because it is afraid of losing things. On the other hand it is easy to swap for something else (you can make it higher value by making it seem exciting). At some point you can do this as a way of teaching the 'drop' command because pup will naturally drop the thing in her mouth in order to get the other item.

The other thing I'd do is spend more time playing with the puppy and her chew toys. This will make them seem even more interesting to her and keep her focus on them, instead of other chewable items.

Ian Dunbar has something called errorless chewtoy training which you can read about here which goes alongside his errorless toilet-training program (involves use of a crate a lot) if you're interested.

Positive training is the way to go I think, but I am no expert. When she growls, ignore her or put her on the floor without speaking, do not allow any communication with her for about 10 mins. However when she is being good and leaving things she shouldn't have praise her, go over the top and let her see how happy you are.

she was doing well, when i see her going towards it i'd say 'NO' or ah ah! and she would walk away. other times she would grab it and run off.

have recently started on the 'drop it' command but at the moment she still ignoring me. will take your advice and try it again.

at the moment she is on chicken and rice for gloopy/mucus poo and have been advised not to give treats until its leared up. so im trying to praise and fuss/play with her.

i do play with her alot, its made hard by a very jealous 23mth old who tries to hurt the dog, im with one of them at all times.

have just ordered a crate to let the dog get some space from my toddler.

thanks alot for your help.

*cleared up

One small tip I learnt with snappy puppies is if they do snap at you or the forbidden toy or whatever, yelp/scream loudly and pull away sharpish.. It'll frighten them into thinking they've hurt you. It's mimicking natural litter behaviour or something. Works a treat.

Just re-read the last post - the jealous 23mo tries to hurt the dog - wtf?! Sounds like they need a bit of training too. You've got your work cut out there! Someone is going to get hurt.

Praise, affection, and play can all make a good reward too - maybe play with a chew toy will work on two levels, both as reward and as training to use the chew toy.

Sophia Yin has some good advice on training young children about dogs, here. The most important thing is to teach the child not to approach (but to call the dog to them if they want to interact). Anyway it sounds like it is all well supervised. Good luck and have fun with your little one and the puppy.

I understand that my toddler will be jealous after not having to share my attention for nearly 2yrs, just like if i were to bring home a new baby. kids get jealous.

no one is going to get hurt, i have one of them with me at all times. until my toddler comes to terms that the pup is here to stay - yes i have my work cut out but im on it.

ive only had my pup for 2wks and every one is having to get used to a new lifestyle not only my toddler.

redwing thanks for that ian dunbar link, was having a read and is great advice. will read more of it - and get out asap to grab a kong of few :)

owning a pup is new to me and we've all got to learn from the scratch......

DS was 2.5 when we got our youngest dog as a puppy last summer - it is hard work and I found it quite stressful TBH.

Training the children is just as important as training the dog, and taking a puppy out regularly with a less than cooperative toddler is not always fun (and we are both experienced with dogs) But I now have an adolescent dog who is very good (still rather bouncy but in a waggy joyful way) and a 3.5yo who knows how to behave around him.

If you put the effort in, it is so worth it. My dog will 'come!' for either of my small children, he crosses the road when told 'Cross over!' (he picked that up himself because of crossing the children over ), he jumps in the boot and lies straight down when we are going in the car - really, I can't get over how obedient he is. He shows up our stubborn old dog really badly!

And we just did positive training, little and often, with a good run out every single day. The only things we had to really do some work on are probably jumping up to greet people (he forces himself to sit down and the whole of his body wags furiously instead now) and moving away from the door when we open it for parcels etc. Getting him to be good with those things has made a huge difference.

yes moaning it is very stressful. my DD just wants my full attention and is not happy if im spending a few minutes with the dog, but ive only had her 2wks so im working on them both!

i will be putting every effort in, it just shocked me when she snarled, didnt know how to approach it. but every one on here is great at helping.

The one thing I will say is getting a dog when you've already got children means that the dog is used to them from the off and you shouldn't ever experience jealousy from the dog. My dog was three and a half when dd1 came along and he's never really liked her! He'll tolerate her but he won't sit and cuddle up with the kids like he does with us. I'd like to think when we get our next dog, hopefully, it'll be a bit more affectionate with the kids because I think they miss out on that interaction.

Well, you have some good motivation for losing the dummy now Sorry, codlnt resist and a JOKE!

When you take something away from the dog, do you just take it away and thats it? Or do you swap for a preferred toy or a treat? We had a rescue rottie with terrible possesion issues - im sure you can appreciate we had to deal with that carefully! We swapped, if he got something we didnt want him to get, we said "leave" and offered him seomthing better. That way, leave is a positive command.

Ignore the snarling if you can, but try and see from dogs point of view, he feel he is having to compete for his toys (wht you and your dc) and warning you is the only way he knows how to get them.

A puppy of that age snarling and snapping is to be expected.

It does not mean she is vicious, naughty or trying to hurt you.

It is what puppies do when they play with each other. They nick the most important thing they can find and want to initiate a game based on who actually has it. It involves blood curdling snarling and they do snap at each other - a lot.

Your puppy needs to learn some basic manners - which will come with time and consistent firm boundaries.

With regard to the dummy - whatever you do, don't let the puppy know how important it is to you. (sounds like she already does). It will turn into a mammoth game. Do you have a squeaky toy that the puppy loves? If you do, use it as a swap/distraction tool.

They are quite simple really - they will ALWAYS go for the most exciting thing possible - it's up to you to decide what the most exciting thing is.

Ignore her next time she has the dummy. Make a massive fuss about the squeaky toy. I expect she'll drop the dummy and come and see what you have that looks much more fun.

If that doesn't work, leave the room and make excitement either outside or in another room. She is bound to come to find out what you're up to. You may need a sacrificial dummy to sort this out because she has already worked out that getting hold of it gets her some lovely attention - she doesn't have a clue why you're pointing at her (I'd advise stopping the pointing - it's threatening and likely to result in a nipped finger) nor what no means. She has a lot to learn.

lovemydog, i would of prefered getting the pup when DD was younger but it hasnt worked out that way! good luck with your next dog and plenty of cuddles with the kids :)

lucyellen - i actually have left dummy on kitchen worktop today. whilst juggling puppy training and house work i kept DD occupied every time she asked for it i said 'lets go get a book' and it seemed to work

before i posted this link i used to take the dummy off pup and just say good girl, but since ive had my eyes opened abit more - today i have been doing 'swaps' as mentioned i cant give treats until her tummy is better. but for now its a toy swap :)

its not only the toy/dummy she snarled, she done it when i tried to take fluff out of her mouth and also today when i picked her up because she tried to run out the door when my DC's wen out. yes i can ignore it, it just stunned me that some thing so fluffy and cute can change in a flip second! but now im a little more clued up - can take her mind off it with swapsies :)

because she tried to run out the door i spent some time today with her lead on and took one step towards the door and stopped. she had to sit - i praised her for waiting, then took another step and stopped.....so on so on. until i got to the door, then let her get out side, have look around. then took her back in.

hopefully this might helps, finger crossed :)

x posted daisy.

the only reason i get worried with the dummy is if she chewed a lump off and got it stuck in her throat - she picks up and tries to eat everything! my neighbour said one of her family's dog choked on a split dummy teat. so this panicked me.

great idea to call her into another room. ive practised the swaps today, she's still a little reluctant (stubborn :) ) but i know it will take time. now i know of the 'swaps' teqnique i dont need to say no or point because im making some funny noises whilst shaking one of her toys at her lol :) telling her to leave and offering another item is more positive as someone said.

Have you enroled in dog training classes yet?

you are definately right to worry about the dummy being swallowed, or bits of - would be a very costly mistake.

lovemydog - not yet just not had her long, she had her 2nd jab last wednesday and been trying to sort her messy poo out. but i was going to look into it soon, she loves other dogs so she'll love it

lucyellen - not ideal at all when you got hands full of lively toddler! if i could it all over again she would of been in school at least! would of waited but im moving into a new build beggining of the year and really didnt fancy a puppy wrecking it with chewing/poo and pee

You'll love dog training, it's great fun. I joined an obedience school with my four month old pup and stayed for about six years! Basically till we moved away. It's lovely to see your little dog progressing and learning and getting to the top class. We had Kennel Club training courses and every year a judge would come and hold tests and you'd get a little rosette and certificate. Lovely.

I now have a beautifully well behaved dog who I can take anywhere. We trained for so long that the commands are instilled in him and although we haven't been for two years he still knows it all.

It is so, so worth it. You'll get so much help and advice from qualified instructors who have seen it all before and know all the tricks. They can tell you what your dog is thinking before you've even recognised the behavioural signs. You learn so much working with your dog. We used to do agility and had sponsored walks, etc. Loads of fun.

Think of it as like having a child that has to go to school! Kids aren't born knowing how to count and spell. Dogs don't naturally know how to sit and stay when told to either. Unfortunately. But if you stick with it you will have a dog you can really be proud of. Enjoy.

As above re the swapping and training a 'leave it' command, but just one more thought : poms, spitzes and similar breeds have a 'smiley' snarl which can sound pretty surprising but only means play with me, usually accompanied by the 'play with me' stance (bum in the air, head and front legs low and forward) - is there any chance this was it?

It's also very helpful to join a good training class, both fun and useful!

Finally if the pup is on a special diet just feed her chicken as treats, nothing beats food for reward (for most dogs) so you don't want to miss out on opportunities for rewarding good behaviour.