On high alert

[puppychaos]

In the last couple of weeks or so, my 7 month old puppy has went from being pretty chilled out to barking at the door and barking at any movement outside when she's in the garden. She even barked at someone when on a walk last night! Also, she's been a bit rough with her dog pal when she was out with her dog walker - this has happened twice on both Thursday and Friday. She's also getting more aggressive towards us.

This is really sudden and there hasn't really been a build up, especially the barking at the door - she started doing it one day and hasn't stopped. Is there anything we can do to calm her down? She's really out of sorts.

I should say that she's a rescue pup and we've had her for three months now.

Could she be coming into season? The hormones can cause some pretty big behavioural changes in some bitches.

@sunflowersandbuttercups Oh god. I didn't even think of that

What do you mean when you say that she's getting more aggressive towards you? What was she doing previously and what is she doing now?

[quote puppychaos]@sunflowersandbuttercups Oh god. I didn't even think of that [/quote]
Depending on her size, she could be about the right age for it to happen - I'd keep an eye out for any changes as you'll need to restrict her walks etc. while she's fertile.

@Happenchance she's went from being a puppy who never bites really, to a puppy that snaps at us and growls. I would understand it as normal puppy behaviour if she had always done it but it's new

@sunflowersandbuttercups aye will do. We move in two weeks time so it's awful timing! Ach well.

[quote puppychaos]@Happenchance she's went from being a puppy who never bites really, to a puppy that snaps at us and growls. I would understand it as normal puppy behaviour if she had always done it but it's new[/quote]
What triggers her to snap and growl at you?

Our puppy started barking more at a similar age, especially when out for walks. I saw this Victoria Stilwell clip and she uses distraction and treats just before you see the runner/bike etc. Seems to be working.
Ours also will snap if kids try to pick her up. (They are 13 & 16) I think its partly her poodle gene. Not sure how to stop that either but I think its going to be great based.Nightmare though.

Ours also will snap if kids try to pick her up. (They are 13 & 16) I think its partly her poodle gene. Not sure how to stop that either but I think its going to be great based.Nightmare though.

Why are your children picking her up in the first place?

They shouldn't be. Most dogs don't enjoy it and shouldn't be expected to tolerate it. A snap is a dogs' last warning before a bite - please read up on the ladder of aggression and listen to what your dog is telling you.

I'm sure 7 months is around the age of the fearful stage, or something similar. I cant remember exactly what it is called. Just where everything is daunting and scary to them.

@sunflowersandbuttercups ....She snaps at them if they pick her up for a reason, like to get her off the bed that she wants to go on! She's a small toy breed and sometimes needs to be picked up.e.g. To get in car, over a stye/ wall in fields, or to get her out of harm's way from big puppy that's just boffed her or a lurched that thinks shes prey. ( she is well socialised and loves all dogs of any size.Too brave if anything) She s closely bonded with me so does not ever snap at me if do the same....though she has a couple of times if I've tried to get her off my sons bed and she doesn't want to get off. I think there is a dominance thing there if anything .
Will read up on ladder of aggression, sounds interesting.
@TheChip Yes I've heard something too. Ours seems very territorial of the garden and barks at the birds even. But she's a poodle mix so to be expected.Birds are her thing.
Am interested what triggers OPs puppy.....

She snaps at them if they pick her up for a reason, like to get her off the bed that she wants to go on! She's a small toy breed and sometimes needs to be picked up.e.g. To get in car, over a stye/ wall in fields, or to get her out of harm's way from big puppy that's just boffed her or a lurched that thinks shes prey.

Very few of those scenarios (if any) actually require her to be picked up.

• To get her off the bed, use a command and call her. If that fails lure her off with a treat or a toy, and reward her when she gets off without a fuss.

• to get in the car, buy a ramp and get her to walk up and down it. If you keep picking her up (when she clearly doesn't like it) you're going to keep provoking her fear response and one of you will end up bitten.

• for stiles etc. many have doggy doors or gaps in them. If not then you may need to pick her up but this should be a last resort.

• I don't agree with picking small dogs up out of the way of bigger ones. Why are you picking her up in that scenario? If she's overly friendly with other dogs then keep her on her lead and recall her that way. Unless she's in direct harms way then she doesn't need to be carried.

If you continue to pick her up when she's not happy about it, you risk her escalating her discomfort which is already at quite high levels. A snap is the last resort before a bite and you're all continuing to ignore her warning. One day someone will pick her up when she's tired or unwell, or go to fuss her in her bed and she'll bite them.

I hope none of that sounds overly harsh - as a dog walker I see a lot of people with toy dogs who carry them around and pick them up constantly and it's not necessary.

If you had a Great Dane, you wouldn't be able to pick him up to get him off the bed or whatever, so why do it to a smaller dog?

@sunflowersandbuttercups All good tips. I understand you are only commenting on limited information, but shes a rough, tough country dog for her limited size and has a deep love of mud and puddles so I only pick her up when necessary on a walk! When I do pick her up because of other dogs its because they are out of control and shes run up to me with her tail between her legs. Otherwise she is charging around with the friendly less boisterous ones.The walks we go on have quite a few stone slab type styles so she just cant get over them otherwise. I've also got her on a long lead currently as her recall needs work. I'm going to get slated for this bit..she cant jump off the bed as it too high!. She whines to go on it though and is willingly picked up to go on it... I think some steps would be a plan. She absolutely has no issue with me picking her up. (And as someone asked me the other day....no I dont dress her up!)🤣

I'm not judging if you have to pick her up for her safety :) I'm a dog walker and had to do the same last week when someone's out of control dog kept approaching me and tried to bite the dog I was with. Sometimes their safety is more important than their comfort lol.

If you can pick her up no problem, I wonder whether one of your DC have accidentally hurt her, or go to pick her up in a different way to you?

@Happenchance nothing! It's always really sudden. She just doesn't seem herself.

@TheChip that might be it. She does just seem scared a lot at the moment. I guess we just ride through it?

Thanks @BBOA , we don't pick her up though so I don't think that's it.

She's also very territorial at the moment! Very very barky quite suddenly.

Yeah. Maybe just be a bit patient with her and recognise what sets her fear off so that she's not being thrown into it and instead eased into it.

Its the snapping that I would be concerned about. If it is suddenly with no reason that you can see to fix, then I'd see about a check up at the vet. Sometimes pain can cause a dog to become more aggressive.
Where as if you can see the reason, like if she has started getting snappy when you go to get a toy for example - work on correcting the issue.

[quote puppychaos]@Happenchance nothing! It's always really sudden. She just doesn't seem herself. [/quote]
Does she give any subtle signs that she's unhappy before she progresses to a growl or snap, such as a yawn or a lip lick? www.pdsa.org.uk/taking-care-of-your-pet/looking-after-your-pet/puppies-dogs/canine-ladder-of-communication

@Happenchance thank you. I've been watching more and more closely since the previous comments and it seems it happens most when she's told off? For instance if she's digging where she's not meant to or jumping on us or something and we say 'no' or 'leave it', she turns around and snaps at us! She's a very clever dog and definitely knows what we mean! Not sure how to train this out...

Have a chat with your vet, make sure there's no medical reasons other than a potential season. Your vet may also be able to recommend a registered behaviourist to help out - much better than us on the internet trying to do a guess. It's better for them to view the behaviour to spot triggers.

Instead of a no and leave it, what about a pet corrector or something. Just for the times she is resorting to snapping. Or a loud clap with a no from a distance with an "ah ah" instead of no and leave it?

My oldest dog went through a snapping stage when I said no to things when he was a youngun. It was due to his over excitement at the time and the fact he didn't want to stop, and knew the no meant I wanted him too. I think I removed him from the room whenever he did that. I cant really remember but its not an issue now.

Please don't use a pet corrector to scare her, especially if she is going through a fear period. She could already be snapping because you are scaring her by telling her off.

The best thing to do is prevent her from practicing the unwanted behaviour in the first place or teach an incompatible behaviour. For example, have her on a long line in the garden and use it to prevent her from going towards areas where she isn't allowed to dig and teach her that she has to sit if she wants your attention because sitting is incompatible with jumping up at you. Both of these things can be done without raising her stress levels by shouting at her.

@bunnygeek Yes we're trying to sort a vets appointment but we move house in two weeks and since we told them we're moving and cancelled our family membership they have been really rude and dismissive and still haven't let us book an appointment in because she's still eating and drinking which feels wrong. Other vets in the area are full and won't take her on because we are already registered somewhere so I'm really not sure what to do.

@TheChip I could never use a pet corrector but thank you. Hoping it is just a phase!

@Happenchance We could never, don't worry. Yes she might be scared of us telling her off but it's hard because there's only so much we can do otherwise.

For example: One big boundary we have is that she's not allowed to scratch under the bed - she kept doing it so we completely blocked it off and now she spends half her time scratching at the barriers, barking at it, growling because she wants to play under there. We then shut the bedroom door at all times apart from at night (her crate is in with us), and now she just scratches the bedroom door instead! When she's in that zone it's really hard to redirect, and given she's annoyed at the way we stopped the issue from happening in the first place, it puts us in a bit of an awkward position.

We would never shout at her, the 'no's are firm but calm. But I can see that if she's in a fear period it might not be helping.

Oh for reference she's mostly border collie + terrier, didn't think that info would be useful until now, sorry!