Pup Growls at people (HELP)

[Evanman2010]

Hello,
Well still in the training stages of my GSP who is 3 1/2 months old. Biggest issue I have right now is associating him with random people. I take him to town every day and he meets random people all the time but at first is skidish and sometimes growls at them. Once they touch him he is fine and loves them. The other day my girlfriend was walking him and ran into her College VET teacher, she went to pet him and he growled at her, this doesnt look the best for my gf lol. What can I do to stop this? The only other time he does this is when he is eating a bone or food he will growl at humans and try to snap at other dogs trying to eat his food (Nothing bad, more of a warning). This needs to stop.

[Sharon]

socializing and more socializing. He's young . Personally , I don't think grabbing his muzzle , shaking and saying "No." helps.

based on my two similar dog experiences:

The bad news is that it may be long term problem. I have my 4th JRT( 2 years old) and the first one to be aggressive around strangers when on leash or off leash when they are in my house. Off leash , running around in dog park etc. , he could care less about other people. He had FULL socialization and this started at about age 1. I now muzzle him when he is on leash or when people are in my home. It's "in the dog" and nothing I can do about it. He can't be trusted.

( My setters look at him and say , " What the hlle is wrong with you?"

[polmaise]

Hello,
Well still in the training stages of my GSP who is 3 1/2 months old. Biggest issue I have right now is associating him with random people. I take him to town every day and he meets random people all the time but at first is skidish and sometimes growls at them. Once they touch him he is fine and loves them. The other day my girlfriend was walking him and ran into her College VET teacher, she went to pet him and he growled at her, this doesnt look the best for my gf lol. What can I do to stop this? This needs to stop.

I wonder how the dog has 'learned' this behaviour ?

[WindfallFarmES]

Sounds like you have a pup with alpha tendencies and need to examine the dynamics of your household of people and other dogs. He is just a pup, and likely the growling at feeding time is what he did when the whole litter jockeyed for food. Never would I tolerate a dog growling at me, family, or the rest of my 5 dog house over food or a bone. Alpha dog always eats first, therefore people always eat first in my house, not dogs, and when the dogs are fed it is a controlled situation, not a free for all where any would need to defend their food. Be a calm assertive pack leader. Behavior on-leash and with strangers can be unknowingly reinforced by your body language, the energy that is transmitted through the leash. Leadership walks, careful socialization, and lots of it.

[werkin2liv]

What are you doing when the puppy growls or acts inappropriately? Are you nervous or apprehensive when a stranger goes to pet the pup--that can make the pup nervous or apprehensive and in turn act out.

[Georgia Boy]

Alpha dogs are not fearful or skittish, they are very confident and only show aggression when warranted. This dog seems to need more socialization, which may or may not solve the issue, and has resource guarding issues.

[Evanman2010]

Ive never had a dog act out like this so im not sure what to do here. When he is meeting people sometimes I pick him up and introduce him to them slowly, this helps a bunch instead of having him run away on the leash and get yanked. At home when he is eating I have been slowly touching him and petting him to let him know im here but im not going to take his food, if he is really into his food or treats he will growl and get up and run away from everyone. Any suggestion on what to do? Each time he meets people in town or out on walks in the woods he is on his leash. At home he is very friendly to strangers and will not growl at anyone at my house just went we are away. Not sure if its him trying to protect me from others or what. But I still take him out as much as possible. Anyone have anything I can do to help with the food growling also? Thanks again.

[mtlhdr]

IMO go see a professional, or at least get in a puppy socialization/basic OB class. Take a few hours scouring the internet/facebook/yelp etc looking at local dog trainers/classes to find a decent one. Not easy to diagnose the issues and plan a course of action over the internet.

[Evanman2010]

Duke and I will be starting training at the beginning of June. Maybe the guy I will be going to will have some insite on this since he breeds GSP. Pretty sure he can help with this also. Thanks for the input guys. Ill still socalize him as much as possible with people and reward good behavior. Maybe its just a phase he is in.

[shags]

It's not PC but that dog would meet Jesus if he were mine and growled at me over a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. He should have met Him the first time he growled or lifted a lip. Do you think his mother would have kindy gently explained that growling at her is impolite? No, she would have nailed him and the whole snotty attitude thing would have been over.

As for the defensiveness on lead to new people, you might set the pup up to 'meet' people who have been previously asked to ignore him. Walk up, greet your friends, totally ignore the dog and have the friends ignore him too. After a few minutes of talk if the dog looks calm and relaxed, go for a low key introduction - no high excitement, appeasement, or loud voices. Just low key matter of fact, Hey Dog, what's up? Nice to see ya, 'bye. If it's not a big deal to you it won't be to the dog either. By you picking him up, he's thinking you are protecting him from a dangerous situation, and reacting to it.

Good luck with your pup.

[SCT]

It's not PC but that dog would meet Jesus if he were mine and growled at me over a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. He should have met Him the first time he growled or lifted a lip. Do you think his mother would have kindy gently explained that growling at her is impolite? No, she would have nailed him and the whole snotty attitude thing would have been over.

As for the defensiveness on lead to new people, you might set the pup up to 'meet' people who have been previously asked to ignore him. Walk up, greet your friends, totally ignore the dog and have the friends ignore him too. After a few minutes of talk if the dog looks calm and relaxed, go for a low key introduction - no high excitement, appeasement, or loud voices. Just low key matter of fact, Hey Dog, what's up? Nice to see ya, 'bye. If it's not a big deal to you it won't be to the dog either. By you picking him up, he's thinking you are protecting him from a dangerous situation, and reacting to it.

Good luck with your pup.

+1

I won't tolerate the slightest amount of aggression of any kind.

[gonehuntin']

There's two things here. Numbrer one, I WOULD FREAKIN' NEVER allow him to growl at me over a bone or food dish. NEVER!

Number two, sounds like fear growling to me. He is skittish and backs away from people. He's showing a fear or distrust of strangers. Answer to this one is what you are doing: socialization to get him used to other people. Around your place, try to make sure the other people are sitting or laying on the ground when you into him. They appear lesss intimidating that way.

If it doesn't stop get rid of him. It would show a genetic defect in his disposition.

[Montana]

I'll put up with quite a bit with a dog, but a questionable temperament is not one of them... If a dog does something once, he'll do it again....general rule of thumb. With all of the dogs around with great temperaments, why chance having one you can't trust? It's not worth it.

[Evanman2010]

UPDATE:
Well its been a couple weeks and lots has changed (In a good way ). Whenever Duke meets people he seems very excited now, he makes friends with the mail man (who gives him a treat each time he sees him), people at the vet, people in town, he runs up to whoever he sees and starts to lick and play with them, the next step is pounding it in his head what DOWN means and not to jump on people. He is not skidish around other people anymore which is a big accomplishment on my part. He does not growl or bark at other dogs in town, sometimes when they snap at him he backs off or tries to run away but will not snap back. With the food and bones part he does not growl at me when he is eating, I have recently always put myself by him whenever he is eating and tried to annoy him with petting, taking his food away and giving it back etc, he is learning and getting better at this. As for the bones If I come up behind him or quickly go to pet or take his bone away he still growls but nothing bad, he will not nip at me after his first whoops he learned a very important lesson lol... If I talk to him and place my self in front of him I can tell him to drop the bone and he will do so. He has came a long way in the past couple weeks and he has still a long ways to go but making forward progress. Does anyone have suggestions on what to do when he growls when I quickly grab his bone, or surprise him while he is eating? I dont want to smack him each time he does it, I also dont want him to be turned away from me seeing me as someone that will smack him when he slips up. Thanks again for all the help guys.

[cjhills]

I had some dogs like this. It is not Alpha behavior. I found that giving the dog and escape route with strangers and not over reacting solved the problem. If he is on a leash and not allowed to back off he will defend himself. Problem is there are people who want to pet the dog even when you tell them no.
Do not quickly grab his bone or surprise him when he is eating. Let things work themselves out naturally rather than forcing the issue. Baby steps are better than giant steps.
These dogs seem to be quite intelligent and will take advantage of you...................... Cj

[shags]

Your progress with your pup sounds good.

For the jumping up, you could keep a lead on him and when he jumps, correct him. A quick snap, don't pull. I don't like jerking dogs head over teakettle to make the correction, because it's too easy to inflict damage. You can enlist peoples' help with it by asking them to approach your pup, but to ignore him. Apply correction if needed. Then your accomplices can ramp up their greeting a little, and you can correct if needed.

I don't think I'd be sneaking up on my dog and snapping away his food or bones. That's really not fair. Keep working on eliminating the bad behavior, and decrease the warning time, but I would always give him some indication of your approach then take the item.

Don't know if it is or will be something to consider but with a mouthy dog you will need to be extra careful if he's ever going to be around kids, especially really little ones since they are likely to try to snatch things away from the dog ( or the dog may believe they will). I wouldn't trust any dog to be 100% bombproof in those kinds of situations. When my kids were little we taught them to respect the dogs' space, but watched carefully for any warnings from the dogs, like tensing up or lowering heads over the item and gave them a warning ( kids got a warning too).

[Evanman2010]

Thanks for the ideas guys, sounds like more training in the positive direction im going is going to work out great. Tonight he starts his bird training with live birds and starts being gun broke, pretty anxious to see how he will do. As for the bones and eating, I agree the quick approach and surprise isent fair, I will make sure to make myself known and maybe play fetch with his bone so he understands giving it to me will be good. As for around little ones he is great, probably because the guy I brought him from had about 6 grandchildren playing with the pups everyday. He knows a child and will be a completely different dog around them. Keep the suggestions coming they are great!

[Sharon]

Good work! Well done Evan man!

"Surprising "the dog when he is eating isn't a good idea with any dog. Don't let the required need to be alpha dog become a bully. Respect your dog too.

[Evanman2010]

Got it, thankyou. Took him to training yesterday and he got to play with the trainers dogs, at first he was timid but started to mess with them (Not growl or bite but go up and nip them or grab their ears) and they didnt want to take any crap, he learned pretty quick to not mess with other dogs. Maybe just exposure to other dogs is what he needs. Things are starting to turn around quickly, its like we just turned another page. Still dealing with the growling with his bone but he will not raise a lip and he will not show his teeth but just a low growl almost like he is playing. Im putting the foot down and teaching him a lesson each time he growls when I take his bone away. Cant have this crap.

[Evanman2010]

Took him to town yesterday, we had a music festival going on so lots of people, loud noises, dogs, etc. I put a choke collar on him so he wont pull and did great, played with the other dogs, didnt jump on people, sat and watched the amtrack train pass at 25 yards away, each time he did good I gave him a treat. Im pretty confident I have hit the nail on the head with that. On the downside when we got home later on he started to chew on a blanket, went to pull him away and he growled and tensed up showing his teeth almost to the point he was going to bite me, I taught him a pretty good lesson at this point but later on in the night he did it again. Finally took him outside and ran him for a good half hour. Once we came back in he acted fine again, no growling, nothing. Could this be due to high energy and being a 4month old pup, ive tried everything and really looking for suggestions here. Sorry for the long post

[SCT]

His aggression has nothing to do with him being a 4 month old puppy!!! Do you think it will get better as he ages?? How did you respond to him growling at you? What do you think his mother or other adult dog would do to him if he growled at them for taking something from him??? I know what I would do, but it's not politically correct!

[Evanman2010]

UPDATE: Thanks again for all the help and suggestions, I really wish I would of known all this the day I got him but as time went on the aggression started to die down. I can now put my face by his food and he will not growl or show any aggression, sometimes he likes to give me a little kiss. Whenever he has a bone or toy and I go to take hold of it he will drop and start to play with me (I am still working on getting him to know the drop command, he is learning well and quick but its alot easier with toys than a dead bird ha). My suggestion to other is to nip it right in the butt and get it done in over with showing who is the owner so you wont have to deal with it for weeks. Thank you to everyone for all the help!

[marysburg]

Way to go, you really worked at fixing this issue before it got dangerous. Congratulations.