# Help! 15 week old puppy growls and bites when being picked up!



## Kathie241 (Aug 27, 2013)

My boyfriend and I just bought a beabull puppy. We have had him for 4 weeks. The first week we had him he let us pick him up all the time. Out of know where he became Jekyll and Hyde! He would snarl and try to bite us. He seemed vicious to me and I wanted to nip this in the bud. My vet showed me a way to hold him down when he does this until he relaxes. (Supposedly making me the dominate one) Which has worked for me and I am actually able to pick up the dog without issue. It is not working for my boyfriend at all. It just seems to be making the situation worse! I'm looking for any other ideas!!! I should add that I am a teacher and have been off with the dog since we brought him home so I have been the main trainer. My boyfriend doesn't get home from work until 8PM. He takes him on his night walk and makes him sit for his night treat and such. I start work next week and my boyfriend leaves after me. He'll be responsible for getting our pup in his crate so he may need to pick him up.

I should also add that he's been really great in every other way. We can both mess with his food, toys, treats. We can pet him when he's sleeping. He knows the sit command and is starting to walk really great on a leash. We also have an 11 year old lab who he loves to play with and cuddle with. We've taken him to friends houses with other dogs and he's been awesome. Also great around kids. He will be starting puppy training class in 2 weeks but I want to get a handle on this aggression. I'm worried it will turn into something else if we don't get a handle on it now!

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks,
Kathie & David (parents of Surf)


----------



## swellmomma (Apr 21, 2012)

Are you startling or scaring the dog when you attempt to pick up? Usually if I want to pick my guys up I get their attention, and pet their head or back first and then pick up. If I just randomly walk over and pick them up without warning then they growl and nip out of a fear response. And frankly it's my own fault in that case.


----------



## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

Ian Dunbar (who is an amazing vet and behaviorist) has a great training textbook online here (you have to sign up to read it, but it's 100% free): http://www.dogstardaily.com/training

Read his chapters on Handling & Gentling, Puppy Biting, and Teaching Bite Inhibition. The whole book is good, though.

And please get any idea of dominance out of your heads. Your vet was wrong -- dog/human dominance is not a thing. Those ideas were based on flawed wolf studies (done on captive, unrelated wolves) in the 1940s, and even the guy who wrote the seminal book on that research has said that he was wrong and that they've learned more about wolves in the past 40 or so years than in all of recorded history. Real wolf packs are peaceful family groups, where the parents are the leaders and their offspring do not fight them for dominance. Reality show trainers like Cesar Millan have popularized the "alpha wolf" idea, to the dismay of actual behaviorists, who know it's a load of crap! Here are some links that explain in detail:

Debunking the Alpha Dog Theory
Misconceptions of the Mythical Alpha Dog
American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior Dominance Statement

Also, a 15-week-old puppy is not being aggressive. He's a baby. It's possible that he just doesn't like being picked up, or that he's frustrated with being held and wants down. Read those chapters in the training textbook and work on teaching him to enjoy all kinds of contact! Don't set yourself up for a lifelong adversarial relationship where you worry that your dog is trying to usurp you as leader. That destroys all of the fun of living with a dog.


----------



## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

+1 exactly what crantastic said


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Kathie241 said:


> My vet showed me a way to hold him down when he does this until he relaxes. (Supposedly making me the dominate one)


This tends to make things worse. Pinning a dog (holding him down to "force" him to relax) creates fear and stress and many dogs will start to bite to try to prevent being held in a scary position. You don't need to try to be dominate-- for one, dominance between humans and dogs is a debunked theory and for two, of course you're already in charge since you have all the control over food, location etc. You've got thumbs that open doors and pick up leashes and serve the kibble 

Teach the dog to go into his crate on his own. Try this: have the crate door open and toss a treat in there. The dog will likely run in and get the treat. Repeat this several times. Then toss the treat and point to the crate and say "Crate", dog will likely run in and get the treat just like before. After a number of repetitions of this, point to the crate and say "Crate" before you toss the treat. If the dog runs into the crate, give him the treat immediately while he is inside the crate. If the dog doesn't go in the crate, you can either wait until he figures out no treat unless he's in the crate (a variation of "Its your choice") or you can hold the treat and lure him into the crate and then provide the treat. I usually wait. It helps to have a leash on the dog to keep him from wandering away and be really really boring while waiting on him to enter the crate. When he enters on his own, throw a party and jackpot treats (several small ones in a row and lots of "Good boy!") Then let him back out of the crate and repeat the pointing and "crate" command + treats for entering several times.

Don't say "crate" over and over until he enters it, just say it once and let him figure it out.


----------



## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

Kathie241 said:


> My boyfriend and I just bought a beabull puppy. We have had him for 4 weeks. The first week we had him he let us pick him up all the time. Out of know where he became Jekyll and Hyde! He would snarl and try to bite us. He seemed vicious to me and I wanted to nip this in the bud. My vet showed me a way to hold him down when he does this until he relaxes. (Supposedly making me the dominate one) Which has worked for me and I am actually able to pick up the dog without issue. It is not working for my boyfriend at all. It just seems to be making the situation worse! I'm looking for any other ideas!!! I should add that I am a teacher and have been off with the dog since we brought him home so I have been the main trainer. My boyfriend doesn't get home from work until 8PM. He takes him on his night walk and makes him sit for his night treat and such. I start work next week and my boyfriend leaves after me. He'll be responsible for getting our pup in his crate so he may need to pick him up.
> 
> I should also add that he's been really great in every other way. *We can both mess with his food, toys, treats. We can pet him when he's sleeping.* He knows the sit command and is starting to walk really great on a leash. We also have an 11 year old lab who he loves to play with and cuddle with. We've taken him to friends houses with other dogs and he's been awesome. Also great around kids. He will be starting puppy training class in 2 weeks but I want to get a handle on this aggression. I'm worried it will turn into something else if we don't get a handle on it now!
> 
> ...


In addition to the great advice you've already received, I'll add to leave him alone while he eats and sleeps. If you're concerned about resource guarding, this is a good article to read.


----------



## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

I was going to say the same thing that Cookieface highlighted. You should never pat a dog who is sleeping, that is where the saying "Let sleeping dogs lie" comes from. Even some people come up swinging if they are startled awake and that is likely to happen with your dog. It is fine to trade their toys for a treat but if you just take away their food, etc. it just teaches them to guard it.


----------



## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Kyllobernese said:


> I was going to say the same thing that Cookieface highlighted. You should never pat a dog who is sleeping, that is where the saying "Let sleeping dogs lie" comes from. Even some people come up swinging if they are startled awake and that is likely to happen with your dog. It is fine to trade their toys for a treat but if you just take away their food, etc. it just teaches them to guard it.


Never, ever touch a sleeping dog. My dog is the sweetest thing ever awake, but if you surprise him asleep, you're getting snapped at. He put his teeth on my hand once, then seemed to realize what he'd done, wailed and hid under the coffee table. I felt terrible. Now I call his name and thump the couch or ground to wake him up a bit first. (If I need to, I usually just let him sleep.)

If you "mess with" his stuff, particularly his food, you will create resource guarding. To prevent it, teach "drop it" and walk by every now and then and drop a really great treat in his food. That will teach him that people around his food means great things.

As for picking him up, how would you like it if a 30 foot tall giant scooped you up and carried you around? I bet you wouldn't like it one bit! If it's absolutely necessary that you pick him up (and I've always had dogs too big to really carry around, so it's not necessary), train him to like it using counter condition.


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Amaryllis said:


> If it's absolutely necessary that you pick him up (and I've always had dogs too big to really carry around, *so it's not necessary*), train him to like it using counter condition.


(bolded for emphasis) 

While I'm never going to tote around my dog for fun, I definitely think all puppies should be conditioned to a least tolerate being picked up. Especially because for a larger dog (say, over 40 lbs which is getting a little heavy to carry for most people) the instances when you may need to pick them up are the emergencies and times when they are going to be under the most stress (hurt/ill/frightened). 

I had to carry Alma in and out of my car, in and out of my house and lift her onto the sofa last week after her surgery and she's 55 lbs. I squatted down, wrapped an arm around her chest and the other under her rear and stood up holding her close to my chest. She felt secure and was steady when I was carrying her. If I was starting with a puppy, I'd condition them to accept this as a "just in case"


----------



## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Shell said:


> (bolded for emphasis)
> 
> While I'm never going to tote around my dog for fun, I definitely think all puppies should be conditioned to a least tolerate being picked up. Especially because for a larger dog (say, over 40 lbs which is getting a little heavy to carry for most people) the instances when you may need to pick them up are the emergencies and times when they are going to be under the most stress (hurt/ill/frightened).
> 
> I had to carry Alma in and out of my car, in and out of my house and lift her onto the sofa last week after her surgery and she's 55 lbs. I squatted down, wrapped an arm around her chest and the other under her rear and stood up holding her close to my chest. She felt secure and was steady when I was carrying her. If I was starting with a puppy, I'd condition them to accept this as a "just in case"


I'll grant you that. In my mind there's a difference between putting a dog in the car and toting them around the way people do a small dog/puppy. But I didn't explain that very well.


----------



## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

Kathie241 said:


> My vet showed me a way to hold him down when he does this until he relaxes. (Supposedly making me the dominate one)


Yeah, dog -> human dominance isn't real and this will get you bitten very quickly.


----------

