# 3 month old now showing aggression



## tonyjerry (Feb 18, 2011)

Hi, any help would be great. Have a 3 month old male bulldog. We got him when he was 8 weeks. Up to two days ago he has been nearly perfect, honestly could not ask for more. Potty training going well, starting to really love his crate, very well socialized with other dogs and especially other people. Biting was getting much better, would mouth us but no nipping. So two days ago, he started growling at us when he was playing with his kong and favorite ball. Any movement towards him would make him back away and growl more. We did the drop it game and he happily let go but once he got the toy back would growl again. Same day, he actually started lunging at us to bite. He has been doing this on and off now for the last two days. No idea what prompted this. We usually do the yelp thing but now that it has escalated to lunging are trying the neck "bite". Anything we should be looking for or trying out? Thanks so much


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## Suji (Mar 15, 2011)

my puppy is acting the same way with her rope toy. She's also 3 months old and is a maltese shih tzu mix. I'd also appreciate it if someone would give us some advice.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

So there is always a toy involved? Then I am guessing it's resource guarding, and trading the toy for a really yummy treat could work. One of the first things I taught my puppy was 'drop it' and he does it happily because he either gets a treat, gets the toy back, or a better toy afterwards. If you're simply taking toys away and ending the fun, then no wonder they will guard them.


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

This is not aggression. 3 months old and aggressive would be startling. He is resource guarding and it's natural, especially amongst dogs. We have a 4 month old foster who just showed me today he believes the food bowls are his and I can't have them. The bowl is empty, we don't allow any open food bowls and every one is separated to eat, but he likes to carry the bowls around and nom them if he gets a chance. I went to pick the food bowls up today and he snarked at me. We play several games of trade through out the day. I am confused to why you're yelping, though. That works for discouraging mouthiness, yes, but it will not stop him from resource guarding. He may be going to nip you but it's not the same situation. He is nipping you as a result of guarding his toys, not just in the fun way puppies like to use their mouths.

Lil_fuzzy is right about games of trade and learning the drop it command. If he's only started showing this behavior and you only started working on trade and drop it, then you haven't been working on it long enough. I would begin working with smaller, less valued items. Squeak toys are high valued toys here, rope toys are not. We trade a rope for a plushy, a plushy for something that squeaks, and then a squeak for a slice of liver. In our fosters case, bowls are high value so replace rope with bowl for our odd guy and same principle. Our bowl situation works out nice. I can ask him to drop it and he gets it filled with his dinner.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Another good thing to do with puppies at feeding time is to sit on the floor with the bowl in your lap, and have the puppy eat out of your lap. Alternatively, you can handfeed the puppy, or have the bowl on the floor and touch the puppy all over while it's eating, put your hand in the bowl to add treats, lean over the puppy, touch the bowl etc. If he's not comfy with that, follow every step with a yummy treat.

I did this with my puppy since day one, and he has never guarded an object so far, and I can bump him and touch him while he eats and he doesn't care.


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## JiveDadson (Feb 22, 2010)

Start slowly. Give the dog something that he will hold in his mouth, but is not too dear. A carrot maybe. Play the trade game. Lure the dog with a better treat to drop the carrot. Give him a tiny but yummy treat. Return the carrot. Repeat many, many times as you "fade the lure." When the dog always drops the carrot as your hand approaches, you can add a cue like, "Gimme." Never use the cue word unless you are almost sure the dog is going to drop the item. Never repeat the cue. Slowly work your way up to items of higher value. If the dog ever balks, go back to a less valuable item.

A few days ago my little gray dog grabbed a long baby-back rib from beside a public sidewalk. In a flash it was too far gone down his gullet for him to give it up on cue, but he did allow me to open his mouth and fish it out of his throat.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Resource guarding IS a natural dog behaviour, but it certainly is an unsafe behaviour to have towards humans. This is a normal behaviour but it does need to be modified...the trick is NOT to use punishment (ie the neck poke..do NOT do this)..your pup needs his temperament to be kept safe and using punishment on an infant animal is not going to help him trust you or make him a safer adult. This behaviour does not get grown out of, it gets grown INTO so modifying it starting now will get you there.

You want your dog to believe that you approaching him when he has something (anything, but especially something he finds an important resource) only brings AMAZING GOOD THINGS. You don't want a dog that simply tolerates you taking something from him, but that willingly and happily does so....because he knows something good will happen if he gives it up. If you take things from him or punish him he will guard them MORE FIERCELY because you prove to him each and every time that his things are in danger of being taken away...remember this at all times.

Keep working on the trade thing. Trade trade trade, put it on cue, work up to more valuable stuff, making sure that the reward it one of the best things he could have and go from there.

Go to Jean Donaldson's site or to Dogwise.com and order MINE right now. It has a very good behaviour modification plan, great information on why and how RG happens. You can also order a copy of the Culture Clash to learn more about your dog's behaviour in general.

You need to get a handle on this now. I cannot stress this enough.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

After mine recognize leave it, I use that to get things that I want from mine but I have never tried to approach my dogs food bowl but I k ow that if I did they would back off it perhaps its b/c I practice NILIF I really don't know but I try to condition them to know that everything belongs to me lol, toys get taken up when play is over & such.


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## LuckySarah (May 3, 2010)

Cracker said:


> Resource guarding IS a natural dog behaviour, but it certainly is an unsafe behaviour to have towards humans. This is a normal behaviour but it does need to be modified...the trick is NOT to use punishment (ie the neck poke..do NOT do this)..your pup needs his temperament to be kept safe and using punishment on an infant animal is not going to help him trust you or make him a safer adult. This behaviour does not get grown out of, it gets grown INTO so modifying it starting now will get you there.
> 
> You want your dog to believe that you approaching him when he has something (anything, but especially something he finds an important resource) only brings AMAZING GOOD THINGS. You don't want a dog that simply tolerates you taking something from him, but that willingly and happily does so....because he knows something good will happen if he gives it up. If you take things from him or punish him he will guard them MORE FIERCELY because you prove to him each and every time that his things are in danger of being taken away...remember this at all times.
> 
> ...


+100

So many people handle this type of problem the wrong way.

Order MINE its an awesome book, cheap, easy to read and well worth every ounce of effort.


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