Growling

[Sonny]

Hi

Our little girl is settling in to our family well.

Over the past few days she has started to growl and sound very angry when someone tries to move her when she is tired (either wanting to go to sleep, she is asleep or she has just woken up).

We have tried waking her up first and giving her a minute to wake up beofre moving her but she still growls.

We have tried NO just as soon as you touch her again she growls. Not wanting to show her that she can be boss I have been assertive with her and moved her (by the scruff of the neck and made her understand she is not the boss, I growl and say NO a lot).

Just really wanting to get on top of this problem quickly.

She is still teething (5 months old), she is also likes to hump things from time to time so I think her hormones are kicking in. She is also still finding her place in the pack (Me, my partner and our other dog) but I don't want this growling to escalate any further.

All advice welcome.

Edited February 28, 2007 by Sonny

[Kirty]

I don't really know what to say - perhaps try this in the training forum? I probably wouldn't scruff her, but rather just ignore the behaviour and do what you want to do with her. If you scruff her every time, she will associate being woken up with an unpleasant experience. I would just say "ARGH!!" in a loud voice, and then move her.

Our family dog used to do it when she was a pup (if you tried to wake her up or touched her when she was sleeping or tired) but she grew out of it. I was too young then to remember what my parents did - she is now 15 yrs old!

[Scales of Justice]

I wouldn't be ignoring the behaviour or you will have one dominant dog being Alpha over the household. Dogs who dominate humans can be dangerous, especially to little children. The humping behaviour is a dominance issue also.

Avoid waking her by touch. Call her name to wake her and get her to come to you to get a reward. Why do you have to constantly wake her from sleep anyway?

[Chloes Dad]

I have been reading up on the triangle of temptation - the topic is pinned here

http://forums.dogzonline.com.au/index.php?showtopic=64101

One of the many benefits is that it establishes Pack Hierarchy,

Quote K9 Force

It enhances the Alpha status of the person who commands the triangle, this can be anyone or every one in your home. It prevents rank issues both with human & dog pack members. It can be modified slightly to cure existing rank issues...

End Quote

I am beginning it with tonight's feeding, maybe it would help show your pooch who is boss?,

I also suggest posting many more photos of her. They are such an amazing looking breed! and as pups they look so awkward in a cute way :rofl:

Good luck

Edited January 30, 2007 by chloe Border Collie

[Pawprints]

Why do you want to move her when she is sleeping??

If you need to move her if she is sleeping in the wrong spot etc, call her name to awaken her and get her to come to you. You should never touch dogs when they are sleeping.

The growling behaviour and humping is a dominance thing so you need to as you say establish a bit of alpha status. Eat before she does and let he see you eating, walk through doors first before she does, make her sit or drop for things etc.

[Cosmolo]

While i don't make a habit of waking dogs from sleep, i do think its important to teach a dog (and a person) how to wake a sleeping dog. I second everything that has been said regarding leadership of course but i can wake any of my dogs from sleep without a problem and with a 5 month old pup, you can carefully teach them the same. The OP also mentions that sometimes the dog is not asleep- going to sleep or just waking up, so we are not just talking about the element of surprise here. What training are you doing with your pup Sonny?

[persephone]

I too, am wondering why she is being disturbed/woken. Is she sleeping on furniture or somewhere other than her bed?

Maybe You and she need reminding that her bed is THE place for sleeping :nahnah:

Perhaps , after a play session or walk or cuddle, she can be encouraged to stay on HER bed using a lot of quiet praise,and a little chew toy or treat...then , after she finishes, she may just nod off.....

[Sonny]

We are having to wake her because she is either sleeping in the wrong place ie furniture or we have needed to have her go outside to go for a wee before bedtime.

I think all of us in the house need to be reminded about who sleeps where and we should also time bedtime wee's a little better.

I also forgot that everytime we had to wake our little boy we would sing to him, sounds silly but he loved it.

So I think we'll try remembering where the bed is and singing if we have to wake her and see how this goes for a few days. My better half has been trying it all day today and she has had no problems infact she has had a really good day.

Thanks for the advice, I'll let you all know how we go.

[persephone]

...imagining a very 'musical'. happy household

[SparkyTansy]

I know of someone who had just gotten an 8-9 week old SWF (from a BYB i believe)... this dog seemed to have the same issues, did not like to be picked up or moved, never came when called and growled quite agressively if you tried to pick it up. I remember one day it was under the car and I tried to get him to come out and he growled... well I just walked away as it wasn't my dog and the people who owned it are not the sort to see it as a problem.. in fact, they thought it was "cute" when he did it...

The dog did not grow out of it and they never did anything about it. The dog is very dominant. They brought the damn thing over to my house once and it had a go at my 3 mth old puppy for no real reason I was so furious because all the owner did was laugh!!

Anyway, it is great to see you are trying to nip this in the bud - i think it is imperative you do this and keep on top of it to avoid the problem getting too big...

[Aziah]

You know the saying...

"Let sleeping dogs lie"

Try having some food in your hand when she wakes up and coax her outside with that, once she's gone to the toilet give her a reward and let her back in.

[peibe]

Dominant dog, if she was in my house she would be back on the floor, not allowed above my knees, I go through doors first, eat first etc

I would scruff her

[shekhina]

Dominant dog, if she was in my house she would be back on the floor, not allowed above my knees, I go through doors first, eat first etc

I would scruff her

Same here. Both my dogs have had a few good scruffings for trying it on as puppies. A dog should not growl at you, not even if you wake it up...there would be big trouble in this house if one of my dogs did that

[Tonymc]

Sonny,have a think about Leadership and make sure you are treating the Dog as a Dog. Tony

[Sonny]

Hi

We are making her sleep on the floor and not on the furniture which helps.

However she has started to show aggression towards our little boy in the following situations:

1) When we are giving the treats and she thinks he is getting more or when she thinks he is getting treats and not her.

2) There has been some general aggression which doesn't seem to start from anything.

There is a lot of noise during the “fight” however nobody ever gets hurt, but at this stage we have always been there. They do spend time on their own together and this has never been an issue.

Our girl is just over 6 months old and has recently been desexed (about 6 days ago). Our boy is very soft so when we are in the room and it happens he looks to us for support.

What I figure I should be doing is shutting them both outside when trouble occurs and monitor it so if it gets out of hand I can step in, this will force our boy to help solve the problem. We should only give treats when the dogs are claim and have space to eat without feeling they have to fight for food.

The dogs are staying with my better half in Perth at my mums house until we move into our new home and my mum has a dog and I know we are having some problems having a consistent approach to managing the problem. My mum insists on separating our boy from the girl in these situations which I don’t think helps the situation (I’m not in Perth atm so I can’t fix that issue).

The dogs are now a very similar size so I assume this is causing her to challenge her position in the pack.

Will she settle down once her hormones have settled down from desexing?

Unfortunately this is getting to the point at which if this continues or gets worse and the situation is still the same in 2 months we will have to reassess our little girl living with us.

We are checking with our vet for advice and she starts puppy training on Sunday so we will also check with the trainer (she would have started earlier except with us moving it has been difficult).

Edited February 28, 2007 by Sonny