Help with Aggressive Behavior

Regina in SC · 05-20-2007, 02:05 PM

I have a 6 year old Terrior Mix named Boo that I rescued from a shelter over a year ago. I just got married in March and recently Boo has become agrresive when we try to go to bed. If I go to bed first and Boo is in the room with me when my husband walks in Boo immediatly becomes agressive, snarling, baring teeth and will lunge at my husband and has on severla occasions bitten my husband. We have tried having my husband bring him in the room after I have already gotten in the bed but if he gets up during the night when he comes back in the room Boo attacks. At night is not the only time Boo does this. If I am laying on the couch and my husband (or anyone) walks in he attacks them.

He only does it at times when I am sleeping, which I assume is because he views me as vulnerable. However, my husband is not too keen on being attacked every time he tries to go to bed.

How to I change this behavior?

Curbside Prophet · 05-20-2007, 03:16 PM

Has this problem been on going since you had him?

How many times has he bitten your husband over the past year?

Where did he bite your husband?

Was there any damage from the bites?

What have you tried so far to remedy the situation other than having your husband bring the dog into the room?

Has your dog been to the vet recently?

woof2u2 · 05-20-2007, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina in SC

I have a 6 year old Terrior Mix named Boo that I rescued from a shelter over a year ago. I just got married in March and recently Boo has become agrresive when we try to go to bed. If I go to bed first and Boo is in the room with me when my husband walks in Boo immediatly becomes agressive, snarling, baring teeth and will lunge at my husband and has on severla occasions bitten my husband. We have tried having my husband bring him in the room after I have already gotten in the bed but if he gets up during the night when he comes back in the room Boo attacks. At night is not the only time Boo does this. If I am laying on the couch and my husband (or anyone) walks in he attacks them.

He only does it at times when I am sleeping, which I assume is because he views me as vulnerable. However, my husband is not too keen on being attacked every time he tries to go to bed.

How to I change this behavior?

Boo may class you as HIS Bitch (I dont mean to be rude here) and feels your husband or other men to be competition. He may be guarding you generally, he could be feeling insecure with other people but trusts you, so he is feeling vulnerable, it is a difficult one to judge. When Rox started doing this when he was about 9-10 months, I had been training him for about 4 months before that, i told my husband to be the one to be strong with him verbally, as it was him who the dog was starting to get stroppy with not me. This generally happened when we went to bed as well so is significant, he used to jump on the bed and roll over, spread himself out on my husbands side of the bed... and then growl ! Firmly my husband told him to get off the bed, grabbing him by the collar at the same time and put him into another room. We made sure from then on that the dog never sleeps in the same room as us, so therefore the problem was solved relatively quickly.

threedognite · 05-20-2007, 04:13 PM

Boo is protecting his 'territory' which is you. Boo sounds like a dominant dog and there are things that you need to be doing to show him that you and your husband are the pack leaders. First of all, Boo needs to sleep somewhere else in another room in his crate. Stop allowing your dog to get on the furniture (if you do). Make sure you and your hubby always walk through doors first, not Boo. Make Boo eat his food after you guys have eaten and if you are 'free-feeding' Boo, change his feeding habits. Put his food down in the morning and give him about fifteen minutes to eat it. If he doesn't eat it, pick it up and put it back down at supper time. A dominant dog needs to learn that his life is controlled by the pack leaders, not the other way around. Pick up any toys laying around. If you want to play with Boo and a toy, make sure when play time is over, the toys go away. The toys belong to YOU, not Boo. When you walk your dog, never allow him to walk ahead of you, don't let him pull you, don't let him sniff the ground or 'mark' anywhere. This only encourages dominance. Sniffing the ground is a self-rewarding behavior and if Boo walks nice for you for a block or two, THEN he can sniff for a minute but not 'mark'. If he is allowed to pee all over the place, he is claiming the neighborhood as his own, he claims your house as his own and he claims YOU as his own.
Be a pack leader, not a follower. If you take my advice, you will see a change in your dog.

Curbside Prophet · 05-20-2007, 04:17 PM

Dominance Theory

poodleholic · 05-21-2007, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curbside Prophet

Dominance Theory

The Dominance Theory continues, ad nauseum.

Where is the pooper scooper!

Regina in SC · 05-21-2007, 08:13 PM

I see what you are saying about him not sleeping in the same room as us. I had Boo for about 4 months before I met my husband and Boo has always slept with me. He did not start immediately doing this once we were married. The biting only started about a month or so ago. I thought maybe my husband was kicking him in his sleep but it has progressively gotten worse. In the beginning he slept with us and there was no problem. I can't figure out what has "triggered" the behavior.