[palmtrees]

Hello!

Two months ago I adopted my pup from a shelter. He is GREAT with 98% of dogs - I take him to the park all the time and he loves to play. However, there is the rare occasion where he will snap and growl at another dog. From what I've observed, the dogs are slightly bigger than him and/or are puppies (mine is estimated to be a year and 3 mos). He hasn't bit another dog yet. If he does it to the same dog more than twice, I leave the park because I don't want it to go too far.

He does the same thing with people too, but I am unable to pinpoint any similarities with who he snaps at.

Another point to mention is that he is a resource guarder of new toys and specific treats (i.e., stuffed Kong toys, rawhide bones, anything that will take more than a few minutes to eat). Not sure if this information would have any relation to the other problem.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[hanksimon]

I'm guessing that he hasn't been around a lot of dogs and people and hasn't learned good social rules yet.
With dogs, expose him to more dogs that are friendly, and won't fight with him, when he gets snappish.
With people, invite lots of strangers to give him lots of treats.

Usually this type of behavior is based on some 'imagined slight' to put it in people terms, so you either identify the 'offending' behavior, or expose him to it enough times that he realizes it's not a threatening behavior....