# Aggression?



## chewice (Jan 1, 2012)

Second time this has happened.

Adam (bf) and I are watching tv... cashew is lying between us. Adam shows some form of affection to me... and cashew becomes alert (I assume because we are moving)...adam then makes a kissey face towards cashew ( a good foot away ) and cash tries to bite his face. He is never right in his face. Its never a fast full out going to rip your face off bite... but it is a bit more than a little nip.

I sent him to his bed where he looks all scared and sad. Suggestions on how we should handle it.

The first time was when we were trying to move him from the bed into his own. 

The first thing I can think of is he is comfy and grumpy and its past his sleep time and we disturbed him. How should we be handling this?

Kendyl


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

I personally would take away all couch privileges as long as he is taking advantage of the situation. I would also teach touch (nose touch to the hand) or off, so you and your bf can safely remove him from the furniture when necessary.

Avery is allowed on the furniture (I've been trying with little luck to make him wait until he's invited) but if under any circumstance he growled or snapped when I asked him to move, all privileges would be revoked...that is not acceptable behavior.


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## bernadettelevis (Feb 2, 2011)

I would look for a good dog trainer and have her or him analyze the situation and suggest what you should do and how you should work with him.


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## ShanniBella (Jul 1, 2011)

Sounds like resource guarding which can be seen as dominance especially if he has growled at you when removing him from the bed. Keep him off beds and furniture....simple as that  And find a trainer to work with you. Is Cashew a small dog? I find that little dogs tend to be coddled more and treated more like human babies than actual dogs. I don't allow my dogs to take over my bed and couches unless "I" invite them up and that is only a rare occassion. I hope you can nip this in the bud before it really gets out of control. Good luck and keep us posted


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## chewice (Jan 1, 2012)

He is always invited up and he always asks. Knows 'off' very well. I think this was more... you woke me up, im grumpy, get out of my face. I know many humans like this as well  There was no growl or lunge. It was a open mouth to face. 

He is 30 lbs and I only allow him to be all over me when I ask him too.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

We sometimes tend to humanize our dogs - I don't think dogs wake up in a bad mood like people do. They might get startled if they are sound asleep but cashew was awake when he snapped at your boyfriend.

And suppose he WAS in a bad mood when he woke up - is snapping at someone's face appropriate behavior?

It could have been he was correcting your boyfriend, or even guarding YOU. I agree with all the others - don't let him on the couch, and get a trainer. These things tend to get worse, not better, if you let them go.


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## ShanniBella (Jul 1, 2011)

Well, I'm not one to compare dogs to humans but I know lots of people do. Most people that do tend to have some kind of unwanted behavior but its the owners fault to let it get to that level. I love my girl but she is a dog afterall and not human. If she ever snapped at me or a family member she wouldn't be here anymore. Your dog is showing unacceptable behavior that if you don't fix now then it could get worse. No more couch or bed for him is what you need to do and stop humanizing him ;-)


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Totally unacceptable behavior in our home. There is never an excuse for snapping at people. Even my old boy at 13 would not be allowed this luxury. If you are cranky got your crate and gets some peace and quiet but snapping, lunging, "resource guarding", none of these are viable options for my dogs or the dogs I petsit. No excuses, no exceptions. I get many small dogs to my house throughout the year on "doggie boot camp" because of snapping and generally unacceptable behavior and it is almost only "this one thing". When I get the dog I realize he is great - until he asked, told, or required to do something he doesn't want to do. Most are easily helped but reinforcing positive behavior and removing them from the bad behavior. Basic obedience is worked constantly and they don't make their own decisions, I do. Anyway JMHO, works for us and humans are safe.


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Along with what the others have said I would have your boy friend ignore Cashew. No kissy faces, no direct eye contact, etc. My kids aren't allowed to do things like that with our dogs because to me it feels like teasing. Kind of taunting them....blowing kisses in their face, etc.

Not saying that's what happened...but until you work with Cashew I would just have your bf ignore him. Once you've worked with Cashew some, it then may be a good idea for your bf to work some with Cashew. Do some obedience using positive reinforcement, etc, etc.


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## ciaBrysh (Dec 16, 2011)

Sounds like you need to implement the NILIF method right away!
NILIF stands for nothing in life is free. It is the best way to put what everyone else has already stated.


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

The snapping when getting moved makes a lot of sense. I feel like a lot of dogs would be upset if they were moved while sleeping, he's asking you to stop and leave him alone. He's comfortable and tired and wants you to let him be, you'd likely react negatively if you were being physically moved off of the couch or bed. My assumption is that when your boyfriend started showing you affection he leaned over/on/into the dog while he was resting and it had the same affect (if this is not the case then you might have a guarding issue which will require it's own treatment). Now of course it's still not okay for him to do, he is your dog and for safety's sake must be okay with such things. So you either need to make furniture off limits, use his off command from now on, or start desensitizing him to being handled while sleeping (or both, use the off command while desensitizing...I'd continue using the off command as your main tool for moving him once he's been desensitized, but it's still important that he is okay with being moved just in case it needs to happen for some reason or somebody just doesn't think and does it. Until he has been desensitized it is important that you don't have any of these incidents so be aware and careful of that). 

To desensitize you would start at very low level touching, a VERY gentle push or LIGHT collar tug followed by a treat and leaving him alone. Whatever it is you are doing should not be enough to make him growl or react negatively, it should be very mild. Do this once every time he's resting (or a few times if it's along rest, but don't drive him nuts, you're trying to make the handling very positive). A gentle annoyance followed by a treat. After a while work up to pushing slightly harder, tugging on the collar harder, always give a treat, never push enough to get a reaction. You can work up to light hugging, then harder hugging, lots of treats, then leaving alone. The dog will likely figure out that you touching when he's asleep means wonderful things are going to happen so he'll welcome you. I still don't suggest suddenly picking up a fast asleep dog because I DO think they can have a split instinctive reaction and bite before they even know what they are doing. So if you must physically move the dog wake him with your voice first. But really the desensitization should be mainly for "just in case" situations or for things like scooting into, leaning over the dog to get something, etc. You should really be using the off command (and any other commands like asking him to go to his bed or hand touching to move him to a specific location) for moving the dog. But the desensitization should make him okay with handling that does happen to occur while he's resting or if a guest or someone tries to push him over on the couch without knowing any better. Even once the dog is comfortable with being handled while resting I'd continue to practice on a somewhat regular basis because it is a rather annoying thing you are doing, so make sure you keep the dog thinking in a positive manner.

Now all of that said, you are dealing with a dog who might bite so I'd recommend doing the above with the help of a professional who does not use fear/pain based training methods. I'd be concerned that if you are not stellar at reading body language you will not be able to tell if you are pushing the dog too hard during the desensitization and might cause him to react which might mean a bite. Whenever there is that possibility it's best to have someone who KNOWS dog body language to be there to tell you how hard to push and what to look out for to prevent making the dog go over threshold and react.

While I think NILIF is great for teaching self control, practicing commands, and getting your dog to listen outside of training sessions and think revoking couch privileged would of course prevent the problem, I don't think they would ever make him a-okay with being handled while resting, you'd have to directly tackle that issue and I think a desensitization program would work well as long as you keep the dog under threshold. So you have to decide what you want. Keeping the dog off of the couch is likely easier/simpler than desensitizing so if having the dog in the furniture isn't terribly important to you it's a good option but you must remember that the dog still won't be okay with being moved while resting. Desensitization will be harder/longer but will hopefully get you to the point where the dog is fine with the handling.


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## chewice (Jan 1, 2012)

The above is exactly what happened. Thank you all for the advice!


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